The RACER Mailbag, December 21

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: I just read some good news. IndyCar has a new series sponsor, the Fred Astaire Dance Studios. The company said it is coming on board because it’s never seen anyone that can do the one step forward, two steps backward move any better.

Seriously, the engine situation that you did so well explaining is truly two steps backward for the series. And as a long-time IndyCar fan I can’t think of a way the series is going to get out of this mess. But I have a couple of questions. The first is, what do other series such as the World of Outlaws do regarding engines? Do the teams build their own engines, or are there three or four engine builders that most of the teams use, and if so, what are the costs involved?

Also, what about NASCAR Cup? Hendrick Motorsports builds its own engines and I believe TRD supplies engines to the Toyota teams. What are the costs to supply one Cup team for a year’s worth of engines?

Finally, it really doesn’t make any sense that Chevrolet/GM is racing an ICE in IndyCar. Every press release or public appearance by CEO Mary Barra for the past decade is about GM having an all-electric fleet by 2035. 

Rick Schneider, Charlotte, NC

MARSHALL PRUETT: I’d say it makes plenty of sense for Chevy and Honda to be building and racing with ICEs since both brands are nowhere near being all-EV. In the future engine formula I hope to see for IndyCar, flexibility will be a big part of the game so, as we get close to 2030, then 2035, the series’ engine partners can dial down the ICE part and dial up the ERS side to represent more accurately what it sells.

The smaller the series, the more common it is for teams to build their own motors or to rely on local builders to assemble their engines. For my first season in the Indy Racing League in 1997, our TKM/Genoa team relied on Chicago’s NAC Engines to build our 4.0-liter Oldsmobile V8s, and Mickey Nickos and his family were local legends when it came to building sprint car motors. As the IRL made big leaps in professionalism, the smaller builders fell out of the series and some big names joined in like Ilmor. It’s been a long time since you or I would be allowed to spin the cam covers off an IndyCar engine and have a poke around the spinny bits.

KELLY CRANDALL: To the NASCAR part of your question, it’s a bit hard to put an exact number on this because teams will have different terms of deals with sponsorship tied to the program or other contingencies with their engine suppliers or OEMs. But for a top-tier Cup Series engine program like the Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports teams, you’re likely looking at spending in the millions of dollars.

Q: Do you have any information regarding the viability of Mid-Ohio and Green Savoree Promotions? I have been attending events at the track every year since 1971 and think it’s a great track for spectators. I understand I shouldn’t believe most of what I read online; however, I am a little concerned about the ability of the track to host major events in the future. You mentioned previously the facilities needed to be upgraded in comparison to other tracks on the schedule. With repaving of Road America, do you think IndyCar will or has put pressure on Green Savoree to do so? Why is IMSA not returning in 2023?

David, Fort Wayne, IN

MP: I’ve heard IMSA elected to drop Mid-Ohio in favor of the new date at Indy (because it wanted to stay at the same number of races/didn’t want to expand its schedule) due to its aging infrastructure and comparative lack of modern hospitality and corporate entertainment options.

The Indy road course bores me to tears when stacked against Mid-Ohio, but if you’re looking to impress CEOs from Porsche, Aston Martin, Lexus, and the rest of the 18 manufacturers who race in IMSA, you pick IMS over Mid-Ohio every time.

I don’t think you have anything to worry about with other racing series making that same call, at the moment.

Q: What's bigger -- the number of emails regarding LEDs, dumping the 2.4, or where the bleep is The CW?

Shawn, MD

MP: Yes.

It's Throwback Wednesday for the Mailbag, with both LED panels and The Milwaukee Mile back in the rotation! Penske Entertainment photo

Q: Milwaukee Mile improvements update!

The State of Wisconsin Building Commission will consider a series of requests later this week that should pave the way for approximately $3 million in repairs/improvements to the Milwaukee Mile over the next seven months.  These repairs/improvements are largely safety related as the track prepares to host more events in the future, including the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Sunday, August 27, 2023.

Specific areas of repair/improvement include:

• Replacing expired components of the existing barrier impact wall system

• Installing new stretches of barrier impact wall

• Replacing existing turf with asphalt

• Modifications to existing pedestrian and vehicle gates

• Installing new energy absorbing sand barrels

• Repairing concrete bases of the existing outer catch fence system

Maybe if IndyCar decided to return, the track would have a better future. If the state puts money into improving the facilities then Roger Penske should get the series to return.

CB, Naples, FL 

MP: This is a perfect Christmas gift for Miller.

Q: With all the talk about Iowa ticket prices, I feel the need to share my similar concern with the Bommarito 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. In 2017, for IndyCar’s return to Gateway, my tickets in the top row with great views were $47. I took a group of 30 people. Prices have climbed every year, to the point where renewing for the same spot for ’22 was $122 per seat. My group not only had shrunk to 12 people, we also moved to the Wallace grandstand (separate stands in Turn 1 & 2). Attendance in ’22 was abysmal. I don’t think this is any great mystery. Then add on the new NASCAR event at WWTR, which took the majority of the promotion IndyCar used to get, and we have a problem. My renewal this year said I had to pick new seats, because the Wallace grandstand won’t be open due to low ticket demand. 

Between ticket prices, the drop in promotion, and next year’s race moving to Sunday afternoon, will they be surprised when the event fails?

Kyle Jenkins, Edwardsville, IL

MP: I need to start taking antidepressants.

Q: I stumbled across an article in which Jay Frye said that the upcoming IndyCar hybrid component will “have more horsepower than most” (i.e., other hybrid systems). That sounds very good to me, but it still got me thinking.

So far, the officially announced additional power (deployed with the P2P button) is 100hp. Now, which other racing series uses a hybrid powertrain? WEC and F1 are the first to come to my mind. The front-wheel electric motor on a Hypercar provides about 260hp and the ERS on an F1 car currently gives an extra 160hp (before upgrading to 470hp in 2026), which, in both cases, is definitely more than the announced power on IndyCar’s system.

Obviously, this was released prior to the announcement to ditch the 2.4L engines, so one could think Jay was actually talking about the overall power. But again, 900hp (800 + 100, on an IndyCar) is still lower than 940 (680 + 260, on a Hypercar) or 1010 (850 + 160, on an F1 car). Did Mr. Frye just give us a hint that the final ERS will have more power than officially announced? Or did I misunderstand something along the way)? 

Xavier

MP: The horsepower cap in IMSA/WEC with the top prototypes is 680hp, not 680hp plus ERS. When ERS deploys, the ICE’s hp reduces by whatever amount to keep the 680hp limit.

I’ve written a ton of stories since IndyCar announced it was going hybrid and in all of them, the ERS has been mentioned as bringing 100hp to the party. I’d expect that number to climb in time, but there’s no secret increase Jay was referring to. I’d guess he was positioning IndyCar’s 100hp ERS as being more powerful than what’s produced by IMSA’s spec system on its debut and what we think will arrive in NASCAR, which is rumored to be the same Bosch/Williams package found in GTP.

Hybrid power brings plenty of new points of discussion. Michael Levitt/Lumen

Q: There was an article on Forbes that talked about the Iowa ticket prices. I feel like the IndyCar/HyVee leadership only heard the complaints that said “this is ridiculous” from the people who complain just to complain.  

My issue is not the cost of a ticket for four concerts and two races. My issue is the cost of an IndyCar event compared to other IndyCar events. They also talk about wanting to bring in a new generation of fans. How are you going to do that when kids went from free to full price? The heat was a very real issue Saturday last year. An event like this would be a lot more enticing for a night race or a September race.

These kinds of details matter, and I was told Penske pays attention to details. But hey, talk down to us and tell us fans we’re stupid; l that’ll generate a lot of goodwill. I went from being disappointed because I was going to skip an event I was looking forward to, to actually upset after that article. What on earth made them think that was going to make things better and not 100 times worse?

Ryan in West Michigan

MP: Of all the planted stories I’ve seen from a racing series this year, the Forbes piece was a masterpiece of PR talking points channeled through a willing shill. If you missed it, here’s the condensed version:

“If you people would stop being poor and stop complaining about the costs of things, you’d come to appreciate the brilliance of our pricing structure.

“Signed, the 1%.”

Fans being spoken down to by millionaires and billionaires isn’t a good look.

Q: I read Jimmie Johnson is returning to NASCAR in 2023. I’ve not cared for him ever since he won the Brickyard 400 several years ago and then proceeded to nose into the pit wall and do a burnout on the yard of bricks. He may be a nice guy and talented driver and I’ve never wished him to have an accident, but I’ve never wanted him to have any sort of success in IndyCar, either. A DNF or last-place finish for him each race would have been fine with me.

I know it’s a little late in the game to complain about it, but to me, that was a total lack of respect for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and also to the brave men and women who have sacrificed to make racing what it is. It’s similar to a visiting basketball team stomping on the home team’s logo at center court after a game. Call me Indy-centric if you like, but it's one thing to let the stock car guys race there and it’s another to have little respect for the facility. Save the burnouts for Talladega and Daytona. 

Do you know if Johnson has ever mentioned this and felt any regret for his actions? I know it infuriated a lot of people including management at IMS that day. 

Jeff, Bloomington, IN

MP: I do not know if he felt regret, but since I do know Jimmie, and know him to be one of the kindest and most caring drivers I’ve met throughout my career, I’m confident in saying that if he was given a lot of critical feedback for doing that burnout, he’d have taken it to heart.

As for everything else you mentioned, that sure seems like a lot of effort and energy to hate on someone for something that harmed nobody and changed nothing in the world. If the burnout ends six inches shy of the bricks, everything’s fine and Jimmie’s good instead of bad?

On a related note, I did read this piece of news in recent days, which does actually change things: “The Jimmie Johnson Foundation (JJF) announced today that 18 school projects in North Carolina will receive $468,462.47 in Champions Grants. The grants are awarded annually to K-12 public and charter schools to help them address critical needs and this year will benefit more than 11,000 North Carolina students.”

Since we have enough unnecessary hate in the world, my wife and I donated $25 in your name (not kidding) to the JJF.

Q: I have one question about Iowa I haven’t heard much about. What happens when all those music fans don’t stay for the race? Do the cameras pull the old NASCAR trick and zoom in on the track and not the grandstands? I hate when NASCAR does this, but my girlfriend always notices the turnout and she’s a big-time marketing professional. I watch the race; she pays attention to the spend.

Second question for you. Sir Roger the Greatest Penske runs Ford in NASCAR. How have those conversations gone with regard to an IndyCar entry? I would love to see Ford in the mix. Blue ovals and Mopar badges would be a pleasant sight to see, but I don’t think the new Mopar owners care about Indy based on other interviews. Never heard anything from Ford, though. What have you heard?

Chris, from the island of a disillusioned IndyCar fan

MP: Well, as Penske Entertainment’s Bud Denker told us after Iowa, the problem was one of music fans coming out for the bands and retreating afterwards and IndyCar fans doing the same based on when the cars were on or off track.

“So here's a couple things with empty seats: all of them are sold out,” he said. “But the issue was that some people come for the concert, and they step out. They come for the race, and they step out. So it was never a case of everyone in the stands at one time. I told (Hy-Vee CEO) Randy (Edeker) to beware of this and not to be disappointed because we all wanted to see a full grandstand, but we're probably not going to see a full grandstand because of how we built this event with these concerts.”

If we’re fortunate in July, the stands will be packed all day every day.

As for how conversations have gone with Ford, I’d look to the lack of an announcement regarding Ford’s return to IndyCar, and the cancellation of its new ICE formula, as the answer.

Q: I will try not to make this IndyCar doom and gloom, since many complained about that, and we all have had a good rage (perhaps at the dying of the light) about the demise of the new engines.

Racing in general is in a very awkward transitional phase. We can all see that there is going to be a future where every series will be running EVs. Some can say that other technologies might show up, but they haven’t shown viability yet, and for all the talk of carbon-neutral fuel, unless the emissions coming out of the tailpipe are also zero, that won’t have much of a future either in the eyes of politicians and the general public.  

I don’t think every series that we know and love now is going to survive this transition. Sadly, the demand from future generations isn’t there, and the level of support these professional series require isn’t something manufacturers want to budget for, either. No one seems to want to admit that, but enough series have embraced cost-protecting budget caps or common components that the truth is plain to see if people care to look. 

I don’t think IndyCar has a future if it does not make some very hard, honest choices based on how the racing world looks at it right now. There is a need to be honest that while the Indy 500 is one of the singular great events of the sport, and the series has probably the best racing of any major series on the planet, it is barely commercially viable and is dependent on the (frankly unrequited) love of Honda and Chevy (as you noted). If we are going to have an IndyCar past 2030, I think the series needs to swallow its pride and choose between one of two paths: Either give up on being an open-wheel series and run IMSA LMDh rules (which gives it the manufacturer-friendly path that supports all of their current stakeholders), or it admits it will soldier on with the 2.2s, DW12s and hybrids until 2027, and then it will adopt Formula E’s rules for their fourth generation of cars.

Would you get charged up by a 500-mile Formula E race? Sam Bloxham/Motorsport Images

The LMDh route means slower cars, and they’ll no longer be open-wheel, but the racing will be good, plenty of manufacturers will be available and IndyCar can offer the same stuff IMSA does, but with several much more successful events to showcase these cars at (and Honda and Chevy already have cars to offer). Formula E would mean a tricky challenge at getting the cars to go 500 miles (although if the recharging technology keeps advancing, probably not impossible), but would offer a future-proof idea with cars that cost a similar amount to current IndyCars to run ($8-10 million for two cars for one season), and something fairly similar in pace (the next-generation of Formula E cars are looking at maybe 750kg of weight, and up to 800hp from running front and rear motors).

I know a lot of fans are going to hate both ideas, but I don’t see a future for the sport without a lot more humility from the organizers of these series, and frankly, especially from IndyCar since they seem to be whistling the loudest while going past the graveyard.

Thanks for doing the journalism you do, even if it really, really annoys Roger Penske.

Duncan in Ottawa

MP: As RACER founder Paul Pfanner frequently reminds us, we work for you, not the people who own the racing series. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Duncan.

Q: With Christmas approaching, I thought that I would give some reviews of three racing-related books that I recently finished.

Indy Split: The Battle for the Indy 500 by John Oreovicz. Although well researched and written, I learned almost nothing new as an avid follower of RACER.com.

Rapid Response: My Inside Story as a Motor Racing Life Saver by Dr. Stephen Olvey. Truly fascinating and very clinical account of how IndyCar's medical team became the best in the business.

Al Unser Jr: A Checkered Past by Al Unser Jr. Al Jr. was always one of my favorite drivers and it was great to see his unvarnished telling of his life. The true story behind his double thumbs-up in the 1989 Indianapolis 500 was truly hilarious.

The Al Unser Jr. book brings me to my question. How well-known in the paddock were Al's alcohol and substance abuse issues? At some point, particularly after his DUI arrest, the problem became well-known but before that, I don't remember hearing anything about him having a problem. I give him a lot of credit for writing this book and publicly facing his demons after years of denial.

Ed, Hickory Hills, IL

MP: Oreo’s book, which is on my to-finish list over the holidays, is one of the first IndyCar history books I own that is written about an era (that I, along with thousands of others) were centrally involved in since I worked for both CART and IRL teams. The book might not hold as many revelations for those who followed along as it happened or studied afterwards, but for those who are new to The Split, I’d think it’s refreshing. I love Rapid Response and Little Al’s book. I’d also give Paul Page’s autobiography a whirl; just cracked it open last weekend.

I penned a feature on Little Al for this year’s Great Drivers issue of RACER magazine, and there were two camps: Those who knew about his problems the entire time and those who were oblivious and blindsided when the DUIs and bigger issues emerged.

Considering how huge Little Al was for most of his career and the size of the teams and sponsors he represented, a lot of work by some of those teams went into keeping his alcohol and drug abuse from hitting the headlines.

Q: Given the amount of money and attention they have been pouring into IndyCar lately, my prediction for a third engine builder is McLaren. It has built its own V8s before for road cars. It could almost certainly pull off a spec V6.

Paul, Austin, TX

MP: I love your enthusiasm, Paul, but it ain’t happening.

Q: Is it not possible for IndyCar to learn with GTP/LMDh, LMP1 hybrids and F1? It's time to build a chassis that can handle GTP and LMDh powertrains, and IndyCar could balance the engines using either LMP1 hybrid or F1 fuel flow rules. Yes, the cars will have that auto coasting, it can be a bit annoying, but if that brings new manufacturers (and I strongly believe it would, especially if IndyCar targets less power) so be it. They really should focus on LMP1 hybrids, in my opinion. Those were the best regulations in modern racing, they just were in the wrong series as the budget to keep it going is more in F1 than in WEC.

IndyCar should try a version of it with a focus on keeping costs more realistic.

William Mazeo

MP: It’s a bit like saying we should build a Lamborghini Aventador but do it on a Toyota Camry budget. We could try, but we’d end up with a pile of garbage that disappoints everyone.

IndyCar just needs to accept that rigid engine rules won’t work while the auto industry is undergoing one of the biggest technology changes in a century.

Its current super-strict engine formula is like buying a pair of shoes that fit a 10-year-old’s feet and then expecting those shoes to still fit when the kid turns 16, 18, or 20. The auto industry is going through big and rapid growth spurts as it transitions away from total reliance on internal combustion engines, so IndyCar’s next formula has to allow for variety and changes to fit with the changes that keep coming to the showroom floors.

Q: I heard Takuma Sato will no longer be at Dale Coyne Racing in 2023. Do you have any insights where Taku will be racing?

Noz, Yokohama, Japan

MP: He’s been talking with Ganassi for a few weeks but since nothing has been announced as I write this, we can assume they haven’t come to terms. If he doesn’t land at CGR, I do wonder if RLL would try to get him back and go for more oval wins. Keep in mind that RLL’s last IndyCar win was delivered by Taku at Indy back in 2020…

Sato and RLL are a proven winning combination. Barry Cantrell/Motorsport Images

Q: I understand the disappointment related to abandoning (hopefully temporarily!) the hybrid power unit. But I get the feeling that some of the readers don’t seem to understand the process behind making business decisions. You can’t undo mistakes from the past. That ship has already sailed. You can only evaluate the current situation and figure out what are actually viable choices going forward. Sometimes the decision turns out to be one that you don’t like, but all you can do is the best that you can with what you have to work with. It doesn’t matter how you got there.

I wondered about the choice of MAHLE to do the ERS hardware, but after some investigation, I understand that they do have an extensive electronics side to their business. Do you know what other companies submitted proposals?

I realize that the major attractions for the super capacitor approach are faster charge/discharge cycles and reduced size and weight. But, to me it is significant that Toyota abandoned this technology in their sports cars for batteries after a year and all F1 power train manufacturers use batteries. Looking at the larger picture, was this the right technology for MAHLE to pursue?

Since GM and Honda stepped in to help address the problems that MAHLE had, is the ERS system now functional?

On another subject, the recent F1 team principal moves make sense. Frederic Vasseur has been working with Ferrari for the past several years through the Alfa connection and is well respected as a team manager. Andreas Seidl to Sauber makes sense in anticipation of the arrival of Audi. McLaren chose Andrea Stella to promote from within, which is usually a positive move in terms of organizational morale, and also continuity. The question is who will ascend to the throne for Williams? At the moment, I don’t see any real candidates out there. What’s the inside here?

Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA 

MP: I’ve asked about the vendors that weren’t chosen, and as expected, they weren’t named. The Chevy+Honda-modified ERS unit has been tested and from the last thing I heard, it did something like 500 uninterrupted miles at Sebring.

CHRIS MEDLAND: The Williams change that saw Jost Capito leave was more akin to Dorilton clearing house, with technical director FX Demaison also leaving at the same time. There have also been other departures, but it shows that the senior team that Capito had put together wasn't being fully backed by the ownership anymore. That does mean there isn't currently a clear option to take over from within -- and that would likely have been announced at the time in the same way McLaren showed continuity and a certain future -- but we have also seen a number of impressive external appointments in recent seasons such as Seidl or Mike Krack, so it feels like that's where Williams is most likely to be looking at this stage.

There was discontent at times earlier in the year, and Dorilton's decision to replace Capito and Demaison will not have come without some future planning so I'd expect there's a clear target in mind. With so many recent changes, though, as I write this there are few leads on who that might be.

Q: In all your years of working for a team or reporting, what are a couple times you felt sure driver X was going to race for team Y and it didn’t end up happening, and you were shocked? On the flipside, can you think of a couple times where a team did an amazing job keeping a driver move from going public and completely surprised you?

Mason Covey

MP: Great questions, Mason. I fondly remember Michael Andretti gloating and giving Robin and I a hard time when Zach Veach was formally announced at Sonoma, saying that he couldn’t believe we missed breaking the big news. Granted, we’d hinted at it a half-dozen times, so it wasn’t a surprise, but he was right. I think RLL’s bringing in Christian Lundgaard for his first race -- that one-off on the IMS road course -- was the last signing that surprised me.

Q: I’m waiting at my local Honda dealer while my car is being serviced and I’m taken aback by the lack of any kind of advertising that shows Honda’s racing accomplishments. Nothing -- no IndyCar or Formula 1 posters or pictures. I thought it would be cool to at least see a “Honda Racing” hat. Don’t get me wrong, Honda has been an incredible partner of IndyCar for years but it would be nice if they let people know that. 

Dave

MP: Is it the same way at other Honda dealers you’ve been to? We bounce between two Mazda dealerships for our daily driver and at the closest and most convenient one, there’s nothing inside that speaks to its racing activities. At the other, it’s like a Mazda racing museum that also happens to sell and services Mazda road cars. Since most dealerships are independently owned, you’re likely going to see reflections of the owners’ interest of disinterest in racing on display.

Q: Listen up, IndyCar Series bosses: I’m as old school oval as you can get, but even I can see you guys are not accepting reality. Swallow your pride and egos, and ask IMSA for advice. I don’t even follow IMSA, but I might if you don’t change. Yes, the spec chassis and engine rule helped save money and kept the series alive, but it’s old. Like it or not, you guys have to figure out a multi chassis/engine formula series.

Dave

MP: Miller, is that you?

Q: Wait...what? Ford sniffing around F1/Red Bull? This when they Ford has IndyCar right in its own backyard, so to speak? Roger Penske has a NASCAR team that uses Ford, and he couldn't get them to throw some cash at IndyCar? This is not good, IMHO. 

I know Ford is a worldwide supplier, and F1 races everywhere cars are sold and therefore offers worldwide visibility, but this has to be a slap at IndyCar. R.P. better get the foot back on the money pedal or IndyCar will become extinct.

John Becker

MP: Appeal is an interesting thing, isn’t it? Let’s say you’re looking to meet someone, and rather than make the effort to freshen your look and present yourself as a modern creature, you go into your closet and pull out clothes that were cool 20 years ago and top the look off with an old Ed Hardy trucker hat that last saw the light of day in 2007. You’d go to the club, have everyone stare at you like you’re a dinosaur, and go home, alone. Now, would you blame everyone there for being out of touch with reality, or would you blame yourself for having zero appeal for folks who live in 2022? This is what I think of with IndyCar; nothing new, and even for what’s coming with hybridization, that’s old new in racing.

You know how much I love IndyCar, but this cycle will continue repeating itself until the series’ owners decide to bring their series out of yesteryear.

Q: I know the onscreen display for IndyCar road course qualifying isn't entirely intuitive, but I'm basically fine with it. Once you understand what it's showing, it gives you the data you want. But for oval qualifying, it would really help to have some sort of metric showing us where the time is trending. We sometimes hear the commentators talk about where a car is trending during a qualifying run, so why can't we see that before they cross the line? 

Fox's NASCAR coverage goes above and beyond for this, giving us both a sliding marker on the leaderboard showing their provisional position, as well as a ghost car graphic showing how their line differs to a rival. But even NBC's NASCAR coverage gives us a running delta to another driver's pace.

On a side note, when searching for my nephew's Christmas present, I saw officially licensed F1, Formula E, GTE, and GT3 race cars from Lego, but the closest thing to an IndyCar is a kit that vaguely looks like an IndyCar in the late ’70s. Seems like something the new marketing director could look into... 

Mike, California

MP: Thanks for writing in, Mike.

The building blocks of a marketing strategy? Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images

Q: I find it interesting that Honda did a full test of its new 2.4L hybrid engine at Indy and Chevy was nowhere to be found. What’s the scoop? Was Ilmor seriously behind and to avoid a Lotus-style embarrassment, did Chevy pull the plug? Considering Penske’s ownership stake in Ilmor, something very fishy is going on.  

Rob L., London, ON

MP: I’ve heard some interesting rumors but haven’t made the time to validate them, so I’ll wait to answer until I know what is and isn’t real.

Q: I see Ford might return to F1 via a Red Bull partnership and its involvement could be more geared towards brand presence and marketing rather than actually supplying the engines. So, two cars out of 20, and three stops in the U.S. Seems IndyCar could give them possibly eight to 10 cars, and 17 stops in North America. Seems like more exposure to me. Your thoughts?

Jeff, Florida

MP: I’d say Ford doesn’t lack exposure here at home. Joey Logano just won NASCAR’s biggest championship driving his Ford in America’s biggest and most popular series. It has a new factory sports car program coming in 2024 with the new Mustang GT3 model in IMSA’s biggest series, so there’s nothing I can think of that Ford is lacking that it would get from being in IndyCar right now.

It’s outside of home where Ford could make gains in sales and awareness, and if you want to do that, F1’s the logical choice with its hybrid formula and massive global reach.

Q: I've seen the social media footage of the new hybrid GTP cars leaving their pit stalls under electric power and driving for a short distance before the combustion engine kicks in. It's pretty badass! But it brings a question to mind. Are any steps being taken to help crew members in the pit stalls down from a GTP car be aware there's a “quiet” car hurtling towards them?

The nervous parent within me is fearful that without that old audio cue of a roaring engine mere feet behind oneself, crew members in close proximity to a departing GTP car may not be as aware that there is a car launching itself out of the stall.

Matt Philpott 

MP: Had this exact conversation with about a dozen people while I was there at the test and I’m half tempted to start a pool and setting odds on which photographer -- because I’m not worried about the highly aware mechanics -- gets punted first by a GTP car launching on e-power.

I did suggest mandating street-car horn buttons being placed in the middle of the steering wheel, which was somewhat of a joke but also somewhat serious. Amid 110-plus decibels of racing noise, it might be hard to clearly hear an audible alert from GTP cars firing out of their pit stalls with the ERS units, but I do think it’s worth considering.

Granted, the FIA WEC has seen plenty of e-launches over the years with its hybrid prototypes, and I don’t recall any serious issues.

Maybe the GTP cars need more cow bell? Michael Levitt/Lumen

Q: Will we ever see a NASCAR Cup Series race in a foreign country? Will we see Helio Castroneves racing in the Daytona 500?

Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY 

KC: I think it’s more and more likely that NASCAR will one day again take the Cup Series to a foreign country. The question is, where would they go? With the Euro Series giving NASCAR exposure in European countries and the Pinty’s Series in Canada, those give officials insight into the hunger for stock car racing in those areas. What is now the Xfinity Series once raced in Montreal and Mexico, and specifically, Mexico is an important market for NASCAR. The Craftsman Truck Series was a staple at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park until the pandemic. So, the sport has experience racing outside of the United States, and with the urge to constantly put the sport and its biggest stars in front of new markets, it’s going to happen. I refer you to an interview I did in August where NASCAR’s vice president of international business, Chad Seigler, discussed what they’d look for in a market to race in.

Indications are that Helio Castroneves will be in the Daytona 500, but it’s still unknown who is going to field the car. Justin Marks told me that it wouldn’t be impossible for them to field a third car from Trackhouse Racing, but it was going to be a lot of work. The Money Team Racing is another team that is being brought up. Don Hawk, who promised Castroneves he would put a deal together for him if he won an SRX race, has been tight-lipped about the conversations he’s had on Castroneves’s behalf. There are plenty of teams who would field an additional car, but it’s a matter of what makes the most sense logistically and financially.

Q: In keeping with the Musical Team Principals, where do you think Williams is going to land? With a new team principal and technical director but the same ownership? Or with new ownership, possibly an Andretti/Porsche linkup?

Second F1 question: Under F1 rules, could an engine supplier such as Honda supply an ICE/ERS combination to one team, while supplying just the ERS to anther? For instance, If Honda bought a team like Alpha Tauri, could you have AT as a full works team, while Red Bull used a RBPT ICE with a Honda ERS?

Ed Joras

CM: The first part I feel is pretty set to be the first option, because Dorilton has invested heavily so far and is similarly backing Logan Sargeant to do the job in a race seat as well as bring added marketing value, so the recent changes suggest it's unhappy with performance and wants to see an upturn. If it was selling up imminently, it probably wouldn't have given itself the headache of needing to go through the process of trying to find another new leadership team. Williams is worth a lot more now than when it bought it, though, so the right offer would surely be attractive.

The example you use is interesting, Ed, because the rules state a team must have a power unit supplier, but if the different parties were all in agreement then theoretically I don't see a regulation that would prevent it being pieced together in that sense from multiple companies. BUT I also think the desire to protect IP, and the need to make the whole power unit all work together, would make it massively unlikely.

THE FINAL WORD

From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, October 2, 2013

RM: Hard to pinpoint the exact time but engineers replaced chief mechanics in the 1980s when CART rose to power and road racing team owners like Newman/Haas, Jim Hall, Jim Trueman and Doug Shierson came to IndyCar. Before that, the chief mechanic served as the "setup engineer" and Jud Phillips, A.J. Watson, Bill Finley, Wayne Leary, Mike Devin, Darrell Soppe, Jim McGee, John Martin, Duane Glasgow, Jerry Eisert, Jack Beckley, Herb Porter, John Capels, Roy Campbell, Mark Bridges, Bill Spangler, Bill Fowler, Dick Cecil, Jack Starnes, Chickie Hiroshima, Don Koda, Grant King, Dick Offinger, Howard Gilbert, Paul Brooks, Jess Alou, George Huening, Tommy Smith, Ted Swiontek, Danny Jones, Ted Hall and Bignotti all come to mind as some of the best that I knew. A.J. says George was super smart about engines but he also knew chassis and his record speaks for itself -- 85 wins.