The RACER Mailbag, October 30
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’d have to imagine that O’Ward’s chef must be cooking up crow three ways for Mr. Miles after seeing him fill malls and stadiums at a race he’s not even racing in…
Laz, Independence, MO
MARSHALL PRUETT: That and McLaren boss Zak Brown wearing his Pato Who? hat at the Mexico City GP.
After not contacting O’Ward for quite some time after stepping on his appendage with his comments in August, Mr. Miles did indeed recently connect with Pato to try and clear the air, which O’Ward told me last week prior to the GP. Let’s see how long it takes for that peace treaty to be broken.
Q: I’d like to throw out a thought for someone to be part of the Indy 500 race day: Pat McAfee. I was watching GameDay, and he threw out the Indy 500 in his introduction about Indiana. The guy can talk. He lives in Indiana, was a member of the Colts, has his own show and could get the word to those people who aren’t already watching. He could have drivers on his show throughout the month of May. Let him set up his show at the track. Seems like a huge win to me.
Chris, Michigan
MP: You’re one of many to have the same thought, and yes, McAfee, who was involved with Conor Daly and the 500 about a decade ago with a t-shirt sale campaign, would be a perfect bro-age fit for Indy. Only issue is IndyCar and the 500 are now exclusively on FOX, and McAfee is among the biggest names associated with ABC/ESPN. I raised the same point earlier in the year when a reader made the same suggestion when NBC was the sole broadcaster, and if there’s a way for FOX to welcome one of the main characters from one of its biggest rivals into its biggest IndyCar race, I’m sure it will happen. But I just don’t know how.
Q: I vaguely remember from last season there being a shortage of sim time throughout the field. I especially remember Agustin Canapino going into some weekends without having any track time in the sim.
Why don’t the IndyCar teams, or at least the top teams, have their own sims? Is it a question of budget, or just that both Honda and Chevrolet already have one, so there isn’t a need to have your own sim?
Leo, Stockholm, Sweden
MP: IndyCar teams rely on the giant driver-in-the-loop simulators at Chevy, Honda, and Dallara to turn those sim laps because they are prohibitively expensive. It’s 100 percent a question of budget. And when you have a dozen-plus drivers to try and accommodate and a finite amount of sim time to offer, you’ll see the contenders get priority over the non-contenders.
The manufacturer simulators are in high demand year-round. In this case, Honda drivers got an early virtual look at the Nashville street course before racing there for the first time in 2021. Image via Honda
Q: So often we hear that a track is hard to pass on, with no overtaking opportunities. What makes a track “passable”? And are there any?
Shawn, MD
MP: There’s five types of tracks used in IndyCar, so we won’t spend thousands of words on the topic here, but if it’s an oval and it traditionally has a single lane that can be used in the corners due to a lack of grip in the upper lane or too many marbles being thrown into that lane, that’s one example.
But more than anything, it’s the cars in so many of today’s series that make passing extremely hard because they’re either spec cars, or close to being spec. Passing on the same tracks that have been in use for decades wasn’t as much of an issue when CART teams with a Chevy A motor from Ilmor came upon a driver with a Cosworth DFX, which lacked power and torque compared to the Chevy A. Or when a Firestone-shod Reynard was chasing a Goodyear-shod Reynard in the second half of the 1990s.
When everyone’s using Dallara DW12s, on Firestones, and the Chevy and Honda motors are nearly identical in their outputs, passing should be damn near impossible.
Q: Sebring announced it is switching to Ticketmaster and had the gall to say that it will improve the fan experience. WTF!?
Angry Kyle
MP: Thanks for the update, Kyle.
Q: A rumor has been making the rounds that Simon Pagenaud could be pairing with Ryan Hunter-Reay for Dreyer & Reinbold/Cusick Motorsports in next May’s Indy 500. Have you heard this? It would be great to see Simon back in IndyCar, and his teaming up with RHR would make one heck of a team! Two former winners.
Dan Michaelian., Destin, FL
MP: I love that notion, and I’m sure Simon would jump at the opportunity if and when he’s ready to turn laps in an IndyCar. A lot would need to happen in his recovery before that could happen. Here, at the end of October, it feels highly optimistic.
Q: After reading this week’s mailbag I had to write in. IndyCar may not have licensed any Lego sets, but they have licensed a really sweet scale model kit made by Salvinos JR Models. I recently purchased the 1:20 scale model of Pato O’Ward’s 2024 Dallara and I am impressed.
This kit is every bit as good as the F1 kits made by Tamiya, etc., in this scale. For those of us who like to build museum-quality race car models (and not just buy a die-cast) this kit is fantastic. It has hundreds of parts and includes both Chevrolet and Honda engines. The decal sheets are extensive and even provide markings for the carbon fiber components with its characteristic weave. The kit is currently available in versions for Pato, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Larson, and Takuma Sato. I’m sure that makers of aftermarket decal sheets will soon offer others. Fire up your airbrush!
Bill Gilman, Rochester, NY
MP: That’s awesome, Bill; I had no idea. If only they were readily available at the Walmarts and Costcos and Targets and other big stores where kids and families alike would see and buy them like Legos and Hot Wheels.
Q: I’ve got a few things to bring up this week, so let’s try (and fail, because it’s me) to keep it brief.
1) Regarding an engine development freeze, I think IndyCar should hit the stop button on any development not directly related to the hybrid system. Now that we have a timeframe for the next set of regulations, and we are well into the point of diminishing returns for current engine development, it just doesn’t make sense to ask Chevy and Honda to keep sinking money into the non-hybrid aspects of the engines.
2) I am sad to report that it is looking like a certainty that Burke Lakefront Airport is going to be closed down, forever ending our hopes of a return to the location of one of the best simplistically glorious circuits ever conceived.
The city of Cleveland is getting desperate to make better use of their lakefront properties, and Burke is first on the chopping block — at this point it’s a matter of when, not if. But between this and the Browns leaving their lakefront stadium in a few years, it might be possible to convince Cleveland to do something that could grab IndyCar’s attention — there’s even a rumor someone wants to make a 7/10-mile oval on the Browns stadium property. I don’t think that can fit within the property and keep sufficient parking, but the Burke property could certainly be used for something. Maybe even one of those motorsport country club things like Thermal.
3) This is really oddball for the Mailbag, but it’s something I wanted to bring wider attention to, so I’m mentioning it anyway. A couple weeks ago at the SCCA Runoffs, Formula F (for anyone unaware that’s just Formula Ford with Honda Fit engines allowed as well) entrant Calvin Kautz ran a Piper chassis that was retrofitted with a halo. Not just one plonked on, they carefully engineered it to be able to do its job. And he took pole position with it. While he did fall back in the race, he was competitive and fighting to get his positions back and had recovered to a clear fifth (with the potential to go higher as he clawed back up to third a couple times before optimistic moves caused massive reshuffling) before being taken out of the race and nearly flipped over.
I think when a club racing team can make it work in one of the classes most prone to such small amounts of weight causing problems its proof that we need to stop acting like the additional weight is an automatic death knell to performance. Now if only Formula F (and Vee, and Continental) would upgrade their side impact protection…
FormulaFox
MP: On your first point, even though no engine development freeze is in place, you’re right; it’s hard to justify big ongoing expenses for both brands with a new formula on the horizon. The only part that’s tricky is how the 2024 season played out, with Chevy having a fairly obvious advantage in power and reliability. It won 11 of the 17 races, including a crushing performance from qualifying through the race at Indy, so if I’m Honda or its teams, the last thing I want now is for their deficits to be locked in for the next few years. If something closer to parity can be found in 2025, that would be the time for a post-season freeze.
The airport has been on life support for quite some time. The concept of returning to race at Burke Lakefront has been more like fan fiction than anything steeped in reality.
On the Piper’s halo, sure, but I’m confident it didn’t add 50 pounds to the top of the car like IndyCar’s halo+screen, which went atop a chassis that was already heavy. And we won’t bother rehashing the 100 pounds added by the ERS. Adding a comparatively small amount of weight to a light car isn’t the end of the world. Saddling a heavy car with more also doesn’t mean it will become a turd, but it does push the car closer to the tip-over point.
If you had Cleveland on your Mailbag bingo card, it’s time to take a drink. Motorsport Images
Q: I am a longtime IndyCar fan and during the past few seasons I’ve watched every second of coverage that’s been available on Peacock. For me it was awesome and worth every penny. Other than some of the Olympic events, IndyCar was the only thing I watched on there.
Now that IndyCar has signed a new Fox deal, is it time for me to unsubscribe to the channel? If so, what streaming platform will I need to get next year to be able to watch all of the practice and qualifying sessions?
Ron, Dayton, OH
MP: You’ll get all IMSA content and some NASCAR for its portion of the season on NBC with Peacock, so if you’re only interested in IndyCar, it might not be worth holding onto.
We’re in a legal holding patterns on IndyCar’s streaming solution. Streamer FUBO TV sued Venu Sports, the new super sports bundle package that includes FOX Sports for $42.99 a month to try and stop the bundle from happening, and so far, the injunction has held. The last major movement was in August, but this went up about a month ago.
Unrelated to FUBO/Venu, if you pay for cable that includes FOX, which I have to image is a standard inclusion in most cable packages, you’ll have access to FOX’s streaming content through its FOX Sports app. You open the app to watch whatever live sports, it authenticates your access by logging into your cable account, and off you go.
If you don’t have cable/authentication capabilities, you’re anxiously awaiting the outcome of FUBO’s lawsuit, and if it’s dismissed, you’ll get to pay $515.88 for the year of Venu streaming (unless you only do the March-August IndyCar season at $257.94) which also includes ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Hulu.
Q: Following up on the answer about Road Atlanta in last week’s Mailbag…
The notion of Road Atlanta being unsafe because of “extreme speeds” and “insufficient runoff area” is a bit confusing to me. IndyCar routinely runs high-speed ovals that only have the space between the SAFER barrier and the concrete wall as the “runoff area.” What is the difference between diving into turn one on an oval at 200+ mph and diving into Turn 1 at Road Atlanta?
I would understand if the barriers are unsafe metal guardrails, but I have always been confused by the notion of an unsafe road course runoffs. I’d almost favor less runoff space so we don’t need to deal with track limit ridiculousness. #LetThemRace
Desmond, Southside of Chicago
MP: A car firing head-on into Turn 1 at Indy isn’t any different than firing head-first into Turn 1 at Road Atlanta. Both are worst-case scenarios. Except Turn 1 at Road Atlanta is downhill, and has grass and gravel awaiting the driver, which is the kind of thing that tends to pitch a car into end-over-end flips or barrel rolls before the car hopefully gets caught by the fencing, but if not, behind that fencing is a forest. I say that with knowledge, having spent many hours of my life back there shooting photos and videos, including two weeks ago at Petit Le Mans.
And if you make it around there and over Turn 3, there’s a bunch of ways to smash into barriers at extremely high rates of speed while sliding across grass on the way down the hill. And let’s talk about cresting Turn 11, where cars get light and the right of flight — end-over-end in the air — before crashing down the hill on the way to start finish.
I’ve witnessed more cars — prototype, mostly — get destroyed in ALMS or IMSA crashes from Turns 1-5, and over the crest at Turn 11, than I can think of at any Indy 500 over the same period of time.
Q: Any new developments regarding Honda’s potential exit after 2026?
Dave, Grafton, WI
MP: None. But HRC has been actively engaged with the series on future regulations, which is encouraging.
Q: What has Jan Beekhuis been doing? I have missed him on IndyCar broadcasts. Any chance Fox could bring him back?
David Tucker
MP: According to Jan when I saw him two years ago at Laguna Seca, he’s retired. Jan was an exceptional driver and even more talented behind the mic.
Q: Big Possum was looking through the bottom of a tequila bottle last night while contemplating the current state of motor racing and it occurred to him the advances in safety have had a profound impact on racing as we know it today – back in the lethal era of the sport – think Andretti, Foyt who survived, Clark, Revson, Donahue, Hansgen, Sachs, McDonald, Vukovich, Savage, Fireball Roberts who did not… Those guys were truly gladiators and faced death every time they got in a car.
Minimal safety equipment, no safer barriers, no huge run-off areas… Le Mans had two drivers not six, and no kink in the Mulsanne Straight.
As a result, only the very brave were racing drivers, Blue collar guys usually with no money and doing it in many cases to eke out a basic living and advancing in the sport on pure guts and talent.
Today, with all the safety advances (which Big Possum applauds – when Big Possum started SCCA racing there was no Nomex, we dipped our clothes in a Borax solution, open face helmets, no shoulder harness required, army surplus lap belts, no fuel cells, recapped tires, and only very rudimentary roll bars) – the risk of injury or death has been reduced to the point that there is almost no risk. Therefore, rich guys who in the past would not think of being race drivers are now taking the sport by storm and it has become a buy your ride, and the richer you are the more racing you do – with the result that tons of very talented drivers with little or no money have been replaced by, as they say, “playboy nose-pickers” playing at racing.
To condense Big Possum’s tequila-fueled theory, in the past racing was too dangerous for the white collar rich guys; now it’s safe enough that they are racing by sitting on their wallets and not so much sitting on talent. What say you, Marshall?
Big Possum
MP: What says me? Paying drivers have been in the sport since year one, so safety isn’t some new kicker. More pro or semi-pro series exist today than existed in woebegone eras, so it’s only natural for more paying drivers to populate those series.
Also, like emails calling for returns to Cleveland, there’s nothing like a good “Everything was better, tougher, faster, etc., back in the day; everything’s slower, weaker, easier today” submission to the Mailbag. And then I remind myself that in 20 years’ time, I’ll be answering Mailbag questions for an October 2044 edition and someone will send in an email waxing nostalgic about how back in 2024, “Everything was better, tougher, faster, etc…”
Niki Lauda, who took out bank loans to buy his early rides (including his F2 season in 1971, above), would probably have had some things to say about Big Possum’s tequila-fueled theory. Rainer Schlegelmilch/Motorsport Images
Q: As I write this it seems that two of the all-time best prototype sports car drivers – Andre Lotterer and Pipo Derani – don’t have rides for next season? Any updates?
Larry Watson
MP: Greats? Yes. All-time? Not unless sports car racing got its start in 2010.
Pipo gave up his seat in a contract/financial dispute, believed he’d have multiple takers in GTP, and unfortunately, found he wasn’t held in as high esteem as he’d hoped. I’ve heard he might have a LMP2 or GT seat in WEC, and could be considered for something with Genesis, but that’s two years away. No clue on Lotterer.
Q: What’s with Dane Cameron being released by Porsche Penske Motorsport? That does not seem to be a fitting way to honor a championship-winning driver. I get that the stated reason is going to a two-driver lineup in the WEC, but that still seems lame. Any word on what Cameron will do?
Paul Lewis
MP: Heard he might be doing LMP2 with AO Racing. Yeah, this was in motion for a while; not a fan.
Q: After Hailie Deegan announced she was going to race in the NXT series, there has been a constant barrage of articles on MSN about her. I don’t know how she will fare on the track but kudos to her PR team in promoting her. Established drivers in IndyCar would love to have as much attention paid to them. As Andre Agassi used to say in his Canon commercials, “Image Is everything.”
You have said yourself that many IndyCar drivers can go out in public without being recognized. Why aren’t the PR teams of top drivers not as aggressive as Hailie’s team? Media drives everything in today’s world. This failure by the series and team PR people keeps IndyCar in the background of many sports. Mark Miles saying that Pato is not well known enough to warrant a race in Mexico is the total opposite of what he should be doing. No video games, minimal merchandise, no Lego IndyCars… What we need is no Mark Miles!
Dave
MP: She’s a “name” driver coming from NASCAR, so I’d expect a lot of coverage of the surprise change to open-wheel. Not sure who handles her PR, but I wouldn’t dismiss the volume of recent coverage as being a result of a PR campaign. That might change going forward, but I haven’t seen it so far in her joining Indy NXT, which I appreciate.
There was an NXT driver last year whose PR reps spammed us on a regular basis, all on the topic of how many social media followers their client had, which had nothing to do with their actual ability to drive race cars, which wasn’t at a high level. Since I’m here for the racing, those outreaches were ignored. I hope that kind of nonsense is gone from the series in 2025.
Q: With all the new TV deals negotiated by the sanctioning bodies, it’s become increasingly difficult to find the races, let alone watch them. Some broadcasters want a hefty monthly subscription to stream, while others require a cable provider to stream… ironic since streamers are cord-cutters….and CW, whatever that is, streams following day.
If the goal of the sanctioning bodies is to attract more eyeballs and not just line their pockets, they seem to be taking steps in the wrong direction. As an IndyCar enthusiast in particular, I’m not planning to invest in Fox Sports for the benefit of 17 races.
Some people, somewhere, seem to have lost the plot. Mark Miles, are you reading?
Chris H
MP: I’ve had a different experience; I’ve never had an easier time finding racing on TV or streaming. I hated the days where lots of racing happened domestically and internationally and the majority of it wasn’t something that I could access.
Today, IMSA livestreams all kinds of series, even its top WeatherTech Championship, on its YouTube channel for free. The USF Championships livestream its series for free.
We’ve used an Amazon Fire Stick to access streaming platforms on our TV for quite a while, and all the apps where racing can be found sit right in front of me to use when I’m at home. Also, thanks to the insane 600-channel Fire Stick TV app, there’s 24-hour channels from F1, Speed Sport 1, and MAVTV that I enjoy. I watched the full 1990 Mexican Grand Prix while falling asleep Friday night, which was interesting since it had European commentators; I recorded watched all F1 races back in the day as they were aired on ESPN with American commentators, so it was strange to hear British accents on something my brain only knew to to have Bob Varsha and others on the call.
I caught the ELMS season finale in Portimao, complete with RACER.com contributor Graham Goodwin on the comms, on Speed Sport 1, etc.
All that stuff aside, yeah, IndyCar’s in a sticky situation where its new TV partner needs to get its streaming solution sorted out, but there’s no connection between FOX Sports/Venu and IndyCar when it comes to making decisions on streaming or its costs and availability. IndyCar is one of a hundred sports properties waiting and hoping the FUBO/Venu mess gets resolved.
Also, I love that Mark Miles has become the go-to person to blame for everything. Car ran out of gas on the way to work? Damn you, Miles! Dog barfed on the couch? Miles, you menace! Kid got a D in algebra? *$%^#@! MILES!!!
Q: When is someone going to write deep books about the Andretti family? I am sure there are some behind the scenes stories that have not been told.
Steve, Rockford, MI
MP: Mario certainly deserves a multi-book tome on his unrivaled career. There was a beautiful photo book done with him in 1994, stuff decades earlier when he was at his peak popularity, and some other authors have featured him in their work, but I’m thinking more along the lines of the books done a few years ago on Phil Hill that weigh 20 pounds and serve as encyclopedic chronicles of his life and career.
Since it’s been laden with drama, I’m sure someone will pen a book on Michael and the Andretti Global exploits, but I would like to see a proper book done on his driving career by one of the great writers who have the free time to dedicate a year or more to the project. Great idea on going wide to include John, Jeff and Marco.
That’s a lot of stories in one photo. Dan Boyd/Motorsport Images
Q: A long time ago, and I mean probably 30+ years ago, my cousin Kris, (also a writer to the Mailbag) coined the phrase “Dale Coyne Budget.” As in, “Hey Kris? Wanna go to the movies?” His reply, “I can’t, I’m on a Dale Coyne budget.”
I’m a Dale fan, as many long-time IndyCar fans are. It’s obvious he has good cars and a solid staff, even many good drivers have come through his stable. Why then do you suppose Dale is still on “a Dale Coyne budget” after all these years?
Andy R., Detroit area
MP: Because Dale’s approach to owning and running his team has often been different from his rivals. He’s relied on funded drivers for most of DCR’s existence — after Dale retired from driving — and that’s a hard way to amass big profits and results. He’s also been smart in business, and has put his own money into the team for decades, but not to the point of matching what a Penske or Ganassi spends per year through big sponsors.
DCR’s best years were when Dale spent heavily and had the great Justin Wilson in the car, and later, with the great Sebastien Bourdais and the financial assistance from Vasser Sullivan. The costs to run Justin back then would get you about six races in 2025, so to match that level, Coyne would need to invest a huge amount of his own money… but that wouldn’t make sense in today’s IndyCar economy. So he’s working on signing investors through the charters he received to try and level up without emptying his savings.
If all of that comes to fruition, maybe it will become a “Juncos Hollinger budget.”
Q: As a long-time IndyCar nut, I do understand the arguments for relevance to the automates concerning the powertrains and needing some similarity to production units in order to justify the cost involved by promoting their brands innovations. However, the new hybrid units really have nothing in common with any GM or Honda hybrid systems.
As race fans, we generally realize this farce, but accept it as good for the sport since it brings investments from the OEMs. But it is smoke and mirrors. here is a real danger that Honda may leave IndyCar to concentrate on IMSA/WEC and possibly NASCAR. This would leave only Chevy obviously, and we all know those are Ilmor/Sense units anyway.
So how about we try something radical that would set IndyCar completely apart from any other series in the world? I submit to you that Konigsegg has an incredible little engine just sitting around gathering dust that may be perfect. Yes, the three-cylinder TFG, Tiny Friendly Giant. Yes, a 600hp, two-liter, 154lb monster that combined with electric motors jumps up to 1100hp. Oh, and it has that cool Freevalve system and is already set up for a hybrid system with electric motors.
And because a few really rich folks didn’t think 1300hp in a street-legal four-seat car was quite enough to get the job done, this beauty sits in limbo.
Sounds a bit crazy, but is it any crazier than the current situation? OK, it is a bit out there, but something radical needs to be done, and pronto, before interest wanes any further. Yes, the Indy 500 will still be there, but the rest of the season, well, I would prefer it did not become a total afterthought. And I haven’t even mentioned the chassis, because my thumbs are sore. Time to think way outside the box, people.
Todd McKee
MP: I’d poop my pants if we got Koenigsegg into IndyCar.
Q: It appears that Verstappen’s defensive moves recently have all essentially been to cover the inside of the corner and then push Norris wide. With the points situation Norris clearly has more to lose, and the stewards haven’t been consistent enough to count on Max getting a penalty. Should Norris start overtaking Max off the track and dealing with the time penalty with his car’s pace compared with the Red Bull? Norris gave away a lot of time following Max around when he had the pace to catch the Ferraris.
Will, Indy
CHRIS MEDLAND: As the rules are written, Verstappen has been within them if he’s been first to the apex and then pushed Norris wide, but I believe your approach was part of Norris’ thinking in Austin, where he stayed ahead and nearly pulled out a five-second advantage by the finish. But the standard penalty is 10 seconds (as seen for Verstappen twice in Mexico City) to deter drivers from completing an illegal move and trying to then pull away to negate it. Norris only got give in at COTA because Verstappen also went off-track in their fight.
You raise a good point, though, that Verstappen stayed ahead of Norris after the clearly illegal Turn 8 move because he knew it would limit his chances of winning the race, whereas Norris would have had a good chance if he’d been let back through. Norris was clearly staying ahead after Turn 4 anyway, and on this occasion he was in the right, but I wouldn’t put it against both of them never giving a place back across the rest of the season.
Q: Do you think when Ocon starts having problems with Bearman and brings chaos to Haas, Toyota will put Ritomo Miyata in that car during 2025 or would they wait for 2026?
The guy raced wheel to wheel with Lawson in Super Formula. Downgrading to F2 was such a terrible career choice, but maybe this partnership can move him to F1. I hope he goes back to Super Formula while he waits for the F1 call though.
William Mazeo
CM: To be honest, I’m not convinced there will be chaos at Haas, partly because they’ve shown with Hulkenberg and Magnussen they can manage drivers when they are close together. For Ocon it’s a fresh start but he and Gasly have not had as many run-ins since Monaco, and it’s not clear how closely matched he and Bearman will be.
But given the point of your question, I don’t think Miyata would be in the frame. You’re right that F2 has been a slightly strange and disappointing move after his Super Formula and SuperGT double in 2023, and he’s clearly talented, but I think the trajectory Haas is on will still have it in a position to attract some very impressive and experienced names that are already on the grid. If Miyata goes back to Super Formula and excels, plus gets to run in an old F1 car as part of the Haas TPC program (very much possible), then he might come more into the thinking, but a fair bit still has to happen in that scenario.
If Chris’s convoluted path to F1 for Miyata doesn’t work out, maybe he can come back to the Rolex 24 At Daytona and try to beat the 14th place he earned in this year’s GTD results as part of Vasser Sullivan’s line-up in the No.12 Lexus instead. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
Q: Watching Mexican GP FP2, I was sad to see George Russell smack the wall. But the most sad part of this is was the time it took for any type of safety vehicle to come to his aid. It took 100 seconds for the first safety car (instead of a truck full of stuff) to arrive. In fact, the crane got there first! Come on F1 — you must do better. IndyCar and NASCAR sure do.
Bob Moffett
CM: This is a topic brought up a lot, and each time I seem to get ever-more defensive of F1. I’m not critical of IndyCar and NASCAR’s approaches at all, but different doesn’t necessarily mean worse. There is always room for improvement, but the safety systems F1 has invested in has made the sport extremely safe, and the last fatality during a race weekend — and only one in the past 30 years — was actually caused by being too quick with other vehicles on track.
That said, on this occasion I actually agree with you, Bob. Now there are multiple response teams stationed around each circuit, and there was a first responder with Russell 30 seconds after he got out of the car because they could see he was a little shaken up by the hit — they run across to him from behind the barrier before the crane emerges — but in a crash situation, the medical car is deployed when the impact exceeds a certain limit to check a driver for signs of injury or concussion. That happened here, but you’re right that it took close to two minutes for it to arrive, and if a driver is injured, then that time for the car to get round is too long in an emergency situation.
Usually we’ve seen drivers jumping out of all sorts of accidents, given the amazing work done on car and track safety, but even so, for the first responder to get to him 30 seconds after Russell had climbed out — a full minute after the crash happened — was too long.
Q: If for some reason FRM and 23XI don’t come to an agreement with NASCAR, would those charters be up for grabs, disappear or what?
Bernard, TX
KELLY CRANDALL: It’s unclear at the moment. At this time, what we do know is that NASCAR, in one of its filing responses, said it is planning for the 2025 season to have 32 charters (which would leave eight open spots). So, if NASCAR is saying 32 charters, hypothetically we could assume four are going to be held back, which we can assume would be the two current ones assigned to 23XI Racing (Nos. 23 and 45) and Front Row Motorsports (Nos. 34 and 38). And then remember that those teams were both trying to get one more charter to expand to three teams (from the charters on the market by Stewart-Haas. Trackhouse Racing is supposed to be getting one of those with Gene Haas keeping one as well).
There has been no submission from 23XI Racing or Front Row Motorsports for the third charter they are seeking, a sale which has to be approved by NASCAR. So, from there, hypothetically, we could see those two charters going back on the market if we keep trying to play the numbers game of how NASCAR comes up with 32 charters. But in reality there is no telling how this all plays out and what could keep changing as time goes on.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, October 30, 2013
Q: On Sept. 25, Michael from Nashville wrote to you concerning the 1989 Indianapolis 500 and the scoring had both Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. wrecked. I got to thinking about that race, and after watching the last 20 laps again, I came to a conclusion. Had both Fittipaldi and Al wrecked, Boesel would have eventually taken over the lead (once he made up the laps that he was behind, of course).
However, Boesel’s engine was starting to blow (ABC mentioned this), so there’s a very good chance he wouldn’t have finished the race. The race would have been decided between the fourth- and fifth-place cars: Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt (both were on the same lap).
If this situation would have come up, who do you think would have won, giving consideration to where both were in terms of their respective careers?
Scott Richards, Hughesville, PA
ROBIN MILLER: My take is that Scott Brayton would have won because A.J. would have stuffed Mario into the wall as he tried to pass on the last lap.