Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers might be despatched to [email protected]. We love listening to your feedback and opinions, however letters that embody a query usually tend to be printed. Questions acquired after 3pm ET every Monday will probably be saved for the next week.
Q: Don’t need NASCAR. Simply need competence. FOX failed us. An excessive amount of to ask for IndyCar, apparently.
Richard Dulany
MARSHALL PRUETT: A primary-time downside with a blown circuit breaker, one which took 21 minutes of racing away, is being handled like the largest failure conceivable by some who I can solely assume dwell in a world of perfection the place they by no means make errors or are topic to misfortune. It occurred. It was dangerous. However no one died. This wasn’t a hospital that misplaced energy and went darkish in the course of a surgical procedure. We didn’t get to see 21 minutes of a rattling boring stretch of the race. If something, the timing of the issue made the race higher since a number of the nothingness wasn’t aired. Pato O’Ward led, and stored main.
If it occurs once more this 12 months, sure, there will probably be some critical questions to lift about competence, and a number of folks will most likely be relieved from their jobs. For now, let’s get again to actual life and name the Thermal dropout what it was: an aberration.
Q: Darn it FOX! You screwed up a extremely good racing occasion along with your technical issues. Perhaps I’m within the minority, however I just like the Thermal observe, although it might use some security limitations in sure areas of the observe, and a few grandstands. It might use another help races just like the Trans Am sequence and Worldwide GT sequence. Alex Palou is on a distinct degree and I hoped for a historic second with Pato O’Ward and Christian Lungaard having aa historic Arrow McLaren 1-2. However Palou jogged my memory of Alex Zanardi when he dominated the sequence from 1997-98. I’m questioning if he’ll find yourself in F1, particularly if Liam Lawson struggles with Crimson Bull Racing?
Alistair
MP: Alex definitely deserves a glance from F1 groups, nevertheless it’s onerous to make the argument that the proper match to switch a younger driver with a good quantity of F1 expertise who’s struggling is with a younger driver with far much less F1 expertise. And pitting him in opposition to the very best driver in F1 who’s crushed each teammate he’s had, barring Daniel Ricciardo, who killed his personal profession by leaving for Renault.
Palou is amazingly proficient and can be a steadier operator, however the group desires instantaneous pace and effectiveness, which wouldn’t be one thing Alex needs to be anticipated to summon. Given two assured years? Sure. On this scenario? Keep the hell away.
Oh, he’s additionally below contract to Chip Ganassi Racing, which has bought all of its sponsors for the ten automobile on Alex being its driver. So there’s that minor impediment.
If something, Alex Zanardi’s 1999 season stands as a cautionary story in opposition to making an attempt to show IndyCar/CART dominance into instantaneous F1 success. Getty Photos.
Q: Undecided if this was a FOX protection factor or what. I observed throughout Sunday’s race at Thermal that the observe edge stored altering from gentle blue to purple? Simply curious as to what I used to be seeing. Thanks for any perception!
Hisham Bate, Indy
MP: The curb is painted completely different colours in numerous areas.
Q: I do know you’ll get a ton of letters relating to the FOX broadcast. I get that technical points can occur, ensuing within the broadcast feed getting misplaced. Nevertheless, FOX switched to the NASCAR broadcast from Homestead, however the ticker on the backside acknowledged the NASCAR race was at Martinsville. Oops.
That simply leads me to the purpose that FOX nonetheless has work to do on its graphics. When Palou caught O’Ward with 10 to go, the printed tags/flags confirmed Pato in first and Palou (proper on his bumper) in third. FOX tried it once more, however once more Palou was listed as third. These positions listed on the flag graphics disappeared. I can see they haven’t performed something about protecting up the sponsor logos on the cockpit hoop for the in-car feeds. Sponsors are going to be pissed, and it places the group house owners in a extremely dangerous spot.
Social media was busy Saturday with the printed graphics errors. McLaughlin within the No. 3 had Sting Ray Robb’s cartoon face, amongst different points. I’m not making an attempt to choose on FOX, however these are broadcast fundamentals within the 12 months 2025. As soon as, might be forgiven, however not two races in a row. The know-how and data is there. Heck, they’ve broadcast NASCAR for years and years. It’s not look.
On the optimistic facet, the warmup present is nice and must proceed.
John Balestrieri, Waukesha, WI
MP: Particular grace interval given throughout and after the primary race with the graphics, and the widespread points in merely delivering the graphics to the worldwide viewers. But it surely was clear that three weeks wasn’t sufficient time to get nearly all of the issues solved, and actually, some new ones emerged. (Sting Ray McLaughlin was superb.)
The place the blown circuit breaker was a fluke factor that didn’t warrant the hysteria that adopted, there’s some critical high quality management points for FOX to deal with with its graphics and presentation. I heard from worldwide followers on Friday and Saturday who have been blown away by the ten steps again FOX took from St. Pete to Thermal, with fallacious feeds being proven, lacking graphics, and mismatched audio — the sales space speaking about one factor and the footage of one thing completely completely different being displayed.
Most of that was cleaned up by the race, I’m advised, however the shocker right here is that this isn’t a case of FOX taking its first crack at broadcasting a brand-new sport. This is identical community that airs NASCAR, the NHRA, and has had F1, American sports activities automobiles and Le Mans as staples inside the final decade. Why, precisely, it’s now lacking so most of the fundamentals on the home and worldwide IndyCar feeds is a head-scratcher, for positive.
This has nothing to do with missing ardour or pleasure or expertise. That is, as former IndyCar president (and faculty soccer participant) Jay Frye likes to say, failing to execute the straightforward stuff like blocking and tackling.
