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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: Any word on when the Dan Gurney books will be available? I've heard it was two volumes, and that Dan's widow, Evi, finished writing years ago. It's getting close to the holidays; seems like a good time. Ray Schmudde MARSHALL PRUETT: The hope is by next July’s All American Racers Reunion at Road America. It’s being held on the same date at the Nashville IndyCar event, and I feel like there’s no need to explain where you’ll find me that weekend. Q: So 23XII wants to get Roger Penske and Rick Hendrick under oath about whatever topic they like in the NASCAR lawsuit. [ED: And it looks like they will.] What are some questions you would like Penske to be asked and for him to answer under oath? For me, I start with the finishes of 2002 and 2023 in the Indy 500, and then go full Tom Cruise on him about all of the P2P scandal. Mark, Milford, OH MP: First, my mind went straight to Chappelle Show with Roger going full Tron Carter and pleading the ‘FiF.’ So, with the Fifth Amendment as an option, I doubt much would get answered, but I’d love to know the sale price of IndyCar and IMS, why the Will Power relationship ended in such an unfortunate way, and why the Jay Frye relationship ended in such an unfortunate way. The 2002 and 2023 Indy 500s don’t interest me as much. Doesn’t mean I agree with the 2002 ruling; that win has always belonged to Barry Green and Paul Tracy, but I don’t take umbrage with Penske for doing everything in his power to get the outcome he sought for his team and driver. Big-time racing is all about partisan interests, waged by huge corporations and the wealthy team owners they’re associated with, to win at any cost. Decisions like 2002 violate my sense of fair play, but I’m no longer a kid who’s shocked by such things. On 2023, I’ve never believed that was a Penske-related deal. Q: What happened to Beth Paretta’s plan to start a team, or at least partner with someone? Simona De Silvestro was one of the most popular drivers in the series but she never seems to find the right situation. Do you think she will resume her racing career, perhaps in Europe, after her Olympic adventure is over? Patrick, Brownsburg, IN MP: Simona had a good thing going with HVM Racing until the team was unable to get a Chevy or Honda lease in 2012 and had to use a season-killing Lotus engine. The Keith Wiggins- and Shane Seneviratne-led team punched well above their weight through 2011, died after 2012, and then she did a great job at KV Racing in 2013, taking 13th in the standings while teammate and 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan placed 11th. On her future, unless a team or manufacturer wants to revive her pro career, no, I don’t see it. Careers for veterans like Simona require consistency and momentum, and with her turn to bobsledding, her name hasn’t been called much in recent years for four-wheel duty. On Beth, her last co-entry was with Ed Carpenter Racing in 2022 and I don’t recall why plans to return in 2023 with ECR or another team fell through. We spoke at the season finale and she was bullish about returning with another part-time deal. With few exceptions, she was treated poorly by too many people while trying to get a foothold in the series. [ED: Paretta's day job as VP of Sporting at Formula E might not leave much spare time to field a team right now]. Q: Enjoyed watching some of the HSR Classic 24 at Daytona this weekend, and couldn’t help noticing that a few cars had some pretty heavy hitters onboard as second drivers. Are the Le Mans winners and former IMSA champions just out there for the fun of it, or can they still command a decent payday at events like this? Brad MP: The old pros definitely get paid. Driving vintage cars on test days, helping teams with chassis setup, coaching non-pros/car owners, and racing in HSR events is how those you’ve referenced support themselves. Q: Another reason for Kyle Kirkwood to sign an extension with Andretti could be that he would become the first choice when Cadillac F1 is ready to have two American drivers. What do you think? Ray Schumin MP: Kirkwood’s all about IndyCar. As I wrote a few months ago, if TWG Motorsports wanted to bring its best American to F1, based off of Andretti Global’s 2025 IndyCar results, it would have done so with Kirkwood. If it was 2024, Colton was the clear No. 1 American in the team. The decision to go with Colton says a lot, namely that if this is something Kyle wanted and they wanted, it would already be happening with an F2 seat and chasing Super License points. I’d also like to believe the TWG folks are too intelligent to continually strip the IndyCar team and take its best talent for the F1 program. Q: Why not consider a good old American V8 for IndyCar? The NASCAR guys have plenty of motors. Chevy, Ford, Toyota and now Dodge. Those engines sound great. Have to be way cheaper than the turbo V6 currently being used and we know they will easily do 750 hp for 600 miles. Yes, I know the chassis would need some redesign but in the long run it would be far cheaper with four engine manufacturers. Plus, a great buy-in to Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge vs Toyota wars. The parity in the motors is already there so no worries about the balance of performance. The more engines that Roush, Hendrick, Childress, TRD and Penske build the cheaper for everyone. NASCAR seems to be doing fine without the expense of a hybrid system. In all honesty, does any race fan really care about a hybrid system in a race car? The added weight of the V8 would be offset by deletion of the hybrid system. NASCAR uses Sunoco gas/ethanol while IndyCar use a Shell renewable, but I can’t see that being any kind of a technical roadblock. Can you imagine 33 cars with non-turbo V8s from four different manufacturers thundering down the front stretch at Indy? Gary, Anza, CA MP: It was two or three instead of four, but yes, we had 33 naturally-aspirated V8s at Indy from 1997 (35, actually, that year) through 2011, so yes, been there, seen it, heard it. And at least during the early Indy Racing League V8 days where the cars were deafening like Cup V8s, nobody cared and almost nobody showed up outside of Indy. Once the switch to flat-plane crankshafts happened for 2001 (I think it was 2001), the pitch rose and the sound was less throaty and traditional circle track, for sure. Prior to that change, history proved the romanticism behind making Indy cars sound like Cup cars was a commercial failure and a loser in the game of popularity. (The flat-plane change didn’t bring the crowds, either, but the timing was coincidental with most of the best CART IndyCar Series teams leaping over to the IRL starting in 2001.) Fast forward to today, and with NASCAR continuing to be far more popular than IndyCar, why would those manufacturers spend the money to race the same engines in a series with a smaller fan base and TV audience? They’re already at the top with the cars and engines they use in Cup. I’d rather see IndyCar develop a cool V8 of its own to use than just copying and borrowing NASCAR’s defining item. Q: When will IndyCars be at Sebring for testing before St Petersburg? Rob MP: February, specific dates TBD. Q: Now that Caio Collet has been announced as the second driver at A.J. Foyt Racing, what are your thoughts on Collet as a driver, and what does his addition mean for the team? Is he more Malukas or Kirkwood, or is he more a Pedersen or Sting Ray Robb? Tom Knisely, Blaine, MN MP: He’s a unicorn in the sense that he’s able to find significant sponsors to pay for the seat and he’s a rocket. If Collet was in an Andretti NXT car last season, I don’t know if Hauger romps to the championship. Definitely a fast and polished driver coming out of NXT. He’s got a heck of an oval tutor in Ferrucci and should more than hold his own everywhere else. He’ll do dumb things like every rookie, but I do expect him to stand out more often than most would expect to see from someone with no profile. Q: Glad to see RLL stay in IMSA. Who do you think the drivers will be? Any chance we see Graham get in the car for Daytona? Do think that this partnership will lead to RLL back in the top class in the future? For fun, how about a second car at Daytona with Paul Tracy, Robby Gordon, Max Papis and Helio? I bet they win. David MP: Not sure if Graham would fit. He’s 6’3” and that car’s roof comes up to his hip. I understand the one-car GTD Pro effort for 2026 could become two in 2027, so that would be cool. Provided McLaren does add IMSA GTP to its programs, you’d hope RLL would get a chance, but Zak Brown owns United Autosports which is running the WEC Hypercar effort, which makes me wonder if anyone other than Zak’s UA USA outfit would get the American deal. I’d love to see the old timers you mention, but they’d get destroyed. The 24-hours-of-maximum-attack that Daytona has become in the pro classes is a different thing. Q: Absent from the announcement of Collet to Foyt was any mention of whether the alliance with Penske continues. Was that a one-year Malukas specific collaboration? Or does that continue? Fred, Indiana native living in Missouri MP: Tried connecting with Team Penske president Jonathan Diuguid last week but he was in the air to the Bahrain WEC finale. I’ll try again when he’s back in North Carolina. Q: Since IndyCar and NASCAR seem to be getting closer and closer, like both being on Fox, how long do you think it will be before NASCAR races at Long Beach? Mike Latino MP: I can’t see it. They’ve shared broadcasters many times before…like last year when both were on NBC. Roger Penske and Penske Entertainment own the Long Beach GP where Roger’s IndyCar Series is the marquee race and IMSA is the co-headliner with a vastly reduced grid in order to fit in a secondary paddock. NASCAR would need to kick IndyCar out of the main paddock to fit its 36-40 cars, and that ain’t happening. Only way NASCAR hits the LBC is if Roger and the city decide to hold a second event just for NASCAR, and I don’t know why Roger would do that unless he wanted to make the IndyCar race less special and less profitable. Q: The first few turns of the Mexico City F1 race kinda stunk. Fingers were pointed everywhere. Max Verstappen knew what he did would not be overruled. Good for him. But… A driver who’s taking way too crazy a chance should have a price to pay. If bollards were positioned in these run-off areas, the penalty would be served – on the spot. No stewards’ intervention. Why not? BoxsterBob, Monterey, CA CHRIS MEDLAND: I don't think bollards would be a bad thing at all Bob, but I also don't think they necessarily fix the problem. We've seen them used in run-off areas in a number of places, and sometimes drivers can't get across to go round them, or don't really get penalized either (I'm thinking Sochi as a similar corner in the past, and even Barcelona now). I think it's clear something has to be done at Turn 1 in Mexico just because it's an issue that occurs often, but I don't see why a gravel trap would not be a good idea there – it's going to slow a car much more than grass would. And I think that would still meet your criteria of serving the penalty there and then. Q: In Brazil, Max Verstappen had three improvements between qualifying and the race – setup changes, a fresh PU, and lots of new unused tires. What percentage of improvement would you attribute to each? Ken CM: The set-up was clearly a big improvement given how bad the car was prior to the race, but so too was the power unit. At altitude (second highest behind Mexico City) and on a track that really requires strong performance on the run to Turn 1, to be able to run the power unit aggressively will have paid off, so I would go 90% across those two aspects (perhaps 60% set-up, 30% PU). The only new set of tires he used in the race that he might not have had were the softs in the final stint, and if he hadn't had the early puncture on the hards then I think he might not have used those anyway. He still theoretically could have finished in the same spot without that last pit stop (although I think he was pushing so hard all race the drop-off would have been really big), so I might even be being generous saying 10% is down to the tires. THE FINAL WORD From Robin Miller's Mailbag, 13 November, 2013 Q: You confuse the heck outta me sometimes. It seems like almost every week a fan writes in to the Mailbag asking for more innovation, speed, new aero kits, and new engine manufacturers. Yet, you keep saying "I don't think these changes would make a difference in TV audience figures." Well, I completely disagree. IndyCar needs to be listening and embracing what the fans are wanting to see in their sport. I know, I know, "listen to the fans and you'll end up being one", right? Sorry, but in this case, I think it's time the IMS board listens to the fans instead of a marketing firm who suggest a road course at the beginning of May! We desperately need innovation. I love when the Chipster got Ben Bowlby to design the Delta Wing. And kudos to Ben, he was innovative, but he forgot the car needed to be open-wheeled car in an open-wheel racing series. Whoops! As for speed. I saw Sneva hit 200mph and it was a BIG deal. That was 36 years ago. As a kid, I thought for sure I'd see the 250mph mark by the time I was an old man. Well, I'm 48, and the best we can do is a 237 in 1996? Why are we going backwards? Pitiful! Here's the deal... we need a game-changer, quickly. Speed, innovation and technology are COOL! It's what IndyCar should be about 365 days a year! Heck, I'm more excited about the FIA Formula E developments going on, and that makes me mad! I want IndyCar to be at the forefront in racing! Why aren't we the premier series? I've watched more F1 races this year...and I don't like road/street courses. But those cars are badass, and they're fun to watch. So... what do you REALLY think will move the needle? The only thing I've seen you write about is to open up the rulebook. Can you and Marshall Pruett put your heads together and give us your top five ideas to improve IndyCar? Mike Mammoser ROBIN MILLER: People can't tell the difference between 200 and 220 at the track, let alone on television, and I'm just trying to look at this as a non-fan. What would make me drive to a track? The speed might, followed by different cars, but I want to watch passing and hard driving and IndyCar has that, but it doesn't make any difference. People keep assuming track records and six different kinds of cars will suddenly have people flocking to races or their TV sets, and I'm saying the only people who seem to care about these things are already watching IndyCar. Sure, if the rules opened up and you had Ford, Audi and Dodge coming to town, it would generate more marketing and more interest. And if the Indy 500 purse paid $1 million to start and $10 million to win, maybe McLaren or Red Bull would build a car. I loved the old days and I stooged for the last roadster to make the show with my hero Herk, but those days are gone. Nobody wants to build a car unless they're guaranteed there won't be any competition. It's sad and it sucks but I'm afraid that's the reality. At least for now.
