The RACER Mailbag, September 23

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: What are the chances of Herta going to the No. 9 of Ganassi?

Bob Blevins, Murfreesboro, TN

MARSHALL PRUETT: Unless Ganassi is running a No. 9 Cadillac Formula 1 car, it’s zero.

Colton’s on the same path he embarked upon last year to try and reach F1 with Cadillac. The only thing that’s changed is he won’t be doing a second season of F2, which has been interpreted as Herta leaving Europe and needing to find something else to race.

But, as we revealed in yesterday’s silly season update, Ganassi did pursue Herta for the 9 car, and Meyer Shank inquired about hiring him to replace Felix Rosenqvist, but he was unavailable then and remains unavailable today since he’s on the TWG train to try and reach F1.

Q: Well, the IndyCar season is over, and no official announcement on who replaces Dixon. Everybody says Lundgaard is a done deal, but why the delay? Maybe it is not a done deal. Have you heard anything about possible other option? Maybe Chip just likes to have drama.

Dave

MP: Chip likes winners. And peanut butter. But not so much on the drama.

I was told the Lundgaard confirmation should happen by the end of the month. It’s a big change for the team’s longest-tenured sponsor, so it’s being handled on a more relaxed timeline. Telling the world it’s official is just a formality. The team’s known what it’s doing for a long time and has been going about it’s business to prepare for next season.

Q: With 2026 marking 30 years since the CART/IRL Split, it really strikes me how we still don't have a definitive, mainstream documentary on what is arguably the most dramatic chapter in American motorsports history.

I’ve been reading John Oreovicz’s Indy Split, and when you look at the wealth of material out there – between John’s excellent book, deep-dive fan retrospectives on YouTube, and various podcasts – it’s surprising that a major studio or network hasn't tackled this for the screen.

Do you think a full-scale documentary will ever happen, or is the bad blood between the key players still too deep even three decades later? Are we going to have to wait until everyone involved is gone before the full, unvarnished story can actually be put on film?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether there’s any appetite – or ability – to get this story told on screen.

Chris D, Whiteley, UK

MP: I’ve long said that it’s a perfect 30 for 30 documentary, and my belief hasn’t changed.

I’m not saying there’s zero bad blood, but in 2026, it’s just not a tangible thing like it was decades ago.

Oreo’s works with The Split and Class of ’99 have been underwritten by one of CART’s big team owners, and at least at the printed-book level, there’s funding available. To do a full-scale doc, we’re talking a $500,000 on the super cheap and frugal side; $1 million is where it starts to enter the realm of being serious, but most would quote it at two or three times that amount.

I’d love to make that doc. Such things usually need a passionate benefactor to bankroll it into existence, and that’s where The Split starts to lose speed. There were no winners in the celebratory sense. Tony George won, but is he going to convince his family to spend millions of Hulman George dollars, or burn his own savings on a doc where most of those who experienced it or have heard about it position him as the bad guy? If that was a desire he held, it would have been made nearly 20 years ago following the 2008 merger. The fact that is hasn’t is telling.

And for those who spent umpteen millions to keep CART and Champ Car afloat at various stages and weren’t pleased to see their investments fail, are they going to spend more on a film that highlights their eventual failure? That’s the difficulty here. It’s a great story without an impassioned benefactor to pay for its creation.

"We're so glad we're here at Michigan International Speedway instead of some track in Indiana for the 1996 Memorial Day Weekend" said no-one, ever. Getty Images

Q: Another IndyCar season has rapidly passed by, and once, more another long dark winter to endure. We really do need a February start, and over here in Britain, for IndyCar to be on network television and not locked behind paywall.

I was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year, still got a few years left in me and I will see the IR28 race. Had a heavy summer of chemotherapy but the IndyCar season, IndyCar Radio, the Reddit mob and your good selves at RACER helped so much to get me through it. No way am I letting my head go down.

I loved Formula Fox's notion for the Supermodified cars to have a run at Indianapolis. I'm sure Davey Hamilton would be the first to volunteer to be the test pilot. Invite a couple of cars from each sanctioning body and let's see just how wicked fast they would be. It also made me think of something.

So Marshall, I'm going to ask your opinion on this, an idea I’d loved to have pitched to Robin. The Freedom 100 is never coming back – deal with it, people. But what about taking the Hoosier 100 to the Speedway on Carb Day and having Sprint Cars roaring around the Brickyard for the first time in nigh-on 70 years since the Roadsters killed them off? How would a Silver Crown car's lap time compare to a Stock Car?

Would it be a needed boost for USAC's Silver Crown series to bring in new entries and bring the luster back to the Hoosier 100 that it once had in the past when it was arguably second only to the 500 in terms of importance?

Also, probably too late for Kody Swanson sadly, but might it put some eyes on the USAC drivers from the IndyCar teams and just maybe...

I know it will never happen, but the sight and sound of a pack of Supermodified or Silver Crown racers throwing themselves into turn one at Indianapolis would be spectacular!

Peter Kerr, Hamilton, Scotland 

MP: Peter. Lord. I’m so sorry. Living with cancer is hard enough. We can definitely make that happen with the IR28.

So, on something other than the Weenie 500 happening on the Speedway… Penske ended the Freedom 100 out of fear for serious injury or fatalities befalling drivers before the big race. As much as I love this idea, it would tickle every fear that erased the Freedom race. If it was possible to use the BC39 dirt track inside Turn 3, I think it would stand a better chance.