Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers will 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: The place would you place Alex Palou at this level in his profession versus the all-time greats? Profitable three championships in his first 5 seasons should be up there with anyone, sure?
Randy, Milwaukee
MARSHALL PRUETT: There are solely 5 human beings within the 100-plus years of IndyCar historical past to win extra championships than Alex Palou. Let that sink in for a second. After which contemplate he’s rocketed up that all-time checklist in 5 seasons; the man arrived at Dale Coyne Racing in 2020, turned a champ as a sophomore, pooped the mattress as a junior with the self-induced contractual distractions, then settled in and has added back-to-back titles.
He has 13 wins up to now; subsequent on his checklist to overhaul with between 14-17 wins are Tom Sneva, Simon Pagenaud, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Zanardi, Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Jimmy Murphy, and Danny Sullivan. It’s one other ‘let that sink in’ situation.
He jogs my memory of peak Dario Franchitti and Jimmie Johnson. Simply medical. Makes the very best of a terrific supporting forged, and he’s taken the Franchitti College of Profitable IndyCar Championships course to coronary heart. Murders the sphere, together with teammate Scott Dixon — the trendy grasp of Franchitti’s method — with chilly point-scoring effectivity by way of podium appearances.
He manages risk-vs-reward higher than any of his rivals, which is bolstered by standing on the rostrum 34 occasions up to now in 84 races. That’s 40 p.c, which is ridiculous.
Palou received’t be mistaken for IndyCar’s ‘quickest’ driver with simply six poles, however there’s no trophy, ring, and million-dollar prize given to the annual king of IndyCar lap occasions. He’s IndyCar’s ‘Mr. Sunday’ as a result of that’s the place he does his finest work.
Crazily sufficient, he’s completed all of this with no single oval win. He’s been on pole on the 500, and been on the rostrum on different ovals, so the expertise is there and he’ll get some wins. His Indy report is one thing to admire; on debut with Coyne it didn’t go nicely, ending twenty eighth, however since then, it’s been a second, a ninth, a fourth, and a fifth. 4 straight high 10 finishes on the Indy 500 solutions whether or not he’s received what it takes to develop into an all-around nice.
As soon as he begins to resolve that oval victory puzzle, we’ll have a purpose to debate the place he belongs within the greater dialog about all-time abilities, however it could be untimely to go there earlier than he’s aced the oval aspect of IndyCar’s multi-discipline problem.
Q: I see the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) is now being shown live in America on the RACER Network.
I do know most of your viewers is especially U.S. motorsport-focused (and F1 nowadays) however I extremely suggest they test it out. The primary spherical at Donington was sensible! Department Hatch Indy course subsequent.
As a lot as I really like the sequence, I do suppose it’s caught a bit prior to now from a media standpoint so I hope this deal means you may carry your fantastic reporting expertise to the game and share this nice sport to a recent new viewers.
Dan Mayhew, UK
MP: The BTCC was what drew me to the SPEED Channel within the Nineties. As soon as the channel became an countless rotation of Pinks! (SPEED’s equal of Ridiculousness), it misplaced some appeal, however there was a good quantity of distinctive worldwide racing to be discovered. Can’t wait to see how the RACER Community may evolve.
If the Franchitti College of Profitable IndyCar Championships had an app, you simply know that Palou could be on that factor continually. Justin Casterline/Getty Pictures
Q: After studying all of the complaints and ideas about early-season viewing of IndyCar, each good and dangerous, I’ve one suggestion.
FOX did a terrific job of pimping the sequence. The adverts for the three drivers had been entertaining, humorous and would have made me watch, even when I weren’t a lifelong IndyCar fan. However they promised velocity and made the racing look quick, frenetic and harmful. The primary three races delivered little of that. I recommend that IndyCar add an oval within the first two or three rounds. I do know these tracks are more durable to search out and apparently more durable to attract followers to than a avenue course, however aside from creating accidents (usually) avenue programs are infamous for providing much less passing.
You lately talked about Phoenix once more, and I’m not pushing anyone oval, however let’s discover one thing that enables side-by-side racing and passing and reveals off the velocity of IndyCars sooner than the Indy 500. I do know this must be a West Coast or Southern observe, however let’s get it completed Mr. Penske and crew.
PS From a scheduling standpoint this previous Sunday, April 27 would have been a terrific date for a race (Barber?) as a substitute of packing a lot into early Could. Oh, and F1 is in Miami on the identical day as Barber. Horrible timing for viewership!
Mark, Milwaukee
MP: If the principally boring begin to the season has confirmed something, it’s that Penske Leisure must take a finer take a look at the way it constructions its IndyCar seasons. There’s extra scrutiny positioned as we speak on offering entertaining races than I can beforehand recall, and that’s the place being intentional in laying out the calendar to incorporate a number of ovals previous to Indy could be smart.
It’s not at all times as simple because it sounds; Penske doesn’t personal any ovals aside from IMS, and subsequently must depend on the curiosity of others to carry a pre-500 occasion or two on an oval.
Circling again to your level, with all the FOX hype, which was constructed upon the anticipation of many compelling seasons main into 2025, a extra deliberate schedule with early races that maintain a better probability of matching the hype could be a smart transfer.
As in your last level, we’ll get a very good take a look at how each sequence fare on community TV with out going head-to-head. IndyCar goes first on FOX and shortly after the checkered flag, F1 fires off on ABC. Undecided how that’s horrible.
