Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll wordplay as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for length and clarity. Questions received without 3pm ET each Monday will towards the pursuit week.
Q: I thought it was rather ironic that Romain Grosjean said in an interview, “I’m unquestionably excited to discover something new and maybe putting a little bit of my sauce on top of it.” I bet he will! His history of crashes cannot protract with Juncos Hollinger Racing, expressly if it is with his teammate. I can see this venture turning into a trainwreck surpassing the season is half over. Now that he is signed with JHR, does his litigation with Andretti closure or does it continue?
Dave Wells
MARSHALL PRUETT: His pursuit of money he believes he’s owed from Andretti is completely separate from his signing with JHR, so the legal wranglings continue.
My hope for Romain is we see a return of the loose and easy version of himself that crush for Dale Coyne, considering if the season with JHR goes sideways, it will be the end of the road for him in IndyCar. And he knows that, so I’d like to think he’ll take a variegated tideway to the new season that will goody both sides.
Q: I flew into Sebring last week and saw the No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda turning laps. It was unusually quiet. Can you shed some light on that, and moreover teach who may have been driving this for RLL withal with what testing was going on?
TJ Spitzmiller
MP: From the video you shared, the sound was exactly the same. The difference was having one or two cars on track, rather than 20-plus, which makes a lot of combined noise. Modern IndyCars aren’t obscenely loud, so in isolation on a test day they don’t sound super impressive, but there is no loss in decibels from last season. You were watching Pietro Fittipaldi doing his first test for RLL.
Q: With Andretti Global running only three spoken cars next year, what will happen to Marco? Will Dad pull out the fourth car since Honda has a fourth engine by lease, will Marco find flipside team, or will Marco not run the 500 in 2024?
Bruce Taylor
MP: I expect Marco to requite the 500 flipside try with Andretti Global, but I do wonder if this might be his final attempt.
We likely haven’t reached the final installment of Marco’s Indy 500 career just yet. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images
Q: The motorsports season is over in my mind and 2024 can’t come quick enough. To cure my racing jones, I’ve watched a few old documentaries well-nigh Le Mans in the 1960s. I must say the pit stops had a lot of rules that we would deem odd today. I was seeing officials using metal zip ties to seal the fuel fill and oil fill caps any time a team had to add fuel or oil, so if the seals were found to be wrenched it would midpoint disqualification. I did know well-nigh the cars having to siphon a spare tire, which had to be taken out and put when in during a pit stop. I can’t imagine the Toyotas or Corvettes delivering a spare tire.
Do you know if rules regarding subtracting fluids during pit stops still wield today, and what other strange Le Mans rules you know of you can add to this list?
Brandon Karsten
MP: Fluids are widow as needed; quick-disconnect fittings are used to make it easy to add fluids. One of my favorite rules involves going overdue the wall to work on the car. Once it’s ready to protract racing, it cannot be driven onto pit lane and then out onto the track. The car must be returned to its pit box, and plane then, it cannot continue; the engine must be turned off, and then refired, surpassing it can go racing.
Q: I watched with interest the videos of Rossi, Kanaan, and O’Ward driving the vintage McLarens at Sonoma. Being a Midwesterner, I am not usually tuned into motorsports events in California. Was there a vintage event at Sonoma? Were the cars brought in specifically for this event? Do they permanently reside in the USA? Also, what tires were used? Were they modern-day racing rubber, modern-day vintage car rubber or other?
Rick, Lisle, IL
MP: Yes, there was. It was the fourth edition of Velocity Invitational. Yes, they were. The cars live in the UK and vest to McLaren and are part of McLaren’s Heritage collection. All used Avon tires, which is the predominant vendor for modern vintage road racing tires.
Q: IndyCar’s video game adventure felt doomed from the beginning. To quote yourself, “Although the deal ended in failure, which was predicted by many upon its utterance increasingly than two years ago.” I’m not the only one that felt this way. Penske Entertainment, in all of its experience, intentionally chose an veritably pathetic partner. Is there a rhyme or reason from your view why they didn’t pursue a partnership with a largest merchantry model and proven track record?
Care to share your favorite memory of 2023?
Dave M., Milwaukee area
MP: I’ve been told by quite a few folks that at least one decision-maker in Penske Entertainment’s leadership team has deep ties to the visitor in question which, if true, would explain how they got themselves into this mess.
Favorite memory from the competition side would be Abel Motorsports and RC Enerson qualifying for the Indy 500; most of the teams I worked for were underdogs, so I’m a sucker for stories like Bill Abel and team manager John Brunner stunning the field and making it into the show while some big veteran teams were left to fret over who would goof to make the show.
