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: At this point in his career, where will he place the greatest man of all time and Alex Pallow? He has to be with someone who won three championships in his first five seasons.
Randy, Milwaukee
Marshall Pruette: There are only five people in IndyCar’s history over 100 years to win more championships than Alex Pallow. Let’s sink it for a little while. And think of him losing that greatest list of all time in five seasons. The man arrived at Dale Coin Race in 2020, becoming champion as a sophomore and spent his off-years as a distracted junior with a self-induced contract, calming down and adding back-to-back titles.
He has won 13 wins so far. Next, his list of 14-17 victory includes Tom Sneva, Simon Pagenault, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Zanardi, Dan Weldon, Tony Canaan, Jimmy Murphy and Danny Sullivan. It’s another “sinking” scenario.
He reminds me of Peak’s Dario Francitti and Jimmy Johnson. Just clinical. Making the most out of his incredible supporting cast, he keeps the Francitti School of IndyCar Championship Course in mind. Kills Field, including his teammate Scott Dixon (Francitti’s official Modern Master).
He manages Risk-VS rewards more than any of his rivals, strengthened by standing on the podium 34 times so far in 84 races. That’s 40% and that’s ridiculous.
Palou is never mistaken for the “fastest” driver of IndyCar, with just six poles, but there is no trophy, ring or $1 million prize in the annual King of Indycar Lap Times. He is Mr. Sunday from IndyCar.
Awful, he did all this without a single oval victory. He was on the pole at 500 and was on the podium with other eggs, so the talent was there and he would get some wins. His indie records are worth admiring. When he debuted with Coyne, it didn’t work, but ended up in 28th place, but since then it was second, ninth, fourth and fifth. Four straight top 10 finishes on the Indy 500 are what he needs to be all-rounder.
As he begins to solve that oval victory puzzle, there is reason to argue where he belongs to a bigger conversation about the greatest talent of all time, but it would be too early for him to go there before he attacks the oval side of IndyCar’s Multi-Dayship Line Challenge.
Q: The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) appears to be on display live in the US on the Racer Network.
I know that most of your audience focuses primarily on US motorsports (and F1 recently), but I highly recommend that they check it out. The first round at Donington was amazing! Next is the brunch hatch indie course.
Just like I love the series, I think I’ve been a bit stuck in the past from a media perspective, so this deal means bringing your great reporting skills to the sport and sharing this amazing sport with a fresh new audience.
and Mayhew of England
MP: BTCC was what attracted me to the speed channel in the 1990s. When the channel turned into an endless spin of “Pink!” (corresponding to the ridiculous thing of speed), it lost some appeal, but a decent amount of unique international races were found. I can’t wait to see how the racer network evolves.
Q: After reading all the complaints and thoughts about IndyCar’s early viewing, I have one suggestion, both on the good and the bad.
Fox did an amazing job of involving the series. The ads for the three drivers were funny and funny and would have seen me even if I wasn’t a lifelong IndyCar fan. But they promised speed, making the race look fast, enthusiastic and dangerous. In the first three races, it was very little. IndyCar recommends adding an oval in the first 2 or 3 rounds. These tracks are hard to find and seem to attract fans more than street courses, but they are well known for offering fewer passes, except for creating accidental (usually) street courses.
You’ve mentioned Phoenix again recently, but I’m not pushing the ovals, but let’s find something that allows for races and passes alongside and shows off the speed of an Indy Car faster than the Indy 500.
PS: This last Sunday, April 27th, will be a great date for lace (barber?) rather than a lot of packaging in early May. Ah, F1 will be in Miami on the same day as Barber. Terrifying timing for viewers!
Mark, Milwaukee
MP: If anything is proven to be an almost boring start to the season, then Penske Entertainment should take a closer look at how IndyCar season is structured. Today there is more scrutiny today to offer more interesting races than I can remember before. It thinks it would be wise to intentionally lay out the calendar to include one or more eggs before Indy.
It’s not as easy as it looks. Penske does not own any eggs other than IMS, so they must rely on the interests of others to host pre-500 events in an oval shape.
With all of Fox’s hype built on many persuasive seasonal predictions leading up to 2025, a more intentional schedule is a wise move in early races that are likely to go back to your point and match the hype.
For the final point, we’ll take a closer look at how both series fare on network TV without facing off against each other. Indycar goes first on Fox, and F1 fires with ABC right after the checker flag. I don’t know how terrifying it is.