The RACER Mailbag, April 8

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: Is there any performance clause that we know of in Siegel's Arrow McLaren contract, or does he have free rein to continue underperforming for the rest of the year?

John A

MARSHALL PRUETT: These questions keep coming in and I feel like I’m losing the information war, so for one last time… I pray… here we go:

Nolan Siegel’s family pays for him to drive the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevy. It’s like a lease. A contract was created between both parties. The team renders a service to provide a race car for Nolan. Nolan’s family gives the team money in exchange for rendering this service. It’s his car to drive for the duration of the contract. And there are no performance clauses in that lease. Whether Nolan finishes first or last is immaterial.

And while we’re at it, let’s cover off the others:

Kyffin Simpson’s family/business relations pay for him to drive the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. It’s akin to a lease. A contract was created between both parties. Etc. It’s his car to drive for the duration of the contract. And there are no performance clauses in that lease. Whether Kyffin finishes first or last is immaterial.

Sting Ray Robb’s family/business relations pay for him to drive the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy. It’s akin to a lease. A contract was created between both parties. Etc. It’s his car to drive for the duration of the contract. And there are no performance clauses in that lease. Whether Sting Ray finishes first or last is immaterial.   

Hopefully that helps. Nolan, Kyffin and Sting Ray are no different than the hundreds of IndyCar drivers to precede them who’ve paid to compete over the decades. If a paying driver has been bounced from their seat in the past, we can assume they did not have the same kind of ironclad contracts created for the current paying drivers.

It’s worth overstating that in each instance, the Arrow McLarens and others willingly sought out drivers who will pay to drive their cars, agreed to take their money, and sealed the business transactions in legally binding contracts. This pay-to-drive business model has been around for longer than most of us have been alive. The drivers are getting exactly what they’re paying for and the teams are receiving exactly what they’ve wanted.

Q: You mentioned Katherine Legge has a Chevy motor for the Indy 500 if she can figure the rest out. That is a change from her long affiliation with Honda. What happened there? Also, has there been any other news about Mexico City for IndyCar? 

Andy Brumbaugh

MP: Her Indy 500 debut in 2012 was with a Chevy-powered car run by Roger Penske’s son Jay. Kat spent 2025 driving Chevys in ARCA, Xfinity, and Cup. I’m sure Honda would provide a motor if she had a Honda-powered team that was willing to run her, but since that limits her to half of the field, it makes sense for her to have developed a deeper relationship with GM. Bryan Herta has been rumored to be looking at ways to run Legge, and I've also heard Foyt and PREMA mentioned. 

IndyCar won’t be visiting Mexico anytime soon. 

Legge had a Dragon with a Bowtie for her first Indy 500 in 2012. Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Q: I went to the 12 Hours of Sebring for the first time, and it was a fantastic experience. While watching the full race replay after getting back home [ED: You watched a full-race replay of a 12-hour race?!), I noticed that after some of the crashes the drivers don't immediately open the door after the wreck, particularly after the No. 62 Ferrari collected the No. 57 Mercedes. I'm so used to watching the drivers in NASCAR dropping the window net down after a crash to let the track medical workers know they are OK.

A couple of questions came to mind regarding IMSA's medical protocol. Are the drivers told to wait for the medical workers to come to them after a crash? Does IMSA require drivers to go get a medical checkup after stopping on track for a mechanical failure? 

Brandon Karsten

MP: Drivers are told to stay in the car. It’s written into the rules, with the exception of the obvious things like fire, where drivers are not expected to sit inside their cars and wait…

If a driver makes contact with anything – a wall, or another car, or both – they are placed into an IMSA vehicle and taken to the Infield Care Center for evaluation. There are sensors in every car that alert the first responders to the severity of impacts where if a certain g-force threshold is exceeded, a light is triggered to inform those arriving on the scene.

Q: Taking nothing away from Michael Schumacher’s son, who wouldn’t be where he is without talent and not just his family name, I wonder how good Daniel Ricciardo would have been for IndyCar had he accepted a ride in the series? Or would it have been another case of nice guys finish last?

Yanie Porlier

MP: Not sure how Mick factors into a Ricciardo question in any way, but Daniel won eight F1 races for two teams (seven for Red Bull, one for McLaren) and placed third in the championship on two occasions. He’d have been amazing, provided it was with a good team. Alex Palou is the nicest driver in IndyCar. He doesn’t finish last.