The RACER Mailbag, December 25
Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to [email protected]. 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 noticed while watching the 1990 and 1991 CART races that Al Unser Jr. would run a vent off the cockpit into a hose that went into his suit. I assume this is for cooling. Could this be a option today in IndyCar in conjunction with the helmet vent?
Tom Harleman, Carmel, IN
MARSHALL PRUETT: That’s what the new ducting atop the aeroscreen is meant to do. From a regulations standpoint, teams can’t do whatever they want, but if it’s a reasonable request, I’d imagine it would be entertained. In this instance, there were no rules to stop a team from adding vents to whatever was desired.
Q: Aaron Telitz deserves a shot at IndyCar. He dominated open-wheel in the Road to Indy, defeating Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta and the rest. His problem was not talent, it was budget. He is consistently fastest in his IMSA seat. Someone give him an opportunity!
Joe Weiss
MP: Sounds a lot like our conversation in Milwaukee. Aaron won the 2016 Pro Mazda championship, today’s Indy Pro 2000 series, but never competed against Herta or Kirkwood that season. He did not dominate Colton in the first year of Indy Lights they did together; Herta was Rookie of the Year taking third while Telitz was sixth, and the next year Colton was second behind Pato O’Ward. I’m a huge fan of Aaron and rooted for him at every step, but let’s not make up a history that never happened.
Aaron was a rocket in the Lexus for most of the time, but the team didn’t feel that was shown in 2023 so he was shifted to a part-time role last season. I hope he gets back to his best form and a full-time seat in the WeatherTech Championship. At 33, and having last raced an open-wheel car in 2019, I can’t find an angle to suggest he deserves a shot in IndyCar before a bunch of drivers who are fighting to get in or fighting to get a shot.
Q: So, if you go on the IndyCar app, as you scroll down there are driver biographies. So there I was, scrolling and clicking and just reading all of them because I’m a fan and enjoy everything about racing. If memory serves me correctly, the drivers are in order of how they finished in the points. I got to the last driver, who is Marco Andretti. His bio says he is the winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500. I read it a number of times, thinking somehow they meant that he was the first car to finish second, but nope, they make the claim that he is in fact the winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500. A little ticky-tack, but incorrect nonetheless. I’m not sure how to get it corrected and give the actual winner his recognition. Any suggestions?
Bring back the Cleveland Grand Prix.
Steve, Lorain, OH
MP: Of all the things that might keep Sam Hornish awake at night, idiocy in a bio on an app isn’t one of them. And agreed, bring back Cleveland!
Q: What will be the impact on IndyCar in 2026 and beyond as a consequence of the Honda/Nissan merger?
Gordon, Dallas
MP: Hard to answer since it hasn’t happened yet. Need to wait for the merger to actually happen before we can talk about what might or might not change.
Ah, so now we know what he does for the rest of the year. Sam Cobb/Motorsport Images
Q: Who will be the rookies in the 2025 IndyCar Series?
Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY
MP: RLL’s Louis Foster, PREMA’s Robert Schwartzman, and possibly one or two drivers from Dale Coyne.
Q: In the 12/18 Mailbag somebody asked about using the current Super Formula chassis as a basis for the 2027 IndyCar, and the answer was no because of safety.
Oval crashes are inherently going to be more violent on average than road course crashes just because of speed and wall proximity, but are they harder to the point that IndyCar needs a massively different chassis? Recently, Super Formula had a crash at 130R at Suzuka, and F1 had multiple crashes that were reported at +50G force this year.
Does the FIA, Dallara, IndyCar, or anybody else keep a database of crash data that would be useful for comparing the impact/violence between series?
Will, Indy
MP: Yes to all three. As IndyCar is its own sanctioning body, it wouldn’t report its findings to the FIA. But in the case of our crashes, IndyCar, it’s safety team, and Dallara descend on damaged cars once the vehicles are returned to their garages or transporters and ADRs — accident data recorders — get downloaded, which provide forces and speeds and other info. They also take photos of the crashed car and various bits to document the damage and draw insights that go into their reports.
Q: I know everyone hates Formula E (except, of course, the fans who are making the series grow every year ) but their car does look more 21st century than an IndyCar. Do you think a new car that took styling cues from FE and as bonus made less downforce while at the same time making a lot of noise and burning copious amounts of fossil fuel would make any sense?
Pete, Tucson, AZ
MP: It’s possible, but why would IndyCar need to make their car look anything like what’s found in another series? That’s never been the case. If your favorite band hadn’t put out new music in a decade, would you want them to return with songs that sound like whatever today’s trend happens to be, or with an updated version of their signature sound? I’ll go with the latter.
Also, there’s a fallacy about reducing downforce equates to making better racing. Avoiding an excessive amount of downforce is a good thing, but if you slash downforce, you get drivers who aren’t able to be aggressive with the throttle except for in the slower corners.
Q: This may have been the Silliest Season of all in 2024. For the first time in who knows when, it doesn’t appear that many, if any, IndyCar teams actually got better, and many actually got worse.
With all team line-ups set, outside of Dale Coyne Racing, we can start to compare driver line-ups from 2024 to what they will be in 2025. I have zero confidence in Coyne putting the most competitive line-up of Lundqvist and VeeKay together, and any line-up other than this is criminal and just unconscionable from a competitive standpoint.
If we look at the teams that made changes going into next season, the only one making a clear upgrade is Foyt with Malukas replacing Robb. The rest of the changes don’t necessarily make their line-ups any better, and the following can be viewed as a pretty even swap; Arrow McLaren’s Lundgaard for Rossi, ECR’s Rossi for VeeKay, JHR’s Daly for Grosjean and Robb for Canapino, and MSR’s Armstrong for Malukas aren’t really negligible changes from a competition standpoint.
The CGR “change” of keeping Simpson over Lundqvist/Armstrong, Arrow McLaren’s pick of Siegel over Illott/Pourchaire, and RLL’s Foster and DeFrancesco over Lundgaard and Fittipaldi were clearly based on the almighty dollar, but also clearly decrease the competitiveness of those teams.
I know there will always be ride buyers but what are your thoughts on many teams actually downgrading from the 2024 to 2025 seasons?
Andrew, Plymouth, IN
MP: Agreed on all points except for Foster at RLL and Rossi at ECR. Money aside, the kid’s exceptional and has the potential to do big things for RLL if it’s able to reduce the engineering/performance gap to their faster rivals. A pairing of Rossi and VeeKay would have been the most competitive solution, but also the costliest, which made keeping Rasmussen a no-brainer.
There’s nothing to suggest Rossi is faster than VeeKay at this stage of his career, but there are so many other things that Rossi brings to make ECR better than it’s been since Newgarden left after 2016 that the change was worthwhile. That’s also exactly what ECR needed — someone who wasn’t just a great driver, but also someone who could help the team to level up in all areas of competition. Some teams need drivers who just drive. ECR is no longer that team — not if they want to break out of the midfield. Rossi’s the perfect guy for the job.
All of the other scenarios you’ve described at Arrow McLaren, CGR, JHR, and MSR reflect this greatest year-to-year change in the paddock and that’s the steep rise in costs to compete.
The three wise men – Pedro de la Rosa, Fernando Alonso and Marc Gene – at Santander’s Christmas party in 2011. This is the sort of thing that Jarno Trulli usually got roped into doing. RUBIO/Motorsport Images
Q: Two things this week. First, a response to Stefan “not that one” Johansson from last week.
I am about to say something that I would have considered blasphemous just a couple years ago, but it needs to be said, acknowledged, and understood: The more I try to consider what the newer generation wants, the more I realize IndyCar needs to stay single-make on the chassis side. For all we make of the rise in popularity of F1, it’s easy to forget that trying to be sort of like F1 is a double-edged sword. Fall short of it and you invite ridicule. Do too well and you run the risk of being dismissed because “we already have F1.”
The best thing for IndyCar in the current situation is to have a single chassis that is, in a word, exciting. It doesn’t have to be super visually exciting – as long as it catches the eye compared to F1 it will be fine – but it needs to blow minds on the racetrack. The DW12, even at its worst, has been consistently providing a quality of on-track action that nearly everyone who gives IndyCar a chance acknowledges it has superior racing, even if something else kept the viewer from coming back to IndyCar. Building on this is the key way to keep those people coming back.
Second, regarding the new car itself, I am expecting the new car to look somewhat similar to the DW12 due to the simple modern realities of aerodynamic knowledge. There are only so many ways you can make an aerodynamically sound ground-effect open-wheel single-seater. The modern F1 cars ended up looking closer to the current incarnation of the DW12 than anyone expected. The 2026 concept rendering looks even closer. And while they are still visually distinct, this increasing similarity is just going to continue unless some massive new discovery occurs.
But it’s not like there aren’t options. The idea of basing something on the Red Bull X1 is being… disliked by fans. But it’s not like it’s the only thing to look at. I would propose that Dallara look at the GEN2 Formula E car for some inspiration. Although this still will anger the open-wheel purists, the FEG2 was one of the most striking single-seaters of the past 20 years. Imagine is with reprofiled sidepods more suited to oval aero, the front fenders removed, and in their place a set of ramps in front of the wheels that go just up to the top of the tires), a full ground effect floor, and a wider stance with the tires poking out just a handful of inches (a small offering to the purists).
I think it’d be a winner despite the complaints from the purists.
FormulaFox
MP: I was surprised at how many folks think they read words from IndyCar team owners saying they wanted IndyCar to make the X1. Not a single owner said anything like that; they wanted IndyCar to lean in a highly creative mindset that allows something extremely unique to be devised. The X1 was the example how creative one could get.
Q: The “new” IndyCar design should be a “skeleton” of a car. It should include the driver survivor capsule, aero screen, fuel storage, electrical energy stores and engine management systems and data storage. The skeleton can be configured so that different suspension modules can be fitted as the organizers may desire. The floor of the car, as specified by the organizer, can be fitted and changed at the whim of the organizer. As such, various aerodynamic designs may be fitted to the skeleton as the organizer may see fit over the years as necessary to accommodate various power plants and energy recovery/storage systems.
There are really no new ideas in race car construction coming on the scene. Most “new” ideas are in fact very old ideas that were invented before supporting technologies matured to permit the use of the idea successfully. The organizer can switch which new ideas they want implemented each year. Needless to say, any ideas must be manufactured so that they will fit the skeleton with minimal modification to the skeleton. There would be front and rear suspension and aero packages to facilitate the change from street courses, road course and the various characteristics of speedways.
Chuck McAbee
MP: I’m still trying to figure out what a “suspension module” happens to be… The suggestions above are very CART-era in that teams and chassis and engine manufacturers had plenty of money, plenty of creative freedom, and most importantly, plenty of staff with design knowledge to constantly evolve and change suspension, bodywork, and powertrains.
Sadly, we no longer live in those times in today’s IndyCar. Most teams have almost no staff to make use of all of the proposed freedom, nor do today’s teams have the equipment or infrastructure to get the most out of these kinds of rules. There’s also the need to double or triple each team’s budget. I love the idea, and wish CART was still here, but it isn’t.
Q: Please don’t build that rendition of a new IndyCar displayed in your last column. Mickey Thompson tried that in 1964 with disastrous results!
Joe Weiss, Spooner, WI
MP: Noted.
Q: So what are the chances Coyne reaches out to Perez for a ride next year? To me it all makes sense, as Perez would be another popular driver with global name recognition. And I believe he has some KitKat money with him. Your thoughts?
Stefan “not the artist” Johansson
MP: Per Dale in a call on Friday, the chances of Checo being in one of his cars are zero.
Q: Lots of speculation that Colton Herta could be part of the Cadillac F1 team in 2026. Nothing would make me happier.
I did some calculations and it appears if he finishes fourth or better in 2025 he will have the required Super License points. However, he if were to finish fifth, he would be two points short. If GM really wants him, what could be their options to pick up a few extra points?
Mark
MP: It might be a bit of a non-answer, but if Andretti Global’s form from the end of last season carries over, Colton will be fine. He and the team really took off, rising to second in the standings, and if that form doesn’t continue, I’ll be surprised. With Cadillac F1 headed to the grid in 2026, it doesn’t have an entry to use in FP1s in 2025 to get him extra points, so would its engine supplier — Ferrari — welcome Colton in for some FP1 outings? I know there are other ways for Herta to earn additional points for a Super License in lower formulas, but that would be embarrassing for a driver of Herta’s caliber.
Q: Have you heard anything about IndyCar’s international broadcast partners? While Canadians can get FOX, we don’t have access to FS1 and FS2 in our country. Ditto for the FOX app to stream coverage. I’m concerned about not being able to see practices and qualifying in Canada, and I’m sure others living outside the U.S. are as well.
I’m not sure whether or not TSN in Canada will be the TV partner here for 2025. They have really done a horrible job of covering IndyCar. Don’t get me started on their TSN+ streaming service to say it’s unreliable is an understatement.
David Colquitt
MP: I have not. Main thing that comes to mind is the streaming options like YouTubeTV, and I don’t know if FuboTV is an international provider, but that’s where I’d look while waiting to learn how FOX will distribute IndyCar outside of the Lower 48.
Colin Chapman, Jack Brabham, Jim Clark and a bottle of Mateus celebrate Christmas at Kyalami. Motorsport Images
Q: All of the talk about the concepts for IndyCar’s new (?) chassis for 2027 has got me thinking. If IndyCar is worried about making the car fast enough and only has a limited budget, why wouldn’t they just build a fan car?
Based on my admittedly limited understanding of the topic, it seems like a fan car could give IndyCar an ability to add a lot more downforce than current cars are capable of and potentially with less dirty air impact than other approaches.
I guess maybe in the broader sense for the readership, what are the reasons that given a clean sheet open-wheel design you wouldn’t use that element — especially if you wanted to improve car performance over a potentially very long production run for the IR27?
If not a fan on the car, what are the aerodynamic pieces not in use on the IR12 that you think should be on the IR27.
Elliott
MP: The premise presented here doesn’t exist. IndyCar isn’t worried about making the car fast enough, nor is it dealing with a limited budget. As for why IndyCar wouldn’t turn to fans like an old Chaparral or Brabham or current Gordon Murray Automotive design, it’s because the series needs to create a formula that’s relevant to auto manufacturers, and barring Gordon, fans aren’t relevant. It would be incredibly cool, but the Chevys and the Hondas aren’t looking to spend tens of millions of dollars each year so people focus more on downforce-making fans before the hybrid powertrains they provide.
As for what’s not on the DW12, a more voluminous underwing that generates a higher level of downforce when asked comes to mind.
Q: No question here, just a thank you. As a longtime IndyCar fan I’d just like to thank RACER as a whole (particularly Marshall) for keeping Mailbag alive and well. Robin Miller would be proud. Love the retrospect his “Final Word” reprints give that the more things change, the more they stay the same! I recall his love of “hate” as part of racing, which mostly isn’t real, it’s just inflamed emotions stirred by fierce competition, often between friends, at the very least a respected opponent. One can only find pleasure in Will Power flying double birds in anger.
Lastly, as an IndyCar diehard, I didn’t like the addition of NASCAR, F1 and IMSA coverage being added to Mailbag at first, as those series suck. I’ve grown to enjoy their addition as it keeps me expanding my horizons.
Just wanted to spread some love and joy in this season. Thanks for all you do, and thanks to all fans and our differing opinions. Cheers for a great ’25 season in all forms of racing!
Zenith
MP: Kind of you to say. I don’t know exactly when the change started, but it feels like in the last five years or so, the extremely tribal nature of racing fans — “everything except for my favorite series sucks” — has been changing. Not for everyone, of course, but the love extended to two or three series by the average fan instead of being a diehard for only one has been a trend that I love.
I’ve always been an open-wheel and sports car lover, and followed about 10 different series since I was a kid. With age and more demands on my time, that’s been trimmed to five — IndyCar, IMSA, Indy NXT, F1, and the WEC — and I hope that becomes more of the norm for folks.
Q: I was wondering why someone like Valtteri Bottas was not even on the radar screen for Red Bull? He’s won 10 races to Perez’s six, and has lots of testing and development experience. Why rush Lawson? Give him time to develop, and have two experienced drivers in the top cars.
These teams spend hundreds of millions of dollars to produce and support those race teams and cars, and you’re sure the young driver is ready?
I’m glad Valtteri has a role at Mercedes — no doubt he will contribute to their success.
Jim Doyle, Hoboken, NJ
CHRIS MEDLAND: Firstly, I agree with you, Jim. Red Bull taking Valtteri would be a bit strange in some ways given his lack of previous links to the team, but he was a solid pair of hands for Mercedes. But my agreement is more that there should have been no rush with Lawson. It does not feel like the best way of developing talent to be successful at the top, if you look at how Red Bull handled Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, too.
Leaving Bottas aside, the big name on offer all season was Carlos Sainz and he would have been an excellent addition. He and Max Verstappen were both Toro Rosso drivers and Sainz was a true Red Bull junior (Max wasn’t one, he was put straight into the Toro Rosso from F3 so that Red Bull could beat other teams to his signature because he was such a talent), so it would still show that drivers who come through the Red Bull program reach the very top, even if not immediately.
But the reason Sainz and Bottas were overlooked was because Red Bull claims that would undermine its junior program. Christian Horner says with such competition for drivers in the junior ranks, if you don’t promote from RB to Red Bull, nobody would sign for you. I doubt that — the lack of patience and mishandling of talents are just as much of a reason that some have chosen to join other programs — and I think as a front-running team, you have to pick drivers who are either ready or exceptional prospects.
Horner says he wouldn’t have signed Sainz over Lawson even if Carlos was still available last week, which I find a remarkable statement, but he might just be saving face because it’s a hypothetical situation. I still maintain Yuki Tsunoda was the smarter choice because he has more experience, and while he’s a bit of a wild card in terms of how he might react to the Red Bull environment, you can afford to find out with him. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, you know all you need to know about him, and you have given Lawson a first full season leading the RB team to develop further and be better equipped to succeed.
Looks like the reindeer might be out of a job. JEP/Motorsport Images
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, December 23, 2015
Q: I was glad to see you giving Sam Hornish a fair retrospective in the last Mailbag. Unfortunately, Sam will end up going down without the credit he deserves. But for anyone who challenges or questions Sam’s talent in an IndyCar, I’d point out the following:
1) Sam made the Fast 6 in six out of 11 road course races he competed in (IRL only had three road courses in 2005 and 2006, and five in 2007). He was the fastest guy outside of the Fast 6 on three more of those occasions, and at that time IndyCar had the cream of the crop of road and street course drivers (Franchitti, Dixon, Wheldon, Herta, Kanaan, Castronevcs…)
2) Sam obviously knew his way around the 1.5-mile cookie-cutter tracks in the IRL era of high-downforce pack racing, but even still he was never involved or caused a major accident, it seemed like he immediately had the trust of the CART guys who came over in 2002-03 on those big tracks, and nobody except Kanaan could put the car up in the high line and the marbles and make it stick at 220 at places like Chicagoland, Kansas, Michigan, Fontana, etc.
3) Sam was awesome at the driver’s oval tracks. He was always in contention at places like Richmond, Milwaukee, Gateway, Pikes Peak. This includes 2003 when he ran that dog of a Chevy engine for Panther before Cosworth provided a suitable engine and ran great at the smaller ovals in spite of being 40 HP down to the Toyotas and Hondas.
4) Sam was awesome at Indy. Sure, 2006 was the only year he put it all together but he was always fast at Indy and in contention. I’d love to see Sam back in IndyCar or even Indy but I think he’s made it abundantly clear that he’s moved on, which is fine.
Clint, Chicago
ROBIN MILLER: Thanks for all that research, Clint. I think Sam got everyone’s attention as a rookie when he was driving for Paul Diatlovich’s tiny team and he passed Eddie Cheever on the outside at Phoenix. Like I wrote, I was always impressed at how he improved his road racing skills after joining The Captain. Some people thought Sam was arrogant but I always found him to be quiet, kinda bashful except when in the car, and pretty damn gracious — win or lose.