Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers may be despatched to mailbag@racer.com. We love listening to your feedback and opinions, however letters that embrace a query usually tend to be printed. Questions obtained after 3pm ET every Monday shall be saved for the next week.
ED’s word: Submissions for this week’s Mailbag closed earlier than information broke of Jay Frye’s departure from IndyCar, however preserve sending your letters in and Marshall will reply them subsequent week.
Q: It appears IndyCar is in its most precarious state of affairs for the reason that darkish days of The Cut up.
In mild of current information and public feedback, what are the percentages that Zak Brown companions with a couple of different group house owners (Andretti, MSR, Juncos?) and Liberty to create a rival collection that permits for a extra open growth idea/IMSA-style BOP? Race as a help collection for all of F1’s Western Hemisphere stops and develop a standalone calendar for the remainder of the 12 months. If the collection elects to be dedicated to highway and road programs, it may take a Superformula tub, permit for restricted growth with an engine BOP and create a extremely compelling and quick formulation.
They might take off the Month of Might to nonetheless run Indy in RP’s collection, however a breakaway collection in a three way partnership with Liberty Media influenced by the CART/Champ Automotive ethos could possibly be a breath of recent air.
What do you suppose?
Jah from the ATL
MARSHALL PRUETT: By way of 2024, I had a single group proprietor inform me they had been maintaining a agency eye on Penske Leisure’s choices and actions within the subsequent 12 months or two as a result of if issues didn’t enhance in quite a lot of areas, they’re ready to go away IndyCar on the finish of the present chassis/engine formulation. That proprietor was an outlier on the time.
I’ve had a second proprietor say the identical factor in the previous few weeks — fearing they may want to tug out of IndyCar and discover a extra purposeful group to race inside — which suggests it’s not only one proprietor considering this, however two.
Or, extra precisely, two who’re comfy sufficient with their very actual issues to share these ideas with me on background. My concern is there’s greater than two. I’ve had a 3rd say successfully the identical issues as the opposite two, however I didn’t consider them. They sounded extra like they had been saber rattling greater than suggesting a critical factor they’d do.
What you get from Penske Leisure is identical ‘Every part Is Superior’ routine, however I simply don’t know in the event that they notice how the ice is thinning.
As for groups and Liberty beginning a breakaway collection, I can’t see it.
Penske owns or controls nearly the entire marquee tracks, and most groups can barely afford to compete at present with previous vehicles and an array of popular-ish tracks. Dropping most of these venues and needing to pay for brand new vehicles and engines can be a again breaker except an fool with a spare $100,000,000 in hand was discovered who needed to fund it.
Leaving IndyCar isn’t going to assist the collection in any approach, clearly, nevertheless it’s Penske’s job to strike the best steadiness between budgetary wants and return on funding in an effort to fulfill and preserve the opposite 10 groups. Penske has a product to promote and it’s actually costly and, relying on choose take by some groups or producers, is getting near being unworthy of shopping for within the coming years.
Convey again The Cut up! Maria W. Grady/Motorsport Pictures
Q: Whereas there are many issues IndyCar wish to do to make the collection extra trendy and flashy, we’ve mentioned advert nauseum why lots of these are troublesome or rattling close to inconceivable. It actually irks me, although, when there are easy issues that wouldn’t price the collection a lot, however would make big strides in the direction of making it appear to be it belongs in 2025.
I may record a number of, however right here’s one which not solely irritates the crap out of me, however one which could possibly be fastened proper now: the shortage of a cell model of its web site. Once I go to IndyCar’s web site on my cellphone (Android right here, so I can’t communicate to Apple customers), I get the total web-based web site. There are elements of the positioning I can’t even entry as a result of the positioning is designed for a monitor, not a small display. This expertise is sufficient to make me go away the positioning after about 5 seconds, and I’d guess my backside Dallara that I’m not the one one.
Cellular-based shopping has been round for a couple of many years now, and once I see a web site that doesn’t work on my cellphone, my first thought is, “Who’re these rinky-dink people who find themselves dwelling at midnight ages?” Often its native companies or websites which were dormant since Danica Patrick was shilling for GoDaddy, not a top-tier racing collection. Frankly, it’s embarrassing, and it doesn’t make the collection appear skilled or technically superior.
So, within the immortal phrases of Scotty Mac, get amongst it women and gents! We would have to attend a couple of years for different expertise to get an replace, however this isn’t a brand new formulation. It’s a web site. The house owners needn’t log out on it, it shouldn’t price an enormous amount of cash, however the dividends it will pay are effectively well worth the effort.
Dave, North Carolina
MP: I’m instructed a brand-new IndyCar.com web site is about to go reside. I’ll exit on a ledge and recommend IndyCar’s web site shall be optimized for cell shopping, as a result of if it’s not, why hassle?
Q: Seeing the Josef Indy industrial proper earlier than the halftime celebrations on the Tremendous Bowl was superior. I hope IndyCar was in a position to get plenty of publicity contemplating FOX spent a fairly penny. Will we anticipate to see different drivers featured in a industrial sooner or later? Or is FOX staying with the Josef, Pato and Alex commercials?
Good-looking Jo
MP: Sooner or later, sure. Within the close to future, no. These are the three most important driver options for the season, as I’m instructed by FOX Sports activities. I don’t know what they’re, however I’m additionally instructed that different, non-driver promos are within the works, and we are able to assume the Indy 500 shall be an enormous a part of these efforts, together with launching the season at St. Pete and settling the championship late within the 12 months.
