The RACER Mailbag, February 8

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: The Maximum Stint Energy for the Daytona 24 was 920 megajoules. I get that. It is measured by sensors on the driveshafts that detect how many megajoules (how much force) is applied to the tires by the drivetrain. Have I got that right? So, the maximum amount of force that can be applied to the rear tires of any GTP car during a stint at Daytona would be 920 megajoules.

Here’s the question: If all the cars weigh the same, and they all fit in the same aerodynamic envelop yielding the same drag (roughly) and downforce, how does Acura cover more miles using the same amount of force applied to the tires? The only thing I can think of is that the chassis dynamics of the ARX-06 allow it to run with less downforce and drag than its competitors, resulting in going farther on the same number of megajoules.

What are your thoughts?

Ed Joras

MARSHALL PRUETT: Yes, the torque sensors only record acceleration and apply that in the count up to the 920MJ stint limit. The Acura has been described for many months among its rivals as the fastest GTP car, and if we look at the basics of the situation, the ARX-06 drivers are able to make more speed on an average lap without having to rely on the throttle as much as their rivals.

Another factor to consider, which was raised by one of the best non-Acura drivers, was how Acura isn’t going to Le Mans this year. That driver -- a Le Mans veteran, for what it's worth -- suggested the Acuras were likely racing at Daytona with more freedom than those brands headed to Le Mans where the ACO/WEC were looking hard at all data coming out of Daytona as a first opportunity to consider at how it will apply Balance of Performance restrictions. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether Cadillac and Porsche held their performance cards -- be it lap time or Maximum Stint Energy capabilities -- closer to their chests than the brand that dominated the Rolex 24.

Q: How many is too many in driver lineups for the longer IMSA races? I well remember the days of two per car (Rodriguez/Kinnunen, Siffert/Redman, etc.) even for the 24-hour races. For me, three diluted the honor, though there were surely performance gains using fresher drivers. But four per car is overkill, which diminishes the awe in which I held the skills of "endurance" races. How do the drivers feel being one of four on a podium?

A. Jenkins, Brockville, Ontario

MP: This is an entirely made-up thing, a non-issue. Sports car rivers are hired (or pay) to try and win races in an ensemble cast, not to prove their toughness by doing it with the fewest drivers over 12 or 24 hours. And while the dangers were drastically higher in the Porsche 917 days, you won’t find a single legend like a Redman or similar who says they drove those monsters at 100 percent for an entire endurance event. Had they, three or four drivers would have been required. With modern sports car pros working in the maximum-attack model that’s been the norm for quite a while, you need three or four drivers to bear the physical load that comes with it.

How do the drivers feel about being one of four on the podium? Pretty good, as far as we can tell. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Q: How much does it cost an OEM to have a GTP program, and how does that stack up to the amount Honda and Chevy spend a year in IndyCar? Is it dramatically cheaper to be in GTP/LMDh?

IndyCar seems to have the bigger audience but it struggles to find manufactures, while IMSA launched GTP with four unique manufacturers and will have a fifth next year. Is it all down to budgets, or is there more to it than money spent/ROI?

Thomas, Orlando, FL

MP: There’s really no such thing as a "GTP budget" since each manufacturer decides how much they want to spend, so it’s hard to do a straight financial comparison between the two. If I were to go off of operating costs per car, I’ve heard numbers in the $10-15 million range for a season, but that’s just the number to do all 11 races. Costs to design and build each GTP model, create all of the spares for multiple cars, all of the wind tunnel and simulator testing, track testing, staffing costs on the manufacturer’s side, and so on, would add a multiplier of 2X o 3X, easily, during Year 1. I heard one team had a $22 million operating budget in 2022 with two DPis, so I’d bet that $10 million could be low.

Same with IndyCar; Chevy and Honda don’t tell us how much they spend per year on supporting their teams, buying advertising, sponsoring IndyCar races, etc., so other than knowing it’s in the tens of millions, there are no specifics to offer.

It’s far easier to sell an auto company’s board of directors on a high-profile hybrid GTP program because of its greater technological relevance and closer looks to what they sell. With IndyCar, it’s more of a passion play that also involves legacy. Chevy joined IndyCar in the 1980s and Honda did the same in the early 1990s, both during the CART era, continued in the 2000s in the IRL/IndyCar era, and with the advent of the new-era cars and engine formula that debuted in 2012, the two were back at it and have never left. There’s real history for both with open-wheel racing and they feel an ongoing need to be here, which is amazing.

But for an auto company that doesn’t have decades of history and provenance in IndyCar, and has the option of doing a hybrid GTP car that can be styled to look vaguely similar to its road cars, or doing an IndyCar engine that’s hybrid but sits tucked away in the engine bay in a car that looks identical to the Chevys and Hondas, that’s a much harder sell to the board of directors. Throw in the fact that the GTPs are brand-new and doing an IndyCar engine would come with using the oldest open-wheel chassis in a modern racing series, and you can see why manufacturers are flocking to IMSA instead of IndyCar.

Q: Normally when I venture to Florida from Indiana for an IMSA fix, it is at Sebring, but a family commitment sent me to Daytona instead to see the new GTP class, and man, I was not disappointed! My question concerns the BMWs. It was obvious, at least to me, that the BMWs were well off the pace. Was that a BoP issue, or did BMW just not get it right? I really expected the RLL group to come out swinging, but was left unimpressed with the lack of pace.

In response to Kent in last week's Mailbag, I couldn't disagree more. I thought the GTP cars all had a very unique look that made them easy to distinguish, especially at night. Also, the sounds! Oh my, the sweet sounds they make! I really loved sitting in a corner and listen to the Cadillacs blipping the throttle downshifting! We spent some time along the backstretch at the exit of the oval Turn 2 about midnight, and watching them blast down the backstretch wide open was a thrill! We could tell by the rear lighting who was who. As for knowing what driver is in the car Kent, just take your phone and queue up IMSA live timing -- everything you need to know to follow the race is there for you...

Danny T, Tell City, IN

MP: Great race, wasn’t it? I had limited expectations for the BMW M Hybrid V8s simply because they were the last cars to start testing and as a result, they had a much higher mountain to climb to reach the same state of readiness and competitiveness as Acura, Cadillac, and Porsche.

In the race, it was immediately evident that the BMWs were running to a set pace, and that was nothing like the pace the other three were running, which told me BMW M Team RLL was solely focused on the making it to the finish line instead of battling wheel-to-wheel on the way there. Sadly, one of its cars suffered a failure of the Bosch MGU early on and that ruined their race. The other, to its credit, finished ahead of both Porsches -- the high-mileage testing kings of GTP -- so that must have rankled Porsche to some degree.

Ace BMW M Team RLL engineer/technical+operations director Brandon Fry and his German counterparts at BMW Motorsport will take the six weeks between Daytona and Sebring to make up more ground and return in a stronger state for the 12 Hours.

Q: Thanks for your videos on the new IMSA GTP class from the Rolex 24. I found the one on the Max Stint Energy and Virtual Fuel Tank very interesting. If I understood it correctly, it seems like the amount of energy used for a stint dictates a minimum pit stop time the next time a car stops for fuel. This raises a few questions. Does this mean that a team cannot execute a short pit stop to splash up on a limited amount of fuel near the end of the race if the need arises? Rather, do they need to carefully calculate the final pit stop to account for the prior energy usage and fuel needed for the final stint? Seems that if you miscalculate, you could be screwed.

Anthony P in Detroit

MP: GTP teams have folks in new and dedicated race roles on the timing stands where they are solely responsible for MSE calculations. Here’s the math: With the proximity sensors tickled by a refueling probe (or similar), each GTP replenishes its VFT at 23MJ per second.

So, if a car used half of its 920MJ maximum (460MJ) and pitted, it would need to sit for 20 seconds (460/23MJ/sec). Keep applying that math to however many MJs were used, and you have the stationary time that goes with it. Used 910MJ? That’s 39.6 seconds of sitting still to activate the ability for the car to replenish that 910MJ and fill your VFT.

Q: Why is it that Shank can be so dominant in IMSA and then not be as competitive in IndyCar? He seems to have great backing for both series. I feel like for the team that it is and the drivers it has, we should see it near the front more often.

Michael, Utah

MP: Mike Shank and Jim Meyer have the same opinion. Look at it this way, though: We’re talking about a team that’s been in sports cars for 20 years and is entering its third full-time season in IndyCar. And only its second as a two-car effort for the season, so it’s not a straight apples-to-apples comparison between MSR’s two camps. I’d also say that with half or less of the amount of teams to beat in IMSA, there’s far greater competition in IndyCar to overcome.

Lastly, both Castroneves and Pagenaud are in the final year of their current contracts. Without wins from both, we could see a 100-percent changeover in 2024.

Compared to its IMSA program, Meyer Shank's IndyCar team is relatively early in its journey. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Q: Like many, I’d been looking forward to the Rolex 24 for years with the new cars. To that end, and with the knowledge that Lamborghini will be coming in ’24, what do you think the chances are of Ferrari, Toyota, and Peugeot have of racing at Daytona ’24?

Also, do you see IMSA ever allowing the "Glick" to come race in the series? I think they are missing the "little engine that could" storyline.

Larry L. Watson

MP: Of the three, Ferrari seems like the most likely to come and play. I was really disappointed in Toyota’s choice to skip Daytona and wasn’t surprised that Peugeot, which doesn’t sell cars here, didn’t bother. Having Jim and his cars in IMSA would make me incredibly happy. But there’s a deep disconnect between both sides; can’t see it happening.

Q: The local NBC affiliate in Houston -- KPRC Channel 2 -- didn't air the final two hours of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Were there other stations that chose to run informercials instead of the network feed, or is Houston's programming really worse than Peoria?

Ben Keating, who owns auto dealerships across Texas was a legitimate contender for the LMP2 win, so seems like a very short-sighted decision.

Chris, Houston, TX

MP: Brother… I was in Daytona, which makes reporting on how NBC in various cities did or did not present the final two hours of the race a bit of a challenge…

Q: Have you heard from IndyCar regarding what it may have learned or is learning from the IMSA transition, and its apparent success as it pertains to IndyCar? I am writing as a fan of both series with particular concern for the state of IndyCar and the ancient hardware it runs. Does the adage, "You have to spend money to make money" apply? Like others who have written you about the aged hardware, has IndyCar determined that the hardware really does not matter in the eyes of the fan base? I tend to believe that short-term budget considerations risk long term viability with any product in any consumer-facing industry.

Emmett, Dallas, TX

MP: Not yet. We just put the first hybrid GTP race to bed, so I wouldn’t expect IndyCar to have reactions and answers days after the event. But I do know the folks who own IndyCar and who own teams in both series came away from the Rolex 24 At Daytona with a clear impression of what a big deal it was and how big of a lift it created for IMSA.

IndyCar doesn’t want to talk -- at this stage, at least -- about new cars, new engines, or anything of that nature. On the technology front, it’s renewable fuel this year from Shell and the MAHLE ERS units next year, and after that, I don’t know.

Q: So, Ford announced that it will be teaming with Red Bull to run in F1. What a slap in the face to IndyCar! IndyCar has been trying to get a third engine supplier for a while. Now, an American company chooses to go to F1 instead if IndyCar? Is this yet another failure by Penske to move this series forward?

Penske was going to be the savior of IndyCar. And in the short term, he was. But in the long run, he appears to be heading for a very steep and high cliff. IndyCar has the best racing on track, but everything else about them is turning to a big steaming pile.

Skiavalanche

MP: The anticipated news of Ford returning to F1 that landed on Friday -- final day of Spring Training -- was a big and negative talking point in the paddock and pit lane. The comments were all along the expected lines of wishing it was a return to IndyCar and how there’s no positive spin that can be placed on the Blue Oval picking F1 over IndyCar.

Roger’s done a lot of positive things since taking over the Speedway, and there have been some positives of his making in IndyCar as well.

But what we have here with Ford, and Audi, and maybe more, are major auto manufacturers assessing what IndyCar has to offer in the near future and what F1 is offering on a similar time frame, and to our frustration, the decisions keep landing in F1’s favor. And it should come as no surprise.

The sooner IndyCar comes up with fresh ideas that will make the Fords and Audis of the world choose its series over F1, the better. We are genuinely fortunate to have Chevy and Honda, who remain loyal, despite having their calls to IndyCar to find a third manufacturer to share the engine supply load go unheeded for 10 full years.

When will IndyCar’s new owners grasp how outdated their product has become? We’re going hybrid next year -- a truly important development for the series -- but it has done nothing to get new manufacturers to sign a supply contract. I wish that weren’t true, but it is.

So, if you can’t find new folks to buy your product, come up with a better product.

Q: What is it that IMSA and Formula 1 have that IndyCar doesn't? Obviously they have something manufacturers want that IndyCar doesn't provide. Maybe it is time to allow someone like Cosworth to provide engines -- if not all year, maybe just the Indy 500.

David, Columbus, OH

MP: Finding a specialist racing engine manufacturer to become IndyCar’s third isn’t a problem. Cosworth or AER or Gibson or Mecachrome or Ilmor could start production in no time. Finding someone to pay them the estimated $50 million they’d need over five years to cover the project is the problem.

And since IndyCar is heavily supported by auto manufacturers in Chevrolet and Honda, there’s no way an unbadged engine is going to be allowed to compete against these giant brands. Again, finding someone to make engines isn’t an issue. It’s the money to pay for it from a recognized car manufacturer where the stumbling blocks are found.

If the next approach to suggest is doing away with auto manufacturers and going to Cosworths and Gibsons, the series’ financial structure collapses without the nine-figure outlays from Chevy and Honda each season.

Taking the Cosworth route might solve one bunch of problems for IndyCar, but it would also create an entire family of new ones. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: I now see why there is no third manufacturer in IndyCar. IndyCar does not, and will not, offer any upside, or enough upside for additional manufacturers. But it appears F1 does.

We should all marvel that in the course of a few weeks Cadillac (read "GM") formed an alliance with Andretti to enter F1, and now Ford is joining Red Bull in F1. While IndyCar has added, well, nothing and no-one.

Add to this Chevrolet doing Le Mans in a Camaro with NASCAR, and IMSA attracting manufacturers by droves, us IndyCar fans had better watch out because I think the fat lady is getting ready to sing. Great racing alone isn’t enough to save IndyCar.

Warbird Willie

MP: With 27 full-time cars on the grid, IndyCar’s team owners would disagree with you on the end being near. If entries were stock prices, we can say IndyCar is on the rise, and since independent racing team owners are among the most fickle people I know, they’d leave IndyCar or downsize their teams if they thought the thing was about to come crashing down around them. That’s a fact.

As for the rest, it’s a drum we’ve been beating for a while now with the hope that IndyCar’s ownership will take note and take action.

Q: I read the article you wrote on the Leaders Circle payouts being reduced and the money being allocated to advertising and promotions. How are the teams taking that change? From a fan perspective, if that $3.3 million can grow the sport more and bump the TV audience 10-15%, that would help greatly. A couple of years with that kind of increase will have a nice impact and help the teams gain visibility for sponsors. But I can't imagine the teams being happy to hear about it this late in the off-season.

John

MP: They absolutely love it. Couldn’t be happier. They’re hoping it becomes an annual 14-percent reduction so that by the end of the decade, there will be no Leaders Circle program (sarcasm).

Q: What's going on with Simona De Silvestro and Paretta Autosport? Any news for 2023. or they are done? I had great hopes for them with the Penske support, but it seems it has fizzled miserably.

Alfredo, San Diego, CA

MP: I’m told there’s no news to offer but she’s continuing to work on the program’s return and there’s the obvious hope that something will be announced in the near future. I saw Beth Paretta in passing at Daytona and we’re meant to connect as soon as she’s able.

Q: Is there a story behind Ford's snub of IndyCar?

Shawn, MD

MP: Beyond the painfully obvious point that F1’s the hot new thing in North America and Ford and GM have found reasons to spend zillions there in the future, no.

I fondly remember when CART was giving F1 headaches in the early 1990s with its massive popularity and its increasing number of auto manufacturers signing on to participate. We had five big brands, including Ford, at one point. That was a long time ago. I wish we were talking about 2023.

Q: Following IndyCar, I’m lost as to what they are selling or to whom. Outside of Honda/Chevy, there’s no visible brands that stand out to me. The drivers seem pleasant enough, but again, what are they selling?

With F1 moving into the USA, it’s time IndyCar gets its act together. F1 offers many world-famous brands. Why am I watching IndyCar and its decade-old chassis/engine combo?

Pete, Ohio

MP: What are F1 drivers selling, or NASCAR drivers selling? I ask because like you with IndyCar drivers, I haven’t the foggiest clue what drivers are meant to be selling. Aren’t they signed to perform as professional athletes? I’m confused.

As for what IndyCar is selling, I’ll pose the same question? What’s F1 selling? Crappy racing where one of two drivers and one team dominate each season? Been that way for a long time. How about NASCAR? Running into each other all day and night to start the season at the LA Coliseum with a terrible exhibition event? Yep, as I’ve been writing since the Dallara DW12 turned 10 and became eligible for vintage racing, the car is ancient and the engine formula is ancient, but the racing is usually amazing.

So, do you watch racing because you love the racing itself? If so, IndyCar has you covered. Are you more interested in the technology side? OK. That’s where IndyCar might hold limited interest.

Q: Were you shocked by Ford's announcement to partner with Red Bull in F1? Based on what Ford had said in the recent past about having no interest in being involved in open-wheel competition again, this came out of the blue. Does this change the possibility that Ford might reconsider being involved as a third manufacturer in IndyCar? In the 1960s and ’70s, they were involved heavily in both IndyCar and F1 with great success in both. Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part, but this is quite a turnaround in their corporate policy.

Dave Wells

MP: It is. The last time I asked a senior Ford Racing executive about the brand having any interest in American open-wheel, I was shot a look like I was the dumbest guy in the paddock (not saying he was wrong, BTW). Unless the same people in charge of taking the company into IndyCar and/or F1 in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s were there calling the shots today, it really doesn’t matter what the company did in the past.

Truth is, big auto companies like Ford with rich racing histories have been searching for relevant arenas to continue their racing, and NASCAR ain’t it. Ford’s still there, obviously, and won the Cup title last year, but they’ve been there forever and it has never been about representing cutting-edge technology.

IndyCar will go hybrid next year, but that’s a decade after F1 went hybrid and a year after IMSA, so if it isn’t Formula E, F1’s the only other place to commit to that’s firmly rooted in hybrid/EV technology. And, more than anything, F1’s the most popular form of racing in the world, so with its well-established place in NASCAR -- North America’s most popular racing series -- there would be no real reason to aim lower and play in IndyCar’s much smaller pond when it can play on a huge global stage.

The IndyCar fan in me wants every manufacturer to choose IndyCar over F1. But when I change views to the guy who worked on the team side before switching to the media, I understand why F1 keeps winning the decision-making war. Currently, it’s the smarter business decision.

Right now, F1's ticking the all the right boxes for manufacturers. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Q: With most questions about the future mostly solved, I want to add a throwback. The Indy Lights, err I mean Indy NXT, wait maybe Indy Pro Series back in the day... used a Dallara IPS car with Infinity-Nissan 3.5L V6 engine from 2002-2014, however there's a noticeable change in engine tone from 2008 to 2009, from deep stock-blocky sound to lighter tone. I searched everywhere and found no evidence of a change in the engine. So could you tell me what has changed in that car?

Axel, Indonesia

MP: It was always a V8. I engineered one of them at the 2005 Freedom 100 Infiniti Pro Series race, and it was a dumb old Nissan V8 badged as an Infiniti.

Q: Despite our friends at Honda saying it's not their job to promote IndyCar (per your 2.4L postponement story), I feel that's exactly what they did with Hoonigan and the Honda Indy Truck. How cool is that thing? The power of an IndyCar on street tires with the face of a Ridgeline is silly, and I love it. Gives me Rod Millen Tacoma vibes.

You know what the series ought to do? Put some real tires on that thing, send the Hoonigan team and our friend Mr. Pagenaud out to one of the GRIDLIFE festivals like Gingerman, and have them give rides to all these young car enthusiasts. And by young, I mean people under the age of 40, not 16.

Better yet, send a young American star (Colton Herta or Kyle Kirkwood perhaps) with an IR18 to do some demonstration laps and show all the GRIDLIFE time attack guys what a real lap time looks like. Did you see the crowd at Bathurst this weekend react to the 10-year-old F1 car on track? GRIDLIFE is the perfect event to be activating with the future fans. I know, I'm hired.

Gabe in northwest Indiana

MP: You, sir, are good at marketing! I’ve yet to attend a GRIDLIFE event, but friends who have point to it as the best youth-culture/new-racing-fan engagement arena they’ve seen. It would be wonderful if IndyCar and GRIDLIFE were to connect and make new racing fans together.

Q: There has been a lot of discussion in the Mailbag this winter about what a racing series needs to do to draw new fans. Many point to street races such as Nashville, while others highlight the importance of new technology in the cars. But I want to share my opinion of what a real race fan is. First, it is everyone that is reading today’s Mailbag. And thanks to Robin Miller, we hear from an informed and passionate fan base each and every week. Second, it is everyone that works for RACER. Without RACER, who knows where we would read about our favorite series and all of the latest behind the scenes chatter?

My first experience seeing a professional car race couldn’t have been any better. In August of 1974 I attended the Can-Am race at Mid-Ohio. I got to see the last-ever race of the Porsche 917-30 as it battled the mighty Shadows driven by George Follmer and Jackie Oliver. As a 17-year-old I was blown away by the cars which, in my opinion, are the greatest racing cars ever built.

The next summer I saw the F5000 cars headlined by Mario Andretti and Brian Redman. Just like the Can-Am cars they were fantastically loud and extremely fast. In the years that followed I saw the new Can-Am series, the Camel GT series, the new IMSA series, and then my first CART IndyCar race in 1980.

Fast-forward to 2023 and nothing has changed. I have been to the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio three of the last four summers and get the same feeling I did when I was 17. The cars are loud, they are very fast, and the racing and competitiveness is the best in the world.

What I hope I am trying to convey is that a true race fan is someone that has had unique experience that has drawn them to the cars and the sights and sounds of racing. I think it is a mistake to think that IndyCar or any other series is going to create new fans by bringing in entertainment such as concerts. I was a professional musician for 30 years and know first-hand that my love for music and my love for racing are two totally different things.

Going forward, IndyCar needs to remember they have a good product. And thanks to Marshall we get to see great interviews of drivers with engaging personalities who all love being in the series. We need to hear more about drivers like Sting Ray Robb and of course “The Great Santino” Ferrucci.

Finally, I’m looking forward to watching "100 Days To Indy." It’s not too late to get the word out on the series. IndyCar may not have the latest technology, but the cars are still fast and the racing is for real.

Rick Schneider, Charlotte

MP: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I rarely wish I was older, but I’m jealous of being able to see Can-Am and F5000 in their heydays.

Q: I was shocked and dismayed to read the story about the Leaders Circle payout reductions. It is only one month from the start of the season and IndyCar has reduced the budget of the qualifying 22 teams by the amount of the salary of two to three mid-level team members per car! That is tantamount to breach of contract between IndyCar and its entrants. Just when I praised the health of the series, they gouge $3.3 million from their teams.

Yes, IndyCar is woefully underpromoted, and yes The Captain didn’t get rich by blowing his own money needlessly, but this seems really short-sighted to me. Roger needs to put himself back into the shoes of himself a few years ago, when he was truly just a team owner and not a series owner. I’m sure he’d have gone ballistic at getting this news a month from the first green flag. As the U.S. enters a likely recession, cutting budgets in the face of rising costs will certainly affect some smaller teams.

The timing is just all wrong. I don’t know if even Tony George would have been so tone deaf.

Trevor Bohay

MP: I’m constantly reminding myself that Penske Entertainment does business as it sees fit, and if that means taking money from one area of the annual budget and moving it to another, it’s their right. Does that make for happy team owners in this instance? Of course not.

Q: IndyCar reduced the advancement fee for the Indy Lights (now NXT) champion after he won the championship. Now they’ve reduced the teams’ Leader Circle payouts just as the teams are putting cars on track for the first time this season. I get the impression that IndyCar is making things up on the fly rather than carefully planning ahead and giving advance notice of major financial impacts. (I sincerely hope the $3.3 million added to the marketing and promotion budget comes with new ideas.)

Have team owners expressed any dismay at this method of doing business or are they holding their tongues? Any body language signals? Facial expression reveals?

Tom Hinshaw, Santa Barbara, CA

MP: Tongues, Tom. Tongues.

Q: Where is Dave Despain these days?

Barney, Reno, NV

MP: Retired and enjoying life and riding motorcycles is the answer, Barney. After SPEED was shuttered, Dave continued his decades-long broadcast career at MAVTV, and did that for a while before slowing down. I sure miss his regular presence in my world. Doing "Wind Tunnel" 5-10 times a year was a blast, calling in from Australia, France, or Sebring, depending on where I was covering an event.

Q: Do you know if there's an email address or even physical address for Peacock that we can write to complain about the lack of side-by-side view during commercials? Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us complain they'll listen.

Ryan Moore, Youngstown, OH

MP: I do not. Let Google be your guide.

Q: Hinch does a great job in the booth and I thought I heard there was a possibility he might get a IMSA ride.  Do you know if he is still working to continue his driving career? Or is he content to hang up his helmet and fully embrace his new analyst position?

Tony

MP: Spoke with our friendly Mayor last week about this and there were a few options, but those went away, unfortunately. He’s at a crossroads of sorts in that way. It’s one thing to be out of a top-line drive for a year, but add a second year or third year onto the first, and the door gets closed for good. He absolutely wants to continue racing and isn’t ready to call time on his driving career.

The Mayor has many talents, but for now he'd prefer to have a race engineer shouting through his earpiece than a TV producer. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Q: I have two things I want to mention from last week’s Mailbag. Let's get the whiny one out of the way first.

I'm getting really sick of the complaints about the ads during Daytona. Sure, the lack of side-by-side is an annoying issue, but to hear all the complaining, you'd be forgiven for thinking the "10 minutes" of racing in the first hour was a serious complaint rather than the hyperbole it was clearly meant to be. Well, here's the thing, I went back and timed everything: Counting from the drop of the green flag, the first hour of the race had 19 minutes of ads, and 41 minutes of racing shown. That is a perfectly normal ratio. Let's also not forget that Peacock Premium does not promise an ad-free experience -- that's the promise for Premium PLUS (and yes, I know due to broadcast deals it isn't ad-free there either, but most viewers aren't using it anyway).

Now, for the more interesting thing. Last week, someone mentioned the idea of a multi-class IndyCar event. This was mentioned in comments on another story recently and it had triggered a fun thought: At the end of each year, the top five in Indy NXT and all three USF series should have a one-off non-points race where they all run their own equipment in a multi-class run.

This could be beneficial to those moving up the ladder; We occasionally get a promising front-running prospect who, when he gets to the big leagues, can't seem to get out of his own way. Sometimes running at the front you lose sight of how to handle cars of differing speeds, or you don't get how to handle being stuck in the mid-pack. An annual multi-class event would serve to help reinforce the needs for paying better attention to what's going on around you so you're less likely to have a lapse in judgment that takes out an innocent victim.

FormulaFox

MP: It’s the Mailbag. People have been complaining about TV for decades and will continue to do so as long as racing is aired. Complaining about the complaints gives me a headache.

There’s zero need for the multi-class junior open-wheel race. Out of the 50-80 kids who race on the ladder each year, one to three make it to IndyCar, and rarely do we have a graduate who lacks the schooling or talent to race without being a nuisance. If they don’t possess the goods to be in IndyCar, that’s something for IndyCar to address.

Q: What is going on with the Corvette team this year? Only one car at Daytona -- why?

It didn’t run well against competition. In the past the Corvette team was always pretty competitive.

Don

MP: Are we talking about the same Corvette Racing team that finished second at the Rolex 24 against Mercedes-AMGs and Aston Martins that had friendlier BoPs?

Their split pro efforts with one car in GTD Pro and WEC GTE Pro have changed because the WEC has shuttered its Pro class, so it’s running a single car there in GTE Am where Ben Keating is paying for the program. And since he isn’t paying for the car to run in IMSA, and he was competing in LMP2, we had a single C8.R in GTD Pro.

Q: Does Ford no longer see itself as a major player in U.S. auto racing (and maybe even internationally)? [ED: This letter was sent prior to Ford's F1 announcement]. Lack of money? Still stuck on racing series relevance? Why not at least Mustangs at Daytona in the IMSA GT classes?

Is NASCAR almost an obligation for Ford, but for how long? When are the Penske and Stewart-Haas contracts up?

John, Baltimore

MP: Like Don’s question, are we talking about the same Ford that won the 2022 NASCAR Cup championship with Team Penske and Joey Logano? Ford won the Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Daytona with its GT4-spec Mustang, and as they announced a good while ago, they’re headed to big factory GT3 programs with the Mustang in 2024. And then there was the F1 link with Red Bull that was announced after your letter was sent. So, between NASCAR Cup, IMSA MPC, next year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, F1 in a few years, and its other racing endeavors, I’d say Ford’s plenty engaged in racing. On the contracts side, I have no idea; I don’t cover NASCAR.

Q: Are you a fan of Supercross and Motocross like I am, or do you just follow the four-wheeled racing? To me, Supercross is very exciting from the starting ramp to the checkered flag -- there is never a yellow flag, and the races are never stopped unless a rider gets hurt. Plus, they race in front of sell-out crowds of 50,000 or more. Not trying to give you another form of racing to cover; just wondering if you like both IndyCar and Supercross like I do.

Don in Grand Rapids

MP: I catch one or two MotoGP or Supercross broadcasts per year, but that’s about it. If I had more mental bandwidth, I’m sure I’d consume more two-wheel action.

Q: Regarding the U.S.-built spin-offs of the Lotus 38…

From my recollection, and it is entirely possible that it is faulty, various people built new copies or reworked originals over the years. Seems to me that one thing that was fairly common was to use heavier sheetmetal gauges in the fabrication of the tub. I assume that was because Colin Chapman had Indianapolis in mind, but not doing a season of racing on tracks that were not as smooth as IMS. It also makes sense when we consider Chapman’s obsession with building light racing cars.

That brings up a question. In F1 it was common for Chapman to push the envelope regarding the weight of the cars. Sometimes this resulted in structural failures. I wonder if that was well-known on this side of the Atlantic?

Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA

MP: Thanks, Don. Yes, it was well-known.

All's good with Corvette Racing. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Q: So if the IndyCars are the same year-to-year and F1 cars are new every year, what respectively are the teams and drivers testing?

Isaac Stephenson

MP: Everything they can modify or tune on the cars, just like F1 teams do. Damper builds, suspension settings, aero settings, brake packages, cooling packages, differential settings, tire durability and traits, driver handling preferences, engine mapping, etc. Doesn’t matter if the car a day old or a decade old; teams are constantly searching for ways to find more speed with the machine and rules they have to work with.

Q: I was just reading Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s obit. He was the first driver to win in a turbocharged car (Renault). I was interested to learn that he was also in charge of the Ligier team at Indy. I had never heard of the Ligier team entering Indy. Do you have any info on this?

David Young

MP: I don’t recall JPJ’s role, but do have memories of Kevin Cooooooogan (Foyt’s spelling) doing Long Beach in the Ligier LC02 and it not being a concern to the other cars, or at Indy where it failed to qualify. The car was commissioned by Mike Curb (same Curb who supports Meyer Shank Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport) who wanted an alternative to the off-the-shelf offerings from March and Lola, so he had Guy Ligier’s F1 team cook up a version for CART in 1984 with a venerable Cosworth DFX plugged into it, but its aero was agricultural, at best.

Q: Growing up in Upland, California, I started attending Indy racing as a kid when they built the Ontario Motor Speedway (RIP). I got to watch and often meet the titans of the sport, and have been hooked ever since. I had to attend to school and took a hiatus, but reconnected just as the heyday of CART (RIP again) was underway.

All of the sudden, two second-generation drivers Al Unser Jr. and Michael Andretti, appeared on the scene, and my first impression was, "Well, of course, their dads bought the seats. Nepotism at its finest." Wrong. Dumb. Both went on to become two or our sport's all-time greats, with different ways of going about it: Michael with blinding speed and uncanny feel for cold tires and low grip, and Junior with unreal racecraft and speed when  it counted.

Having said that, I was always puzzled that Michael managed only one championship all those years and no Indy 500 wins, while Al Jr. notched two titles and two Indy 500 wins. I expected more from Michael given he was generally the fastest guy out there for six or seven years during the height of his career. If you were now in your rocking chair reminiscing about  the old days and had to pick one of those two careers, whose would you choose?

Marwood Stout, Camarillo, CA

MP: I was around for most of their IndyCar careers and always saw them, like you and many others, as so very different.

Michael was the knockout artist -- the guy who would destroy everyone and run off and hide. Little Al was the closer, seemingly always there or thereabouts at the checkered flag. Barring Indianapolis, Little Al didn’t scare his rivals in the same way Michael did.

Hard to ignore Michael’s 42 wins and 32 CART poles as a portrait of how he was a constant threat, and yet, be it misfortune with a tire or engine or the wrong chassis or wrong tire vendor, there were too many seasons where Michael had a blend of amazing and terrible results. I think of 1996 as the perfect example: Fastest guy in the series, five big wins… and six finishes of 19th or worse, and when tallied, he was second in championship. Outside of that 1991 title, he finished second, third or fourth in the standings 10 times, which speaks to his almost-there career.

Conversely, Little Al racked up 34 win and seven poles along with eight runs to second, third, or fourth to go with his 1990 and 1994 titles. Minus all of the self-destructive things he did away from the track, Little Al would have been more than a two-time CART champ and Indy 500 winner, no doubt.

In a Reynard instead of a Lola, or on Firestones instead of Goodyears, Michael would be a three- or four-time champ, without question. And have at least one Indy 500 win, but since those things didn’t happen, we’re left to bench racing and imagining a world for Little Al and Michael that didn’t exist.

Q: I have been a fan of motorsports for years and have never really been sure of the value of the FIA. Within the last year they seem to be more concerned with being the stuffed white shirts that I was once told they are instead of ensuring the health of motorsports in general.

Second, F1 and how the teams pay for the technology, staff, drivers, etc., has never been really clear to me. F1 charges vast sums of money to bring a race to a venue, charge the teams and drivers to participate and then redistribute some of the money at the end of the year. The teams receive a level of funding from sponsors, but that doesn't appear to always cover costs.

Now that Andretti wants to add another team and engine manufacturer to the sport for greater competition, the teams say no, since we don't want to fund another team through reduced payouts.  It looks like a shell game with vast sums of money involved. Let's not forget that the FIA also wants their share of the pie for doing whatever it is that they do.

Thanks for any clarity that you can provide.

Craig Nelson

CHRIS MEDLAND: There’s been a real shift in the way the FIA is viewed recently because of the way Mohammed Ben Sulayem is trying to exercise some power in that relationship with F1 in a way Jean Todt didn’t before, and I’m not sure it’s working at the moment as he seems to be weakening his position.

But it must be remembered that it’s not the FIA’s job to monetize the sport and nor is it only focused on F1, so this is just a high-profile aspect of its remit. Sometimes that leads to what seems like strange opposition or impassiveness when it has other responsibilities to think about.

The majority of funding -- outside of from the sport's overall revenues (which is a huge amount) -- does come from sponsors and owners for teams. Think of Red Bull -- its budget comes from Red Bull GmbH, as does AlphaTauri’s but as a way of promoting the fashion brand. It then attracts partners who pay a lot to be associated with it (Oracle was rumored to be close to $50m per year alone as title sponsor), in turn reducing what Red Bull GmbH has to invest.

It’s the same for Mercedes, with such investment from INEOS and Daimler that can be reduced now -- under a budget cap -- through major partners. The likes of Petronas pay huge money to be title sponsor and technical partner.

For other car brands such as Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine and Aston Martin, big chunks of funding can come from those companies as they’re advertising the automotive brand for them, and the same is true of Haas where Gene Haas is promoting Haas Automation. All that’s changed there is how much he has to put in himself depending on who the title partner is. 

Teams get a percentage of F1’s revenues over a certain amount, but it’s on a sliding scale depending on where you finish in the championship. If for example a team receives $100m in total from F1, then for an 11th team to get a fair slice it would have to give up close to $10m per year. Or F1 itself would have to simply pay that example figure of $100m more out to the teams as a whole and reduce its own profits.

And don’t forget that Andretti (and any other new teams wanting to come in) are interested because it makes financial sense, too. The revenues are still growing and they feel they can make money out of F1 in a cost cap era -- thanks to big payments from F1, huge sponsor interest and a cost cap -- as well as wanting to compete.

The FIA would actually make more money out of having more teams because of entry fees, license costs etc., which explains why Ben Sulayem has been more positive about potential new entrants than Stefano Domenicali. It is a highly technical sport, though, so it costs a lot for the FIA to police, and the logistics of putting each race on around the world are enormous.

F1 is just one part -- albeit a very visible part -- of the FIA's responsibilities. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Q: As we know, F1 has increased in popularity and wealth in the last several years. Is the increase being shared by all? Are members of the press benefiting financially? Are other individuals riding this wave?

Steve

CM: In a way, yes! It’s only a small difference so don’t get carried away, but there is more interest, so there are more outlets looking to invest in their coverage. Either that means more opportunities for journalists to find paid work, or more sponsors for the different platforms and titles that are then able to spend more on their output (however they may choose to).

Marketing companies are also seeing better returns too, because there are more sponsors or partners wanting to get involved with the sport. In fact, it might only be team members who are slightly hamstrung in the sense that there’s a budget cap now so you can’t just keep increasing their wages, but with most teams less hard-up then there’s more potential for a better salary structure, too.

Q: I am a fan of both IndyCar and F1. I watch and appreciate both, without constant ragging on one or the other, to try and convince myself one is clearly superior in all aspects.

I am curious if you would know if Ford sniffing around Red Bull Powertrains influenced GM to start chatting with the Andrettis? Or was GM talking with Andretti, that got Ford interested?

Joe, Peoria, IL

CM: From what I understand, Ford was already looking at its options and Andretti actually approached it to discuss being a partner, but that wasn’t deemed the right move for Ford. Andretti was more than likely speaking to the likes of GM at the same time rather than one after the other. The one bit I don’t know is if GM spoke to Red Bull too, because Ford was very open about having held lots of discussions with multiple teams across 2022, but GM only really mentioned Andretti approaching it towards the end of last year.

THE FINAL WORD

From Robin Miller's Mailbag, February 8, 2017

Q: Frequently in the Mailbag, I see you and some fans claim that political correctness is one of the reasons that IndyCar is not as popular as it was in the "glory days." I understand that guys like A.J. and Uncle Bobby could say anything they wanted to and nowadays drivers have to think about PR and sponsors, but I don’t see how that is "political correctness."

Joey

ROBIN MILLER: The rawness of what A.J. or Bobby might say was certainly part of the attraction, but their popularity was more about their bravado and talent behind the wheel in that lethal era. Tom Sneva and Paul Tracy upheld their "shoot from the hip" persona (and, ironically, both were fired by Roger Penske), but today’s drivers are most open when describing what happened in an accident (“that clown ran out of talent”) or discussing a rule change or a new venue. It’s not that there’s a lack of honest opinion.

Sure, there are some robots, but maybe it’s more their style of expressing themselves. I think we all miss: “If you woulda had yer damned eyes open you’da seen the damn thing was poooshin” or possibly “Gordon Johncock drives hard but he’s a moron and doesn’t know anything about a race car and on top of that he needs to get his eyes checked.”