The RACER Mailbag, December 11

Yesterday at 05:16 AM

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: Thanks for your recent article update about the safety improvements made at Mid-Ohio. Attached are two aerial shots of the track I took on November 27, while en route from Maryland to Indiana for Thanksgiving, that fellow readers might enjoy:

Chris R, Olney, MD

MARSHALL PRUETT: I want to know how you got the pilot to hand a hard right to give you two unique angles! Thanks for sharing these, Chris; we asked the track for photos, but they declined, citing ongoing and unfinished work with the fencing.

Q: Is IndyCar stagnant, growing, or declining?

Geoff Branagh

MP: I love questions like this, Geoff. It was stagnant for most of the decade but has started to grow with things like the move to hybridization, which many love to piss and moan about, but has signaled the series is no longer a technological dinosaur, and the shift from a safe TV partner to something bigger with FOX, and the efforts to come up with a new car for 2027, a successful return to Milwaukee, and an ambitious new event in Arlington in 2026.

The deserving criticism during Penske's first four years of ownership was the overarching lack of the word 'new' in regards to the series, all while its main rivals at NASCAR, IMSA, and F1 made big strides with new things that drew — and continue to draw — a lot of attention.

I have a lot of optimism about where IndyCar is headed, but as expected, there are persisting concerns as well, led by the high costs to compete. This is why the move to FOX holds so much hope for the paddock, with an anticipated rise in ratings and teams' ability to seek bigger deals from sponsors as a result of the larger audience.

Q: Watching F1 over the weekend and all the attention given to the constructors’ championship, and it’s something IndyCar could use. My thought would be the teams would select their two drivers to earn points at the beginning of the season. The reward is for the guys and gals back at the shop plus in the pit lane.

David Bowers

MP: We could rename the Entrants' championship as the Teams' championship, and add some sort of prize fund, but Penske Entertainment is rarely looking for ways to spend more money, and the Entrants' deal is already used to award $1 million contracts to the top 22 entries.

The reward is through the Drivers' and Entrants' for the crew, but as a former crew member, I'm all for anything that provides greater wealth or recognition for the people who make the racing happen.

Q: IndyCar needs to not be off for six months out of the year. There is no shortage of historic tracks that fans want to see return. We know that when Penske Racing tested 'The Beast for Indy, Roger had them carve a track out of the snow so Paul Tracy could test the engine at Nazareth. It appears Roger sold the property, but it's still undeveloped.

Enter the Nazareth WinterPrix.

Penske Entertainment gets the land back for cheap, restores the track, and then they wait until February. Firestone debuts the Bridgestone Blizzak Winter Guayule, and off 25 IndyCars go for 150 laps.

I look forward to receiving an email from IndyCar's marketing team to work out the logistics.

Ed, Jersey

MP: Let's kick it off with making Pikes Peak (the real Pikes Peak, not the crappy ex-IRL oval) a multi-week championship of its own. Fire DW12s up the hill in rain, snow, and dry conditions. Survivors earn the heavenly respect of Bobby Unser and Parnelli Jones.

Q: Your remembrance of Dan Gurney’s Pepsi Challenger reminded me that I had an old photo of that car with Mike Mosely racing A.J., probably early in the race as Mike started second between Uncle Bobby and A.J. that year. The picture was taken from 'behind the fence' in Stand K (now the North Vista) between Turns 3 and 4 at the 1981 500. I suppose this was just one Sunday before Mike took the car to victory at Milwaukee but I didn’t look to confirm that. I was 13 years old and the shot was taken with a Kodak 110 camera.

Andy R., Detroit area

MP: The fact that you took this with a 110 is remarkable.

Q: If you could pick an IndyCar driver that you think would make IndyCar fans care about Cadillac F1, which driver would you pick? Does not have to be an American – or does it?

Ryan, West Michigan

MP: I could be wrong, but isn't there a natural connection for IndyCar fans through Andretti Global? If not, IndyCar's two most popular drivers in Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden would be the go-to drivers to pursue.

I'm also half convinced the entire ordeal with Michael Andretti is a ruse; he's the American driver being referenced and will return to F1 in 2026 to complete the season with McLaren that was cut short in 1993.