Welcome to the racer’s mail bag. Questions for racer writers can be sent to emailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters containing questions are likely to be published. Any questions received every Monday after 3pm will be saved the following week.
Q: First time question, longtime racer fan: Indycar needs to distinguish it from F1 and other races from new fans. Unlike Sunday intimate with the world’s best racing fans at The Thermal Club!
The 5,000 fans of the Thermal Club have incredible access to car drivers and announcers, and are TMS’ embarrassing 5,000 (probably) fans. It’s not exclusive, it’s available to the average race fan, and it’s a $475 ticket for the weekend. This is very fair. I often travel to games for the Chicago Bears and pay more per ticket for 4 hours of “entertainment.” You will also pay more for full access to GPLB (photo pass and race day seat).
Take the thermal. Don’t hide from the small crowd. Advertise as a great experience with great close-ups. It’s a wonderful venue where gearheads can dream of. Find non-race celebrities to promote and participate in the race. If the thermal allows access, we just show you a crazy cool car out there “live” and we’re just dreaming. We all know that only the rich can afford it, but it’s a race car, that’s what it is. I’ve been to an open wheel race for the 86 and am a huge fan of the Indy 500 and the Milwaukee Mile, but the oval race looks terrible in the empty stands. Mountains and palm trees backgrounds look great on television. The small crowd is not so obvious and is part of this unique race.
Think, Marshall?
Bob (lifelong race fan)
Marshall Pruett: F1 is the most exclusive race on the planet and is characterized by the exorbitant cost of attending, so IndyCar does the opposite of F1 by doing what F1 does exactly, but subtracts what F1 gets at those crazy prices. So Indycar looks small and unimportant.
According to Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles, in a call Friday, Thermal had “3,000 fans.” To those who see people who don’t visit racer.com every day and digest all the news on Indycar, they only see a lot of cars and no one can see them. I don’t know how to turn it into a positive. Please don’t get me wrong. The location is amazing and I have enjoyed my visit every time since the first test of the 2023 preseason test. But if IndyCar focuses on the best while being bigger and known, then they are holding races that are nowhere to be with small crowds.
Fix it by getting at least 10,000-15,000 people, fill in some grandstands and become viable.
Q: I’ve been a longtime IndyCar fan. Old enough to remember Kurt’s cheerful day, it peaked when Nigel Mansell came to town.
Is it just me or is there something missing this season? Are the current driver crop star power decreasing? I’ve been a fan for over 35 years and don’t even know about half the squats on the field this year. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are some serious talents currently racing, but if I step into the bar and start talking about the amazing IndyCar series, who would the average person recognize? Scott Dixon? What about the power? “Maybe” to both, am I correct? Of course, there are others with a few names like Josef Newgarden, Pato O’ward and Colton Herta, but I’m sure Australia will look at it with a non-recognitive eye in return.
In my humble opinion, IndyCar and Fox would be wise to ride the horn as soon as possible to get old legends like Paul Tracy, Dario Francitti, Mario (who doesn’t help Michael become AWOL), Al Ann Ann Jr., Helio, and Robbie Gordon.
Jason Murvenny, aka Banana Speed, Sydney, Australia
MP: The first question I ask is, what’s different this year? Palou, Herta, Power, Dixon, O’Word, New Garden, and others have been marquee drivers for the past three or four years. There’s nothing unique about standing out so far in 2025, which is unique to last year or the previous year. Helio, Dario and Danica Patrick were the latest drivers to win a big crossover appeal, but Danica left after 2011, Dario was forced to retire after 2013, and Helio was only indy since 2024.
But Indycar has a TV partner just as motivated as Fox and isn’t motivated to make today’s star a bigger name, so after all of the two races, do you poop them, because you can’t fix the decades of poor efforts by the series and its previous broadcasters?
There are also items from the generation that I have on hand. Almost everyone who mentioned it as legend has nothing to do with the exception of Brian Hertha and Tony Canaan, who are actively involved today, have nothing to do with people who weren’t born or followed when they were a big deal. What will a 25-year-old IndyCar fan ask Robby Gordon, who was the last IndyCar starter at the age of four? It may be fun for those older fans, but do they move the needle that has old legends on the broadcast? I can’t see it.
Give Fox time to try and improve the situation before turning the presentation upside down.