Welcome to the racer’s mail bag. Any questions from the racer writer are: mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters containing questions are likely to be published. Any questions received every Monday after 3pm will be saved the following week.
Q: We all know the pressure that power lies in Pensuke, but they don’t seem to be in a hurry to make decisions. Is there a possibility that AJ Foyt will be powered to replace Malukus and that Malukus will move to Penske? In this way, the power maintains the same engineers and people, but this shows that the team is slowly letting go of him, rather than letting the team leave the entire organization. The second question is that Marx can give him more time to develop and keep his power in Pensuke so that he can provide the power in the team for another year.
Jack Edmonson
Marshall Pruett: The last thing Pensuke needs to do is throw a big driver change while he is trying to turn the ship around with Jonathan Diudd’s new team captain. But if that’s the direction they take, they’ll tell me that in their worst seasons for decades, they’ve decided on the best course of action.
Although the power is not an error-free thing, he is Pensuke’s most consistent and reliable driver. That’s not an opinion. What the results of the past 18 months have told us. He is also the only driver to win the Pensuke championship for the last 10 years. If it’s Jettison’s, I don’t know what the team wants from the driver. The smartest move is to fund Marcus in Voyt for another season and sign a one-year deal with more options.
Malukas is extremely talented and has a clear path to a big team, but he makes more mistakes than you would expect from a Penske-Ready driver. And that’s not a criticism. He needs more mileage to develop into an instant title contender like New Garden, who joined the team after starting his kink for five years and becoming a turnkey champion at Sara Fisher/Wink Hartman/Ed Carpenter Racing. Newgarden joined Penske in 2017, winning his first championship in his debut.
Scott McLaughlin was another creature when he arrived at Pensuke. All he lacked was open wheel mileage. He landed as a champion multiple times, returning in 2022 to win three races, and only needed one full season to learn the car and series to run to fourth in the rankings. Malukas appears in full-team Penske Car, similar to Newgarden, and is immediately known to be a title threat in 2027.
Josef made his debut for Pensuke in his sixth IndyCar season and has seen what he has achieved ever since. Malukas has two full seasons, over half seasons for Dale Coyne and Shank, and half seasons for Dale Coyne and Foyt. Joseph has been virtually the same team for five years, and that’s how he built a new and strong layer on his foundations year after year.
Marcus managed to get a nod in 2026, but I’m sure he’ll have the same consistency with the same engineers and crew, and he’ll spend another season with Voyt and stack another layer on his own foundations.
Penske is understood to fund Malukas Car (with support from Penske Sponsor Clarience Technologies) and will be offered as part of the talent development programme for the future. It’s strange to see Penske paying power to drive on Foyt when he already has a fully funded car with a sponsor to Power-loving Verizon.
Q: I just remembered from Friday practice at Road America last year and there was a photographer shown on the airline celebrating Romine Grosjean’s shot when he crashed from turn 14. Timestamped link.
I checked the official IndyCar gallery for the race, but there were no photos that looked like a match, do you just happen to know who it is?
Mike, California
MP: IndyCar’s ACE photography team is usually between four and six people depending on the event, and as dozens of other shooters qualified from which outlets, there was a slight chance that the shot would appear in the series’ gallery. Also, if you see an official Indycar photographer cheering for him like that after crashing, the photo boss Chris Owens pulled out their best and sent him home.
The best number is not displayed on the video, but no one recognized it. I think the shooter was excited to have taken the crash shot. Yes, when you get those sequences it can be an adrenaline rush, but hopefully, as an expert given exclusive access except for your trade, you remember that humans hit something hard on a fast vehicle and refrain from this kind of behavior.
Team Penske’s 2025 progression seems like a way to offload the best-performing drivers of the season. Joe Skibinski/IMS
Q: I want to take ownership of the weekend of July 4th, giving Mid Ohio and his fans a shout out as I sit around the campfire watching fireworks. I remember the stint on the 4th with Watkins Glenn and Pocono since watching IndyCar since the mid-2000s, but Midohio was able to make it work for a few years now. What do you think is why they made it work when no other tracks were able to do?
Mitch in Michigan
MP: I think that’s what you’d suggest – willingness to deal with 4th Like the addition of events. I’m not yet adapted to Midohio a month before the regular stop in early August. The condition and location also work well. Ohio is a popular local venue, why not celebrate with other like-minded people at the biggest in-town event of the year?
Q: Toyota was nominated to sponsor a race in Arlington, Texas next year. With the fact that Indycar finally unveils the formula for the new engine and it will take about 18 months to develop, is it early to think that Toyota might return to Indycar?
Arnold Edgar
MP: Toyota’s US headquarters is based in Plano, near Plano, Texas, 40 minutes from Arlington, so there are things to consider. Roger Pensuke has been Toyota’s biggest dealer in the United States, as far as I can remember. And with Pensuke taking over more of the events in which his IndyCar series appears, I wasn’t surprised to see some of the long-standing business relationships unfolding within the series.
We also know because he said he’s been working on getting Toyota back to IndyCar since Roger bought the series and got closer a few years ago. In my opinion, I don’t think the two are interconnected.
However, I’ve heard that if you hear that if you bring Toyota back to the series via event sponsorship, there may be another race where the brand could be involved next year, then it’s the first step to bring the engine supply contract back to the table.
And if it’s just an event sponsorship or two, that’s positive too.
Q: It is said that backup cars are slower than primary ones in places like Indianapolis, and road course chassis are said to be much slower than Super Speedway cars (such as Armstrong this year). What distinguishes between the two? Is it related to the torsion/rigidity of the tub? Why is there a certain level of this beneficial or harmful?
Thomas, go
MP: Zero twist rigidity. It is aerodynamic and mechanical drag. The main chassis is smoothed and completed for the 11 months leading up to May, filling and mixing all the seams and gaps in the bodywork, polishing the main rotating and upright parts of the transmission to death, reducing as much friction as possible. It’s when you crash that car and use spare cars and parts that you usually don’t pay the same extreme attention for most of last year.
So why don’t teams do this in every chassis and every race? Because the workforce needs to be doubled or tripled, so there is a need for a large, unsustainable budget increase. Certainly, with the thin margin of razors seen in qualifying at Indy, I think the funded team has at least one fully optimized spare car, if not two fully optimized spare cars, between the last two Indy 500Ss featuring the Dalala DW12.
Q: Is there a good garage story from Wyatt Swyme? He was unable to meet him, but was given the garage art he created by Joyce Swaim. (bottom).
As I understand it, this was made by Wyatt in the Lincoln Welding Garage in a gasoline alley, and Joyce went to three drivers and got the autograph. Any stories you may have will be shared and shared with her in his memory!
Nicholas Edwards
MP: He is highly respected within the paddock. But I knew little about him other than greeting Mr Swaim several times over the years.
Q: Didn’t USAC ban mid-engine sprint cars? I want to say that Mark Donohue ran one at Limerock and won…I’m not sure.
Pocono will need to reconstruct one of the infield road courses to IndyCar standards unless there is an idea close to NYC. It was done at Brickyard, so why? From that huge grandstand, we could see the entire track.
Bill Bailey
MP: I’m the last guy to ask about changes to USAC’s historical regulations in a short truck car. I love Pocono’s ideas. Why not… who spends millions of dollars to accomplish that?
Q: I became very interested in Ozark International Raceway after watching a video showing sports cars navigating the hills and blind turns. As a FIA Grade 2 track, it meets the minimum requirements for the IndyCar road course. Is there anything to consider inclusion of this track in a racing calendar or future years?
Andrew Hyde
MP: I heard that outreach to IndyCar took place a while ago, but I can’t say whether the big event grandstand and large marketing and promotional staff were part of the conversation, along with all the other important aspects, such as the seven-figure licensing fee.
Q: When a car is baling in Road America during qualifying, that’s bad enough. But shorter trucks are becoming a plague. What if the qualifying rounds are divided into three groups of eight cars each? Round 2 is in two groups, each with six cars. Then high speed 6. You can trim rounds 1 and 2 in minutes if you wish. There are fewer cars, no bald, faster laps.
Mike Tarico, Charlotte, North Carolina
MP: We managed to go to qualify for a single car, but the driver will find a way to complain about temperature, wind or sand, or any other causes for laps to compromise. Life is full of options and results. Rather, I would like to start my front running driver selection backwards to overcome poor qualifying runs, trying alternative strategies to recharge in the field or overcoming poor qualifying runs, and then trying out all the speed ahead, overcoming all the throwouts or mixing them up from the start.
Q: I went and watched the F1 movie and was rightly impressed. Yes, it had an excessive sensationalism that would never be seen in Formula 1 or Formula 1 races, but these events are far too flawed for Hollywood.
I believe the film will be a great boost to sports, and there wasn’t much needed. Much of the criticism of IndyCar’s marketing ineligible (I’m guilty of guilt) was a waste of mental energy. I’m a fan of all motor racing personally, but the development and proximity of Indianapolis has always been a favour for IndyCar with what has been mentioned for many years.
I’m a captain fan, Regardless of the issues he had in the team this year and what he did for the Speedway and the series. No matter what happens on the 16th and in Georgetown, it’s not clear whether Superman himself will be able to compete with the complete global onslaught brought by Formula 1 since Liberty Media won it.
I’m old and my dad’s time is taking a blow to me, so I’m checking out a few boxes this year. I took my sons to Long Beach, Indy and Road America. I’m witnessing history with Palou.
James Herbert Harrison, Overland Park, Kansas
MP: Amen. And that should never change. F1 is a huge hit. NASCAR is kicking Indycar’s ass in terms of national popularity for 30 years. And why should any of these things reduce their love for IndyCar?
For those of us who care about the health of the series, yes, we get mad at the inaction and incompetence wherever it is identified, but that’s on the “inside of baseball” side that isn’t too far from reporting on local government issues. It’s easy to get lost in the local zoning council that causes traffic delays and other things. And while those issues are important, you can walk outside and enjoy some pretty amazing things. That’s something I think about half a lot at IndyCar.
Yes, there are all sorts of nonsense that need to be covered and analyzed, but Lord, I’m off to Iowa, Toronto, Laguna Seca.
Is Indycar worthy of criticism from time to time? yes. Is Indycar great? Also, yes. Joe Skibinski/IMS
Q: Do you have any insights into Pensuke’s policy regarding driver interviews? Race sponsorships are usually about brand recognition, and I think New Garden sponsors must have felt like they were hit by the lottery when he won the lead role in Fox’s Indy Car Promotion via his back-to-back indy 500 wins. Hopefully, all of that will endure negative headlines and lack of results, so we hope you will buy sponsor patience. But New Garden, like the qualifying and race exits, had no even comments, simply speeding out of the camera, with at least four or five races.
At least when his teammates are out for another driver (as he did towards Alex Pallow last weekend), he’s doing it on camera, giving his firesuit logo hundreds of thousands of views.
What is Pensuke’s policy regarding that? Do you think that a grumpy driver is bad for the sponsor, or are there any attempts to coach him?
IndyCar Fan
MP: Are you talking about Team Penske or Penske Entertainment? I don’t think that’s a problem as the team and series don’t have rules that require drivers to talk to TV. There is hope and expectation, but no, there is no Marshawn Lynch. The policy is in place: “I’m the only one here, so I won’t be fined.”
When it comes to seeing the logo, that’s not an angle to be taken. If the sponsor is asked to endure a rough period with negative headlines, a gross driver with a scream on TV will not help the situation. A “nothing” approach is always the winner. I would like to ask my self-polic driver to avoid cameras rather than people who can’t get away with the camera or microphone to make the problem worse.
The split line is whether you feel like you’re wrong by someone and being forced to know your frustration (Connor Daly has nearly 10,000 likes! Ventilation at Santino Ferrucci It’s when the words said in the public environment change, change situations, or feel good, in a turn 5 that hurts both races, and simply get angry, disappointed or helpless.
Joseph spoke to the TV after the first rap crash and was his usual self.
Q: While having obviously mixed feelings about Ferrucci, his antics in Mid-Ohio’s practice 2 shows just how lacking the passing of IndyCar’s host is. Since early 2024, I have been one of New Garden’s biggest hatreds and are actively rooted in him.
If an official intended to bench the driver, it was on display to do so. It shows the fact that nothing has been done, and how reckless the host is, if it wasn’t published. Are you supposed to hold your nose until 2026?
Mike Decardo, “Malibu of the Midwest” (true)
MP: I was fine with everything that didn’t involve any risk to others, but yeah, what was blown up inside the New Garden on Turn 8 seemed to surprise Joseph and was rushing inside to avoid getting entangled with the confusion.
Q: I’m sitting here and taking in the British Grand Prix and watching them announce a three-day crowd of half a million fans. I think most of the weekends will be the same ticket holders, but LibertyMedia should be considering launching one of the Grand Prix as the world’s largest single-day sporting event, and when it comes to weekend crowds, it should be thinking about supporting Carbohydrate Day and Legendary Day. Your thoughts?
Denny Jones, Fort Scott, Kansas
MP: We don’t directly or on camera to deny the human masses, so we know what the biggest day’s sporting events look like. People can assert whatever they want, but their eyes don’t lie.
Q: As recent issues have been falling on team Pensuke, we need to wonder if we are witnessing the end of the era. Sunday’s race should be one of the worst races in the team’s history.
I’ve seen something similar in the past. At the end of the Al Unser Jr. era, things didn’t go very well before Gil de Ferran joined Team Penske, but soon Penske Professionalis returned to create victory and championships. They have put Ganassi on top every year until recently.
If they can’t recover, that would be a shame, but one thing is for sure. There is nothing that lasts forever.
Doug Mayer, Canada, BC, Revelstoke
MP: Power’s engines stay together, better results may be achieved. McLaughlin wasn’t having a great day, but I thought something like Top 10 could be done until the slow delamination of the tires ruined the results. It was ultimately the latest in many horrifying events in Pensuke, but could have been better.
The dynasty questions are interesting. I hope I don’t. Penske’s Our New York Yankees or Boston Celtics. If they don’t bring the usual fierce opposition to Ganasi this season, Paloo will run away with things. It’s cool to watch a year or twice when the driver and team are on fire, but it’s not something you want to be the standard for IndyCar.
Arrow Mclaren rose to jump past Chevy’s most dominant team, but being P1 out of all Chevy teams and being able to go to the toes with Ganassi is two very different things.
As for the future, there are still people there since 2016 who have driven the victory of the Pagenaud, New Garden and Power to Championships and Indy 500. The loss of three senior leaders was crushed. Looking back next year, I think McLaughlin race engineer Ben Bretzman has been promoted to a senior role in the technical aspects. Its former managing director Ron Lzewski is a big part of the team’s technical/engineering brain trust, with Sindrick’s role and Moyer’s role backed, so I can’t imagine anyone who’s the right person to turn to the last big hole and get off the timing stand and become Pensuke’s next engineering/performance leader.
That being said, Pensuke’s victory will allow him to leave Iowa in a few days and everything will feel right in their world. But like his contemporaries, Andretti’s brother Eric Bretzman and Ganassi’s Chris Simmons Eric Bretzman – acquired everything as a race engineer before shooting upwards as technical/sports director/competition director, leading the team to greater success.
Is Bretzman a lack of leadership puzzles for new team Penske? Joe Skibinski/IMS
Q: Nico Halkenberg will be on the podium.
Alex Pallow makes the mistake of losing race.
What is the next unlikely event that racing fans wanted?
(Sorry, Alex, I hope it’s your 100-point lead or comfort.)
Jeff
MP: It’s easy: First win in the race between Connor Daly and Juncos Hollinger in Iowa this weekend. But I don’t feel that is really unlikely.
Q: Thank you Alex, for making the last few laps at Midohio quite exciting. Your greatness was not reduced by Booboo. And to put that into perspective, your disappointment must be pale compared to Dixie when Dixie loses Indy due to a lack of one MPH in the pit.
I was at odds over whether I wanted to see Parow win a late race or see Dixon get a classy off-script victory again. I’m glad he holds it in. Next year he will win and try for an incredible 22 years in a row. It was also wonderful to see Emma and her family appear on top with enthusiasm and joy. It reminded me of when Power won Indy and how he and Liz shared a frenzied victory you rarely see. I love that kind of thing.
Ferucci was sadly comical with his daily takeout. With the attitude of “I’m coming, I’ll make a path,” it wasn’t a move in the race for Fulchit. He was a small thing, and he actually slowed down, made sure the alignment was correct and he could enjoy the moment. That was a total BS movement. Just a race, man. I stopped at him and realized that the next person would park him, and that’s what I’ve been to.
A compliment to New Garden for ultimately speaking instead of putting it on. I actually felt a bit sad about him. All he was doing was to drive an IndyCar, as if the rear wheels were locked on the first hard brakes. Has he done a hard brake check with a warm-up lap? You probably don’t think it’s a driver error, as a sudden brake input should lock the front first. Was it a car problem?
Finally, and most importantly, it is now official. Team Penske requires process intervention. Nothing below that. For us on the outside, all we can do is guess what happened with P2PGATE and AttenuatorGate and how our team was affected by Housecleaning on the top floor. But it is clear that they are now in a very bad place. Yes, they had good moments and showed off quite a lot from time to time, but this Sunday’s gloomy outing seemed like a sign for the course. There, save money and time to hire professionals from Boston and acquire 4-5 Michigan Organizational Behavior Business Alumni to help them get back on track.
Team Penske has a face of IndyCar to some degree, and its success or failure goes to the final line of the series I’ve loved life. The other teams are very successful and the race is great, but me and many others want to see the big OG dogs eat again.
Oh yeah, my question. Draw the top rails of the starter stands to the good people of Midohio. A close-up of the TV showed it was a very long time. However, if it is ignored in favor of the 4-turn change, it is fine. Turn 4 is safer now. Unfortunately, it wasn’t done before Michael and Simon’s wreck, but that’s how it was in the race.
Chris, Colorado
MP: On the Penske side, note that since the firing, the team’s execution and many administrative tasks handled by those former managers have been handed over to three race engineers. This not only fires the team president, but also takes on the equivalent of VP and VP. This was blowing away the entire executive layer of the IndyCar team. This meant that the team’s run fell to Dave Faustino, Ben Bretzman and its crew chiefs as much as possible. You’ll need to prepare your setup, spend time on the simulator, go to tests, races, travel, catering and see your daily needs.
If there is a group of people who are quarantined and neglected, if they can focus on doing the direct things that will make the team successful with the cars fed to the driver, then it is a race engineer. And Dave, Ben, and Luke did the incredible job of taking double or triple duties while having to do more than a month of work and those who were fired. But keeping their full focus away from the car will cost their competitiveness and appear to have lived with the results of the firing since mid-May.
Adding Jonathan Diuguid and Travis Law as new presidents and VPs is practically fantastic. But they already have those jobs on the Porsche Penske Motorsport IMSA GTP/WEC hypercar side. How far can I get back to the protected environment of engineers who restore normalcy and create playbooks for speed within the IndyCar team? Iowa is the first ink ring to see if the modification will have an immediate effect or take a little time.
Q: Was there a more boring winner than Scott Dixon? Zero’s personality, off-track, won with a rather dull style on Zero’s difficult pass on Sunday. Maybe I missed something? Did he hand over someone other than to go to off-pace parrow temporarily?
Palou is not accurate either. personality. ‘This is part of the problem with IndyCar. Two of their most prolific winners have the character and lace style of empty suits. Yes, it works before you protect their boring style. I’m not suggesting that every winner or race should be exciting, but I’m a holy man. After a conflict with a rival, Pat and “Sanchucchi” win and need to make a headline. The same goes for New Garden. More touchstone moments to create drama rather than full demo derby NASCAR type nonsense. I could really rant about this but I’ll stop.
Eric Z, Lancaster, NY
MP: I’m glad it stopped. Out of curiosity, who peeed your Cheerios?
Dixon won most of his championships and showed some of the greatest and crazy car controls I’ve ever seen. Mythical ability to drive with tails out – as much as you can withstand in any era. It was the opposite pole of boredom. Without a ball or bravado, Dario Francitti marveled at his ability to run the rest of him and the rest on the side, winning the race and championships with relative ease. And when the car was changed and it was no longer possible, he did his best to adapt to a vehicle that would not allow him to use his superpowers.
However, he wasn’t a big character and was perfect on Sundays, but he wasted no time chasing clickbait and social followers.
I think the types of Patrick Mahomes, Shohei Otanis and Steph Currys should also be grouped together with the same people and in the same group. Poor idiot. They smoke to win the championship without the overstatement that will be forgotten in 48 hours. If they were respected for their excellence.
Pat, Ferrucci and the rest had equal opportunities to win on Sunday, but that wasn’t the case. Instead of pooping people who are winning like Dixon, someone who is cheerful and loved in the paddock like the others, or a truly sweet but psycho-competitive Palou, he’s like the Spanish Dexter. (The fish he catches every week) maybe it takes a little time to get to know the real person we’re talking about – it does more than hook the surface, not the showtime version presented on television or social media.
I am grateful that there is a paddock with a wide range of personalities. Champions and front runners don’t need to cut all WWE Superstars excessive promotions.
It is a safe bet for any of Indycar’s “big personality” to exchange their careers with a heartbeat for Dixon. Joe Skibinski/IMS
Q: How do teams in which series determine whether the tires are limited by surface or core temperature?
WIS, West Allis, Atilla Veyssal
MP: Sensor. Inside the wheel is inside the wheel with an array of infrared sensors that provide real-time temperature monitoring systems and provide live in-chip temperature measurements throughout the tire. Also, from an external IR sensor that reads the surface of the tire with multiple beams. Feedback from high quality drivers that allow you to feel what’s going on on the rubber surface.
Q: Do you have team orders from IndyCar like in F1? Palou’s mistake seemed to have been told to find a way to slow him down so that Dixon could extend the season with a race victory. I certainly hope not, that’s one thing I hate about F1.
Craig Bradburn
MP: No. Alex Pallow will deliberately get on track and win, and believe he will lose 10 points while he is closing, but hasn’t he still won the championship?
Q: What is Tim Mayer?‘A realistic opportunity to win the FIA presidency? What about other candidates?‘ Is there a chance that he will defeat the current president?
David Tucker
Chris Medland: It’s difficult to measure at this stage as Mayer needs to seek support from all of the FIA member clubs. Some are firmly behind Mohammed Ben Sulayem as they feel they are benefiting from his leadership, even if they see voice concerns.
Mayer admits that he hasn’t made the canvas yet, as he kept his run secret until the announcement. That’s because he needs to know what the rules of engagement are. Legal changes related to the election process were approved in Macau last month, explaining why they had no other candidates up until now.
It shows how it has become difficult to oppose Ben Suraem. Some rules are very late, and the FIA Nomination Committee is now effectively controlled by the President, giving it the power to question the eligibility of an opponent or their team.
I don’t think Meyer is the only person considering running, but he says that the current situation makes it likely that only one candidate will succeed. If it is considered true by others, his announcement may reduce the likelihood that someone else is standing.
Mayer insists he enters the campaign with a complete belief that he can win, but the first hurdle is for the nomination committee to check and join the vote.
Q: Sauber (which will soon become Audi) appears to be punching beyond its weight. Can you shed some light on this? Can’t it all be Binott and Wheatley?
Steve
CM: Aside from the podium on Sunday, I would argue that it’s not outweighed its weight. Hinwil has a very impressive facility, and Sauber has excellent partners, so there was always the material to become a competitive midfield runner.
I recently couldn’t stop by the back due to lack of funds for the spell before Audi completed the acquisition. The team was because future owners weren’t putting money in to benefit, but as we approach 2026, we can only see the impact and structure of that increased investment level is beginning to settle with multiple new employment.
I’ve been told many of the basics that I need to deal with over the past year or so, but now I’m going to see better performance from the car and better trackside. Wheatley may have held his hand at the latter, but Nico Halkenberg was seventh in the dramatic first race in Melbourne to show that Sauber is there or is there.
The gap has been very small in F1 lately, but it’s easy to forget when one team keeps winning and one team keeps being the last. However, even in the first race in Australia before some car improvements were introduced in Spain, both Thorbers were only 0.6 seconds from the fastest time in the first quarter (and Hulkenberg was still eliminated). That means even a small profit would have a big impact compared to rivals with updates, moving Sauber far closer from behind the midfield pack to the front.
If you can start this more often, it will be even cooler. Kym Illman/Getty Images
Q: A question came up during the UK Grand Prix viewing party. Why does F1/Pirelli spend a lot of money flying a set of many full rainy weather tires for races after unused races?
Even in Sunday’s Bible state at Silverstone, all teams chose Inter. Perhaps F1 should have Wets at home and bring something more useful to the team. thought?
David
CM: I think Sunday is a bad example. Because the shower is so short and sharp, the team knew it would pass quickly, so before changing to the middle again, you get little value for something completely wet. They also knew it would likely be in a safe vehicle condition, so you won’t get the chance to race and take advantage of the fully wet ones. I didn’t choose an inter in full wet, but I was in the position when the pit stops made no sense.
It’s true that a full wet is not a good tire, but there are many reasons why it can’t be used. Some depend on performance. Intel is actually very good, so teams always want to join it as soon as possible due to lap time gains, while other teams are simply visibility. Fully wet cleans up much more water, but in many cases race control calls a safety car, as they are conditions that you cannot see.
If the rain continued on Sunday, something completely wet could have been used, as it proved quickly under racing conditions, but given the sharp downpour was quickly cleared, no one wanted to lose race time due to the pitting.
But they could be useful – returning to Canada last year, Kevin Magnussen starts in full wet at the race. He was much faster than Inter’s when the truck was really wet and the vision wasn’t bad enough to require a safe vehicle. But as the truck dries, we quickly saw how Intel got a quick tyre, as the full wet was too few laps to make a big profit.
Also, I was driving completely wet at times in Brazil last year, so I’ll need to have tires as an option. Otherwise, you may limit your options to get back on track. You get your point that they seemed like silverstone waste, but given those conditions and the fact that everyone uses a lot of intermediates, I’d like to know what’s more useful!
Q: After hitting the Atlanta race. I’m going to put it out into space and Texas can use reconstruction and pavement.
Sean, Maryland
Kelly Crandall: Last year there were rumors that another truck was about to get “Atlanta treatment” and hoped it was Texas, but it just disappeared at first glance. After that track has recreated, how different it is and what a bad thing is, depending on who you ask. On the one hand, they had to do something for the crying, but humans, they certainly changed the dynamics of the race. If that’s still the case, I think this car might actually race well there.
The final words
July 10, 2019, from Robin Miller’s mail bag
Q: IndyCar Racing’s early history has found drivers of a variety of short trucks located in the country. Mario raced the Midget on my home track in Danbury, Connecticut (sadly shut down in 1981). He then gained fame with IndyCar and Formula 1. Today, good short truck sprints and midget drivers are finding their way to NASCAR, including Gordon, Stewart and Larson. Of course, financially, it’s impossible for a short tracker to find a way to the top indy car seats, but isn’t it a great boost for sports in general? Do you think Christopher Bell and Cody Swanson would put more rear ends in the grandstand in an oval track race?
Eddie F., Norwalk, Connecticut
Robin Miller: Good question. When Brian Clauson got his chance at Indy, he hoped to attract interest in his assessment and attendance during May, but I don’t think so. I called Bell last March and asked if he was interested in running the Indy 500, and of course he was, but I don’t think Joe Gibbs would allow that. Swanson is the magic of the USAC Silver Crown pavement, but obviously requires financial support and I heard that I can line up for an F2000 or a light ride next year, but that’s a bit of a death. If Rico Abreu were to ride an Indy, he would become the most popular driver of the night, but I don’t know if that would be of interest to him. If Bell, Swanson, or Abreu rides an IndyCar in Iowa, Knoxville is so close that it may make a difference. I also think I can help all the sprint car fans and Pocono in Pennsylvania, but no one cares about going to buy tickets.
