The RACER Mailbag, September 9

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: Why doesn`t IndyCar have a photo of AJ, Mario and Johnny Rutherford taken together? They are the last of IndyCar’s legends, and it would be a nice reminder of what they accomplished.

Richard Shiroky, Little River, SC

MARSHALL PRUETT: Who says they don’t? Have you asked IndyCar?

Also, I’ll be sure to tell Gordon Johncock, Rick Mears, Tom Sneva, Al Unser Jr, Emerson Fittipaldi, Bobby Rahal, Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and a few others to step up their game so they can one day be hailed as IndyCar legends.

Q: I was doing some research on recent IndyCar seasons, and I don't think there is a modern equivalent to 2026. With one race to go, there have been no driver changes, and exactly 33 IndyCar drivers have competed this season. Willing to bet there hasn't been another season exactly like this, with no driver changes and only the 500 to create other racers on the standing sheet. Can you recall a similar season?

Secondly, I’m curious about your thoughts on Pato O'Ward's career so far? He has 12 wins for McLaren, and he is now tied with Gil de Ferran and one win from Tom Sneva on the all-time list. He hasn't delivered a 500 win or a championship, but he has been mighty impressive since 2020 in a team that isn't Penske or Ganassi.

Russell L. Webster II, Indianapolis

MP: Great point on the consistency of the season. I’m sure we could find one with some digging, but I’m exhausted, so let’s not.

Pato has all of the ingredients to become an IndyCar champion, but having the correct amount of each ingredient is where champs are made or missed. Much of the success is dependent on the driver, but Pato has only driven for teams that are deficient in some or many ways compared to IndyCar’s two most dominant title-winning teams at Ganassi and Penske.

On the positive side, Pato’s had Will Anderson as his race engineer throughout his time with the team, but he’s also had something like three or four different team principals, all of whom are or were very different in personality and views on how to run the team. There’s also been big and constant personnel changes on the engineering and crew side, along with business and managerial changes. When your surroundings are constantly changing, consistency is surrendered and repeatable output is at risk.

None of those are excuses, but I do think of an Alex Palou who has the same people surrounding him and coaching him and improving him since the day he arrived at Ganassi, and how Pato’s had the exact opposite in so many ways. It’s a lot harder to build a champion when the builders keep leaving or getting released.

With all of that being said, he’s got two new builders coming in with Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist, and if he doesn’t become a champion with their combined input and shaping, it will never happen.

Think of all the legends Palou had in his first years at Ganassi with Dixon, Franchitti, Jimmie Johnson, Scott Pruett, and eons of engineering input from decades-long Ganassi champions on the timing stands, and you can see how and why one driver’s now a five-time title winner while the other, who arrived at Arrow McLaren with holes in his game just like Palou, is still trying to fill them in many years later.

All the ingredients are there; just need to make sure the recipe's dialed in. Geoff Miller/Getty Images

Q: So, Days of Thunder 2? If you remember in the first one, Tom Cruise says his goal is to race the Indy 500. Any chance of this being part of the movie?  

Kevin, Sartell

MP: I don’t know if this is a good or bad thing, but I saw the original in the movie theater when it came out and didn’t care for it, but I’ll watch it if it’s on today for the silly-bad fun it offers. I’d assume Tom Cruise and Company are working with NASCAR to make it happen in the same way F1 worked with the F1 movie.

Provided that’s the case, I do not expect Days of Thunder 2 to feature Cole Trickle and a special set of matched Firestones at the Speedway. 

Q: I am writing this prior to Laguna. The Foyt cars have underperformed this season as opposed to last. Now that Malukas has graduated to Penske, my question based on this year’s performance. Is the Foyt/Penske alliance dead?

As an outsider it would seem so. As an insider, please tell me otherwise. I root for AJ Larry and the rest of the Foyt team. I realize the team has financial constraints compared to others in the paddock, but even on the ovals they seem to be out of their league this season. Understandably, the field is tight and you don't have to be off that much to be out to lunch.

Tell me something  I might be missing.

Bob, Charlotte

MP: I’m told there’s one more year on the deal. Foyt’s in a tough situation where it’s in extreme need of income, has taken a big step backwards in 2026 after Malukas and his race engineer James Schnabel moved up to Penske, and Ferrucci was rarely competitive. Collet had flashes, and was often fast in qualifying, but was a mess in too many races.

Foyt needs to strengthen its own engineering group to make better use of the goods it receives from Penske, and that’s hard to do when the better engineers tend to gravitate towards the better teams.