Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers will be despatched to mailbag@racer.com. We will’t assure that each letter might be revealed, however we’ll reply as many as we are able to. Revealed questions could also be edited for size and readability. Questions obtained after 3pm ET every Monday will seem the next week.
Q: I hope for some useful suggestions concerning what to do the morning of the five hundred on the observe. In my first two journeys the final two years, we acquired there early and checked out the museum within the morning, earlier than sauntering slowly again to our seats in Flip 4.
With the museum closed, although, what are the perfect spots to take a look at? The place is the perfect place to observe the vehicles heading out to pit lane? Or are we higher served sleeping in an hour or two? I’m open to any concepts and respect any steerage and perception you have got.
Ashley, West Bend, WI
MARSHALL PRUETT: I requested my pals on the Elite IndyCar Fb group to offer some solutions. I’ve by no means been to the Indy 500 as a fan, so I’m extra ineffective than normal right here. Right here’s a hyperlink to the 40-plus responses.
Q: Phrase is that Arrow McLaren didn’t carry its huge transportable suite to Indy this 12 months. Is the workforce in jeopardy? Zak Brown getting bored with the mismanagement by Penske Leisure and excited about exiting?
Jah from Stankonia
MP: The workforce tells me they’ve rented a mega double suite off the top of Tower Terrace that offers they friends a tremendous view of Flip 3 by means of Flip 4 and the entrance straight.
Q: What do you assume would occur if I began a racing collection whose sole objective was to show the quickest lap instances as potential in any respect the present F1 and IndyCar circuits? Didn’t care how good the TV was. Didn’t care if it was protected. Simply wished a race to see who may do 250 miles within the quickest potential time on all the present F1 and IndyCar circuits.
John Shellhamer
MP: Utilizing the word about disregarding security, I’d assume you’d spend the remainder of your life being sued by the households of the drivers who acquired harm or killed.
Q: Simply wish to say how a lot I’ve loved the Peacock IndyCar protection. It’s the one purpose I’ve a Peacock subscription. I’ve been an open-wheel fan for greater than 50 years. I’m the retired dork who watches each observe session and loves it. I hope the fits bear in mind guys like me when negotiating the subsequent TV contract.
Richard
MP: The standard of the broadcasts has been glorious for a few years. Having Hinch add deeper layers of tech insights and driver insights has taken the NBC/USA/Peacock IndyCar exhibits to a brand new stage.
Q: So I’m guessing the speedway engineer at RLL is within the unemployment line by now?
Bernardo, TX
MP: I hope not. They requested a youthful child who was a efficiency engineer who’d by no means been an IndyCar race engineer to step as much as that function with Graham Rahal’s automotive earlier this 12 months, and that’s one hell of a troublesome ask coming off a failure to qualify final 12 months with nothing however race engineering veterans in cost.
It’s been a tough begin to the Month of Might for RLL, however the these struggles are usually not the fault of any particular person member of the workforce. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Photos)
Q: In my 50 years on God’s inexperienced earth, Saturday was solely the second time I’ve ever heard of a plenum hearth, and by no means with a lot frequency. What’s the chances somebody over at Chevy is sleeping with the fishes tonight?
Adam, MO
MP: Yeah, it was kinda like a bunch of bigfoot sightings taking place . A particular rarity, and but, nonetheless considerably complicated. If solely the drivers had sticks with marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers they might maintain over their shoulders and make smores each time the plenum fires went off…
Q: Roger Penske owns the Speedway. He owns the collection. He owns the workforce. He owns the Chevrolet engine manufacturing firm. All three Penske vehicles are on the entrance row and none of them had the identical engine plenum points as many different sturdy Chevy groups did. My opinion is that Rinus Veekay is an alien or he simply had an audition for The Captain with the right Ilmor programming. (Perhaps one other reduce and paste incident?)
Is Honda gone for good in IndyCar now?
Tom Anderson, Mesa, AZ
MP: Penske’s Will Energy had a plenum hearth throughout the Sunday morning Quick 12 observe session. Rinus is ridiculously good. Honda has not instructed IndyCar it’s gone, from what I perceive. But.
Q: What was up with the Chevy engine points throughout Saturday quali? Poor high quality management, or one thing else?
JM, Tulsa, OK
MP: We wrote a bit of explainer story about it on Sunday, JM. Right here it’s.
Q: Everyone knows scores drive how the broadcasters construction the offers with IndyCar. I sometimes at all times watch the races on Peacock however I do know the Nielsen numbers don’t observe these like me who don’t watch on conventional channels. Wouldn’t it profit the collection if extra individuals who stream on Peacock not try this and watch on the NBC channel to spice up the Nielsen numbers and make these numbers look higher to the collection, or does it not even matter?
Jon, Cleveland
MP: Truly, streaming numbers are tracked. They’re utilized in one thing referred to as “TAD,” which is brief for Whole Viewers Supply, which provides the printed viewers dimension and share to the streaming consumption and combines them into the TAD determine. Watch whichever one you favor, Jon, and will probably be counted.
