The RACER Mailbag, October 23
10/23/2024 05:15 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: What's the latest regarding Jamie Chadwick in 2025? The Andretti Global website shows a roster of drivers for their NXT program, but no Jamie. She recently tested at Barber. A step up next year? Might Andretti field four full-time cars?
Michael Andretti appeared to play a significant mentor role for her. Does his recent departure from day-to-day activities have a bearing on her status?
Terry J., Maryland
MARSHALL PRUETT: Jamie is her own woman, and the lack of opportunities to go IndyCar racing with Andretti have been known for a while; she's been focused on charting her own path, with her own sponsors, so no, Michael's ouster hasn't been related to where Jamie's career is headed.
Her goal is IndyCar, as our F1 reporter Chris Medland wrote yesterday, and the issues she faces include acquiring a significant budget to interest one of the few teams with seats left to sell, and the few seats that are available.
She was exceptional in Indy NXT, but far from dominant as Louis Foster and Jacob Abel, and Caio Collet, routinely outran her. That's why I was hoping she'd want to do one more year of NXT, become a true title contender, and use that output to draw greater interest from IndyCar teams that might be willing to run her at a reduced price.
Placing seventh in the NXT standings with one win and one pole wasn't enough to get a Dale Coyne Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, or Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to offer a bargain rate to drive for them. So, it's a need to put together a strong budget, and fast, since there are lots of interested buyers for the best drives.
Q: Curious if you have heard anything regarding our 2024 Rookie of the Year? I know Kyffin Simpson is to be placed in the No.8 car but I feel that should have been announced by now. Is there any hope of Linus Lundqvist retaining the No.8 after all? Or is he destined for the sidelines again?
Handsome Jo
MP: Kyffin is currently testing in Europe with his race engineer, according to two sources on Monday, and that wouldn't be the case if he wasn't headed back to IndyCar with Ganassi. Linus is among the top contenders for the one or two paying seats left in the series, but isn't racing for Ganassi in IndyCar.
Q: You may have addressed this before and, if so, I apologize. My question is, with the new Charter system in place now at IndyCar, is this going to affect the one-off teams for the Indy 500? I’m particularly interested in the Dreyer & Reinbold team. I sure hope that DRR again gets another shot. They’ve been dedicated to the race for 25+ years.
Speaking of DRR… do you know if Cusick Motorsports will again team up with them next May? It appears to be a solid partnership, especially for a 'small team'. On Carb Day this past May, I was walking by the DRR garages. I saw Don Cusick in the garage, and I yelled a hello to him. He said hello, and he came out to talk with me and my friends. He even let us go in the garage and have our picture taken next to Ryan Hunter-Reay’s car! I couldn’t believe that. We spoke for a good 10 minutes after that.
Don is such a nice man, and he really seems to love IndyCar, and the 500. Lots of passion. Though I read a rumor that he may be buying into Juncos Hollinger, I hope that Don and his team are back with DRR again in May. The Indy 500 needs teams like theirs in the race.
Ted Yezman, Sonoma, CA
MP: As Dennis Reinbold told us in a story a few months ago, being excluded from the charter could be the thing that leads DRR to leave the series in the near future. We'll see if that was just his frustration talking or if there's true intent behind it.
Don Cusick has been one of the great gifts to IndyCar fans. I've heard more stories about Don and his wife welcoming fans into the DRR garage, or into something at Thermal, or sending crew shirts or other memorabilia as fundraising or giveaway items for charity, than I have of any other team or entrant.
I texted Don on Monday night and he says yes, he'll be back with DRR and announcements are forthcoming.
Q: I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s Mazda MX-5 Cup race. How many guest drivers will there be? Will we see Parker or the Mayor? How about next year? Who would you like to see in the series as a guest? I’d like to see a guest driver every weekend.
Steve
MP: I haven't seen the entry list, but if Dale Jr isn't racing, what meaning does life hold? I want to see Newgarden and Pato try and recreate the finish to the Indy 500 across the entire race.
Q: I read the question about Hailie Deegan in last week's Mailbag, and your reply. I have followed her career. Hailie did not seem to ever be getting the best cars in NASCAR, it appeared. Tony Stewart had her racing in his SRX series and she held her own with the equally-prepared race cars and some very good drivers. I'd love to see her racing sprint cars or midgets on dirt in very good equipment.
Pete Pfankuch, Wisconsin
MP: In her first-ever laps in the Dallara IL15-AER Indy NXT car, she ended the session 6.0s off of the fastest driver on the IMS road course after 23 tours of the joint. With a break and some time to digest the car and the track, she returned for the second session, did 44 more laps, and cut her deficit to the fastest driver to 3.8s.
A gap like 3.8s is massive, of course, but considering her progress and brutally tall learning curve, this gap should be carved to something closer to 2.0s by the end of the offseason. Seven-time Trans Am champion Ernie Francis Jr went through a nearly identical learning curve when he turned from a lifetime of piloting big and boxy sports cars to open-wheel.
He was out of touch to start, continually improved, and was respectably inside the top 10 by the end of his second and final NXT season in 2023. She'll have every opportunity to follow Ernie's arc at HMD Motorsports.
