Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
It is a new year. It has mostly been silent. A couple tests have been announced. Some seats are being confirmed for the 24 Hours of Daytona and Bathurst 12 Hour. There has already been plenty of racing in Australia. The courts have been busy. McLaren owns more of McLaren's IndyCar team. Lamborghini has a team in IMSA for the endurance rounds. The Dakar Rally began. After the holidays, there is not one thing that stands out to lead off the Musings for 2025.
A Few Random Thoughts to Start the Year
We did this at the end of 2024. Sometimes there are few things on your mind but you don't have a lot to say about any of them. However, instead of letting those thoughts remain unknown, each of them can get their moment. The Christmas period is not always the loudest when it comes to news, but a few things came out that stirred up some thoughts.
There is no point in having cars fail to qualify for races outside of Indianapolis
Less than two months until the IndyCar season opens, and with the charter era upon us where every race outside of the Indianapolis 500 is limited to 27 starters, it must be stated that there is no point in having cars fail to qualify races outside of Indianapolis.
The charter system is understandable, but a 28th entry should not face having to miss Long Beach or Iowa or Laguna Seca if it is entered.
Let's acknowledge that isn't 1982. There is no chance of 40 cars showing up to any races. IndyCar is at its limit when it comes to full-time entries. Honda and Chevrolet cannot support anymore teams. We aren't going to see 35 full-time entries any time soon. Let the 25 charter teams that are committed to the championship start the race.
However, there is no value in sending one car home if 28 cars show up. Even if there are 29 entries, there is no value in sending two cars home. It is especially hurtful since Prema's two-car operation will be the only one that has no chartered entry. Both Prema cars will be full-time, competing for the championship, but it will run the risk of either or both of its two cars sent home at every race.
If a team has a driver or the funding to run in an additional race or two, that team should run, but it should not run the risk of missing the race, nor should that one-off entry take a spot from a full-time entry who is only not locked in because a charter was not made available since Prema is an entirely new team.
Here is the middle ground: Every team should be allowed to run a "wild card" entry in at least three races outside of Indianapolis. These "wild card" entries would be added to the field but there is a limit of two per round. No one would fail to qualify. If Chip Ganassi Racing has found the money to run Linus Lundqvist in three races outside of the Indianapolis 500, it should be able to run Lundqvist without having it take away from Prema.
Hypothetically, if Kyle Busch went to Ed Carpenter Racing and said he had the money to run Toronto, Laguna Seca and Milwaukee, it should not come down to Busch having to qualify and needing to beat Callum Ilott and Robert Shwartzman to make the race. We have run 28 cars already. This would be a case where a 28th car would be an advantage. Just let Busch race.
Until this becomes a problem, nothing will change, but the teams and IndyCar can work together and limit grid size while also allowing some flexibility.
Start Times and Scheduling Gymnastics
Over the Christmas season, IndyCar released its start times for all of its races. It drew a reaction.
None of the races are a true prime start, the latest being a 5:00 p.m. Eastern start for the first Iowa race.
Nine races will be head-to-head with a NASCAR race, eight Cup races and one for its second division. Two of those head-to-heads are with a Cup race on FS1.
On only one occasion will an IndyCar race lead into a NASCAR race or vice versa. That is the St. Petersburg season opener with the NASCAR Cup race from Austin.
Two races will overlap with Formula One's two early trips to North America.
I has been written before, some conflicts are unavoidable. If IndyCar is racing in California and every NASCAR Cup race will be starting no earlier than 3:00 p.m. Eastern, there is going to be clashes. That is unavoidable. You have to accept some of those, but there are a few others you wish you could miss.
Of course, when the partners are not shared, there is no reason for IndyCar and NASCAR to look out for one another.
Some are avoidable, or at least you think they are. This is the price of a new relationship. Road America will have its latest start in recent memory (outside of the 2020 doubleheader). Road America will start at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, almost three hours later than we have seen. With that change, it is now head-to-head with the Cup race at Pocono.
Gateway and Mexico City will occur simultaneously. Mid-Ohio and Chicago will occur simultaneously. Toronto and Dover will occur simultaneously. Laguna Seca and the Brickyard 400 will occur simultaneously.
All the IndyCar races will run on Fox while all of those NASCAR races will be on Amazon Prime or TNT. You can say it is better to be on a network, but IndyCar has struggled to break one million viewers on network television. NASCAR draws two to three million viewers wherever it shows races. IndyCar doesn't do better when against NASCAR.
This is also the price of announcing the schedule on June 13, 2024 over two months prior to the NASCAR schedule released. NASCAR is not racing on Sunday June 29, 2025, but that is an IndyCar off-week. NASCAR is not racing on Sunday August 17, 2025, but IndyCar is off that weekend. Meanwhile, the Portland IndyCar race on August 10 will start an hour after the NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen.
As much as you may hate to hear it, but people who will watch both will choose NASCAR if the two are head-to-head. It doesn't seem to matter how good the IndyCar race might be. That is not unchangeable, but until IndyCar becomes enticing to the point where it changes viewing habits, it is a losing position when put in a clash. It is best for IndyCar to wait and take advantage of the openings it is provided.
You need to calm down anytime the Indianapolis 500 is mentioned
God Bless Al Michaels.
The lead commentator of Amazon Prime's Thursday Night Football has been calling games for over 60 years. From the Miracle on Ice to 11 Super Bowls, the World Series to a pair of NBA Finals, a number of other Olympics, Michaels has called it all, and he has let us know.
In the final Thursday Night Football game of the regular season, Michaels' partner Kirk Herbstreit asked about the litany of sports he has called, even asking if he had called NASCAR. Michaels said he had and mentioned how he had called the Indianapolis 500. If you are an IndyCar fan, everyone let you know that Michaels mentioned it.
Nothing special was said, other than Michaels mentioning he had called the Indianapolis 500.
We must calm down any time the Indianapolis 500 is mentioned. We don't need the clip shared. We don't need to know when the three contestants on Jeopardy are all stumped when the Indianapolis 500 is the correct response. We don't have to act like it is going to change anything.
Be cool. If it is mentioned in some form of pop culture passing, let it be. It doesn't need to be repeated. It doesn't need to be shared. There is no need to look desperate.
There is never enough money... until there is enough money
You may have missed it, but in a Racer.com article posted this weekend, Michael Shank said Meyer Shank Racing is considering hiring a specialist pit crew instead of using mechanics. It is a practice NASCAR teams has been using for quite some time.
Shank said it would be a way to reduce the physical demands on the full-time crews that work on the team's two full-time entries and it would allow those crew members to be helpful in other meaningful areas.
Of course, hiring an exclusive pit crew costs money. Many college athletes from football, basketball and other sports have found a career as pit crew members in NASCAR as teams look for the most physically gifted individuals to maximize the speed and agility needed to complete a pit stop. These members would practice and fly in during the middle of the race weekend. Their responsibilities begin and end with going over the pit wall.
It is amazing how every time you turn around IndyCar team owners are expressing concerns about costs... and then they decide to spend more money.
Alexander Rossi mentioned on his Off Track podcast a few years ago that teams are looking to save money and keep costs down and they are worried about a new car, new engine formula and the hybrid due to the cost... but then Andretti Global announces it is spending over $100 million for a new shop and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing spent millions building a new shop of its own.
For the last four years, IndyCar has dragged out introducing a new car, new engine formula and hybrid system. Cost was highly cited as a reason. There is a big difference between spending $10 million for new equipment and spending maybe an additional million dollars on six pit crew members while also taking into consideration the extra expenses for travel, lodging and meals, but at some point crying poor is rendered ineffective when teams are constantly welcoming additional spending.
I don't buy that the biggest thing holding back is the lack of a new car, but at some point the teams must plan for bigger expenses, especially if a new car better integrates all the additional safety measures that have been tacked on over the last decade-plus. Specialized pit crews are not why people are going to tune in nor will it make the races better.
You know who we do not appreciate enough?
Jacky Ickx.
With the Dakar Rally starting this weekend, the event honored Ickx as New Years' Day was the Belgian's 80th birthday.
Let's consider Ickx's career.
Six-time Le Mans winner and the all-time leader in overall Le Mans victories for 24 years.
Eight Formula One grand prix victories and two-time championship runner-up in 1969 and 1970.
1983 Dakar Rally winner.
This is also not mentioning his victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona (though it was only six hours), 24 Hours of Spa, Bathurst 1000 and two victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
That is an absurd record and we don't really mention it. Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt are constantly lauded for all their success in multiple categories... and then there is Ickx.
Winning the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 is cool. As is winning those two races and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ickx won multiple world-renowned races. Two of his grand prix victories were on the Nürburgring Nordschleife!
Nobody competes in a variety of categories on a regular basis anymore let alone to a level that Ickx did. The only contemporary that comes close is Fernando Alonso with his two World Drivers' Championships and two 24 Hours of Le Mans victories. Alonso also made a few Dakar starts, but he didn't win the race and didn't really challenge for it. Alonso more or less took a sabbatical from Formula One for two years until the fire had settled from burning a bridge with McLaren and Honda. He didn't seek long-term competition elsewhere.
Nobody has the Formula One success to match. Motorsports has evolved. Sébastien Buemi has become a four-time Le Mans winner, he is a Formula E champion, and he is tied for the all-time victories in Formula E history. Buemi ran in Formula One, but for only three seasons. The Swiss driver's Formula One career ended when he was 23 years old! Ickx's first full season in Formula One came at 23 years old, a very young age for a full-time driver at that time.
In a different era, Buemi would have been back in Formula One at some point. After the second world championship and Le Mans victory, Buemi would have been a hot commodity to a Formula One team and been back on the grid. As good as Buemi's résumé has been, it doesn't feel like it quite lives up to Ickx's. Maybe Sebastian Vettel has a second chapter in him that is fruitful wherever it goes. Vettel already has a pretty strong first chapter to build upon.
I don't know how you rank the all-time greatest racers, but Ickx should probably be higher than you think.
Winners While We Were Away
The #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi of Gilles Magnus, Dennis Marschall and Bihuang Zhou won the Gulf 12 Hours after the #69 Optimum Motorsport McLaren received 60 seconds worth of penalties for pit lane speeding on its final two stops.
After the first stage in the Dakar Rally...
KTM's Daniel Sanders leads the Bikes class by 2:22 over Honda's Ricky Brabec.
American Seth Quintero leads the car class by 45 seconds over Guerlain Chicherit.
Nicolás Cavigliasso leads the T3 class by four seconds over Gonçalo Guerreiro.
Xavier de Soultrait is 7:35 up on Francesco López in the T4 class.
Mitchel van den Brink holds a one-minute and 40-second lead in the Truck class over Aleš Loprais.
Coming Up This Weekend
The Dkar Rally will continue.
The Supercross season will begin in Anaheim.
Formula E has its second round of the season in Mexico City.
