Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers might be despatched to mailbag@racer.com. We love listening to your feedback and opinions, however letters that embody a query usually tend to be printed. Questions obtained after 3pm ET every Monday will likely be saved for the next week.
Q: Being non-American, I simply don’t get how can NASCAR be extra common than IndyCar. Clearly the Cut up wrecked it, nevertheless the reunification occurred nearly 20 years in the past. Additionally, within the first years of the Cut up, CART was nonetheless nice with worldwide races, numerous producers and well-known drivers.
And one other much less rhetorical query – any information on the Honda entrance?
Nicholas, Greece
MARSHALL PRUETT: Concerning Honda, no person will discuss on the file (I’ve requested), however I’m listening to optimistic conversations on staying have been occurring.
The Cut up was an important occasion that helped propel NASCAR forward of IndyCar, however that leap was already in progress as Cup started reaching a wider base of followers — escaping its principally southern roots — whereas CART and the IRL stepped on their respective appendages.
I’ve advised this story many occasions: Sonoma Raceway, 1990, and the second NASCAR Cup race there. I don’t know if it was organized by the observe or the sequence, however on the opening day, Friday afternoon, there was an autograph signing organized with The King, Richard Petty, and the most recent Daytona 500 winner Derricke Cope. It was positioned in entrance of Huffaker Racing’s store close to the entry to the paddock, with Petty and Cope sitting at a bit sq. card desk. There was no person in sight as I walked down the street from our store — positioned about 200 ft away — and no person in line to get their autographs. I walked previous them and so they had been chatting amongst themselves on this awkward occasion.
However the NASCAR weekend rapidly took off and have become the largest occasion of the yr, beating former monster weekends placed on with IMSA and Trans Am by a mile. Should you weren’t a NASCAR fan, avoiding Sonoma Raceway and the entire arteries to succeed in the observe for a great 5-10 miles in any course turned the norm when Cup was on the town. That was occurring in Northern California street racing territory whereas CART was a raging success, and doing related backed-up-traffic-forever at Laguna Seca.
Seeing NASCAR go from an oddity with minimal curiosity to the largest race in NorCal by the early Nineties was the signal of change that registered with me essentially the most. The automobiles are super-relatable to what the typical particular person drives or understands, which is at all times the hurdle for IndyCar to beat.
Q: One of many fascinating issues I’ve observed these days is the evolution of the language round racing, so I’ve been gathering a glossary of generally overused new motorsports phrases for my very own amusement:
Deg = tire put on
Field field = pit pit
Livery = paint job
Papaya = orange
Coms = radios
Vasser = a reference to a automotive proprietor made at the least two dozen occasions by T. Bell each race (multiply if it’s an endurance race)
Driver “opened up his fingers” within the nook = ???????
Sub-optimal = not nice (please cease utilizing this it makes one sound sub-intelligent)
Playoffs = Don’t know, don’t care.
The Dynamo = Pipo. (Isn’t Pipo fascinating sufficient for a reputation?)
Maggotts, Becketts and Copse = Corners at a race observe that each Brit is required by regulation to make use of each time Silverstone is talked about.
This all leads me to my query. Why do F1 groups have individuals sit on the wall outdoors of the ‘field field’? Actually, the mountain of coms gear make it sub-optimal for the individuals to truly see the papaya livery of the automobiles as they cross by on the straight and observe if the driving force opens up his or her fingers as they enter Copse and Maggotts.
DA, Chicago
MP: Opening up your fingers is one other means of claiming the driving force is unwinding the steering wheel, which I understand is one other odd expression.
The ‘pratt perch’ (stand of idiots) positioned on the opposite facet of pit lane, separated from the crew and storage, could be very a lot a world factor. I’d guess it stays right now out of custom since, as we see, there are groups preferring to have their engineers and strategists located within the storage. Since sitting out on an island does nothing to assist these on the island — all of them stare at TV/timing/information screens, similar to these within the storage — I can’t work out why the observe continues.
Mailbag hero Jarno Trulli obtained a close-up take a look at the Copse gravel lure after he collided with David Coulthard at the beginning of the 2001 British Grand Prix. BOOOOOOO. Spinney/Motorsport Pictures
Q: You’ve Mario Andretti who’s a category act, then you might have Michael who the precise reverse of his father. Why such a distinction? Is he the first motive his son Marco actually didn’t do a lot in his racing profession?
David Tucker
MP: Undecided how we’ve arrived at Michael having no class. In all of my interactions with him, ‘having no class’ by no means entered my thoughts. However perhaps you’ve had encounters that left a special impression. I’m struggling to think about many third-generation IndyCar racers who’ve had careers that had been something near their father or grandfather’s accomplishments. Unsers, Foyt, and Andrettis come to thoughts.
Q: I learn an interview with Valtteri Bottas on one of many different racing web sites the place he stated he turned down a full time trip with an IndyCar group for 2025. I’m attempting to think about what group made this supply? Possibly PREMA, or presumably Ed Carpenter? Actually not Dale Coyne. Do you might have any perception as to which IndyCar group made this supply?
Steve, Chicago
MP: With out asking Dale, this appears like Dale. He’s had an curiosity in good on-the-way-out-of-F1 drivers for a few years.
