The RACER Mailbag, June 26

06/26/2024 05:47 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 appear the following week.

Q: After my recent trip to Pikes Peak, I began wondering whatever happened to Pikes Peak International Raceway. What were the circumstances that led to it being dropped from IndyCar/IRL and other major racing series schedules? With the recent resurgence of shuttered or almost shuttered tracks including Iowa, Milwaukee, Nashville, Gateway, and rumored Chicagoland, is it possible for PPIR to follow a similar path of resurgence? Would IndyCar even entertain thoughts of a return?

Steve McDaniel, Indianapolis, IN

MARSHALL PRUETT: As always, if someone from the track wants to reach out and offer to pay IndyCar money to bring its series, I'm sure it would listen. It's not about whether the series would entertain the idea; it's if Track X makes an effort to court the series like any other promoter.

Looking at their site, PPIR appears to focus on local events; Slangin' Smoke '24 in September offers a drift track, donut pit, and gymkhana course. It's been too long to remember why it went away for IndyCar, but the crowds were never huge. Its last pro event appears to have been in 2013-2014.

Q: Spotted on the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying broadcast on ESPN2… Dale Coyne with Rick Ware Racing 2023 Sting Ray Robb jersey. That was unexpected.

Adam H. Simi Valley, CA

MP: Now I need a T-shirt with the photo of the guy wearing the Sting Ray shirt at the Spanish GP. People are amazing. It also looks like he's wearing a McLaren hat. (Cue the conspiracy theories that this is proof Sting Ray will be replacing Nolan Siegel next year.)

Q: Watching practice at Laguna Seca, I started thinking that it would be a cool thing to commemorate the four four-time Indy winners by naming Turn 1 the Foyt turn, Turn 2 the Al Unser turn, Turn 3 after Rick Mears and Turn 4 the Castroneves Turn. What do you think?

Dale McCan, Corrales, NM

MP: It's a great idea for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Laguna already has the Andretti Hairpin, Rahal Straight, and Rainey Curve.

Q: In WWF parlance (WWE those under 50), is Zak Brown turning heel? Did he just complete a degree from the Dr Helmet Marko school of HR?

Shawn, MD

MP: No, and that's because he made that turn long ago and loves every boo that comes his way. If Paul Heyman has a brother in racing, it's Zak Brown.

Q: I’m watching the IMSA Sahlen’s Six Hour race at Watkins Glen and pondering a thought. Besides the endurance races held at the traditional and established tracks, is there a particular known reason why the Road America event couldn’t – or shouldn’t – be one as well, instead of the 'Sprint' event?

Wiscowerner

MP: It could. But half of IMSA's schedule are already of the endurance variety with five of the 10 being six hours or longer. Pushing it to a sixth would take budgets over the edge.

Q: I believe there were 65 minutes left when the rain stopped at Watkins Glen and the sun started to come out. I know there were 50 minutes left when I wondered if they would restart on slicks. Ignoring what happened to the No.10, they still wouldn’t have gone green until less than 25 minutes to go.

I’m more confused by this than a five-minute penalty for touching a traffic cone.

Ryan, West Michigan

MP: Thanks for writing in.

Q: Television coverage of the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen was excellent. What I noticed was that one commentator, a very knowledgeable former racer and a polished speaker, was referring to 'The Esses' as 'The Climbing Esses.' I thought that the 'Climbing Esses' are at VIR. I’m pretty sure that a grade school nun would have corrected me if I had renamed a section of a world-famous track. Or am I out of touch and this is now popular usage?

Don Velocity, Cleveland, OH

MP: There are plenty of tracks on the planet that have esses that go upwards, so why wouldn't 'climbing esses' or 'rising esses' or another variation on the theme be allowed at all of those tracks? Unless VIR has trademarked it?

Q: Is there any reason why are there no track limit rules in IndyCar? I hated the way they drove at COTA.

Jim Doyle, Hoboken, NJ

MP: The COTA race from five years ago? I'll speak for them, and could be totally wrong, but the lamest thing I see in racing is when FIA-sanctioned series go crazy for policing track limits.

Q: Nuts to NBC. NASCAR running late on rain delay so USA is not showing IndyCar. Welcome, FOX. Can't be any worse or disloyal to IndyCar.

PSL I did check CNBC at 3:45, 10 laps in, as notified, and it was not on there either. Good riddance NBC, IndyCar can never grow with 'partners' like you.

Glenn, Palos Verdes Estates, CA

MP: I caught the race in its entirety on Peacock on the flight back from Watkins Glen, so I was spared the channel bouncing due to the NASCAR rain delays. But when I heard Kevin Lee mention it would be moving to CNBC, I knew the Mailbag would be getting some letters. I kept switching over to the in-flight TV channels and saw USA was running last year's NASCAR race, in what was listed as the IndyCar race, while waiting for the rain delay to end. That's when I knew it was bad. And we get it. NASCAR is way more popular and financially important to NBC, so it's where its top loyalty should fall.

But rather than switch to the scheduled IndyCar race under the California sun during the time listed for the IndyCar race, the call was made to boot the series in favor of showing a rerun. I can't say it will never happen at FOX if there's a rain delay that bleeds into IndyCar's time, but this was just a bad look that only makes the deal done by Penske Entertainment look better than it already was.