Welcome to the RACER mailbag. If you have any questions for the RACER writers, please send them to mailbag@racer.com. We’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions. However, letters that include questions are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm every Monday will be saved for the following week.
Q: While watching CART races in 1990 and 1991, I noticed Al Unser Jr. connecting a vent in the cockpit with a hose that goes into his suit. I think it’s for cooling. Could this be an option along with helmet vents in today’s IndyCars?
Tom Harleman, Carmel, Indiana
MARSHALL PRUETT: The new duct on top of the aeroscreen does just that. The rules don’t allow teams to do what they want, but I think it would be fun if it were a reasonable request. In this case, there were no rules preventing the team from adding vents to whatever they wanted.
Q: Does Aaron Telitz qualify for IndyCar? He dominated the open wheel at the Road to Indy, defeating Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta and the rest. His problem was not talent, but budget. He is consistently fastest in IMSA seats. Someone please give him a chance!
joe wise
MP: That sounds a lot like the conversation we had in Milwaukee. Aaron won the Pro Mazda championship (now the Indy Pro 2000 series) in 2016, but never competed against Herta or Kirkwood that season. He didn’t dominate Colton in his first year in Indy Lights. Herta finished third, Telitz finished sixth, and the following year Colton finished second behind Pato O’Ward. I’m a huge fan of Aaron and I root for him every step of the way, but let’s not make history that never happened.
Aaron has been a rocket for Lexus for most of his time, but the team felt he couldn’t show that in 2023, so he switched to a part-time role last season. I hope he gets back to his best form and earns himself a full-time spot in the WeatherTech Championship. At 33 years old and last racing an open-wheel car in 2019, I can’t find an angle to suggest that he deserves a chance in front of so many drivers fighting to get into IndyCar or just get a chance.
Q: So when you scroll down in the IndyCar app, you see driver bios. So, because I’m a fan and enjoy everything about racing, I scrolled, clicked, and read it all. If I remember correctly, the drivers are listed in order of how they finished in points. I arrived at the last driver named Marco Andretti. His bio says he was the winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500. I’ve read it several times. I thought that meant he was the first car to finish second, but no, he actually claims to be the winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500. 2006 Indianapolis 500. A little ticky, but inaccurate nonetheless. I’m not sure how to fix this and give credit to the actual winners. Any suggestions?
Bring back the Cleveland Grand Prix.
Steve, Lorain, Ohio
MP: Of all the things that keep Sam Hornish up at night, the stupidity of app introductions isn’t one of them. And I agreed, bring back Cleveland!
Q: What impact will the Honda/Nissan merger have on IndyCar beyond 2026?
Gordon, Dallas
MP: That’s hard to answer because it hasn’t happened yet. We’ll have to wait until the merger actually happens before we can talk about what may or may not change.
Ah, now we know what he’s doing for the rest of the year. Sam Cobb/Motorsports Images
Q: Who will be the newcomers to the IndyCar Series in 2025?
Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY
MP: Louis Foster at RLL, Robert Schwartzman at PREMA, and maybe a driver or two from Dale Coyne.
Q: On 12/18 Mailbag, someone asked about using the current Super Formula chassis as the basis for the 2027 IndyCar, and the answer was no because of safety.
Oval crashes are inherently more violent on average than road course crashes due to speed and wall proximity, but are they so much more difficult that IndyCar would require a vastly different chassis? Recently Super Formula had a crash on a 130R at Suzuka and F1 has had several crashes reported at +50G forces this year.
Does the FIA, Dallara, IndyCar or any other company maintain a database of crash data useful for comparing impacts/violence between series?
Will, Indy
Representative: All three, yes. IndyCar is its own sanctioning body and does not report its findings to the FIA. But in the event of a crash, once the car is returned to the garage or carrier and the ADR, an accident data recorder that provides force, speed and other information, is downloaded, IndyCar, the safety team and Dallara take the damaged car down. They also take pictures of the crashed car and its various parts to document the damage and gain insight that will go into the report.
Q: I know everyone hates Formula E (except, of course, the fans who make the series grow every year), but their cars are closer to the 21st century than IndyCar. Do you really think there’s any point in a new car that takes styling cues from the FE with the added bonus of reducing downforce, while also making a lot of noise and burning tons of fossil fuel?
Pitt, Tucson, Arizona
MP: It is possible. But why should IndyCar make cars similar to those in other series? That has never happened. If your favorite band hasn’t released new music in 10 years, would you like them to come back with songs that are similar to today’s trends, or an updated version of their signature sound? I would go with the latter.
There is also a fallacy that reducing downforce equates to better racing. Avoiding excessive downforce is a good thing, but reducing downforce can leave drivers unable to use the throttle aggressively except in slow corners.
