The RACER Mailbag, August 10

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: From my point of view Josef Newgarden got away with one in Nashville by driving Romain Grosjean into the wall. If he didn’t drive for Penske, I think he would have been penalized. His comment to Grosjean was “welcome to IndyCar”. That’s a pretty arrogant thing to say. I’m tired of his attitude. Why don’t they give penalties? This will only get worse if they don’t do something.

Paul, Indianapolis

MARSHALL PRUETT: Completely disagree, Paul. I love a good conspiracy theory, but this ain’t one of them. I’d put good money on the root of the Newgarden non-call being who was on the receiving end, not who owns the series and his car. If this was Josef nerfing Palou or O’Ward into the wall, a drive-through penalty gets handed down. It wasn’t just the lateness of his passing attempt, but the shallow angle Josef took that allowed the front of his car to get ahead of Grosjean meant he was aimed at the exit wall more than the corner exit. And in that scenario, the car on the outside is effectively cut off from making it around Turn 9.

Had the pass started sooner and farther away from the corner’s apex, both would have gotten through unscathed. But that didn’t happen. And with Grosjean’s swashbuckling approach to passing earlier in the season and the "deal with it" attitude he displayed when asked about it, I have to believe history and precedent factored into race control swallowing the whistle on this one.

Grosjean didn’t deserve to be walled by Newgarden; past misdeeds shouldn’t always lead to a green light for rough driving tactics, and I can’t say if I recall these two scrapping beforehand. Nonetheless, Josef got the knives out and did what he did. Would IndyCar penalize him at one of the upcoming races if he were to do the same thing to Grosjean? Yes. As I see it, Grosjean received a payback of sorts and now the slate should be clean.

As for Josef’s comments, I loved every single word. He’s one of the smartest and most opinionated drivers in the series, but it’s rarely seen when he’s at work, hidden behind the Penske polish he and his teammates are expected to spew. Give me Spicy Newgarden all day every day over Vanilla Josef. I’d rather have people hate him than have no feelings one way or the other about the guy.

Q: In the article on Alexander Rossi's penalty, you referenced NBC installing cameras in the cars for the race. Are the teams allowed to install their own cameras for practice or in-cars that NBC does not select?

We've seen camera views being adjusted during the race. Who manages that? The NBC truck? Is there such a thing as a "homologated camera" or can they use anything that fits? Do teams monitor cameras during practice or the race, particularly on street or road courses where there aren't any spotters, or do they use transponder data?

John

MP: All of the in-car broadcast camera feeds are from equipment supplied by BSI, Broadcast Sports, Inc. BSI’s been the vendor for decades, and across all manner of networks. Yes, the NBC truck runs the show and cameras, and for those who aren’t included for the weekend, they are allowed to run the lipstick cameras overhead on the roll hoop, but that’s it. Most crews watch the timing and scoring monitors and broadcast monitors in their pits if they aren’t readying to go over the wall.

No more Mr Nice Guy. Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

Q: Before I proceed, I acknowledge and own that what I'm about to share puts me in Boomer territory...

Something has to change with the Nashville circuit. I am fully supportive of holding an event there -- it's a rapidly-growing community that thrives on events, especially those that draw folks from out of town. But holy crap, has it been a struggle each year to carve out time for the race. So many yellow and/or red flags. There comes a point some of us must tap out! I can't keep going with this. Weather delays are one thing, but yellow upon yellow because cars can't race your circus? (Purposely phrased that way). Sorry, but no.

Matt Philpott

MP: The part that makes me really sad is there’s some number of new fans in Tennessee who’ve attended their first IndyCar race by going to Nashville and this is what we’ve given them. I’ve loved the WWF/WWE since I was a teenager, but even this is hard for me to accept as "sports entertainment."

I’m running out of new ways to say "it was a total dumpster fire" since I’ve written or said it dozens of times after the first race was held 12 months ago. We all want the Music City GP to succeed. They just have to find a layout that doesn’t trash half the cars in the field and put IndyCar’s faithful fans to sleep with all the cautions.

I hate football or basketball games where the refs blow the whistle every thirty seconds. Ruins the flow and makes the game feel tedious. This was The Race With 1000 Fouls.

Q: I've noticed that many, and maybe even most, cars in various classes of sport car racing have the rear wing supports coming over the top in a so-called "goose neck" configuration. There's a few teams (e.g. Porsche and Corvette) that have the supports under the wing, as has been done for decades. Is there any performance advantage, whether actual or imagined, for the goose neck version? If so, what is the theory?

It seems that widths of wing supports would be the major factor in disruption of airflow rather than where the supports are placed, unless there's some advantage in which surface of the wing gets more disrupted or has a "cleaner" surface. The only possible advantage I can think of is that maybe it's easier to reach over a wing to make adjustments.

Alfred N, Northern CA

MP: Hi Alfred, the "swan neck" designs appeared for the first time in 2009 in the American Le Mans Series, and I’m not sure which one debuted first, but Acura’s new ARX-02s LMP1 prototype and Audi’s new R15 LMP1 prototype rolled out with them in place for the Wheels Down Winter Test I attended.

As former Acura designer Nick Wirth told me that day on pit lane, moving the attachment points of the rear wing pillars from the underside of the wing where the downforce is made to the topside came with a small but worthy increase in downforce. The swan-neck style comes with heavily tapered mounts to smooth the flow beneath the low-pressure side of the wing, so disruption isn’t an issue. Hard to say why others have not followed the practice with their latest cars.

Q: It's past time to change IndyCar qualifying. Stop the clock for yellow and red flags, but keep the penalties. It does not make sense to penalize drivers because another screws up.

Gary P., Auburn, CA

MP: I hear you, Gary. I don’t entirely disagree, but drivers penalize each other all the time with their screwups. The one antidote to avoiding being screwed in road and street course qualifying is to go out right away and put in a strong lap on primary tires. I know the track isn’t as good as it could be; the longer you wait, the more rubber that gets put down and the better grip you have, but this is not some mystifying problem with no solution.

The thing I truly don’t understand is how, given all of the cautions that were brought out last year at Nashville and again in the two sessions before qualifying on Saturday, why anyone would think the wise call would be to sit and wait to go out in any of the knockout rounds. Makes zero sense at this specific track. At Portland? Probably not. At Nashville? Good Lord, mash the throttle the moment the 10-minute round starts and get a lap time in before a stoppage happens.

Q: A RACER article before Iowa talked about drivers wearing "cool shirts" to battle the heat. What exactly are these shirts, and do they work like "cool suits"? Which drivers wore the special shirts? Did they work? How did drivers without them survive the heat, especially in Saturday's race with the heat index reaching the low 100+ degrees?

Are there going to be no more IndyCar night races now it is televised on the main NBC network? St. Louis is scheduled for a 5pm start before any sundown cooling. Last year's St. Louis race was as perfect as race conditions there could be, with a beautiful full moon night about 80 degrees and light breeze. Does the loss of the NBCSN cable network means no more night racing? Major League Baseball and the NFL have incorporated night games to their advantage. Too bad IndyCar drivers, crews, and fans are being pushed back 50 years to the times of major sports played only on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. What's your take?

Bob Hunt, Lodi, WI

MP: Yes, the term "cool suit" is very much of a 1980s thing when the first-generation systems could have leggings, a shirt, and a cap that all had cooled liquid pumped and circulated through those garments. In modern times, cool shirts have become the primary solution. As for who all wore them, that’s a homework project that involves more time than we dedicate for Mailbag questions, but quite a few were used. Yes, they wouldn’t use them unless they worked.

Can’t say I understand the note about going back 50 years; 90-plus percent of the races I’ve attended have been in the daytime on Saturdays and Sundays. Portraying the absolute norm as an oddity makes my brain hurt.

IndyCar drivers have been wearing cool suits for years. Motorsport Images

Q: In an effort to actually see the fastest 12 car and driver combinations compete for pole positions, hear this out and then tell me why it wouldn’t work.

First, count all timed laps of the race weekend, including practice times, to determine the Fast 12 and then run qualifying as normal from there. Or, perhaps preferably, if IndyCar wants to run the first two 12-car sessions that is great, but all drivers would start those sessions with a "banker" ap on the board, determined by the best lap they had had posted at any time on track to that point.

You could improve upon this time in the session, but not lose it. I know this isn’t perfect, but I think it would be better by pulling on a larger sample size and addressing the difficulty with drivers getting in their best result due to traffic or flags. It would also lessen the possibility of pulling a Schumacher and the potential of intentionally ruining the fast lap of a competing driver. [ED: Michael Schumacher was penalized in Monaco in 2006 after it was determined that he'd deliberately crashed in the final moments of qualifying to deny Fernando Alonso a shot a pole]

What happened with Colton on Saturday thankfully didn’t affect championship contenders from non-Andretti teams. It was bad enough in that created an unrepresentative fast six from that group.

Your thoughts?

George, Albuquerque, NM

MP: I love your creativity, George. But I’d encourage all teams to be as smart as A.J. Foyt Racing and Dalton Kellett by firing out of their pit box right away at every street course qualifying round -- because streets are where these problems crop up more than any other type of circuit -- and put in that "banker" lap. If it’s a 10-minute walk to the bus stop and you leave five minutes before it’s due to arrive and miss the bus, I’m not sure if we need to alter the bus schedules and change the entire system as a result. Just leave the damn house on time and the problem will solve itself.

Q: I was confused by the lightning delay for last weekend’s IndyCar race. I’m in the UK, and I’ve never seen a lightning delay in other sports, and IndyCar is the only U.S. sport I watch. So are lightning delays something which happens regularly in the U.S.?

And if they happen regularly, is it normal for TV coverage during rain/lightning delays in things like NASCAR to feature everyone in their motorhomes getting interviewed via Zoom? It all seemed strange and a bit haphazard to me, especially when I realized it was being broadcast on NBC and not one of their lesser channels.

Paul Rayner, Edinburgh, UK

MP: For outdoor venues here, yes, it’s the norm. I’ve been at NFL and MLB games where thunder or lightning have been in the area and we’ve had to seek shelter.

No clue on the NASCAR broadcasts -- I watch maybe one or two races a year -- but I am thankful to NBC for scrambling to provide something other than dead air.

Q: I'm watching the rain-delayed Big Machine GP action and I see that NBC had infomercials scheduled after the end of the race, including the post-race show. Great, dump the infomercials and let the action continue... but nooo! Apparently, none of the brain trust at IndyCar thought to get identity theft protection. Lifelock stepped right up and stole their show. C'mon, guys!

Hey Roger, if you send me your SSN, DOB and mother's maiden name, I'll gladly get you signed up.

Tom Patrick, Baja California

MP: Does Highway 420 extend to Baja, Tom?

Q: Love IndyCar racing. Been watching since 1963. Hate Nashville. I won’t waste my time watching a race there again. I don’t believe they can do anything to fix that track. Great ambience, lousy racing. What a joke!

Jonathan, Hill Country, Texas

MP: Think of it this way, Jonathan: It’s the one race each season where you can drink like a fish and never have to worry about missing the action with all of the pee breaks.

Q: I'd like to go on record as saying I don't care if IndyCar ever runs at Crashville again. What a stupid track layout! Two drag strips connected by a kiddy car park. Nashville might be a really nice place to visit, but the track is not worthy of an IndyCar race.

I said the same thing last year and hoped they would fix the layout, but the changes that were made did nothing to improve the race.

Something has to be done. Kudos to the survivors!

Doug Mayer, Revelstoke, BC, Canada

MP: I’ve just written this into the official record, Doug.

Q: I’m sure this is only one of many lamenting the unfortunate cluster**** that was the second running of the Music City Grand Prix! The "improvements" made since the last race didn’t do much to improve the quality of racing in the slightest, once again, making our drivers seem like bush-league competitors! There are certainly some bone headed-drivers in the IndyCar series, with this track only adding opportunity for their "special talents" to shine.

I certainly realize the difficulty in finding enough venues to provide a full season of racing. I personally, would rather one less race than return to Nashville if this is what will happen again.

Don’t even get me started on the abysmal TV coverage that had the race moved to another channel because of LPGA overtime, and back again for some other third-rate show (an infomercial in my area)! Others can sound off further in these regards.

Dan in AZ

MP: I just want to know when I can book my flight and hotel for a rebooted Baltimore Grand Prix. I’ll take Charm City and a jump over railroad tracks any day over this Wacky Races event.

The pace car deserves two points for most laps led. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: Nashville demonstrated two things about the modern paradox of IndyCar:

First, new fans and potential corporate sponsors, we are told, (primarily by marketing people) show up at street circuit races because they are full of parties, concerts, fun, blah, blah, blah and this is going to attract new fans to the sport. If I was a new fan watching Nashville… yikes. Street circuits provide excellent environments at the cost of yellow-plagued racing. There were good battles and stories, but oh my does that circuit need some work to produce a show that doesn’t generate so many yellows and yellow laps. (Sidenote: Hopefully after the success of the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at an oval, this portion of the paradox becomes null and void).

Second, IndyCar fans will bitch about whomever is covering the race, regardless. Is NBC’s coverage perfect? No. But I would ask the hardcore fans: Do you want to go back to ABC/ESPN? No practice coverage. No qualifying coverage. No Indy Lights coverage. No prerace coverage. The broadcast starting when the command is given. And the dullest booth ever assembled (Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever). If Nashville had been on ABC, they would have moved it to a cable network so the Sunday News could come on. It’s nothing new.

And, lastly, an actual question and not about Nashville, but rather the IMS road course. Since it is now appearing on the schedule more than once in the season, is there any reason that the second race isn’t run on a different configuration? I know during the new engine test they ran a different turn complex before Hulman Blvd to avoid the test teams having an advantage on the other layout, but are there reasons beyond that? It could make going to a track that virtually all the drivers know quite well a bit more interesting.

Chris in Chicago

MP: Other than probably needing to adjust where the corner workers are staffed and maybe moving the location of the AMR Safety Team’s vehicles to suit the different area(s) IndyCar might use compared to NASCAR’s road course layout, I can’t see why it wouldn’t be possible, Chris.

And on the rest, I’ll just offer another suggestion for folks in the U.S. to pay for Peacock and watch everything there. It erased channel hopping with rain delays, etc.

Q: Am I alone in trying to make sense of TV ratings for IndyCar and all racing on TV? I’m looking at the ratings for the Indy GP weekend, and I know IndyCar ratings are up, but it still finished behind NASCAR and F1. The IndyCar race at IMS was Saturday afternoon, but the F1 race was Sunday morning at 9:00am and still had bigger ratings than IndyCar. Why?

I defy anyone out there to say to me that IndyCar is not more exciting to watch than F1 or NASCAR. After the first two laps of F1 Max Verstappen is usually ahead and the race is all but over with very little action. And NASCAR… if you enjoy watching slower cars bumping and grinding, and trading paint for five-six hours, well have at it. But for excitement, speed, passing, and action I will take IndyCar any day. You would think some of the millions that watch the Indy 500 might carry over to the other races, but it looks like that does not happen.

If NASCAR, F1, and IndyCar were all on TV at the same time I would watch the Indy Car race every time, but it looks like I am in the minority.

Don in Michigan

MP: Pretty easy to answer the first question, Don: F1 is more popular than IndyCar in the United States.

F1’s been broadcast here forever, but it didn’t challenge IndyCar for ratings popularity until "Drive To Survive" created a tidal wave of new fans. With all of the silly season madness happening in IndyCar over the last month, imagine what kind of content producers would have to use in an IndyCar version of DTS…

Q: Any chance that McLaren will run four IndyCars next year? I just can’t imagine the team relegating Felix Rosenqvist to Formula E. What a waste of talent!

Tim

MP: None. I was told that if it isn’t Palou, they want Felix to stay in the No. 7 car.

Q: Holy cow. Where should I start? The Nashville GP was a great example of the saying "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." The layout was the problem. Changing the restart zone for the race still didn't solve the bottlenecks from last year. Almost all of the inverted little dipper part of the track (T7-11) was unavailable to see on TV.

And, worst of all, the TV window to view the race was clipped to less than a third of the race on NBC! Can NBC Sports stop putting the overtime races on the news/political station? Does NASCAR move to CNBC? Nope. It was on USA. I heard it also had a rain delay. Was it moved?

Thank God the next race is in my "backyard," where I get to see the stars and cars of IndyCar at WWTR, where Curtis Francois, Chris Blair & Co. can bring sanity back to this series with a great schedule of activities and action. Please, Firestone bring a good tire. ;)

Jordan P, St. Louis Metro East

MP: I love me some Francois and Blair. And can we call the WWTR track, "Wow! Willy T. Ribbs!" just once?

Q: With all the confusion going on in IndyCar thanks to Zak Brown at McLaren, would there be a point where Roger Penske steps in and fines or penalizes Zak and the team for actions detrimental to the series?

Troy M.

MP: I’m not sure what Zak’s done that would warrant such a penalty, Troy, but as I wrote in a previous Mailbag, I have wondered if and when RP would get Chip and Zak on the phone and tell them to turn the heat and volume down. From all that continues to transpire, I doubt that conversation has taken place.

Brown does not care about being liked or popular, and isn’t prone to nostalgic feelings of bowing to IndyCar’s established teams and owners. When you wield the kind power and budget Brown has amassed, and take his DGAF approach to fitting into the paddock, you get the moves we’ve seen so far -- and are there more to come? -- from someone who thrives on disrupting and irritating his rivals.

I can’t say I’m a fan of the approach in any way, but it will either become the new standard by which the other teams need to follow, or a case where McLaren/AMSP is treated as an outcast by the other teams in whatever areas where those teams worked with them in a peaceful manner in the past.

He's even signed David Beckham. Jerry Andre/Motorsport Images

Q: Nashville 2.0 was nearly a repeat of the inaugural race. Another crash and win, albeit less spectacular than last year. Another unfortunate high-speed overdrive for J.J. He's brave, I'll give him that, but I'd sneak more wing on him next year. Lots of big cars in tight quarters again resulted in waaay too many wrecks and laps under yellow. And who's to blame the drivers for taking chances? Ask Christian Lundgaard what happens if you aren't super-annoyingly aggressive, especially in a shootout.

I know everyone's heavily invested in the race and it'll be around awhile, but is this the show they want? The Captain must know people with the equipment to get the job done. I'd do it quickly, at night, and ask forgiveness later.

Props to the announcing crew for making it sound like a classic (I guess maybe it was) and props to the teams and drivers who persevered. At the end of the long day it seemed like everyone was tired and of charitable heart. I liked seeing Chip's public attaboy for Palou.

Can't wait for V3.0. I hear Malibu Barbie's going to jump two sharks!

Chris

MP: I’m thoroughly convinced Towny Bell got more airtime on a jet ski and mini-bike at Nashville than he did in the last five years of his pro racing career. Good on NBC for running that segment over and over again -- made me laugh each time.

Knowing RP’s penchant for quality over everything else, I can only imagine he’ll get involved to prevent another turd being dropped in the Nashville punch bowl.

Q: This Nashville race looked like a NASCAR race. Or is that too insulting to NASCAR?

Jake

MP: I’m calling it: Roger Penske will ring Jim France and trade the Nashville GP to NASCAR for the Chicago street race.

Q: I thoroughly enjoyed the NASCAR race Sunday at Nashville. The drivers totally followed the mantra "Have at it, boys" when they banged wheels, rear-ended each other, and sent their competitors crashing into the wall. I’m happy for all the yellow flags as it gave more TV time to see the sponsor names on the cars. Finally, I’m thankful they remembered to throw the red flag. When you have an "event" as big as Nashville, the fans deserve to see a green flag finish.

Rick Schneider, Charlotte

MP: The American judge gives you a 9.8 on snarkiness, Rick. Well done.

Q: Will Power is my favorite driver, so I throw his radio on my phone using the IndyCar app when I get a chance to watch races live. This is always a colorful audio stream, but one specific instance caught my attention that seemed to go completely uncovered by anyone. Towards the three-quarter point of the race, Scott McLaughlin caught Power at the end of the first bridge section. After the pass, Will had some choice words for his Kiwi teammate (****wad comes to mind) and lost a few more positions. Does anyone know what happened here?

Keith Harvey

MP: I give Power an in-race pass on whatever he says in the same way Bruce Banner gets a pass for all the damage he creates when he transforms into the The Hulk. Different guy, different mind.

Q: When is the insanity going to stop and we scrap the aeroscreen for an open halo? It seems a lot of time and resources wasted trying to over-engineer ways to keep the drivers from passing out in the heat. I’m curious to know if any data exists to show just how effective the screen has been in protecting drivers. Of all the incidents in the last few years where a driver has a near-miss with some debris, is it really the screen that saved a driver, or could the halo have been just as effective? I hear the NBC boys talking heat, humidity, cool suits, visibility issues etc a lot more than I hear them say "thank goodness for the aeroscreen."

Brian Seidenman, Mason, Ohio

MP: No need to scrap the aeroscreen. IndyCar just needs to stop screwing around and treat cockpit heat as a problem that’s as big as when cars take flight when they crash.

Q: Man, I love the Nashville environment, the scene, and the racing. But between the cautions and the commercials, I felt that I saw more of that than actual racing. I watched the race on Peacock hoping there would be less commercials, but I don't think that's the case. What do you think the reason was for all of the commercials this week? I miss Toronto, there were hardly any.

Leroy Kleimola, Springfield, IL

MP: Maybe NBC hoped the commercials would be more entertaining than the garbage race it was there to air?

Q: I think the craziest part of this silly season is that the big-name teams like Andretti, Ganassi, and McLaren are having very dramatic switches while the usual silly season suspects like Coyne and Carpenter are looking to continue with the same lineup for the first time in a long time.

In the cases of Coyne and Carpenter, does this continuity give the teams the stability they need to move forward in the championship next year? I’ve been kind of disappointed watching ECR have poor performances at a lot of races this year and I’m hoping next year will be better.

Josh

MP: Continuity is always a good thing, unless the driver or key personnel in charge of making the car and driver go quickly aren’t great. With ECR, they have loads of talent in both areas, but they’ve suffered from big and constant swings in competitiveness for the last few years. It’s hard to know what to expect from week to week, and that’s where gains need to be made. Matt Barnes and his engineering staff are super sharp; beyond more money for R&D projects, if they knew what was needed to have Rinus and Conor in the top six at every event, they’d be doing it and performing on a consistent basis right next to the other teams you mention.

Coyne’s had a breakout season with a revised engineering group, led by young savant Ross Bunnell, and it’s old/new driver combo, led by the way-better-than-anticipated David Malukas.

ECR has continuity; now it's chasing consistency. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Q: Crashville! Maybe one of the most embarrassing races in IndyCar history? Any knowledgeable fan knew before the race this track layout was trouble, yet the powers to be don’t get it? It’s like two narrow rinky-dink layouts connected by a bridge.

IndyCar needs to implement some type of probation and penalty system. Maybe two infractions you are on probation; after the third infraction you sit out for a race.

I’m going to use Kyle Kirkwood as an example. Kirkwood crashes (again). How does it affect the race fans and the series? First, we’re subjected to another long yellow flag session. Second, one of the contenders (David Malukas) is taken out of the action. Third, the field is flipped based on cars that pitted early versus cars that stayed out. This not only effects the race results, but the championship. And no, it doesn’t even out. Scott Dixon may very well win the championship based on a yellow flag at Nashville. Most likely he would have finished 10th. And fourth, a virtual safety car would not punish or reward drivers based on cautions. Caution comes out, pits remain open and everyone laps at 60mph.

The Karen

MP: Saddest part of the race for me was the dumb crash that took Kirkwood and Malukas out. I keep telling myself that Kyle is getting all of the bad behavior out of the way now so he arrives at Andretti with a ****-ton of hard lessons learned on somebody else’s dime.

We’d need to penalize every except for Simona De Silvestro, I think, because just about every driver embraced their inner a-hole at some point of the race.

Q: Do you have a way to find out how many races it took Mario Andretti to get to 52 wins compared to Scott Dixon? And the same question for poles -- how many races did it take Mario to get to 67 and Will Power to get to 66? My memory is that Mario was part-time for many seasons, and also that his seasons had fewer races.

G. Sichner, Concord, Ohio

MP: With the help of my friend Scott Richards, we have some answers:

“Mario's 52nd career win came at Phoenix in 1993 (his 30th year in IndyCar), which was his 377th career start, and his final pole came later that year at the Michigan 500 in his 385th start. By comparison, Dixon's 52nd career win at Toronto came in his 361st start and 22nd IndyCar season, and Power's 66th pole came in only his 263rd start at Iowa in his 18th IndyCar season.

“G. Sichner would be correct to a point in his assessment on Mario's career. Five of his first six full seasons featured more races than the current 17, including as many as 28 in 1968. With that factored in, before the age of 30, Mario had compiled 29 poles (compared to 15 for Power) and 30 wins (compared to Dixon's 23). He did run a partial schedule from 1974-1981, but between when he returned to IndyCar full time in 1982 and his retirement in 1994, the IndyCar schedule had a maximum of 17 races only once (1991).”

Q: So, two years in a row now for the Nashville street circuit demolition derby. Other street circuits on the schedule don't seem to have the "get togetherness" if you will. Is there something wrong with the design, and can it be tweaked? Maybe the drivers just need to slow more at the corners, but racers aren't really wired that way. Is the current design the best use of the streets of Nashville when 36 of 80 laps were under caution?

Jeff, Florida

MP: It’s the bridge, Jeff. Most of the crashes since 2021 have been from exiting it at high rates of speed and turning into slowish left-handers.

Q: After viewing and enjoying the Music City GP, I am wondering how long the team owners can put up with all the carnage? After two Nashville races, this race is trending toward being a demolition derby every year. The shot at the end of the race of the flatbed truck filled with wings that either came off or had been taken off wrecked cars told the whole story. How can the teams sustain a race with such high damage costs?

Also, watching a dejected Josef Newgarden interview, I am sure he is conflicted with the highs of having a hometown race, but most likely dreads racing it every year. In the two years this race has been run, does it hold the honor of delivering the most wreckage outside of an oval race? The only bright spot is if you wreck with only minor damage, spin or get a penalty early on, you can get back into a top 10 position if you had a decent car to start with!

Victor, San Jose, CA

MP: Yep, said the same things in my Cooldown Lap column, Victor. The one bright idea I had is for all IndyCar teams to install the oldest parts that are close to being replaced and the rattiest bodywork they have to ensure all the suspension, wings, floors, and sidepods get replaced with new items after Nashville.

Q: I have a couple of ignorant questions about the IndyCars. What functions are controlled by driver’s feet? And what functions are controlled by steering wheel?

Pete

MP: No ignorance here at all, Pete. We all start learning at different points. When IndyCar and Dallara worked together to create the current chassis, the Dallara DW12 that debuted in 2012, it went in a new direction where the clutch pedal was deleted. So that left brake and throttle as the only two items to operate by foot.

Clutch control was moved to the steering wheel where drivers use a paddle on the backside of the wheel to depress or release the clutch through hydraulic pressure. Shifting is done with paddles behind the steering wheel, and on the front side, you have buttons for the radio, pit speed, water delivery, tabbing through the data display pages, dials for engine mapping, and so on.

IndyCar drivers can control quite a lot from their steering wheel, although they tend to be more effective when they're mounted inside the cockpit rather than perched a sidepod. James Black/Penske Entertainment

Q: McLaren is my favorite race team, outfitted with my favorite drivers. I'm so excited for next year when it has an eight-car IndyCar team and runs two or three teams in F1. Even Formula E (even though I haven't quite yet been able to get into it), with all the new signings. Is Zak Brown the lowest common denominator in all this?

Shawn in MD

MP: Depends on who you’re talking to, Shawn. To the drivers who’ve been well paid by McLaren via Zak and have security for multiple years in whatever series they’re in, he’s their guy. I had one IndyCar team leader say in a call last week, "Palou must’ve crapped his pants when he learned Piastri was heading into the [McLaren] F1 seat he thought was his, right?", which might represent the other side of things. For all the drivers who’ve been signed by Zak in recent months and thought they had a shot in F1, I’m guessing they’ve fired up a group chat that has a lot of curse words and angry memes being shared among them.

A team boss like Brown certainly doesn’t need to be transparent with his moves for those outside the organization, but it definitely sounds like McLaren’s growing harem of drivers has been kept in the dark about the moves being made in the shadows. Nobody likes to think they’re in an exclusive relationship and later learn they’re but one in a stable of many.

Q: I have been attending events at Mid-Ohio since 1970. I have seen amenities added, and track safety improvements. Les Griebling built the facility, sold it to Jim Truman and then it was acquired by Green Savoree, and each improved the facility as best they could.

As an aside, on Sunday morning during this year’s IndyCar weekend I went to the administration building to ask about post-race exit, and I approached a distinguished-looking gentleman standing alone. I asked my question and he said he would find out, made a radio call and provided me the information I needed. It was only then I noticed his credential with his name: Kim Green. I thanked him for owning M-O and keeping the facility going.

Is it Miami, Long Beach, IMS, Nashville, Iowa? No. However I doubt it has the funds for a total revamp. What would a revamp entail -- newer toilet stalls -- what else? What exactly do people want improved? M-O is a great place to attend any motor race.

Where is Cleveland, Milwaukee, Kentucky, Denver, Fontana, Vancouver? Gone, gone, gone. Iowa would be gone without Hy-Vee -- let’s see if it’s there in five years. Why not appreciate the fact that M-O is still around, even with grass parking lots, old bathroom stalls and fading paint.

IndyCar fans would complain if they were hanged with a new rope.

Rant over for now,

David, Fort Wayne

MP: Thanks, David. If you lower your expectations, everything is awesome.

Q: So has it really come to this in every professional racing series? Forget "my word is my bond" and even getting it in writing no longer matters?

David

MP: I’m bracing myself for big contractual dramas to break in in IMSA, David. Very disappointed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for being so boring and silent in this capacity.

Q: In one of your comments regarding IndyCar camber setting you stated that if the wheels are tipped in at the top it is positive camber. I believe that is incorrect. Wheels tipped in at the top towards each other is negative camber. NASCAR folks often run positive camber on the left front and negative camber on the right front, especially on Late Models and the K&N series.

Don H

MP: Yes, brain fade, Don. Thanks for the catch.

Q: In last week`s Mailbag, in a question related to alignment settings, you stated that when the tires were tilted in at the top, it was positive camber. In my 25 years as a VW mechanic, which included 10 years of autocrossing, it was my understanding that that is negative camber. Am I right, or does Dallara do things different?

Wayne Smitreski, Allentown, PA

MP: You are right, Wayne. My words were wrong. If that was the only error to sneak past the editor in a Mailbag edition that was nearly 10,000 words long, I’ll take it.

Q: A few comments: Thanks, to all, especially Marshall, for the voluminous and detailed content you churn out on a daily basis! Next, I’m late to Bus Bros, but binge-watched it the other day. I’ve always thought Josef Newgarden was sugary PC, and Scott McLaughlin was wooden. Boy was I wrong! Both have unique personalities, I’ll root them on from now on, and I eagerly await the next episode. Goes to show that personalities sell over technology. Finally, I was forced to get Peacock and a bit resentful at first. I can actually say, for the price of a cup of coffee, I’ve definitely got my money’s worth, with tons of content for pennies. Love not stressing about whether I’ll see a session or not.

You hear teams and drivers talk about the "simulator". Reading between the lines it sounds like Chevy has one, Honda has one, and teams book slots and drivers fly in and rotate through the time slots like an airline pilot would? [ED: Dallara also has one]. It’s mostly for track learning? No one team has their own – is this correct?

John Dowling, Ann Arbor, MI

MP: Josef’s always been a lot of fun, but he’s an introvert and prefers smaller crowds so you don’t get to see a lot of his personality in bigger settings. Bus Bros, filmed among friends, is a perfect setting for Josef to be himself. And as for Scotty, yeah, he’s a blast.

On the simulator stuff, it’s two things: Track learning or chassis setup development. I am unaware of any IndyCar teams having their own.

A few teams would probably like to have a Scott Dixon simulator, but the Dallara one behind him gets plenty of use. Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

Q: The McLaren driver saga gets even wackier. Now Felix Rosenqvist evidently misrepresented his new contract. This all points to Zak Brown being a completely unprofessional team leader. I can understand Piastri got loose through Alpine not having signed him by August 1. But Palou and Rosenqvist and the rest are being manipulated. Only Piastri has smart representation with Mark Webber. It makes the IndyCar and F1 paddocks look seedy. My hope is Zak Brown and a few others get burned. Too much drama, and not enough focus on racing and promoting each series.

C.B., Naples, FL

MP: I’m not trying to defend or vilify Zak here, but I do remind myself on a regular basis that he’s a highly successful businessman who found zillions of dollars in sponsorship for clients through his Just Marketing company, and did a ton of corporate deals there, but he’s new to the high-stakes world of team building and big-name driver negotiations.

The messes caused by signing everyone in sight to testing or racing deals and having some of them turn into PR nightmares or lawsuits or ugly social media spats comes across as someone who really needs to let McLaren F1 team principal boss Andreas Seidl and AMSP president Taylor Kiel handle the people side of things.

THE FINAL WORD

From Robin Miller's Mailbag, August 12, 2015

Q: What IndyCar needs is a little TV exposure like the kind Danny Sullivan gave them in 1986! I caught a 1986 episode of "Miami Vice" (titled "Florence Italy") where Danny was the main character throughout the show. It was no cameo appearance, and he was pretty good. Too bad the cars featured were the old IMSA sports car series. Now, can we get Graham Rahal and his fiancee, Courtney Force, to do a show?

John Sedlak, Venice, FL

ROBIN MILLER: God, I remember that episode and thinking I felt bad for Danny because he seemed so stiff and unnatural, but maybe he was better than I thought. Mario and Michael Andretti were on that "Home Improvement" show with their pal Tim Allen, but I don’t think it sold many tickets to MIS or Fontana. Hinch in a late night talk show is what we need.