The RACER Mailbag, July 20

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. Due to the high volume of questions received, we can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll answer as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for length and clarity. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will appear the following week.

Q: OK, I'm a longtime IndyCar fan. First attended Indy in '62, so I'm certifiably an old fan. The news of Palou maybe being signed for another year at Ganassi, which seems normal, and the sudden appearance of a McLaren release that Palou was moving to that team in 2023, is disturbing. Equally disturbing are the social media comments from Palou, who until now has appeared to be a talented driver and gentleman both on and off the track.

My fear is that the nasty F1 mentality is coming to IndyCar where teams and drivers seem to hate, or at least strongly dislike the others, often including their own teammates. Is this due to the money that a team like McLaren brings to the series? Can they lure all the best drivers and break their contracts, or force other teams to release drivers via social media intimidation? Great, sounds like D.C. politics and if so, is a shame and hurtful to the IndyCar paddock.

I know money talks, but to turn IndyCar into F1 will be a sad state for fans. I'm not interested in fake reality "Real Drivers of IndyCar" TV series. To me, IndyCar has for years been more open, more collegial and more civil than F1. Drivers talk to the fans and to each other.

If most future stories will be about teams fighting each other in the courts and which driver is being paid what and by whom, well, then it's just another boring sport where money and legal games are more important than the actual sport. I watch for on-track action, not legal bickering.

As an insider, your thoughts?

Mark in Milwaukee

MP: Great roundup of the situation, Mark. Among the various things that popped into my head when this nonsense first erupted was the FIA’s creation of the Contracts Recognition Board a while back to deal with all the staffing skullduggery going on in F1.

The need to establish the CRB spoke to the size of the problem that grew with every attempted poaching of drivers and key personnel, and like you, I do hope that what we have here with Palou/McLaren/CGR isn’t the spark that becomes a giant blaze in the years ahead. The last thing I want to write about is the formation of IndyCar’s Contracts Resolution and Policing department because other teams and drivers took inspiration from this mess and double- or triple-signed the same person, etc.

I do wonder, though, if the man who owns the series and could buy Palou/McLaren/CGR with pocket change will call a private meeting and lay down his own law. If R.P. feels this is bringing embarrassment to the series and its partners, he’s not the type to sit back and hope the problem will resolve itself. The boss of bosses won’t stand for any of his businesses to be devalued if it can be avoided, and in this case, it can be avoided.

I’ve also seen some make the argument that hate is good and this kind of war among teams could be exactly what IndyCar needs. I don’t buy it. Driver versus driver? Yes, absolutely. But does the average fan care about Zak vs Chip or Chip vs Zak? Nope.

He's pretending to look at the timing screens, but he's actually trying to come up with a plan to fill Chip's car with styrofoam peanuts. Michael Levitt/Motorsport News

If this was Formula 1 and semi-famous characters like Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, it would be a different story since seemingly half of every "Drive To Survive" episode involves those two saying mean or catty things to each other for the global audience’s amusement. In IndyCar, where Brown is only seen a few times a year and where Ganassi avoids cameras 99 percent of the time, it’s a non-story.

I kept an eye on the major sports sites as this went down last week, and nobody picked it up as a featured item. You’d think this one was a no-brainer that would deliver a ton of traffic. Nope. Crickets. Silence. I even had one driver call and say they were looking for the same thing and were blown away by how it registered as totally insignificant to the ESPNs of the world. I just don’t see the upside to this team versus team controversy in terms of gaining more fans and increasing viewership.

Q: With announcement that the No. 11 car will not run at Toronto due to sponsorship issues and it being the only Foyt car in the top 22 in points, I'm wondering why Foyt doesn't shift Kellett to the 11 to keep it scoring points? What are the rules regarding multiple drivers scoring points in a given entry? Where can I find the rule book?

Mark

MP: Let’s go in reverse order. I typed "IndyCar rulebook" into a Google search and it was returned as the very first link.

The question about teams moving drivers around to manipulate the Leaders Circle competition was the second question in last week’s Mailbag, but in short, the series is under no obligation to hand out LC contracts to those who might try and game the system. No disrespect to my guy Dalton, but he’s done every race in his own car and that No. 4 Chevy entry was last in the field entering Toronto in the Entrants’ standings. Moving Kellett over to the No. 11 Chevy isn’t going to keep it inside the top 22.

Q: They are saying in Mexico that IndyCar and NASCAR are returning to Parque Fundidora in 2023 and 2024. Have you heard something about that?

Guillermo Calvillo

MP: Good old "They"! Yes, heard about Fundidora being renovated, and have also heard conflicting messages on whether it has any IndyCar angle to it, or if it’s all about NASCAR. Regardless, if the circuit is ready to welcome NASCAR in the near future, I like the odds of IndyCar going back.

Q: I'm really upset that I have to pay to watch an IndyCar race on Peacock. I'm not going to do it. I can watch six hours of F1 coverage every weekend that they race on ESPN and watch NASCAR events on either FOX or NBC or USA, but I only get to see IndyCar races on NBC (no practice or qualifying). No race this weekend. No Toronto? Really? This sucks. WAKE UP, ROGER.

Yeah, tobacco money is gone, but both F1 and NASCAR continue to survive and thrive. IndyCar lags badly and that needs to change, and it needs to change now!

I've been to over 100 IndyCar races starting in 1965 and I'm a huge fan, but I’m not going to pay extra to watch a race on the internet! IndyCar’s website sucks, its TV coverage sucks, and its promotion (outside of the 500 ) absolutely sucks.

You guys have Roger's ear, make some noise.

Joe in California

MP: Miller, is that you?

Since ESPN and USA aren’t free, and most major networks stopped sending over-the-air signals to the entire country to get those channels for free, it sounds like you pay for cable to watch TV. So that means you pay to watch every single race.

The moment I turned 16 and was of legal age to work in our home state, I got a job bagging groceries at the local Safeway grocery store. I hated it. Cleaning up broken jars of food in the aisles, retrieving stolen shopping carts from all over the place and being bossed around by customers was everything a kid in high school had no interest in doing. But I got the job because my father let it be known that he had NO intention of paying for the newfangled "cable TV box" that became popular in the mid-1980s. We, like most everyone else at that time in the U.S., had three network channels -- ABC, CBS, and NBC -- received via magic waves that went into the TV through rabbit-ear antennas. He was old school.

But there were these new "cable" channels like ESPN and TNN and other ones that, as a kid who loved racing, had F1 and IMSA and whatnot that could only be seen by forking out cash each month for a cable subscription. My father scoffed at the idea of paying for TV programming, said he’d never do it, and told me to "pay for your own damn cable if that’s what you want to watch." So I did. And bagging groceries sucked, but I got to watch tons of racing and it was well worth the effort.

Funnily enough, you’d never guess who quickly joined me on Sundays to watch "Airintin" Senna (as he pronounced his name), and Al Holbert, and all my other heroes of the 1980s that were beamed into our home through the cable box I paid for…

No idea what the deal is with the contraption that the commentator at the 1936 RAC Tourist Trophy at Ards is wearing, but it likely had nothing to do with streaming. Or cable, for that matter. Motorsport Images

So here we are at another technological jump-off point with TV. Streaming is the new cable. It costs money. And it’s not going away. Barking about it won’t turn back time to the days of yesteryear where TV was free and options were few.

And in anticipation of at least one of these ‘Peacock sucks and I ain’t payin’ it’ letters, I posted this to the innernets for your amusement:

https://twitter.com/marshallpruett/status/1547656761158512641?s=20&t=Gy0Vxb2C_8zL9ir5ETnrWw

Q: I'm very concerned about the future of America's open-wheel series. I don't like what has happened since McLaren has become more involved. Our drivers should always have the ability and option to move to F1 if they see fit and have the opportunity. But what I have seen since McLaren has joined is them using their F1 carrot and purse strings in a way that may be damaging for IndyCar down the line.

How soon until we see a push by them to change Super License points so that IndyCar is on par with F2?

Herta, O'Ward, now Palou. How soon until Ilott, Lundgaard? And down the line perhaps Lundqvist and Rowe? Who else?

I'm young -- the Split happened during my childhood. Our series is repairing the damage. It needs to invest and take steps to protect itself. It needs to develop ways to grow and nuture the Road to Indy, and it needs to be proactive in monitoring the effects of teams and drivers who may simply see it as another rung on the ladder to F1.

For its fans, it needs to protect them and support them from developing the tribal attitude that mars F1.

An IndyCar Fan

An IndyCar Reporter: I hear you, but IndyCar drivers have leapt at F1 opportunities for as long as I can remember, so that’s nothing new. What is new-ish, as you mention, is the presence of an F1 team competing in IndyCar with an American team boss who wields amazing power and influence and has the biggest bank account in the series. At least in terms of an account than can be used and applied to IndyCar matters and the recruitment of high-dollar drivers, there’s nobody in the series with anything near the financial resources as McLaren/AMSP.

It makes the dangling of big dollars and F1 testing carrots a thing that only McLaren/AMSP can offer and we’re seeing how it’s turning the IndyCar paddock upside down. I can’t say that I like the instability it’s causing, but at the same time, if Andretti/Ganassi/Penske/etc. also had F1 teams and F1 testing incentives to offer, do we think they’d do anything different?

The part that worries me is the appearance of a driver being under contract trying to break free and sign with another team. We’ll obviously see what happens with the Palou situation, but if he is indeed bound to Ganassi for 2023 and keeps pushing for a release in the same ways I see star stick-and-ball players do with their teams, I think we’re in for bigger problems.

I’ve had a decent number of folks from the IndyCar paddock call or text since the Palou thing went sideways and say, in various ways, that they’d hate to see IndyCar become like all the other sports where a person’s signature on a contract is meaningless. Maybe that’s being naive in 2022, but I completely agree.

Q: It's Wednesday morning, 6am your time.  The s***show that is the Palou contract situation is still pretty new and fresh. Knowing you've heard rumors and whatnot for a while, when rare stuff like this blows up in public, does the media shake their heads or look like Flounder at the end of "Animal House" when's watching all the chaos and going "Oh boy!"?

John

MP: I won’t pretend for a moment that I knew McLaren was going to pull the pin on an announcement grenade hours after the Tuesday CGR release went out, but having heard about how McLaren was confident it could sign Palou for nearly two months -- despite CGR’s statements to the contrary -- I was prepared for some form of grandiose response to the CGR extension.

I’d run through a lot of the scenarios in my head in recent weeks which helped while knocking out a 2000-word column on short notice. I had two main reactions: A lot of unexpected work will be required for those of us who cover the series in the next 48 hours, and how sad it was for Palou and CGR. There’s nothing sad for McLaren because this is what they want, but it wasn’t so long ago when Alex loved his team, the team loved Alex, and it looked like -- after a few failed attempts -- that CGR found its next Scott Dixon.

It was a heartwarming story in every regard, and those don’t come along all that often in racing. But that’s dead and gone, so we’ll buckle in for the storm that’s expected to hit and see where the saga ends up.

Q: I’m writing to see how IndyCar/Bommarito 500 ticket sales are going at WWTR now that they’ve had a NASCAR race at the facility? I’m very curious to see if the NASCAR race will help or hinder the IndyCar event there. Can you please ask Mr. Blair how things are shaking out?

Tulsa Indycar Fan

MP:  Here’s what the good Mr. Blair said: “We are even with 2019 sales (pre-pandemic) and ahead of last year's sales. And last year [a major team sponsor that since left the series] bought 1,000 tickets and now they went away, so we are actually ahead. [The NASCAR event] helped draw lots of positive attention to the track.”

Q: History underscores and supports Marshall Pruett’s points that too many differences exist to adapt F1 cars to Indy. Al Unser left Jim Hall Racing in 1981 to join Bobby Hillin’s Longhorn Racing. The new team licensed the design of Patrick Head’s ultra-successful, championship-winning Williams FW07 to adapt it to IndyCar (then CART). I believe the Indy version of the FW07 was badged the LR-01. The LR-01 was terrible and never came close to winning a race. There are too many technical differences between the cars, and each series demands different things from its cars.

Kenneth A. Ehrlich

MP: Thanks, Ken. Yes, and I got to see one of the Longhorns run out here in the SCCA on a club racing level in the mid-1980s with fenders and a big naturally-aspirated V8 stuffed in the back of the thing. It was likely modified for the single-seater Can-Am series before it went west.

There's a lot to love about a Williams FW07 – until you try to turn it into an IndyCar. Motorsport Images

Q: I want to second Shyam Charupalla's fustration with "yellow flag lotteries" due to the pits being closed until the field bunches behind the safety car (Mailbag, July 13). Look what happened to Colton Herta at Mid-Ohio. The closed pits lotteries have ruined so many of the IndyCar races I was watching that I no longer watch regularly. (For many years I was a major fan). I'd prefer a VSC whenever a full safety car is not absolutely necessary. Lacking that, open pits would be a big improvement on what we have now, when too many races are decided by luck as much as skill.

Steve Bieler, Richmond, VA

MP: Thanks, Steve. As promised in the last Mailbag, I connected with IndyCar race director Kyle Novak and finally got definitive answers on a few major topics like the closing of pit lane and the near-total extinction of local yellows. Look for it on RACER.com within the next day or so.

Q: Have you heard anything about new tracks that could join the IndyCar schedule in 2023? I think I remember seeing somewhere once that Milwaukee was a track that was being considered for a return to the schedule next year (or in the near future if not '23), but that was just a rumor and I don’t know if that’ll happen -- at least not next year.

I feel like IndyCar’s presence on ovals besides Indy has gotten less and less. Adding Iowa back to the schedule this year is good, and if we can get Milwaukee back we would have a nice amount of short ovals. I would like to know what your opinion is on high speed ovals potentially returning to the schedule? It’s not been announced, but I’m sure Texas will renegotiate and come back since Roger has said he wants it to, and the race this year was a step in the right direction after the last few years. Bu it’d be cool if we got Michigan, Chicagoland, Kansas, and maybe Pocono if IndyCar is interested, to name a few. Some people might disagree with me on this topic, but I’m interested in your opinion on this since I feel like only having Texas and Indy (and potentially just Indy if a new deal with Texas doesn’t come to fruition) is too low an amount of high-speed ovals.

Josh, Havertown, PA

MP: We’re a good month or more away from all the contracts being finalized and NBC having its broadcast options solidified and presented to IndyCar to lock down the calendar for 2023. I’ve heard what’s coming could be nearly identical to what we have this year -- same early start, same pre-NFL end -- and 17 races again at the same tracks.

We’re in agreement on wanting more ovals. Does the second Indy GP do anything for the series? If so, other than keep travel costs down for the Indy-based teams, I can’t find it. Does my home race at Laguna Seca deserve to stay on the calendar if it continues to be a total failure with fan attendance? If the series wants to stay with 17, cool, but there are at least one or two events that could be traded for more ovals.

Q: In a recent article you mentioned a few F2 drivers interested in making the switch to IndyCar. Any idea who the realistic options are? While we're on the silly season topic, the 10 car has to be the most desirable seat right now. Could we see another dramatic fall-out from a driver leaving their current team in an effort to get that seat?

Ian

MP: You are spot-on with the 10 car, Ian. A couple of drivers -- and I’m talking excellent drivers -- in the series told me they’re angling hard to get into that seat, and a few said they believe it’s not just a great car, but the best in the series. The big thing here is what the future holds for Ganassi’s team when Dixon retires. Of course they’ll need someone to take over the 9 car, but just as they thought they had with Palou, finding the right person to take over the 10 could give them their next Dixon to take the team and 9 car into the future. As for the F2 drivers, I’ll drop those names in an upcoming silly season update.

Q: While watching IndyCar practice for Toronto I noticed that some of the members of the on-track safety crew had AMR firesuits on and one had an IndyCar medical firesuit on. Is there any difference between those two people? Is the one in the medical firesuit a doctor?

Bernard Klespis-Wick

MP: Yessir! Think of it like EMTs arriving on the scene with a surgeon riding shotgun to make hard calls on a heavily injured person and/or perform lifesaving measures onsite, and the EMTs are also highly experienced firemen and firewomen who can handle damn near any situation that’s presented to them.

Q: Since McLaren entered the series, which has been an overall big plus, they’ve been a bit big on the drama. You had the Hinchcliffe sacking, the nuking of Oliver Askew, and now the Palou soap opera… and I feel like I’m leaving something out. Point is, I don’t recall any team over such few years having as many openly messy moves. It gives the impression that the team is a bit underhanded in dealings while dangling F1 tests and a big check in front of drivers to create chaos in the paddock. And as an IndyCar fan, it feels a like it created an IndyCar team simply to create a separate path of drivers to feed its mediocre F1 team. And the media (not you) has somewhat treated them a bit like when an extremely attractive person enters a party and has lots of money. Everyone goes googly-eyed like a Loony Toons character. However, once you learn more about the type of person they actually are, you quickly lose interest.

Guaranteed, all teams have done their fair share of wonky deals that didn’t put them in the best light, but it seems AMSP has been on a bit of a tear with them in a short period of time.

Ross

MP: The other one you might be thinking of is hiring Gavin Ward from Team Penske late in 2021 and having a highly pissed Penske team enforce a long non-compete clause that just expired at the end of June.

If McLaren has taught us anything this year, it’s how hard they play the game on and off the court. And maybe in court. I’m overstating the obvious here, but F1 is known for its ruthless ways among teams and manufacturers. IndyCar has had its unsavory moments throughout the decades, but ruthlessness hasn’t become the norm. We’ll probably look back on 2022 as the year where McLaren made F1 tactics a more common approach over here, and its IndyCar rivals had better adapt and respond or face the consequences.

So pretty much the only person in the paddock who wouldn't want to be in the No. 10 is the guy who is currently in it. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: I’m wondering if any IndyCar drivers watch the F1 race live when it’s on in the morning of their race, or are they too focused on their own race later that afternoon?

David Young

MP: If an F1 race is live in the hours before an IndyCar race, I’d be shocked if the majority of them aren’t on their phones, AirPods inserted, and following every lap. That’s nothing new. What is new, in the last few years, is for members of the media to watch F1 as well. Most had zero interest in it until "Drive to Survive," but now, it’s common to see journos huddled around someone’s tablet or laptop in the media center.

Q: So disappointed to see the Masters Historic entries limited to Sunday morning only at The Glen this year. Almost sacrilegious to see these legendary cars play second fiddle to a wine festival. The drivers and owners were equally disappointed with their limited track time. This great event should stand on its own next year. Hey, how about the Masters and Indy Lights together? Love to see the Indy cars back at birthplace of America road racing, but that appears a long shot at best.

Mark Holdren, Marion, NY

MP: Amen, Mark. I love the Masters group -- the vintage F1 and the endurance sports car side as well.

Q: I couldn’t agree more with Marshall’s response to Kevin P regarding Mid-Ohio needing a facelift. I started going there beginning with the Can-Am in 1969, and except for when I lived out of state from 1979-91, been going ever since. When I came back for the rainy ’92 IMSA race, I was blown away by what was done while I was gone. Garages. Grandstands at the end of back straight. Spectator mounds. New press box. Scoring tower by Turn 1 and food facilities in the infield. Wow!

However, that was 30 years ago and the facility’s definitely showing its age and lack of upkeep. It appears except for the additional scoring tower behind Turn 5, nothing’s been done since those additions. While walking through the paddock two weeks ago at the IndyCar race, I was taken aback yet again when I saw the center garage stairs still awkwardly blocked off with a hastily chained-on gate because at least one stair was broken.  I remember seeing that last year. And probably the year before that. C’mon Green Savoree and Craig Rust, how much time and money does it take to get a 2x12 and some deck screws to fix?  It’s not like you’re demolishing and rebuilding facilities or repaving the track. If you don’t care enough to fix a little, cheap-fix problem like a broken stair, that’s sending a powerful, negative message to your clientele.

I realize upkeep’s expensive, but please, please, spend some money to spruce the place up! I’d be profoundly saddened if my deeply-beloved Mid-Ohio started losing events because as Marshall said, “…it’s starting to give sanctioning bodies a reason to ask if it’s up to par with the rest of the regular stops…”

Howard Packer, Dayton, OH

MP: While reading your letter, I wondered if it’s time for the track to establish a "Friends of Mid-Ohio" organization. If they’re critically short on funding, which is all I can assume considering how the same old worn out stuff today has been worn out forever, I bet there are hundreds of passionate fans and locals who would happily volunteer their time and skills with some refurbishment projects.

For all those who can swing a hammer, drive in nails, dig a ditch, yank broken wood, hang a door, and do other home and backyard DIY projects, I wonder if a call to action from Mid-Ohio would bridge the labor gap. Supply the materials and let the amazing people of Ohio restore an iconic track. I’d wager good money that they’d receive an outpouring of support.

Q: I'd have to say, this has been the silliest of silly seasons, in not just Indy but everywhere. Even the stick and ball sport's world. The Cleveland Browns Clevelanding it up had me thinking: Do driver trades exist in motorsports?

Shawn in MD

MP: They don’t, but I wonder if they might, Shawn. Would Chip trade Pato for Palou? I bet he would. But I doubt Zak would be up for it. The thought of O’Ward having the full coaching and mentoring services of Dario Franchitti, along with the data he’d see from the other CGR drivers, and the little tricks and tips he’d pick up, would make for a genuinely frightening driver. Keep in mind that he’s been the best driver at every IndyCar team he’s raced for, and has never had the kind of growth and support structure like Palou, Ericsson, and others have used to such great effect.

Would Chip trade Palou for Felix? I’ve wondered about that as well. Ganassi didn’t want to lose him when he left, and I’d say he’s a better driver today than we saw in his second season with Chip. But would Rosenqvist pick up where Palou left off and chuck the No. 10 car into the championship hunt year after year? I’m not sure if that’s what Chip thinks he’d get in return for a guaranteed title contender like Alex, so I’d guess it might not pique his interest to trade Palou for FRO.

Q: Forgive my ignorance, I don't follow the ins and outs of over the air TV versus streaming and all that, I just like watching IndyCar. Can you explain how it helps a series that doesn't get enough viewers on free TV to put a race on pay TV? Aren't they essentially saying, "let's purposely have even less viewers this week"? I don't understand it. Thanks.

John

MP: As I’ve understood the process, IndyCar (and IMSA) don’t call the shots with dates and where their races will air. They both push and fight to get the best they can each year, but like the Texas and Sebring clash in March, IndyCar was given a network window on a less than optimal weekend, and boom, the series dragged its traditional post-Indy 500 oval race forward by nearly three months just to take what NBC offered.

So, when one out of 17 rounds is earmarked for Peacock by the series’ broadcaster, that’s what they get. I can say with complete confidence that if IndyCar held the power to pick where Toronto is shown, it would be NBC or USA. I assume it was also being used as a test to see what kind of numbers it would generate. As I wrote before TO, those who held their expectations low would not be disappointed…

There were plenty of people at the track, but the jury's out on how many "Peacocked" the Toronto race from home. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: What is the Cliffs Notes version of the reasons Chip and Zak don't like each other?

David, Waxhaw, NC

MP: It’s not like I’ve been standing in the middle of those two as they bark at each other, but as I understand its origins, Zak’s gone after multiple Ganassi drivers on multiple occasions since he joined McLaren, all while most have been under contract (Rosenqvist being the exception). As I’ve heard, the frequent fishing expeditions in Ganassi’s pond without permission is where the animus comes from.

As Zak pointed out in an interview we did last month, Chip’s also recently gone after one of his drivers (Pato) without asking for permission in advance, so is that a case of Ganassi being hypocritical or a case of giving back what he’s been getting?

I don’t have the answer, but Chip’s a no-nonsense guy, Zak loves poking the bear, and together, they won’t be exchanging hugs and kisses anytime soon.

Q: So they want to build viewership for IndyCar races?  Of course the turmoil that happened last week is a coincidence, but to have the race only on a streaming service in which I have no interest, and to not even have a same day delayed broadcast? What the hell are they thinking? (And yeah, I'm still disappointed they don't come to PIR anymore)

Stu Lehr, Scottsdale, AZ

MP: To be fair, it’s not like NBC has a crystal ball and knew a soap opera would be playing out leading into the one race of the year it booked for Peacock, but yes, it’s hard to argue against it being a missed opportunity.

Q: How do F1 cars get away with not adjusting their front wings during a race while IndyCars do it virtually every pit stop?

Sean Raymond

MP: Front wing changes are made in F1 races, but not with the frequency found in IndyCar. A move from Firestone primary tires to alternates, or vice versa, will change the balance of the car, so the front mechanics add or remove x-number of turns to maintain proper handling. You’ll get similar balance changes when F1’s various compounds are used, which is why you’ll occasionally see front wing changes, but compared to an IndyCar, there are a ton more tuning options available to the driver from inside the cockpit to address balance changes.

Q: With all the talk about the current IndyCar being too heavy and in need of a diet, why shouldn't Dallara look at removing the automatic car lifts during pit stops and revert to the F1 car jacks?

I'm not engineer, so feel free to call me an idiot, but it seems like there is an easy way to get the car skinnier, but would add two-four people for the pit stops.

Kevin

MP: You’re not an idiot, Kev, but this would be like getting your hair cut just to say you’ve lost weight. The tiny airjacks aren’t individual items that will pare meaningful weight off the car, nor would ditching the system as a whole. Considering how tight some of our pit boxes are, the thought of adding extra people to the process with handling front and rear jacks tips this into a concept that skyrockets the risk for no real reason.

Q: Some years back Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe bought the GP of Long Beach (or at least they made sure they owned the rights to the GPLB).

Who owns the GP of Long Beach now and controls it?

Dan

MP: My friend Jim Michaelian who runs the GPALB was kind enough to send this over: “The Grand Prix Association of Long Beach is still co-owned by Jerry Forsythe and the estate of Kevin Kalkhoven, since the passing of Kevin this past January.”  

Long Beach is still co-owned by Forsythe and the Kalkhoven estate. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Q: IndyCar needs to take a look at its qualifying yellow flag procedures. When, during Group 2 qualifying, a yellow flag was displayed I noted that the clock kept running. However, no one was on track since competitive laps could not be run. During a red flag the clock is stopped. Why not stop the clock during yellow flags? At the end of that qualifying event no one had a chance to do anything. Regarding qualifying, what is the difference between red and yellow flags since, in both cases, no one can attempt a qualifying run?

Chuck Genrich

MP: I might need to turn the Mailbag over to IndyCar race director Kyle Novak for a week during the offseason and ask him to handle all the race control questions that are posed. The series is rather straightforward when it comes to road/street course qualifying, the minimum guaranteed time it offers for each session, and its lack of interest in treating qualifying like practice or the race by going red for an open-ended period of time.

True, there’s no difference between going yellow or red during time trials in how it prevents hot laps from being turned or completed, but there’s also an urgency in the knockout system where 10 minutes are given for each session and the series clearly wants to apply pressure on its drivers to maintain control and keep the process from becoming a lengthy mess.

Sometimes the Graham Rahals and Will Powers get screwed due to the late timing of the caution, as we had with Kyle Kirkwood’s rolling crash and spin. Sometimes it happens early in the session and gets cleared and it’s not a major inconvenience. And sometimes, on a track like Toronto where cautions are a constant, a few teams place a priority on getting out early on the quick tires and doing their best to avoid a bad yellow.

Q: I've got nothing but respect for Jimmie Johnson, and I rooted for him on in his great finish at Texas, but I'm curious to know where J.J. is lacking on the road course and street circuits compared to his teammates. Is it under braking, carrying speed through the corners, or what ? His humble attitude about the whole IndyCar experience is total class and if nothing else, he is showing just how world class the other drivers on the grid really are. Thank you, Jimmie, for being so candid about your time in open-wheel.

Brandon Lowe, Jackson, TN

MP: It’s tying the different phases of cornering together. Anyone can go like mad and brake at the last second and make the discs glow like the surface of the sun, but what happens next? How quickly did the driver return to the throttle and start powering through the corner, and how hard on the throttle did they go?

When I went through drivers school eons ago in my Formula Ford, it was the same process. I’d go barreling out of the Carousel at Sears Point and brake super late into Turn 7. I mean, I felt like I was going to rip the seat belts out of the thing I went so deep, but then I was sitting there like an idiot at what must have been 0.7mph, having to start the whole acceleration process over because I hadn’t figured out that yes, it’s good to brake late, but not to the point where you kill your momentum to go around the corner. I was treating braking, turning, and accelerating as three distinct events, and while it’s not like I ever got to a point where I was really good, it was in trying to make the three events into one where there were no significant pauses between the three phases where I gained time and understood the importance of rhythm and flow.

So, I’m not saying Jimmie’s still having to do all of that in such a basic way, but from what I continue to see, it’s the smooth, seamless, crazy-fast flow from braking to turning to accelerating where he’s not yet able to be as aggressive as the road racing open-wheel veterans. Lap times are so close, all it takes is a tiny hesitation in any of the three phases -- at each corner -- to add a few hundredths here and a tenth there during the lap. I have all of the respect in the world for the guy. I wish fewer people took delight in dumping on him as he tries to master something his rivals have been doing since they were in grade school or junior high.

Q: If I understand correctly, IndyCar engines can be replaced without penalty after they have been used for so many miles. How is this tracked? How do they determine how many miles an engine has run?

Craig

MP: The rules say that each annual lease comes with four engines and a need to reach a combined 10,000 miles of running, and as of a few years ago, the series let its manufacturers choose the exact timing for those changes. Instead of holding them -- as they once did -- to a specific minimum mileage number, the series provided some wiggle room to allow for slightly early or late changeouts.

That’s the overarching rule structure to understand. As for the tracking of mileage, that’s easy. All engines have serial numbers and the series stays on top of what engine goes in our out throughout the season. Engine techs from Chevy and Honda keep track of the mileage the engines complete by multiplying the number of laps turned by the official track length in each session. Those get added up and once they start to approach 2000 or so, the clock starts on when the team and manufacturer decide to swap old for fresh.

Q: Last week you answered a question about Texas being on next year's schedule and shared your thought that 2023 would be the same schedule as 2022. One point to confirm that thought is the Iowa doubleheader coming up is also planned for 2023. In the envelope of Iowa tickets sent out is an order form for the same doubleheader in 2023. Is the Hy-Vee race team and Iowa race contract for two years? A few of us thought one of the Iowa races could move to Milwaukee -- a similar short oval. It is hard to see the stars aligning as it has for Hy-Vee and Iowa for such a sponsorship deal anywhere else? What do you see in your crystal ball of IndyCar's future schedule?

Bob Hunt, Lodi, WI

MP: Great to hear on the renewals, Bob! With the big response to the Hy-Vee Iowa doubleheader so far, I assumed it would be back in the same format for next year. Not sure on the contract length, but with Penske directly involved in the promotions, it was always going to be extended if profits were on offer and will be axed if it falls short. I know fans of the Milwaukee Mile want it to be added back to the IndyCar schedule, but I’ve heard nothing to suggest it’s on the series’ radar, unfortunately. I keep asking if we’re going somewhere new or losing a current track for a former track, and keep getting the answer no.

Milwaukee was a celebration of history, tradition, and... dignity. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Q: It's great that IndyCar went with a throwback race at Toronto. Sent me back to the mid-'70s when most of the races weren't televised, and you had to listen to them on the Motor Racing Network, or wait until the next day to listen to the sports on local radio. I can't believe that the sponsors got their money's worth with a race shown just on Peacock. I'm willing to bet that the PBA bowling that was on at the same time will get higher ratings. Apologies to bowlers, no malice or disrespect intended -- I bowled for 30 years.

James, Canton, Ohio

MP: Is this the part where I admit to watching a few minutes of the ACL — the American Cornhole League -- that was on ESPN2 (I think, or something similar) after exiting out of Peacock on Sunday?

Q: There has been some heavy discussion on an answer from last week that included a mention of the replacement of the Mid-Ohio IMSA race with one at Indy in September of 2023. Care to elaborate, or do we have to wait for the traditional schedule announcement at the Road America event?

There has been a mini-uproar that the condition of the facility may have contributed to this possible loss of one of the few larger events at the venue....

David

MP: David, you’re on the right path. The state of disrepair at Mid-O and the upcoming move to the Indy road course can’t be a coincidence.

Q: I have a few questions :

1. When an IndyCar goes into the run-off area or spins, why do the engines stall so easily?

2. Why haven’t engineers developed a way for drivers to adjust their front wings from inside the cockpit rather than having to wait for a pit stop?

3. Have any drivers ever come in for a "splash and go" only to find out afterwards they had enough fuel to finish the race? (I think about when Danica gave up the lead at the 500).

4. Is it required that drivers must speak in English when communicating with their team during the race?

Janis, Gatorville, FL

MP: Hi Janis. Here you go:

1: I wouldn’t put it down to the engines, necessarily. Disengaging the clutch is a priority, but if a driver is sliding or spinning and trying to keep the car out of the wall, doing all that steering and saving can take priority over also trying to pull the clutch lever with a finger that might otherwise be preoccupied. As for stalling sitting in a run-off, trying to flick-spin the car from a standstill can also be a challenge to get the engine revs at the right spot while releasing the clutch and steering. How’s this: If it’s not easy for the best IndyCar drivers on the planet, the rest of us would be absolutely hopeless.

2: Because it isn’t allowed in the rules. If it were, every team would have the systems on the cars by Nashville.

3: I’m sure they have.

4: I’ve never bothered to look for such a rule, but since we have spotters, strategists, engineers and pit crew who all need to understand what’s going on with their effort, you hear native French speakers like Romain Grosjean and his race engineer Olivier Boisson speaking English so the dozen other people on the No. 28 Honda who don’t speak their native tongue are kept in the loop.

Q: Two questions, two favors. Could you please get word to NBC/Peacock that the "Hate Cauldron" concept is just wrong on so many levels? I’m sure IndyCar doesn’t condone this, so it’s on NBC/Peacock to get rid of it. We have little kids and new fans coming to IndyCar with each new race, and we’re touting hate now? Fierce competitors, yes. Racing rivals, yes. Haters? NO! I can’t believe that lame segment made it on air.

Could you please get back to me regarding any action you take, or action that is taken? I don’t care if you add this letter to the Mailbag or not, but the cauldron has got to go, and so does the thinking behind it.

Thank you in advance, kind sir, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Jim W., McHenry, IL

MP: Of the many purposes of the Mailbag, one is for fans to share their thoughts and hope that whomever they want to address comes across their message. If it’s a great idea, I will forward things from time to time, but this doesn’t fall into that category since it’s an opinion. I won’t be taking any action here. The "hate cauldron" segment was meant to be playful and thanks to Rossi, who joined in at the end, it was just that: playful fun. Trying to sell it as something darker and meaner and potentially damaging to children is where you lost me.

Q: I know it’s sport to pick on Peacock and I’m here for that. Sunday night at 10pm the race replay was still not available. While that’s a head scratcher, a more pressing problem is there were two short-form videos: one about Dixon catching Mario for wins and another 12-minute video of the race summary. WTH?  Do they not realize how much of a spoiler that is?

Everyone keeps saying "it’s $5/month." I get it, but this needs to be fixed. We all know this is the way of the future whether we like it or not.

Mike DeQuardo, Elkhart Lake, WI

MP: I thought spoiler alerts went the way of the dinosaurs when Stefano Coletti was driving for KV Racing Technology?

Spoiler alert. Geoffrey Miller/Motorsport Images

Q: Is IndyCar stuck with two visits each year to the Indy road course for the foreseeable future? I'd rather have the second race there than nothing at all, but I wonder if there are any other options. Thinking out loud: COTA and Phoenix didn't seem to work. Watkins Glen has also said they've struggled to make things work with IndyCar, which is such a shame. VIR and Road Atlanta's lack of run-off doesn't seem suitable either.

Is the bridge with Sonoma burned beyond repair? Did COVID completely kill off any possibility of a return to Richmond? Hey look, I didn't even mention the two most requested "historical" IndyCar events and I didn't bitch about Peacock – are you proud of me?

Joe from Ohio

MP: Joe! You’re my Mailbag Hero of the Week!

Meh. The Indy road course is the series’ version of lite rock. Nobody really asks for it, but if you need something to distract yourself, it’s always there and waiting to numb the mind. Granted, the ever-changing weather conditions in May -- and occasional blindness behind the aeroscreens -- made for a thriller, but that was an exception.

Man, I really do hope IndyCar has a reason to scrap the second event and trade it for something more compelling than being the opening act for NASCAR. Nobody turned up at COTA or Sonoma, so those are DOA. Same with Watkins Glen. And the rest of the cool tracks like Lime Rock or Talladega are either too dangerous for IndyCar or connected to a bigger series that wouldn’t want to let open-wheelers invade their territory.

The best place we go each year outside of the Indy 500 is Road America. If we had to double up somewhere else, I wonder if it could support two IndyCar races without taking away from each other.

Q: I have a general question regarding Palou's situation. Assuming he keeps his championship-contending form the next couple of years, how does this 2023 contract mess affect the next time he is a free agent? Seems to me that in racing, how the drivers conduct themselves both publicly and behind the scenes with the teams matters almost as much as their results, at least for the drivers in the middle of the championship ranks or lower. (Rumors of Ferrucci not getting signed with some teams for these reasons come to mind). So is that also a consideration even if the driver is a front-runner? Does it just depend on the team?

I'm wondering if Palou has just tied himself to McLaren potentially for the foreseeable future (or even the rest of his career) if no other team will want to touch him for fear of finding themselves in the same situation as CGR at some point. Seems like the paddock can be slow to forgive these kinds of things...

See y'all in Nashville.

Heather, SF Bay Area

MP: Teams will always want a champion as long as they are performing like a champion. What might have gotten lost for some folks in the Ganassi-McLaren thing is Alex brought all of this on himself. He’s way too smart and was under no illusion that he was pulling the pin on a drama bomb by signing his name on a second and conflicting contract. None of this happened by accident. All the furor over unapproved quotes and whatnot was a smokescreen. I have no doubt he was truly pissed about that, but it had zero to do with the matter at hand.

If he does end up driving for McLaren, I’d imagine he’ll have a long and prosperous career there if it’s in IndyCar. If it’s in Formula 1, he’d need to do something we’ve never seen in the modern era at the age of 25 or 26 and succeed as a comparatively ancient rookie. And if he goes to McLaren and he or the team opt to part ways a few years from now, I’m sure there are plenty of IndyCar teams that would be interested. And they’d also be sure to bring 50 lawyers along, plus a video crew, and notary publics, and a few judges, and maybe a psychic, to make sure there’s no question as to whether the contract is valid.

Q: In qualifying, the standard practice is to run a couple laps with the black sidewall tires and then the faster red sidewall tires to close out the session. This may be naive on my part, but to prevent getting caught out on a flier lap on reds at the end of the session, why don't the drivers switch the process and go out on reds first? That way they can lay down a fast lap at the beginning of the session and avoid the bad luck that so often happens in qualifying at the end of the session (i.e.: Power and Rahal at Toronto, and other recent races).

Paul, Granite Bay, CA

MP: The reasoning for the opening laps being done on primaries before switching to alternates tends to fall along two lines: Burning off fuel weight on the primaries as a "banker lap" is turned and track evolution, with each new lap of running adding more rubber and grip to the track than the last. So, take the loss of a few gallons of fuel at seven pounds per in each qualifying segment, plus the grip-is-best-at-the-end factor, and that’s why most teams opt to wait for alternates at the very end. Some go early, but it’s a rarity among the contending drivers; it’s usually a rookie sent out who has long odds to transfer. Yes, it exposes the teams to a Power/Rahal deal, but it doesn’t happen often enough to warrant a total change in how teams administer the qualifying segments.

Q: In last week's Mailbag, Rich McGuigan asked about race control's logic when the pits are closed immediately for a full-course yellow or left open for a bit. As someone who has been flagging since 2007, I just wanted to add some info from our side of the fence: It really does come down to the specific incident and the location of the car/how serious the incident was. If there is any concern of injury (driver or anyone else if debris went over a fence, etc.), the FCY is going to be thrown almost immediately, which per IndyCar's current procedures means the pits will close. Also, if the car is in a bad spot and in danger of being hit (think just about anywhere on a street course or oval, or on track at a road course), same thing.

Alternately, if the car is in a relatively safe location and there's no concern over injury or fire, etc. (now think at the back of a gravel trap 30 feet of course), then race control may wait and allow the field the opportunity to pit before calling the FCY. Despite what the booth said during, I believe, Mid-Ohio, this has been happening for several years and is not new. Race control has also increased the likelihood of only using a local yellow versus throwing a red during practice/qualifying in order to get cars restarted (mostly at street courses) so as to try not to shut down the sessions as much.

They are making this determination based on what they themselves can see on camera, but also on the information they are getting from the turn. We immediately tell them if the car is "safe" or "hazardous", which is in reference to the location the car stopped in, as well as if it is a serious situation or not (fire, roll-over, hard impact, etc.). All of this information goes into their decision.

Hope this helps. If you're ever at a race and wondering some of these things, feel free to ask the corner workers in between sessions! We're friendly and love to help fans understand more about what's going on, assuming we know that is.

Heather, SF Bay Area

MP: Thanks again, Heather!

One colored light (or flag) = much potential for confusion. Image by Penske Entertainment

Q: For all the good that Zak Brown has done, like expanding McLaren’s presence in IndyCar Extreme E and Formula E, I also feel that he’s a driver career-killer, like he did to Oliver Askew and now it appears that he’s about to ruin both Alex Palou’s and Felix Rosenqvist careers by having them sign these contracts to nowhere. I get that the drivers should had read the contract, but if you promised one driver that he will stay in IndyCar then you should hold your end of the bargain as a car owner.

Alistair, Branson, MO

MP: I can’t say if Zak made any promises to Felix to stay in IndyCar. Felix knew what he was signing, so that’s another assumption, Alistair. On Felix, specifically, there was a real chance he was going to be gone at the end of the year after another slow start to the season, but he rallied at the Indy 500 and has been on a great run since then, which made McLaren decide to keep him without saying where he’d drive at the time of the signing. But yes, it’s weird to see the team going out of its way to see if someone else can be hired for the IndyCar job.

Oliver was an experiment when he was signed. I’ve heard they hoped he’d turn into a big star, but weren’t going to commit to doing a second or third year if it was needed to get him to where Pato was already at. I love the kid and hope he gets another crack at IndyCar.

As for Alex, if he does drive for McLaren, he’ll be fine. If he doesn’t and is at Ganassi’s mercy, he could become a cautionary tale unless he somehow makes up with Chip.

Q: Can someone please explain to me the rhyme or reason behind smoke flares or bombs as witnessed at the recent Austrian GP? Let's just pretend for a minute that I purchased an expensive seat in one of the several grandstands. Just before the race starts, the morons set off these flares so that hundreds of the loyal fans could see absolutely nothing of the first several laps while choking on the fumes. Isn't there even a bare minimum of a security check for incoming "fans" to confiscate these and similar contraband?

I don't even want to think of the potential for chaos if some maniac were to bring in something much, much worse, disguised as a flare.

Maybe I'm missing something here? But this madness at soccer games or racetracks truly escapes my comprehension. Please spare me the cultural aspects of this practice in addition to the other nonsense going on here.

Wiscowerner

CHRIS MEDLAND: It seems that they're not banned at motorsport events unlike many other sports events I know of, and I'm with you that the timing seems ridiculous when they're set off just as the race is about to start. The one bit of defense I can give to those letting them off is that the main grandstand in question (between Turn 5 and Turn 6) is reserved exclusively for Dutch fans of Max Verstappen, so it's all a similar crowd in there -- anyone buying a ticket for that section knows what they're getting in terms of atmosphere. But I just don't think it's smart to be doing it when it stops you seeing the action.

There are security checks that these have to pass through and be checked as flares, but I don't think it will be all that long until they are banned on safety grounds like they are in many other sports.

Don't try this at Indy. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Q: IndyCar teams often have three or four cars on the grid. With so many talented drivers looking for an F1 seat, is a McLaren third car on the F1 grid ever an option?

Brian

CM: Ah, a question after my own heart. Sadly it's not an option as the regulations define that each team must run two cars and two cars only. But I'd love it if F1 was more open to teams entering third cars -- even if they're ineligible for points -- so we can give more drivers competitive opportunities. It was discussed at some stage if too many teams went bust in order to keep the minimum number of cars on the grid up, but fortunately F1's in much better health now.

Q: In recent years, some F1 drivers have talked about bringing over the IndyCar qualifying penalties for causing yellow and red flags. But I wonder if there isn’t a more significant rule they could bring over -- the alternate start/finish line.

This seems to work great in IndyCar, getting slow cars off the track faster rather than having them run a full lap off the pace and impeding other drivers. Sure, it gives the drivers less time on the out lap to heat up their tires and brakes, but it’s the same for every driver, and with the tire warmer ban coming soon, it seems like F1 wants the drivers to differentiate themselves. Obviously, F1 tracks have about a million timing lines so it would have to be pretty easy from a technical perspective, so what is holding them back?

Chris, San Francisco, CA

CM: I was thinking the same thing watching Toronto qualifying Chris, and I genuinely think it could be an option at some tracks. You're right that tire prep would be a concern, but then there's nothing to stop drivers doing an extra warm-up lap in that case. I don't believe timing points would be a massive issue either, so I don't actually think there's anything insurmountable holding them back if they wanted to look into it, it's probably just never been suggested and F1 will think it's much more clear for fans knowing where a lap begins and ends at all times. I'll ask the question this weekend in France!

THE FINAL WORD

From Robin Miller's Mailbag, July 23, 2014

Q: When you hark back to the days of badass, brave racers (and let’s be frank, you do that a lot), you mention certain tracks. Of the paved, high-bank class, you usually mention Salem, but not Winchester. I watched sprints on those tracks before and after cages and they both scared the beejeezus out of me. I’m just curious -- what is it about Salem that makes you pick it instead of Winchester (or Dayton, for that matter) for the badass hall of fame?

Tom Hinshaw, Santa Barbara, CA

ROBIN MILLER: I didn’t realize I mentioned one more than the other but it’s purely accidental, because all three were a wicked test of balls and skill. I can attest to that. I made my Winchester debut in 1976 and started last because it was my first time (USAC rule) on the high banks. The feature started and I passed a couple cars and thought I was going pretty quick until Rich Vogler and Johnny Parsons went by me sideways while hazing their right-rear tires and disappeared. Hmm, maybe I wasn’t going so fast.