Q: I got to looking at various news outlets and clicking on the sports page and then the motorsports section, and what pops up but an overwhelming amount of F1 and NASCAR news, which got me looking at each series’ schedules.

From the first IndyCar race at St. Pete and extending out to the end of the day on April 21, IndyCar will have run two races. I’m not counting the Thermal circus here. F1 ran a race prior to St. Pete and will have run five by April 21. NASCAR ran three prior to St. Pete, and will have run 10 by April 21.

This is not how you draw in new fans. Any enthusiasm from the St. Pete race is dried up. We need two races in that six-week drought. Opening day for baseball was March 28. Imagine not playing again until May 9.

Your thoughts?

Jeff, Colorado

MP: I hear you, and can’t argue, but I don’t recall this being such a steady point of derision for IndyCar last year or the years before this Olympic break-related calendar came to pass. Bit of a broken record here, but the 2024 schedule is full of compromises. If it continues next year, we have a serious issue to raise with IndyCar, but with the known problems caused by the Olympics blackout, we have what we have.

Q: Just so I understand: IndyCar held the Thermal race in part to parade the series in front of the rich with hopes they will invest in a team, start a team, or sponsor a team to help grow the series.

Meanwhile, IndyCar is attempting to create a charter system which would effectively cap the number of entries per team and put a high hurdle in place for any new teams wanting to join the series unless they replace and existing team (no growth, net neutral).

Additionally, IndyCar would limit field size at races to around 27 outside of the 500, which would potentially send new, fully-funded teams home as 25 cars from existing teams would be locked in with only two additional spots open on the grid. However, they want to buck tradition and lock people into the 500 to avoid fully-funded teams missing the race. At the same time, the chassis is old enough to start middle school, one of the two engine manufacturers has threatened to leave, TV ratings are essentially stagnated (single digit increases on small numbers is virtually meaningless), and F1 has basically eclipsed IndyCar in its own backyard since 2020… to name a few things.

Start calling Miles and crew Nero because they are fiddling while Rome burns.

Ross Bynum

MP: An official “Everything Is Awesome” RACER t-shirt is one its way to you. (If we can find the box from when they were last made in 2015).

Q: Worst IRL driver? It’s clearly Milka Duno for the win. Dr. Jack may not have been awesome, but he was not close to being in Milka’s wheelhouse. It’s like this employee I have that was going on last week about how the shark is the apex predator. Then at lunch, we found a video of an orca snacking on a great white shark. When it comes to being bad, Milka is the apex whatever.

John

MP: The only amusing story I have for Milka was back in her ALMS days when she was racing a prototype in the early 2000s. She and I were headed towards the door of the same business at whatever track we were at and she got there a few moments before I did. I could see she had stopped and stood in place just on the other side of the door. I walked up, opened the door, took about three steps in, found myself gasping for air, and turned around and fired back outside to fill my lungs with oxygen.

I’ve known some men who feel the unfortunate need to spray half a bottle of cologne on themselves, but I’d yet to experience the same thing with a woman using perfume. If you told me someone dumped a gallon of perfume on her as a joke, I wouldn’t argue, because it had the effect of polluting the air around her to the point to where I simply couldn’t breathe in her presence.

The “apex whatever.” Perry Nelson/Motorsport Images

Q: Has IMSA considered adopting the Code 60 rules seen in the WEC? IMSA’s current full-course caution rules can create extremely lengthy yellow periods.

Joey Selmants

MP: Considered? Yes. Taken action to implement them? No.

Q: Do you have any insight into IndyCar’s channel on SiriusXM? Having been named after A.J. Foyt, you could almost say that I was an IndyCar fan since before I was born some 53 years ago, so I definitely understand where our series currently stands against the behemoth that is NASCAR. I wouldn’t say that I am a NASCAR fan, but I do turn to that series when my other favorites are not in action.

One thing that I have noticed since this year’s racing season began is that the NASCAR channel on Sirius always seems to be in operation throughout the week. Race recaps, driver and team interviews and more. Sure, some of the content may be repeats, but there’s still something there. And of course I also realize that NASCAR has been running weekly since its own season began.

However, throughout the year, other than during actual on-track running, the IndyCar channel is nothing but a recording/advertisement for what is currently happening on other channels. Is IndyCar so unpopular now that no content other than practice, quali and races can be made available to fans? If so, I am surprised that the IndyCar channel even continues to exist on the platform.

Tony G.

MP: I’ve had the IndyCar channel on SiriusXM saved as a favorite in our car for a few years, and do find the same generic sports read-outs being played there and some of the other specialty sports channels we have saved as well, so I’d assume it’s a standard deal where those infrequently used channels go live when there’s something there’s something to air and then default back to the read-outs. I believe Hinch and Rossi have their show that gets played on the channel and Tony Kanaan and Jack Arute have one as well.

NASCAR is a ton more popular, and it races twice as often as IndyCar, so it makes sense for its channel to be busy all the time. Meyer Shank Racing co-owner Jim Meyer was the CEO of SiriusXM when he joined the team; we’re fortunate to have whatever we get on the station because of him.