Q: Our Sebring camp has renewed our tickets, car, and RV passes for Sebring 2024 at 2023 prices. We ask you, is there a better bang for the buck for motorsports fans in the world?
We are recruiting new people and expect to have over 25 in our camp next year. We have been to NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA and F1 events elsewhere, but none compare to Sebring. For less than $30 per day (if buying the full week ticket), you get to go inside on Tuesday, then get four great days of on-track action, free access to the paddock, an awesome vendor village, and one of the best parties in North America at Green Park after Dark. Hank ’n Sheila’s Big F’n Tent is party central, but good times are held throughout the infield! We have yet to bring a person to Sebring who has not had a good time.
Daytona treats the 24-hour race like an NFL game, complete with metal detectors and third party minimum wage “security staff” who harass you. When you finally get in the infield section, the fences are six feet tall, and the atmosphere is pretty lame if you don’t know a millionaire in a bougie RV.
Circling back, is there a better week-long event in North America for a motorsports fans to attend than Sebring?
Kyle
P.S. All who are reading this are welcome to share a tasty beverage with the Manic Manatees inside of the hairpin.
MARSHALL PRUETT: You win letter of the week for the first-time use of “bougie.” Can’t disagree with anything you’ve shared. Not even the Indy 500 can compare with the extreme fun at a low price that Sebring offers. It’s one of those things where if you know, you know. And if you’ve never been to Sebring for the 12 Hours, you’re missing out on one of life’s great experiences.
Q: “I am tired of professional athletes believing they can renege on contracts they agreed to. We have that situation with Chris Jones and the Chiefs locally, as he has held out of camp because he wants a new contract and has one more season left on the existing one — at $20m!” said James, from the last Mailbag.
If he’s sick of it, maybe James should start watching NHL hockey, where guaranteed contracts cannot be restructured. The CBA is rock solid in not allowing for it.
Football owners are just as much to blame for this phenomenon as the players.
Mike McKenna
MARSHALL PRUETT: I recently learned IndyCar does have a very basic form of contract oversight, but there are no series policies on anything that would be construed as a CBA, or basic guidelines for that matter. If a driver wants to go rogue, there’s nothing I know of that IndyCar has in place to corral or correct such a move. It’s purely in the hands of lawyers.
Q: I know the IndyCar teams can’t modify the body kits for on-track performance, but can they modify them for off track performance? For instance, if a team came up with a better mechanism to change a nose quicker during a pit stop (and assuming it’s mechanically safe), would they be permitted?
Sean, KY
MARSHALL PRUETT: They would not. The whole idea behind spec parts is to make the challenge equal for all teams, so no monkeying with the spec bits and pieces.
Q: I was at the Milwaukee Mile for NASCAR’s return last weekend, and I had a great time. The crowd looked pretty good for a standalone Truck event, but my one concern was with the parking situation. I got to the track half an hour before the ARCA race started and some gates were restricting access to one side of the road, while the one I went to took a long line of cars through the full lot and to the grass area behind Turn 2 and backstretch. If IndyCar is returning, I believe it would be a bigger draw than the NASCAR Trucks, so I hope the State Fair and the promoters can figure out a better situation.
Logan, Saukville, WI
MARSHALL PRUETT: Thanks for the intel, Logan. Whether it’s parking or concessions or every other aspect of the event, IndyCar cannot afford to mess up at Milwaukee. It must nail all the details or it will die.
Q: Is anyone looking at Jack Harvey for next season? Is he showing up on anyone’s radar at all?
I feel Harvey has a lot to offer and has had some not-so-great breaks in his time with RLL and the end of MSR. Some questionable race strategy and car setups… but with that being said, maybe he could have done a few different things on his end to help rectify that. I just feel he still has some good seat time in him. Thoughts?
Kasey Branham
MARSHALL PRUETT: He is not, at least as a serious number one option. I’ve heard he might be interested in lending his talents to the NBC broadcasts if a drive isn’t available. I think he’d be a great addition to the booth.
Q: I’ve been an IndyCar fan for over 30 years. Reading about the new F2 car, whether it relates to IndyCar or not, just makes me sad that IndyCar has not had a new car in over a decade. Yes, I know updates have been made. Yes, it’s a better-looking car than the original DW12. But the bottom line is that I am reading about every other racing series introducing new cars, and IndyCar seems to not only have given up on its plan for a new one — it doesn’t even want to try to put together a plan for a new car.
I love the sport. I always have. But I just am starting to see this as a series with no idea going forward. It’s like the owners have given up and are now just complacent. Yes, I know it’s not my money. But it wasn’t my money 30 years ago when I fell in love with the sport, and somehow the millionaire and billionaire owners could afford new cars yearly.
Is saying that an IndyCar has a five-year life span and then a new one would be made too much to ask? Is letting the owners know that every five years a new car will be commissioned so that they can be prepared to pay for it to much to ask?
I’m not posting this as an “IndyCar is doomed” guy. I guess I’m just venting a little because another series has announced a new car, while we still race with something associated with 2012. After announcing they were postponing the new car — what, two years ago? — it has been crickets from IndyCar leadership on this since.
SUPP aka Jim in Allen Park
MARSHALL PRUETT: If IndyCar’s team owners demanded it, a new car would be here ASAP, but most prefer to avoid the costly changeover. And the same old argument — that the racing is good, so why change anything — is always the answer. There’s a decent spike in costs coming for 2024 with the series going hybrid, so I get why there’s a push to wait for less costly days, but I just don’t see it happening. IndyCar announced a new engine formula in 2018 and six years later, it will finally arrive. Maybe if we announce a new chassis now, it will be here before 2030.