Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers could be despatched to mailbag@racer.com. We love listening to your feedback and opinions, however letters that embody a query usually tend to be revealed. Questions obtained after 3pm ET every Monday will probably be saved for the next week.
Q: Formulation 1 is within the remaining yr of its contract with the Las Vegas Grand Prix. In the event that they’re not in a position to give you a brand new deal, may IndyCar change F1 on the streets of Vegas in 2026?
Alistair, Springfield, MO
MARSHALL PRUETT: Something is feasible, however with all the main investments made to host an F1 race, it could be a shock to see it come to an finish after three years. I’ve been to many IndyCar races in Las Vegas, and based mostly on earlier crowds, there can be lots of empty grandstands. However with heavy promotion and ticket costs that aren’t obscene like they’re to see F1 there, who is aware of, perhaps an honest turnout may very well be generated.
Q: If IndyCar wants any affirmation that shifting to FOX was a superb transfer, look no additional than IMSA protection. Not one minute of the 12 Hours of Sebring (at the very least the second largest American sports activities automobile race) was on any TV service (OTA, cable, dish, and so forth.). Pathetic. I’m certain IMSA individuals don’t want to listen to this, however run, don’t stroll away from NBC.
Travis, Kansas Metropolis
MP: It was unusual to see Sebring relegated to 12 hours of streaming, solely, by way of Peacock. Excellent answer for individuals who’ve minimize the twine (or by no means had a twine), however most likely not for followers preferring to eat their racing by way of community or cable.
Q: Is the latest choice from IMSA to make the Street America race a 6 Hour an instance of a sequence listening to from its followers? I find it irresistible, and am wanting ahead to it.
Daniel Martins, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
MP: It’s that, for certain, but additionally the underwhelming response to the Indy race. Unsure a significant effort has been made to advertise the occasion, and whereas many vehicle producers had been supportive of including Indy in 2023, most haven’t come by way of with onsite activation like we see at different IMSA races.
Chevrolet, which is the official automobile/truck of IMS, was the one model I noticed eventually yr’s race to deliver automobiles and vehicles to the halfway, and by comparability to what they do in the course of the month of Could, it was a tiny footprint and modest show. Possibly the higher Indianapolis market isn’t one the producers discovered to be important after a handful turned up within the halfway in 2023 and determined the returns weren’t well worth the expenditure in 2024.
That’s a guess, however when you may have a small-ish crowd and nearly all of IMSA’s practically 20 producers choose out on activating at a significant endurance occasion, I can see why it could lose the enduro to everybody’s favourite occasion on the calendar. At lease in my thoughts, I view the upcoming 2h40m race at Indy in September because the final probability for IMS to indicate IMSA that it ought to proceed.
Is the clock ticking on IMSA on the Brickyard? Mike Levitt/IMSA Photograph
Q: Any concept what an additional three hours and 20 minutes provides to an IMSA group’s price range? I do know nothing is reasonable in racing, however I’d’ve thought prep and attending to the observe was the principle expense. I’m so excited for Street America in ‘26, and pray the 6 Hour stays and will get moved to Saturday in ‘27 with an early night end!
Chad, West Salem, WI
MP: None. No added expense is being accrued by taking Street America out to 6 hours as a result of it’s merely a commerce in format with Indy, which loses its six-hour race and takes Street America’s 2h40m race. Groups had been already going to Street America, so there’s no further gas prices, they usually had been already going to Indy, and so forth.
Q: Is Oriol Servia nonetheless the tempo automobile driver for the IndyCar Sequence ?
Yanie Porlier
MP: Sure, he’s.
Q: Final week in a Mailbag reply, Marshall stated that half of the Honda-powered groups have free engines, with the implication that the opposite Honda groups are paying for the engine lease. Does the identical apply to the Chevy groups, and is it public which groups/automobiles are sponsored by the engine producer?
Is there any probability that the 2027 chassis is cheaper than the present one?
Will, Indy
MP: Sure on it making use of to some Chevy groups (not onerous to guess as the perfect get comped, however not each entry in the perfect groups will get a motor deal since some are paying drivers). No, there’s no public record of who does or doesn’t pay, however it’s the title contenders who do.
I’ve but to listen to a case being made that has the brand new automobile being cheaper than the present one.
Q: What a few robustly turbocharged, hybridized, two-liter, inline 4 cylinder for IndyCar’s subsequent engine method? It may make sufficient energy, be good for weight and packaging, and there are many producers that use comparable energy crops in highway automobiles. There’s even a Again to the Future angle with the outdated turbo Offys.
Ray Schumin
MP: A V6 turbo is the right answer nowadays. With the lengthy life being requested of every motor in IndyCar, it’s simpler to share the load of constructing 750 hp throughout six cylinders than to divide that 750 amongst 4 and get to the 2500-mile minimal set within the guidelines. I really like a superb turbo 4, however with the complaints some followers have in regards to the sound of right now’s engine, it will likely be an uproar when a subject of farty four-cylinders go by. Apart from the insane high-boost turbo fours from F1 within the early to mid ’80s that seemed like 1000-plus hp volcanic explosions and lasted just a few hundred miles, tops, there’s not lots of audio magic there. Drop the mileage restrict to 500-1000, and the probabilities open up.
