The RACER Mailbag, February 11

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.

Q: I was watching Sam Collins's video about the new Audi F1 car and he mentions the global race engine project. He mentions IndyCar there. What did IndyCar folks think about it back then? 

While having the top series running all the same engine would be a bit boring, it'd be a big boost for the WEC and IndyCar if that went ahead. Maybe we could still have the agile LMP1H cars racing to this day. And IndyCar would have achieved the third OEM (or more than three).

The interesting part is how a single manufacturer was responsible for making the impossible happen (given how F1 was still led by Bernie Ecclestone, I'd never expect him to go ahead with that idea at the time) and how that same manufacturer destroyed the whole project.

William

MARSHALL PRUETT: The GRE was a hot concept for a few years championed by former Audi Sport engine guru Ulrich Baretzky in which an extremely small, powerful, and efficiency-minded motor would take over the sport. And it never happened. I can’t think of a time where anyone at the tail end of the Champ Car series’ life or within the IndyCar Series was truly interested in going with common four-cylinder turbos.

I don’t see the same amazing possibilities being missed due to the lack of use with the GRE in IndyCar and WEC and whatever else. The concept was one of financial savings and commonality, but manufacturers choose where to race based on a few key differentiators, and engines have been hugely important in why one car company chooses NASCAR over IndyCar, or IMSA over F1. If it’s a bunch of series all using the same engines, you take away what’s unique for a manufacturer to embrace or that aligns with who they are at the moment and for the near future.

That’s why, other than the WRC, the GRE concept never took off as a whole, and in IndyCar.

Q: With the Phoenix test and race coming up, I wonder if you have insight on how the partnership with Phoenix Raceway has been for IndyCar? Turning the test into an Unser-themed event with free fan access is nice to see, and I have read online that the track has been promoting the IndyCar aspect of the shared race weekend. 

I am also wondering if we know who the grand marshal is for the race. It was neat seeing Al Jr. at Long Beach last year, featured on the FOX practice day talk show. It would be cool to see Tom Sneva featured in a similar way. He apparently lives in the Phoenix area, and for a period of time during the 1980s dominated at the raceway.

Jason, Muncie, IN

MP: Very smart play by the series and track to use the test as a vehicle to gauge and build local interest for the open-wheel side of the NASCAR weekend. I’ve only heard good things about the relationship between the series and track, and that predates joining the NASCAR event; prior to his firing, I recall Jay Frye mentioning the possibility of IndyCar going back to Phoenix as a test track, and he was the one who previously orchestrated IndyCar’s return to race there from 2016-18.

No clue on the grand marshal, but there’s a certain 1993 Phoenix 200 race winner by the name of Mario Andretti who took his final IndyCar victory at the track and would be an easy pick with great crossover appeal as the 1967 Daytona 500 winner.

Need a Phoenix Grand Marshal? Mario's your man. Steven Tee/Getty Images

Q: Thinking I was way ahead of the ballgame, I went to the Grand Prix of Arlington website to order my race tickets last week. A solid five weeks before race weekend. I was shocked to find that almost all grandstand seating was sold out. Post-split at a non-CART era race, this type of demand for IndyCar race tickets is unheard of. What kind of marketing magic at Jerry World did they use to pull off such a feat? 

Bob Gray, Canoga Park, CA

MP: Texas is possibly the most sports-mad state in the country and has a brand-new, first-time motor race in the heart of where the massively popular (but lovingly terrible) Dallas Cowboys play and where the Texas Rangers play as well. I’d be shocked if the inaugural race wasn’t sold out for all the reasons I’ve cited. The real test will be in 2027 and whether the curiosity converts into sustained ticket-buying interest.

Q: I think it would be a great idea for IndyCar and FOX to work together to schedule an early afternoon race in Florida on Super Bowl Day, 2027. There’s a big football game that day, but it does not start until 6:30pm Eastern, and it will be on ESPN/ABC.

One might talk the St. Pete promoters into moving the race up a couple weeks, just this one time. Penske Entertainment could rent the Miami F1 track if St. Pete turns down the option.

There could be a big watch party for the big football game scheduled after the race, perhaps with local NFL players not involved in the big game.

How do we get this idea in front of Penske or FOX execs? This seems too good an idea not to happen! Maybe it becomes the permanent event to start the season?

What am I missing? LET'S GO!!

Ed Joras

MP: You’re onto something here, especially after a dog of a Super Bowl game. I’m not kidding when I say my wife and I were more entertained by the Puppy Bowl.