The RACER Mailbag, July 29

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 12pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.

Q: I may be the luckiest guy on earth. My wedding anniversary is the Milwaukee weekend. I mentioned to my wife that I would love check off Milwaukee from my bucket list.  She said, let’s do it!

Do you have any advice for our weekend?  We hope to run into you covering the action.

John Sedlak, Venice, FL

MARSHALL PRUETT: Well, that’s amazing. If you haven’t been there, drive an hour north and see Road America. Go see a Brewers game. Go have a few beers at Hollar House, and then head downstairs to enjoy the oldest active bowling alley in the country. If you’re a fan of motorcycles, the Harley Davidson factory is nearby. Find a Friar Tuck’s restaurant and feel like you’re back in 1973 (just don’t be mad when the food tastes like it was cooked in 1973).  

Q: Will Meyer Shank Racing have a pay driver for the second seat due to some external factors looming on the horizon?

MSR, to the outside observer, seems one of the more successful teams in terms of its sponsorship package: multiple blue chip sponsors. One would think given the 35% increase in YoY TV ratings and winning the Indy 500 they would be able to raise enough funding for the second seat to pick whatever driver they want. 

What are the odds of the second open seat going to a Caio Collett (good driver with funding) vs a Christian Lundgaard (highly touted free agent paid driver)? 

Of the following drivers, who ends up on the outside looking in: Mick Schumacher, Dennis Hauger, Romain Grosjean, Enzo Fittipaldi, Nikita Johnson, Josh Pierson, Linus Lundqvist Sting Ray Robb and Louis Foster? 

Mookie Blaylock, Forever at the Gold Club 

MP: A paying driver could be placed in the seat, but no, a paying driver is not required. Even teams will fully-funded cars through sponsorship are openly seeking high-caliber drivers who can also bring money. It’s a new dynamic in IndyCar that’s driven by escalating costs and the need to buy new cars and fund all-new R&D cycles with those cars.

My most recent silly season update ran through a lot of the drivers listed and their situations; no need to repeat that work so I’d give it a read.

Milwaukee: Come for the race, stay for all the other cool stuff. Paul Hurley/Penske Entertainment

Q: I believe you mentioned there is the possibility of PNC Bank moving to the 10 with the vacant 9 seat being sponsored by DHL, OpenAI, Solo, HRC etc. This concept backs up a suspicion as to who could end up in the seat: Mick Schumacher.

Hear me out: 

1. F2 champion and elite pedigree
2. A penchant for massive improvement in his sophomore season throughout his career 
3. Brings funding 
4. DHL is one of the largest German multi-nationals on the planet. Perhaps they would want to be associated with arguably the most high-profile German driver with a legendary last name they can leverage in their marketing?
5. There was a rumor Mick and his team was seen meeting with Ganassi at WWTR?

Seems like one of those out of left-field moves Chip likes to make 

JAS, Grosse Pointe MI

MP: It wasn’t an idea of my own but it makes a lot of sense, since PNC is a season-long sponsor that just might like to have the champion as its new face. But that’s just my thinking on the subject, and not something I’ve heard from the team.

Of the names I’ve heard associated with replacing Dixon, Schumacher isn’t one of them. Maybe that could change with more results like what Mick achieved in Nashville, but at the moment, he’s had one good race and sits next to last in the championship. That’s who should replace a six-time champion? His manager, Dirk Muller, drove for Chip for many years in the Ford GT program, so getting to and talking with Ganassi isn’t an obstacle.  

Q: After a long week of back and forth on Twitter between the fan bases following Dixon's comments about NASCAR (Marco, it just a joke. Please unblock me!), it was cool to see Palou and Hollywood Harvey at IRP to support Conor Daly's effort in the NASCAR Trucks. Sure, it was likely a cross promotion by FOX, but it shows that at the end of the day, these guys are all racers. If it has four wheels and horsepower, it is badass!

Instead of the infighting in American motorsports, both IndyCar and NASCAR fandoms should be seizing the opportunity to take back those that strayed to F1 and the ridiculous regulations we see overseas this year. A rising tide lifts all ships, as indicated by the renewing NASCAR Truck race at St Pete next year, along with the expected renewal of the double header at Phoenix. I can't be the only one that sees this, right? 

Desmond, Chicago

MP: You aren’t the only one. But when did racing fans start thinking of themselves as brothers and sisters of a general sport instead of staunch advocates for their preferred faction within that sport? I’ve never seen it in a collective body.

There are some fans who think that way, and that’s awesome, but it’s by no means the norm. There are four different divisions within the NFL, and it’s common for AFC fans to hate on NFC fans, and so on. Same with the different soccer/football leagues, etc. I spent most of my life hating on everything that wasn’t IndyCar/IMSA/F1, and have mellowed in that regard as I’ve gotten older. But I might be an anomaly.

People pooping on each other makes up approximately 91% of human existence these days… why would the Us vs Them routine that plays out on social media every second be forgotten in the Great Dixon vs Danielle Trotta War of 2026?