The RACER Mailbag, December 25
Yesterday at 05:46 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: I noticed while watching the 1990 and 1991 CART races that Al Unser Jr would run a vent off the cockpit into a hose that went into his suit. I assume this is for cooling. Could this be a option today in IndyCar in conjunction with the helmet vent?
Tom Harleman, Carmel, IN
MARSHALL PRUETT: That's what the new ducting atop the aeroscreen is meant to do. From a regulations standpoint, teams can't do whatever they want, but if it's a reasonable request, I'd imagine it would be entertained. In this instance, there were no rules to stop a team from adding vents to whatever was desired.
Q: Aaron Telitz deserves a shot at IndyCar. He dominated open-wheel in the Road to Indy, defeating Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta, and the rest. His problem was not talent . It was budget. He is consistently fastest in his IMSA seat. Someone give him an opportunity!
Joe Weiss
MP: Sounds a lot like our conversation in Milwaukee. Aaron won the 2016 Pro Mazda championship, today's Indy Pro 2000 series, but never competed against Herta or Kirkwood that season. He did not dominate Colton in the first year of Indy Lights they did together; Herta was Rookie of the Year taking third while Telitz was sixth, and the next year Colton was second behind Pato O'Ward. I’m a huge fan of Aaron and rooted for him at every step, but let's not make up a history that never happened.
Aaron was a rocket in the Lexus for most of the time, but the team didn't feel that was shown in 2023 so he was shifted to a part-time role last season. I hope he gets back to his best form and a full-time seat in the WeatherTech Championship. At 33, and having last raced an open-wheel car in 2019, I can't find an angle to suggest he deserves a shot in IndyCar before a bunch of drivers who are fighting to get in or fighting to get a shot.
Q: So, if you go on the IndyCar app, as you scroll down there are driver biographies. So there I was, scrolling and clicking and just reading all of them because I’m a fan and enjoy everything about racing. If memory serves me correctly, the drivers are in order of how they finished in the points. I got to the last driver, who is Marco Andretti. His bio says he is the winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500. I read it a number of times, thinking somehow they meant that he was the first car to finish second, but nope, they make the claim that he is in fact the winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500. A little ticky tack, but incorrect nonetheless. I’m not sure how to get it corrected and give the actual winner his recognition. Any suggestions?
Bring back the Cleveland Grand Prix.
Steve, Lorain OH
MP: Of all the things that might keep Sam Hornish awake at night, idiocy in a bio on an app isn't one of them. And agreed, bring back Cleveland!
Q: What will be the impact on IndyCar in 2026 and beyond as a consequence of the Honda/Nissan merger?
Gordon, Dallas
MP: Hard to answer since it hasn't happened yet. Need to wait for the merger to actually happen before we can talk about what might or might not change.
Q: Who will be the rookies in the 2025 IndyCar Series?
Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY
MP: RLL's Louis Foster, PREMA's Robert Schwartzman, and possibly one or two drivers from Dale Coyne.
Q: In the 12/18 Mailbag somebody asked about using the current Super Formula chassis as a basis for the 2027 IndyCar, and the answer was no because of safety.
Oval crashes are inherently going to be more violent on average than road course crashes just because of speed and wall proximity, but are they harder to the point that IndyCar needs a massively different chassis? Recently, Super Formula had a crash at 130R at Suzuka, and F1 had multiple crashes that were reported at +50G force this year.
Does the FIA, Dallara, IndyCar, or anybody else keep a database of crash data that would be useful for comparing the impact/violence between series?
Will, Indy
MP: Yes to all three. As IndyCar is its own sanctioning body, it wouldn't report its findings to the FIA. But in the case of our crashes, IndyCar, it's safety team, and Dallara descend on damaged cars once the vehicles are returned to their garages or transporters and ADRs — accident data recorders — get downloaded, which provide forces and speeds and other info. They also take photos of the crashed car and various bits to document the damage and draw insights that go into their reports.
Q: I know everyone hates Formula E (except, of course, the fans who are making the series grow every year ) but their car does look more 21st century than an IndyCar. Do you think a new car that took styling cues from FE and as bonus made less downforce while at the same time making a lot of noise and burning copious amounts of fossil fuel would make any sense?
Pete, Tucson
MP: It's possible, but why would IndyCar need to make their car look anything like what's found in another series? That's never been the case. If your favorite band hadn't put out new music in a decade, would you want them to return with songs that sound like whatever today's trend happens to be, or with an updated version of their signature sound? I'll go with the latter.
Also, there's a fallacy about reducing downforce equates to making better racing. Avoiding an excessive amount of downforce is a good thing, but if you slash downforce, you get drivers who aren't able to be aggressive with the throttle except for in the slower corners.
