Curt and Kevin Talk About the Last Coyne Seat, Independent Officiating, and More in the 2025 Finale!
December 16, 2025 • 45 mins
Tonight, on another edition of Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee, they talk about what the latest update is on who take the second seat at Dale Coyne Racing and final open seat on the grid between Romain Grosjean, Jacob Abel, Devlin DeFrancesco, Conor Daly, Linus Lundqvist, or any other F2 driver. They also talk about the possibility of Abel coming back for the 110th Indianapolis 500 with a higher-grade ride. They later talk about the rumors of Prema Racing falling out of the series. They also talk about the newest independent officiating board for IndyCar and the FIA restructuring the super license points.
In the second segment, they answer fan questions from Twitter/X about the points battle between Will Power and David Malukas and how Power will do in points and race wins, Newgarden resigning with Penske, fan travel, Sunoco sponsoring Kyffin Simpson,
To wrap up another edition of the show, Kevin talks about Connor Zilisch competing in the 2026 24 Hours of Daytona, among other IndyCar drivers.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is track Side with Kirk Cavin and Kevin Lee
on ninety three five and one oh seven five the Fan.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The Indianapolis five hundred, three hundred and fifty thousand people
salute the thirty three who have had their right to
contest the greatest spectacle in racing.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Flash Blacklin is good before we've even thrown the greedy Robertsport.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
But we'll make the field of the green flash and
and we gotta.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Crash in the rod of the field.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
N't go ways ready, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm gonna handside and turn them.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A lot pot shot up three four, sometimes five one
Alexander Russie. Oh while it's five all over the park.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I mean that spin dey loop, the bottom lego Grego.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Right, it's fold loves a cat out of the bottle,
the ary tracks.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It is Boldside. I'm gon go harde five hundreds.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
As twenty twenty five comes to a close, at least
for this show, why not revisit the one hundred ninth
Indianapolis five hundred and thy could get to.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
The one hundred tenth just.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Over five months away in the twenty twenty six season.
Won't be long. It's seventy five days to Saint Pete
with testing starting again in just over three weeks, and
what still remains to be learned and will debate some
birding questions tonight. Hello, happy holidays, Welcome the track side
ninety three five one oh seven five. The Fan in Indianapolis,
(01:45):
landon Coons is at our new studios somewhere downtown. I'm
not sure where yet. I'll make a visit in the
near future once I see cure a key card. Kevin
Lee Kurk Cavin. I think I might be one of
the few that date back now. I'm three buildings in
with WIBC and the fan and all the radio stations,
(02:07):
so not many left. There are some though, I know
from ninety two ninety two North Meridian back in the
day in the late nineties. So we'll miss the worldwide
headquarters in the view of the world's largest Christmas tree.
But I lost my key card a month ago anyway,
and I couldn't get back in, so that's why we
(02:27):
had to move buildings. So I'll get a new key
card for the new place with Radio one and Urban one,
and we'll look forward to visiting that at some point
in the new year. A lot of things to get
to tonight, and some burning questions that you've come up with. Forrest,
Kurt and some listeners have come up some questions as well.
(02:47):
And I think I'm going to start with a Twitter
question because this is where I put in my notes
to start. We have one seed remaining, We've passed Halloween,
we've passed Thanksgiving. I think December fifteenth was mentioned as
a deadline for Dale corn Christmas was also mentioned, and
that is still in play for the final seats full
(03:07):
time in Indy Car for twenty twenty six. So I
will start with Sarah Morris twenty twenty sevens question is
there a deadline for Dale to announce his driver?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
One?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Two when you suspect the announcement will come out? And
three who do you think will be in the seat
for Dale?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, I think the third one is actually the easier
one to answer. I mean, Dale's unpredictable with timing, so
I couldn't begin to tell you when when if he's
going to meet the Christmas deadline, or whether it'll be
in January or February. I know that the real dead
the real deadline twenty seventh, maybe sixth or twenty seventh, Yes,
(03:47):
so that's the deadline. I suppose. You know, We've had
lots of thoughts and conversations about who we think could
be in there, and I do think the the option
of it's somebody we haven't thought of is probably the
leader in the clubhouse. It's probably somebody that that's not
(04:08):
been knocking on the doors or chatting, you know you
up at imsir races, or probably is somebody we haven't
talked about.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
So I was out and about a little bit more left.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I left the grid a few times over the last
week and chatted with several drivers and some people. I
went to PRI for a couple of days, and I
had kind of moved past this a little bit. But
the prevailing opinion is still it's Roma g Rojean. So
here's what I would add to that. I think it
(04:42):
is Roma Grojean. But it's showed me the money. You know,
the answer is always money. If and what I think
and what was announced is that Todd Alts Companies are
primary partners for dale Coin racing with Blockchain and ask Roi,
and if that is still in play, and the budget
(05:04):
is what they hope for, and if the budget is
big enough, and if they are willing to sign off
on paying a salary to Rama, then that's the choice.
That's who I think they want. But the fact that
they haven't announced it yet there's obviously a hold up
because I know that's who.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Everybody is sat with. I'll add a secondary part to
that that maybe maybe could be an.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Issue, but I think that is the choice. But that's
an extra level of funding and he's unlikely bringing in
a So if that isn't it, then my next guess
is I have heard Connor Dally on this podcast say
that they've amasked a good amount of partners for next year,
(05:48):
so he could still be in play.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
What about Jacob Babel? I know he's doing some sports
car racing, but there are no conflicts.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I don't know what kind of budget he needed to commit,
if any, for those sports car races, and how much
is left? Does Devil d Francesco still have budget and
does he want to race? He probably could amass a
decent amount of partners, so what are their goals? And
then going back to what you said, just as high
(06:15):
on the list is someone that you and I are
not familiar with, an F two, someone that finished fourth
or fifth or sixth and looked at it and I
heard this number out around three million is pretty common
the budget required in F two. A lot of times,
if you can bring three million to dale Coin Racing,
(06:36):
you might get the race the full season.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So at some point these F.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Two drivers are going to say, all right, am I
going to get to Formula one? No one made it
this year, right, correct? No one moved up. The champion,
did not move up. Second did not move up the second.
By the way, as an American Jack Crawford, they're all
reserve drivers. Some of them are paying to be res drivers.
(07:01):
So it is a very limited path. If you can
get an indy car seat, why would you not do that,
especially when you've looked at the list of F.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Two drivers that had.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Success here, like Christian Lungard, like san Antino Ferrucci was
basically an F three driver. I think he did a
little bit in F two. Dennis Hauger. You know, now
we're going to be seeing Mick Schumacher. Who else, cal
Marcus Armstrong, Calumilot all have been successful, and Schumacher is
(07:35):
the first one that's been a champion. Oh and Schwartzman,
who I should remember this.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I think he.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Maybe finished second. I don't think he won the championship. Yeah,
he was the F two runner up. He won an
F three championship. So that's still high on the list,
especially if they can bring some budget. And honestly, if
i'm dale Coin, if one of those drivers raised their
hand that you thought was good. And I've said this before,
Dale Well pays attention. He's not just looking at the stats.
(08:03):
He has a pretty good eye on what's going on
in Europe with talent for these kind of situations.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
So I still give that a really good chance.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Here's also something to consider, and what we don't fully
know how strong is the partnership with Andretti with dale
Coin Racing. We know they're supplying Dennis Hager. Dennis Hager
is under contract I think in some fashion with Andretti Global,
and they're probably paying his salary and they may or
(08:35):
may not be paying some of the budget for that car.
It's not the same kind of technical partnership. From what
I understand, the engineers, including on Hager's car, are going
to be dale Coin employees, but I think there's going
to be some oversight, a little bit of sharing on
that car. Does it extend at all, does Andretti have
any say? Did Raman Grojean not sue Andretti Global a
(09:00):
year and a half ago, And just like some of
the other things, we never heard any resolution on I
never heard on that either. I don't know what happened.
Maybe it was announced that there was a settlement. Usually
that's how these things work out, is it's a settlement.
But is that a factor. I'm going to say probably not.
My guess is that Dale still has full control over
(09:21):
his second car and isn't going to allow anyone to
dictate that. But you know, if it's an either or
situation and you want to play nice with a group
that can help you. And by the way, it's also
possible this lawsuit is just business. You know, Maybe it's
not we hate each other. Sometimes contracts end and there's
(09:45):
a disagreement over that, and it's simply a business dispute.
But there's not any outright pure hatred and maybe everyone
all gets along. So just a few things to think
about that. But unfortunately I don't have a firm answer
on that front.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, I don't either. It's sounds like Roman would be
their best choice, but somebody's got to pay the bills
and somebody's got to pay him.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Is it the best choice if you're Dale?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And I say this thinking very highly of Roman and
still wanting to see him have an opportunity. And by
the way, the best he ever was an IndyCar was
that time with Dale Coin Racing. But if there is
an option of someone who has one f two races
(10:37):
and brings you three million dollars, that would seem to
me to be a pretty easy decision with someone that's
in their early twenties compared to someone in their late thirties.
Then maybe the other side to that with Dale is
why do I care how old someone is, because if
they're any good, they're going to leave me anyway, he
probably has a better chance of getting multiple years out
of Roman or Jean than anyone that is in their
(10:59):
early twenties that's any good.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So I was basing that comment on the fact we
don't know who the other options are. But based on
the options you presented now, I could make a case
Connor Daly is a better argument for the Ovals, particularly Indianapolis.
But you know, I just think from from an experience standpoint,
from a we're going to be able to keep this guy.
(11:24):
Ramon's a great choice, yep, for them, for them, and
I think Connor.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Helps them certainly in the business department too, because he's
going to bring some budget.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
He's going to be great on the ovals.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
He's going to have a chance at Indy if they
get their five hundred program together.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
It was bad, not good, bad last year.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Not good.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, A Renas Vike is as good as it gets
it qualifying in Indy and he just barely made the race.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And then there are other cars, the only one that
did not make it, you know, which leads us to
the few five hundred seats and what's out there and available.
And I had this thought today and I purposely also
not reached out. Maybe I should reach out to Jacob
Abel and ask them what their plan is. But I
(12:09):
think it's more fun to just speculate and guess on
some things because they might tell me what they're interested
in or not. For one, I'd like to see Jacob
get another chance full time. But if you're Jacob Abel
and you have a fine out amount of budget that
you decide you can invest towards Jacob's IndyCar program, do
(12:32):
you do a full season with dale Coin or if
you could pay two million dollars.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
To be in a really good Indy.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Five hundred program like with Chip Ganassi Racing, and I
suspect that is what it would take. I think some
teams will do an Indy five hundred C for one
point five. But my guess is at Ganassi that in
less it's some superstar that they think is going to
be bringing all kinds of attention and they can sell
(13:06):
sponsorship for I think it's minimum two million, and it
might be more than that.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
But if you'd like to show.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
That you can do this, would that be worth the investments?
And also, if I'm them, I'm not super excited about
taking the last seat that's available that's a third or
fourth car for.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Someone and run the risk of not making the race again.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
So my advice to young drivers who have had difficult
first seasons, which Jacob clearly did, is I would take
the indie seat, the best indie seat I could get,
if I could get a good indie seat. And the
reason I say that is, let's look at it's not
really apples and apples, but Stingray Robs had three really
(13:51):
challenging seasons and people are wondering if he's got it.
If he's got it, he's been with three different teams,
with three different engineers. And you know, if Jacob goes
back to dale Coin and struggles just like he did
in twenty twenty five, he's done. Nobody's going to hire him.
(14:11):
So go do an Indy five hundred seat properly and
if you're if you're worth your assault, you'll show that.
I mean, doesn't necessarily have to be a top ten finish,
if you just show well. I just think that that
would be a better way to go than repeating the
struggles you had at Coin and getting labeled or pegged
(14:36):
as the problem, because.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It certainly if it was a repeat that's easy. Here's
the conundrum. I think dale Coin racing will be better
this year, and I think Jacob Abel in that second
seat would do significantly better. It's a little bit of
an uncertain at Indy, but they have Michael Cannon back,
so I think they're going to be better at Indy
(14:59):
in twenty two twenty six.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
You're putting all your eggs and get in basket.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
And here's the other side is that somebody will say, oh,
you're in a Ganassi car. You're in a Ganassi car.
Of course you're going to be good. A lot of
it depends on the money. You know, if it was
all right, you can run the full season for the
same amount of money, which one do you take? I
think I do take the full season to show what
I can do. And what you need is you need
(15:30):
a few moments. You know, you need a top ten
at some point throughout the season, and if you have
seventeen of those chances compared to one, that might be
enough to get you through to the next year. But
it's it's a great debate, and I don't know what
the right answer is.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, I don't either. It's just I fear that, you know,
if he's twenty fourth, twenty fifth and points again, even
if he has a couple of moments. I mean last
year a really good moment, he only had a couple,
and it didn't It didn't translate into well, we need
somebody needs to take a shot at Jacob Able.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So you only say you finish ken than the NY
five hundred. Why are other teams going to think you're
going to be better at road courses if you have
not for twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
If you have not had gets to show that I
get it.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It's a there's no easy answer.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
It's now the easy answer becomes if you've decided, all right,
there's so few seats available, it's.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Just not likely.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So we're going to embark on sportscar racing. But it's
good for business to be involved in the NDY five
hundred because we can find partners to share that cost.
That's where I think the ND five hundred makes a
lot more sense. And you can make a name for
yourself by having a good day and having a two
to three week program. So I say all this having
(17:02):
no idea of Cannassie wants to run a fourth car.
I think they probably would in the right circumstances. But
I just remember thinking the same thing last year. If
the coin seat wasn't available, he had tested Gadassi car,
they had a seat available, Might that be an option
for them? And I think Schip explored it last year
and didn't find the right dollar amount, didn't find the
(17:24):
right driver to decide he wanted to do that. All
the same categories could apply for a devilind Francesco too.
Does he explore trying to do full time? Does he
move on to sports car racing or a little combination
of both. My friend Town's Bell made a pretty nice
career of doing full time sports car racing and the
one race that gets the most attention in Indy Car
(17:45):
the Indy five hundred, and he did that for a decade,
and it can be done, and it can be done well.
Another random thought, and this will take us to Prema.
You know, next question would be, you know, are they
going to be there? No idea. I'm hearing chatter on
this if they go away, and this has been talked
(18:07):
about for the last year. Many owners want firm grid
limits implied, and there's been the thought that we want
to make it harder to get in, We want to
just condense a little bit. But they also want their
charters to have more value, and as long as somebody
can show up and make the races, then it's going
(18:31):
to be hard to sell their charter should they want
to do that, especially if there are twenty five cars
and two open spots where anyone can simply start their
own team and ramp up. So that's been in discussion.
There's also been some chatter if Prema goes away and
we have twenty five and that rule is not enacted, immediately,
(18:54):
and there's still twenty seven spots available for every race
other than the five hundred, then some teams I be
open to running an extra car, either for select events
or maybe in the right circumstance, someone might throw out
an extra car.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You know.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
One theory I had last.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Year wondering what Penske was planning on doing with will
Power when they made him an offer. Was there a
plan a primo went away to just run four cars
for the year.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
That's one of my unanswered mystery questions, which we talked
about last week. So that's out there too, you know.
And there are a few drivers that have some budget
out there. If connor Day doesn't end up in the
coin seat and decide he wants to do more than
the and five hundred, does he talk to other teams
of Prema goes away and say, hey, let's do something
(19:43):
a little more significant five hundred and maybe full season,
maybe something else. So keep an eye on those kind
of things. And I'm not sure how I feel about
limiting it to twenty five and making it being only
for a charter. I understand from the business standpoint, and
if I own the team, I'd be all for that too,
(20:04):
because I want to be able to when I'm done
sell at a major profit and get my investment back.
But that's going to really limit the chances for teams
like Michael Shank when he came on board to dip
their toes in the water and build up towards something.
But I'm less worried about the owners because they could
(20:26):
still get in by doing what Ted Geloff did. I
think that's what the industry is saying, Well, no, if
you don't need to go buy the equipment, just invest
in the team, become a co owner, and then eventually
you can buy someone out, either the team that you're with,
or you could shift gears and buy someone else out
when that becomes available. I'm more concerned about the drivers.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
How do we.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
See the one off chances that often build into something
if they are nothing but full time seats available.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And I wonder.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
We did have two that have advanced from Indie Next
this year, but I don't see there ever being more
than two. And if it's two or nothing, you know,
in past years, we've seen a lot of drivers get
a chance to do one, two, three races and oftentimes
it doesn't pan out. But sometimes it does. Sometimes there's
Paul Tracy does a race with dale Coin and that
(21:27):
leads to an invitation from Roger Penske. Rick Meher started
out in a part time situation. We would not have
seen Colton, Hurda and poddo award in extra seats at
the end of twenty eighteen, so that I think would
be a little bit of a detriments if it is
locked in. So maybe it can just be all right.
(21:49):
If you want to add an extra car, you must
be part of a chartered team. That might be the
compromise there. If you're Andretti and there are twenty five
cars and you have three charters, you would have add
a non chartered car for an events first come, first
serve until we get to twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Your example that's playing out is Formula one. I mean
they have a fixed number of seats and there are
no f twos moving up. I mean they're just isn't
place for them. So you know, there's a prime example
of how that can backfire.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I still would love to see the opportunity like back
in the day when David Hobbs got to do it
one off, when they would put American drivers in the
American races. Why is Poto Award not running in the
Mexican Grand Prix in Formula one? That seems like that
would be good for business. There are the things I've.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Not thought of though that you know they're they're.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Doing pretty well, so I'm not going to tell them
that they're wrong on that front. NASCAR trial, maybe we'll
spend a moment on that. Does it have any impact
on our world? I think most are familiar with. You know,
it was settled between twenty three to eleven racing Denny
Hamlin and Michael Jordan's team and front Row Motorsports settled
(23:06):
right before Roger Penske was going to need to testify.
So that worked out pretty well because I'm going to
guess Roger Penske did not want to testify and my
answer and all of this, and by the way, it
seems clearly like the teams won, so they have permanent charters.
The NASCAR was saying they couldn't make them permanent because
they didn't know what the future television rights deals were
(23:28):
going to look like.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I get that.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Seems like it could have been based on a percentage
of the television revenue, which I'm assuming is what it
is going to be moving forward. And then there's some
other financial things that have not been disclosed and maybe
not even finalized at this point. But what I came
through this is unless this was offered prior to Jordan
(23:51):
and company and rejected, NASCAR aired mightily by going through
all of this process. Just have to cave because all
of their dirty laundry has now aired, and it's going
to be hard for them to regain some relationships and
some trust with some of the people in their garage.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, relationships can be mended, but I think you know,
once you see behind the curtain, then you're in leverage
and you're negotiating ability in some forms take on a
new look. I don't know why it took nine days
of trial. I think that's what it was to get
to it. Just settle. I mean, I think these things
(24:35):
usually settled before the trial starts so that you don't
have to go through that. That was excruciating for Jim Franz,
a man. You know, I've had a chance to know,
and I respect his stance on this, but my goodness,
if you were going to basically give them what they
asked for in the first place, why didn't you do
it day one.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So the only thing they saved was Roger Penske on
the stand. And who else was Kenrick going to have
to testify? There were a couple of prominent owners and
I don't dismiss that as a possibility that because the
problem with Roger would be he's not just there as
a NASCAR team owner. They were going to ask him
(25:15):
about the financials of IndyCar.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And the speedway and everything.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yes, and he doesn't want that out there. No one does.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And we now know I don't know we know everything,
but we know an awful lot about the financials of NASCAR,
which takes away a little bit of your neotiating power
in these kind of deals and the costs of everything,
so just baffling and charter prices I hear basically doubled.
So that's something out of that. So that's been good.
(25:46):
Does that impact IndyCar, Well, if they kind of lock
in charters and make it so you must have one
to compete, probably will have a little bit of an
impact there. New IndyCar officiating system was announced last week.
This has been talked about for a little while. New
independent not for profit organization has been established and will
(26:06):
be governed by a three person independent officiating board.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
I think I like this idea.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Marshall Pruet at Racer listed some of the possibilities. Steve Horn,
Derek Walker, Chris Barruby from Chevrolet, Levi Jones recent Indie
Next director, Art Saint Cyr and Ted Klaus from HBD
all have connections, all have relationships in the paddock. The
(26:32):
three people they chose may have some relationships but not
really but they know motorsport ray Evernham, raj Naire, longtime
Ford executive, and Ronan Morgan from the FIA. So from
that standpoint, I think that makes sense that there are
no pre conceived relationships or less likely to be some.
(26:57):
What else do you take from this? What else miss there?
The team owners? Let's let's back up just for a second.
The team owners were given a list of they It
was narrowed down I believe to twelve. Let's pick a number.
Maybe it was fifteen, it doesn't really matter. They were
given a list to choose from, and the team owners
went through a voting process each team owner depending on
(27:20):
how many cars you had. You know, it isn't just okay,
there are eleven team owners. Everybody gets one vote. Now,
if you have a three car team, the way I
understand it, you got you got three votes, and if
you had a two car team, you get to anyway,
put the votes together.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
They went through a couple of rounds and they came
up with three three names or two names the two
that Ray Evernham and the Ford executive that most people
you know wouldn't have a little connection to, or most
of our listeners wouldn't. And then the FIA get got
the third seat. So the FII FIA is represented, which is,
(27:57):
you know, give some of a globe perspective, and then
the three of those will comprise the board, and the
board then will hire the race director, could be Kyle Novak,
could be somebody else that still has not been you know,
decided at least announced, I guess is a better way
(28:18):
of putting it. So it's important to know that the
team owners voted on these these board representation, this board representation,
and so it wasn't you know, Chip Ganassi deciding which
three he wants Mike Hull on the board and it's
going to be you know, a Penske executive, and you know,
(28:40):
there was three people that all the team owners voted
for or two. Excuse me, because the FI took the
got the third seat on the board. So anyway, we'll
see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
The thing for me is I just this is always
it's a perception issue for most people you know who
you know, Who's the reason Penske Entertainment needed to distance
itself from the officiating decisions, so that preferential treatment to
one organization or against another organization, or however you want
(29:14):
to look at it, you know, trying to remove that.
But perception is an individual thing. I mean, your your
perception of how this looks might be different than mine.
Go through one hundred people might be different all the
way through. So it's challenging to know how people receive this.
We're going to have to see a moment that happens
(29:36):
on the racetrack, you know, and then it has to
be adjudicated and we'll see how it goes. And if
people like people's perception is that it was a fair process,
then it was a successful endeavor.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
So Indy car is working a bit with the FIA.
Maybe no coincidence that the licensing points system and the
requirements to get a super license changed announced just about
the same time.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
So what this now means is that.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
It's still forty points, which grant you a super license
if you win the IndyCar Championship and they bumped up
the points beyond that. But if you finished second in IndyCar,
if that was your rookie year, you still don't have
a super license, unless maybe you won the Indy Next
Championship the year before and some other things. But top
three in F two still get forty points, and I
(30:24):
think fourth in F two is thirty, the same as
second in IndyCar. And what this would have done is
it would have I think it would have probably made
Colton Hurta eligible when he was being courted by Alpha
tore in twenty three, and it would have basically made
(30:45):
him eligible for this year.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
He would have had thirty.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Nine, and then they could have done a free practice
one at some point at the end of this season
to get him to the forty. But other than that,
I kind of think this is mah. I think it's
it's also kind of a nothing burger. I'm not sure
what it does for Indy Car other than make it
easier for F one to take their drivers. It does
(31:10):
help a little bit with the lack of respect or
the perception, but this was done because it's good for
Formula One. They want to strengthen their hold on America,
so this gives them the opportunity. If there's someone in
America that they want, they can go grab them and
don't have to worry or have a better chance of
(31:31):
getting them and making sure they have the super license points.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
If someone wants Poto Award, I don't.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Think he does have one, So the ones that have
one are Polo Dixon, Potto McLaughlin that's the only drive.
Kyle kirk wo but does not have one. So this
will increase those chances. If someone says we want Kyle
Kirkwood or whoever else, they can go snatch them.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Well, earlier in this conversation, about fifteen minutes ago, you
were siding with the drivers on a on a separate issue.
If kym Kirkwood or Pod Award or any other driver
in the Indy car Paddock wants to go to Formula one,
I'm supportive. I get it. It may not be good
(32:14):
for a business, it may not be good for our business,
but I'm for the drivers too. And if Alex Pulow
indeed wants to go to Indy five hundred. Why should
the point system keep him from from going. If he
wants to get hired, go great. That's his business decision.
That's that's how I feel. I mean, it's not it's
(32:37):
not good for this sport. I would like to see
him stay. But the Colton Hurda has been eager and
willing to sign a Formula One deal, and this silly
point system is has prohibited him from doing it. That's
what's silly about the whole thing. If Colton wants to
do it, great, I'm all for it. I support Colton.
(32:59):
He's a good young man. He's a great race card driver,
and if he wants to go run Formula One, have
at it.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
I think he's going to be better prepared doing it.
You're n F two, but probably he probably is. He
probably with a brand new team next year as a
brand new driver. I cannot see that going well. I
think it maybe could have gone okay if he would
have gone to Alfati with a more established team in
twenty twenty three, then then he would have had a
chance to compete a little more straight up, I guess
(33:28):
you're always still going to be based with compaired with
your teammate, but say his teammate with Sergio Perez. That's
going to be hard to match Sergio Perez when you
are rookie. And if that's how everything is based. He
did his first test in an F two card. I
wouldn't worry too much about the times. I think he's
a run fifteenth out of twenty, but that's the first time.
We'll see where he goes. But it comes back to
(33:51):
this is not going to be easy. This is not
going to be easy for him to be in the
top five of F two. I think that will be
massively impressive if he can do.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Something like that.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
All Right, we'll get to your tweets and we're going
to try to save some time for burning questions.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Next on track side.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
How this is Scott Dixon and you're listening to trackside
on ninety three to five and one I seven five
the fan okay, rapid fire. Through a few Twitter questions,
McKenzie says, how do you think will Power will do
championship wise? I honestly think we'll see will contending for
the top five and things go right.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
He could be battling Polo.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So one of my burning questions would be, uh, Power
versus Malucas and the point standings next year. Who you
got who scores more points points? Is it or Power
or is it Melucas? It's Power, I think so too.
I think it's an interesting it's an interesting head to head.
(34:46):
We'll have to see this next question will continue that.
Dan Baker says, over under one point five the number
of Racist Power wins in twenty six. I'll take the
over question. I'll take the over. I think he wins too.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I I think he's going to do really well. Winning
two races is hard. I'm going to say the under,
but I'm going to say he's still fifth or better
in the championship by winning one race. I think will
Power won the championship by winning. I think he won
two races that year. Did he win one? I think
(35:21):
he won one?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
I think will Power is all about consistency. My point being,
I think he can win one race and still have
a great season this year.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
So a great Aeni meeni miney mo.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
I will take one saying I still think will is
going to be top five in the championship.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
The only reason I can test the top five is
you start naming names, and it's pretty tough. It's pretty
tough to stop at four. You know, you got to
know Alex Polo is going to be in there. You know,
Poto Awards going to contend. You know, Scott Dixon is
going to contend. You know, Joseph Neugarten is not going
to have He's not going to be twelve like he
was this year. You know, McLaughlin, Luinguard, Kirkwood. I mean,
(36:09):
you know, you think it gets late early, he gets
you get to five pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Yep, fair enough.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
What are the odds, Jason Lee Burke ass what are
the odds New Garden resigns with Team Penske.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You know, it depends on how the first half of
the season goes. If I mean he did seem genuinely
rejuvenated by winning the last race the season, we'll see
them all. But if he comes out and he's he's
back to what we've expected, and the Team Penske has
(36:45):
some time during the offseason, I think the best thing
that they've had is a few months now to regroup.
You know that they had a massive turnover in May.
They never had a chance to regroup, and having a
few months where they're not racing, you know, build some relationships,
understand roles, they've repositioned some people. Maybe it just feels,
(37:07):
you know, with Joseph and Team Penske moving forward, I
think for Joseph it's going to be does this feel
like the place to be? And it has nothing to
do with you know, does he win the first race
or anything. I think just does he feel does he
feel like he's a part of it. I think that's
how Joseph is going to approach it. I think it's
two parts. I think it's that and results. I think it's.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
One of the fascinating parts of twenty twenty six. What
will Team Penske be? Can they recover from whatever it was? Ninth, eleventh,
and twelfth and it took a win? What did new
Garden finish twelfth? But he was eighteenth or something like
that with a couple of races to go, so we
(37:50):
know they're not that. But do they get back to
having all three cars in the top six or at
least the top the two veteran drivers in the top
five or is this still going to be a process.
We still did not know who is engineering the cars.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
If I would have told you that both Meyer Shank
Racing to your point earlier in the first segment about
Meyer Shank building and building and building, both Meyer Shank
cars finished ahead of all three Penske cars in the standings.
That's unbelievable, Paul jay Ingram fifty six. As wife's retired,
So now we can travel. Is there an official IndyCar
travel club like baseball teams have that has lodging and
(38:32):
other premiums and or planned gatherings for fellow travelers not
local to each track. I don't.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
I try Indycarnation. Yeah, they offer.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I don't know of anything, but I think that'd be
a good business to be in. Maybe maybe you should
put that on your list top five places to go
and you can be the travel director.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Oh no, I've got enough.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I do know that there are some flick the Midwest trips. Yes,
there are some difference, Like Sports Entertainment Travel organizes a
few around the Midwest, but they're not going to.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Do I don't think they do all of them.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
I would try Indcarnation, and I would think that that
might be just kind of a community where they might
share some ideas. Hey, this is where a lot of
people stay and go. From that standpoints Austin Taylor asked
any idea what Sebastian Weldingen is doing in twenty twenty six.
I do not, but even if I did, I wouldn't
(39:28):
say because they haven't announced it yet. I'm not really
in the business of scooping junior level drivers and their plans.
I've not seen his mom in a few months, and
we often chat as racing parents. I would think that
they'd like to continue to try Europe. He had some
success in Italian F four last year, and now that
(39:51):
you know they're supported by Gamebridge and Dan Towers's.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Company, that they might like to continue that go.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
So maybe something like what you to be British F three,
which is GB three, or maybe British F four, something
along those lines. So he's not I've not seen him
testing over here in USF so my guess is they're
still exploring doing another year in Europe and seeing how
that goes. Lynn Underscore IndyCar has some IndyCar Haiku twenty
(40:21):
twenty five. The Year Polo twenty six Penske celebrating sixty
years in racing. Polo will spoil the party. Merry Christmas,
have a great holiday, and real question is how surprised
were you to see the Sonoco announcement last Friday? Was
cgr A nice looking car, right, Lynn? We double that
that's a great looking car.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Yeah, great looking car. And it's the first time they've
been a full season sponsor since seventy three and it
looks great. And Kiffin Simpson's progress is one of the real,
real pleasant I don't want to call it a surprise.
I mean, I think the surprise is that he's done
this as quickly as he has, but he is if
(41:00):
he takes another jump like that in twenty six, you'll
be really viable in twenty six twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
I think the Simpson family owns a lot of gas
stations at convenience stores, so that might have been a
nice connection to help make that happen. And it's good
business to business. That's how that works. That's how the
investment pays off to where the family is no longer investing.
And Kiffin did his job by being relevant on the
racetrack last year. Andrew Greenan writes, is this a hint
(41:31):
from racer dot com of what the new car could
look like?
Speaker 2 (41:33):
So?
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Marshall Prude has written a couple of stories based on
IndyCar twenty twenty eight, and he shows the graphic here
and you can find that as well. The picture I
see doesn't look that much different than the new car.
My guess is no, that that's just an image. I
think I've had people tell me they've seen projected images and.
Speaker 4 (41:57):
They like the look. But I don't think it's going
to be revolutionary. But it could be wrong.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
I believe I read somewhere Doug Bowl said we may
see images. Maybe that's something we see around the start
of the season.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
We do. We're talking spring now. Yeah, I think that's
what Doug has said. But I don't think that image
is representative yet.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Yeah, I don't think nothing's out there. I've not seen
anything like that. All Right, we ran out of time
for birding questions. But the good thing is bad, then
good Thing season doesn't start at our next show, so
we will still start this in twenty twenty six with
these burning questions that you came up, which what I
thought were very interesting to debate. I'm going to do
(42:42):
some maths how much time we have left in our
final segment and what we missed. Otherwise, Kurt, have a
good Christmas, good holiday, and we'll see you in twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
It'll be great, can't wait?
Speaker 4 (42:52):
All right, stay with us, we'll wrap it up and more.
Next on Trackside, Hi.
Speaker 5 (42:56):
This is Graham ray Hall and you're listening to Trackside
on ninety three five and one oh seven five the fan.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
All right, final segment and what we missed We got
confirmation that Connor Zilich will be in the Rolex twenty four,
the NASCAR star who can drive just about anything. I
suspect he just didn't have the licensing filled out as
why he didn't come out on the original ms of
Rolex twenty four lists last week. That might be the
reason why you don't see James Hinchcliffe's name on that
(43:24):
list jet But he's already been confirmed by the team
to run with FAF Motorsports and the number nine again.
And Zilich will be in the Action Express Cadillact the
number thirty one car. Remember former IndyCar driver Matteas laced
really good in Indie lights and had some success with
AJ Foyd Racing at a time when they just really
(43:45):
weren't having a whole lot really talented driver. He's been
doing a lot of coaching. I've seen him around. I
actually have a run into him in a while, but
I saw he was confirmed today in a Michelin pilot
full season seat in a Porsche for twenty twenty six,
and I forgot to mention this last week. Our friend
Casey Kohler, who's been on the show before. He's been
at Raceway Park and also working with NHRA, is the
(44:10):
vice president of Track Managements for NHRRA. He is now
the president and CEO of U SAX. So congrats to
Casey that starts on January first. He worked at IndyCar
for a while in marketing and back in the day.
I know we've had him on the show in that
role and also had him on the show in his
role with IRP. Kevin Miller, who has been the USAC
(44:33):
president since seven steps into a new role as the
president of ACUS and FIA, so congrats to him as well.
That's it for us. Thank you again for tolerating us
for another year. We are off for the next two
weeks for the holidays. We'll be back on a Wednesday
to start the new year. Wednesday, January seventh, we'll start
talking about IndyCar testing. I think there's a test that
(44:56):
day for at least a couple of cars at Phoenix,
and we'll get into a lot of other things and
probably have some more news by then. Thanks for joining us,
have a good holiday.
This is track Side with Kirk Cavin and Kevin Lee
on ninety three five and one oh seven five the Fan.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The Indianapolis five hundred, three hundred and fifty thousand people
salute the thirty three who have had their right to
contest the greatest spectacle in racing.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Flash Blacklin is good before we've even thrown the greedy Robertsport.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
But we'll make the field of the green flash and
and we gotta.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Crash in the rod of the field.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
N't go ways ready, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I'm gonna handside and turn them.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
A lot pot shot up three four, sometimes five one
Alexander Russie. Oh while it's five all over the park.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
I mean that spin dey loop, the bottom lego Grego.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Right, it's fold loves a cat out of the bottle,
the ary tracks.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It is Boldside. I'm gon go harde five hundreds.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
As twenty twenty five comes to a close, at least
for this show, why not revisit the one hundred ninth
Indianapolis five hundred and thy could get to.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
The one hundred tenth just.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Over five months away in the twenty twenty six season.
Won't be long. It's seventy five days to Saint Pete
with testing starting again in just over three weeks, and
what still remains to be learned and will debate some
birding questions tonight. Hello, happy holidays, Welcome the track side
ninety three five one oh seven five. The Fan in Indianapolis,
(01:45):
landon Coons is at our new studios somewhere downtown. I'm
not sure where yet. I'll make a visit in the
near future once I see cure a key card. Kevin
Lee Kurk Cavin. I think I might be one of
the few that date back now. I'm three buildings in
with WIBC and the fan and all the radio stations,
(02:07):
so not many left. There are some though, I know
from ninety two ninety two North Meridian back in the
day in the late nineties. So we'll miss the worldwide
headquarters in the view of the world's largest Christmas tree.
But I lost my key card a month ago anyway,
and I couldn't get back in, so that's why we
(02:27):
had to move buildings. So I'll get a new key
card for the new place with Radio one and Urban one,
and we'll look forward to visiting that at some point
in the new year. A lot of things to get
to tonight, and some burning questions that you've come up with. Forrest,
Kurt and some listeners have come up some questions as well.
(02:47):
And I think I'm going to start with a Twitter
question because this is where I put in my notes
to start. We have one seed remaining, We've passed Halloween,
we've passed Thanksgiving. I think December fifteenth was mentioned as
a deadline for Dale corn Christmas was also mentioned, and
that is still in play for the final seats full
(03:07):
time in Indy Car for twenty twenty six. So I
will start with Sarah Morris twenty twenty sevens question is
there a deadline for Dale to announce his driver?
Speaker 4 (03:18):
One?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Two when you suspect the announcement will come out? And
three who do you think will be in the seat
for Dale?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, I think the third one is actually the easier
one to answer. I mean, Dale's unpredictable with timing, so
I couldn't begin to tell you when when if he's
going to meet the Christmas deadline, or whether it'll be
in January or February. I know that the real dead
the real deadline twenty seventh, maybe sixth or twenty seventh, Yes,
(03:47):
so that's the deadline. I suppose. You know, We've had
lots of thoughts and conversations about who we think could
be in there, and I do think the the option
of it's somebody we haven't thought of is probably the
leader in the clubhouse. It's probably somebody that that's not
(04:08):
been knocking on the doors or chatting, you know you
up at imsir races, or probably is somebody we haven't
talked about.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
So I was out and about a little bit more left.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I left the grid a few times over the last
week and chatted with several drivers and some people. I
went to PRI for a couple of days, and I
had kind of moved past this a little bit. But
the prevailing opinion is still it's Roma g Rojean. So
here's what I would add to that. I think it
(04:42):
is Roma Grojean. But it's showed me the money. You know,
the answer is always money. If and what I think
and what was announced is that Todd Alts Companies are
primary partners for dale Coin racing with Blockchain and ask Roi,
and if that is still in play, and the budget
(05:04):
is what they hope for, and if the budget is
big enough, and if they are willing to sign off
on paying a salary to Rama, then that's the choice.
That's who I think they want. But the fact that
they haven't announced it yet there's obviously a hold up
because I know that's who.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Everybody is sat with. I'll add a secondary part to
that that maybe maybe could be an.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Issue, but I think that is the choice. But that's
an extra level of funding and he's unlikely bringing in
a So if that isn't it, then my next guess
is I have heard Connor Dally on this podcast say
that they've amasked a good amount of partners for next year,
(05:48):
so he could still be in play.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
What about Jacob Babel? I know he's doing some sports
car racing, but there are no conflicts.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I don't know what kind of budget he needed to commit,
if any, for those sports car races, and how much
is left? Does Devil d Francesco still have budget and
does he want to race? He probably could amass a
decent amount of partners, so what are their goals? And
then going back to what you said, just as high
(06:15):
on the list is someone that you and I are
not familiar with, an F two, someone that finished fourth
or fifth or sixth and looked at it and I
heard this number out around three million is pretty common
the budget required in F two. A lot of times,
if you can bring three million to dale Coin Racing,
(06:36):
you might get the race the full season.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
So at some point these F.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Two drivers are going to say, all right, am I
going to get to Formula one? No one made it
this year, right, correct? No one moved up. The champion,
did not move up. Second did not move up the second.
By the way, as an American Jack Crawford, they're all
reserve drivers. Some of them are paying to be res drivers.
(07:01):
So it is a very limited path. If you can
get an indy car seat, why would you not do that,
especially when you've looked at the list of F.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Two drivers that had.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Success here, like Christian Lungard, like san Antino Ferrucci was
basically an F three driver. I think he did a
little bit in F two. Dennis Hauger. You know, now
we're going to be seeing Mick Schumacher. Who else, cal
Marcus Armstrong, Calumilot all have been successful, and Schumacher is
(07:35):
the first one that's been a champion. Oh and Schwartzman,
who I should remember this.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I think he.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Maybe finished second. I don't think he won the championship. Yeah,
he was the F two runner up. He won an
F three championship. So that's still high on the list,
especially if they can bring some budget. And honestly, if
i'm dale Coin, if one of those drivers raised their
hand that you thought was good. And I've said this before,
Dale Well pays attention. He's not just looking at the stats.
(08:03):
He has a pretty good eye on what's going on
in Europe with talent for these kind of situations.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
So I still give that a really good chance.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Here's also something to consider, and what we don't fully
know how strong is the partnership with Andretti with dale
Coin Racing. We know they're supplying Dennis Hager. Dennis Hager
is under contract I think in some fashion with Andretti Global,
and they're probably paying his salary and they may or
(08:35):
may not be paying some of the budget for that car.
It's not the same kind of technical partnership. From what
I understand, the engineers, including on Hager's car, are going
to be dale Coin employees, but I think there's going
to be some oversight, a little bit of sharing on
that car. Does it extend at all, does Andretti have
any say? Did Raman Grojean not sue Andretti Global a
(09:00):
year and a half ago, And just like some of
the other things, we never heard any resolution on I
never heard on that either. I don't know what happened.
Maybe it was announced that there was a settlement. Usually
that's how these things work out, is it's a settlement.
But is that a factor. I'm going to say probably not.
My guess is that Dale still has full control over
(09:21):
his second car and isn't going to allow anyone to
dictate that. But you know, if it's an either or
situation and you want to play nice with a group
that can help you. And by the way, it's also
possible this lawsuit is just business. You know, Maybe it's
not we hate each other. Sometimes contracts end and there's
(09:45):
a disagreement over that, and it's simply a business dispute.
But there's not any outright pure hatred and maybe everyone
all gets along. So just a few things to think
about that. But unfortunately I don't have a firm answer
on that front.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, I don't either. It's sounds like Roman would be
their best choice, but somebody's got to pay the bills
and somebody's got to pay him.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Is it the best choice if you're Dale?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And I say this thinking very highly of Roman and
still wanting to see him have an opportunity. And by
the way, the best he ever was an IndyCar was
that time with Dale Coin Racing. But if there is
an option of someone who has one f two races
(10:37):
and brings you three million dollars, that would seem to
me to be a pretty easy decision with someone that's
in their early twenties compared to someone in their late thirties.
Then maybe the other side to that with Dale is
why do I care how old someone is, because if
they're any good, they're going to leave me anyway, he
probably has a better chance of getting multiple years out
of Roman or Jean than anyone that is in their
(10:59):
early twenties that's any good.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So I was basing that comment on the fact we
don't know who the other options are. But based on
the options you presented now, I could make a case
Connor Daly is a better argument for the Ovals, particularly Indianapolis.
But you know, I just think from from an experience standpoint,
from a we're going to be able to keep this guy.
(11:24):
Ramon's a great choice, yep, for them, for them, and
I think Connor.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Helps them certainly in the business department too, because he's
going to bring some budget.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
He's going to be great on the ovals.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
He's going to have a chance at Indy if they
get their five hundred program together.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
It was bad, not good, bad last year.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Not good.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Yeah, A Renas Vike is as good as it gets
it qualifying in Indy and he just barely made the race.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And then there are other cars, the only one that
did not make it, you know, which leads us to
the few five hundred seats and what's out there and available.
And I had this thought today and I purposely also
not reached out. Maybe I should reach out to Jacob
Abel and ask them what their plan is. But I
(12:09):
think it's more fun to just speculate and guess on
some things because they might tell me what they're interested
in or not. For one, I'd like to see Jacob
get another chance full time. But if you're Jacob Abel
and you have a fine out amount of budget that
you decide you can invest towards Jacob's IndyCar program, do
(12:32):
you do a full season with dale Coin or if
you could pay two million dollars.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
To be in a really good Indy.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Five hundred program like with Chip Ganassi Racing, and I
suspect that is what it would take. I think some
teams will do an Indy five hundred C for one
point five. But my guess is at Ganassi that in
less it's some superstar that they think is going to
be bringing all kinds of attention and they can sell
(13:06):
sponsorship for I think it's minimum two million, and it
might be more than that.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
But if you'd like to show.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
That you can do this, would that be worth the investments?
And also, if I'm them, I'm not super excited about
taking the last seat that's available that's a third or
fourth car for.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Someone and run the risk of not making the race again.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
So my advice to young drivers who have had difficult
first seasons, which Jacob clearly did, is I would take
the indie seat, the best indie seat I could get,
if I could get a good indie seat. And the
reason I say that is, let's look at it's not
really apples and apples, but Stingray Robs had three really
(13:51):
challenging seasons and people are wondering if he's got it.
If he's got it, he's been with three different teams,
with three different engineers. And you know, if Jacob goes
back to dale Coin and struggles just like he did
in twenty twenty five, he's done. Nobody's going to hire him.
(14:11):
So go do an Indy five hundred seat properly and
if you're if you're worth your assault, you'll show that.
I mean, doesn't necessarily have to be a top ten finish,
if you just show well. I just think that that
would be a better way to go than repeating the
struggles you had at Coin and getting labeled or pegged
(14:36):
as the problem, because.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It certainly if it was a repeat that's easy. Here's
the conundrum. I think dale Coin racing will be better
this year, and I think Jacob Abel in that second
seat would do significantly better. It's a little bit of
an uncertain at Indy, but they have Michael Cannon back,
so I think they're going to be better at Indy
(14:59):
in twenty two twenty six.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
You're putting all your eggs and get in basket.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
And here's the other side is that somebody will say, oh,
you're in a Ganassi car. You're in a Ganassi car.
Of course you're going to be good. A lot of
it depends on the money. You know, if it was
all right, you can run the full season for the
same amount of money, which one do you take? I
think I do take the full season to show what
I can do. And what you need is you need
(15:30):
a few moments. You know, you need a top ten
at some point throughout the season, and if you have
seventeen of those chances compared to one, that might be
enough to get you through to the next year. But
it's it's a great debate, and I don't know what
the right answer is.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, I don't either. It's just I fear that, you know,
if he's twenty fourth, twenty fifth and points again, even
if he has a couple of moments. I mean last
year a really good moment, he only had a couple,
and it didn't It didn't translate into well, we need
somebody needs to take a shot at Jacob Able.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So you only say you finish ken than the NY
five hundred. Why are other teams going to think you're
going to be better at road courses if you have
not for twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
If you have not had gets to show that I
get it.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It's a there's no easy answer.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
It's now the easy answer becomes if you've decided, all right,
there's so few seats available, it's.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Just not likely.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So we're going to embark on sportscar racing. But it's
good for business to be involved in the NDY five
hundred because we can find partners to share that cost.
That's where I think the ND five hundred makes a
lot more sense. And you can make a name for
yourself by having a good day and having a two
to three week program. So I say all this having
(17:02):
no idea of Cannassie wants to run a fourth car.
I think they probably would in the right circumstances. But
I just remember thinking the same thing last year. If
the coin seat wasn't available, he had tested Gadassi car,
they had a seat available, Might that be an option
for them? And I think Schip explored it last year
and didn't find the right dollar amount, didn't find the
(17:24):
right driver to decide he wanted to do that. All
the same categories could apply for a devilind Francesco too.
Does he explore trying to do full time? Does he
move on to sports car racing or a little combination
of both. My friend Town's Bell made a pretty nice
career of doing full time sports car racing and the
one race that gets the most attention in Indy Car
(17:45):
the Indy five hundred, and he did that for a decade,
and it can be done, and it can be done well.
Another random thought, and this will take us to Prema.
You know, next question would be, you know, are they
going to be there? No idea. I'm hearing chatter on
this if they go away, and this has been talked
(18:07):
about for the last year. Many owners want firm grid
limits implied, and there's been the thought that we want
to make it harder to get in, We want to
just condense a little bit. But they also want their
charters to have more value, and as long as somebody
can show up and make the races, then it's going
(18:31):
to be hard to sell their charter should they want
to do that, especially if there are twenty five cars
and two open spots where anyone can simply start their
own team and ramp up. So that's been in discussion.
There's also been some chatter if Prema goes away and
we have twenty five and that rule is not enacted, immediately,
(18:54):
and there's still twenty seven spots available for every race
other than the five hundred, then some teams I be
open to running an extra car, either for select events
or maybe in the right circumstance, someone might throw out
an extra car.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You know.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
One theory I had last.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Year wondering what Penske was planning on doing with will
Power when they made him an offer. Was there a
plan a primo went away to just run four cars
for the year.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
That's one of my unanswered mystery questions, which we talked
about last week. So that's out there too, you know.
And there are a few drivers that have some budget
out there. If connor Day doesn't end up in the
coin seat and decide he wants to do more than
the and five hundred, does he talk to other teams
of Prema goes away and say, hey, let's do something
(19:43):
a little more significant five hundred and maybe full season,
maybe something else. So keep an eye on those kind
of things. And I'm not sure how I feel about
limiting it to twenty five and making it being only
for a charter. I understand from the business standpoint, and
if I own the team, I'd be all for that too,
(20:04):
because I want to be able to when I'm done
sell at a major profit and get my investment back.
But that's going to really limit the chances for teams
like Michael Shank when he came on board to dip
their toes in the water and build up towards something.
But I'm less worried about the owners because they could
(20:26):
still get in by doing what Ted Geloff did. I
think that's what the industry is saying, Well, no, if
you don't need to go buy the equipment, just invest
in the team, become a co owner, and then eventually
you can buy someone out, either the team that you're with,
or you could shift gears and buy someone else out
when that becomes available. I'm more concerned about the drivers.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
How do we.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
See the one off chances that often build into something
if they are nothing but full time seats available.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And I wonder.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
We did have two that have advanced from Indie Next
this year, but I don't see there ever being more
than two. And if it's two or nothing, you know,
in past years, we've seen a lot of drivers get
a chance to do one, two, three races and oftentimes
it doesn't pan out. But sometimes it does. Sometimes there's
Paul Tracy does a race with dale Coin and that
(21:27):
leads to an invitation from Roger Penske. Rick Meher started
out in a part time situation. We would not have
seen Colton, Hurda and poddo award in extra seats at
the end of twenty eighteen, so that I think would
be a little bit of a detriments if it is
locked in. So maybe it can just be all right.
(21:49):
If you want to add an extra car, you must
be part of a chartered team. That might be the
compromise there. If you're Andretti and there are twenty five
cars and you have three charters, you would have add
a non chartered car for an events first come, first
serve until we get to twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Your example that's playing out is Formula one. I mean
they have a fixed number of seats and there are
no f twos moving up. I mean they're just isn't
place for them. So you know, there's a prime example
of how that can backfire.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I still would love to see the opportunity like back
in the day when David Hobbs got to do it
one off, when they would put American drivers in the
American races. Why is Poto Award not running in the
Mexican Grand Prix in Formula one? That seems like that
would be good for business. There are the things I've.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Not thought of though that you know they're they're.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Doing pretty well, so I'm not going to tell them
that they're wrong on that front. NASCAR trial, maybe we'll
spend a moment on that. Does it have any impact
on our world? I think most are familiar with. You know,
it was settled between twenty three to eleven racing Denny
Hamlin and Michael Jordan's team and front Row Motorsports settled
(23:06):
right before Roger Penske was going to need to testify.
So that worked out pretty well because I'm going to
guess Roger Penske did not want to testify and my
answer and all of this, and by the way, it
seems clearly like the teams won, so they have permanent charters.
The NASCAR was saying they couldn't make them permanent because
they didn't know what the future television rights deals were
(23:28):
going to look like.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I get that.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Seems like it could have been based on a percentage
of the television revenue, which I'm assuming is what it
is going to be moving forward. And then there's some
other financial things that have not been disclosed and maybe
not even finalized at this point. But what I came
through this is unless this was offered prior to Jordan
(23:51):
and company and rejected, NASCAR aired mightily by going through
all of this process. Just have to cave because all
of their dirty laundry has now aired, and it's going
to be hard for them to regain some relationships and
some trust with some of the people in their garage.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, relationships can be mended, but I think you know,
once you see behind the curtain, then you're in leverage
and you're negotiating ability in some forms take on a
new look. I don't know why it took nine days
of trial. I think that's what it was to get
to it. Just settle. I mean, I think these things
(24:35):
usually settled before the trial starts so that you don't
have to go through that. That was excruciating for Jim Franz,
a man. You know, I've had a chance to know,
and I respect his stance on this, but my goodness,
if you were going to basically give them what they
asked for in the first place, why didn't you do
it day one.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So the only thing they saved was Roger Penske on
the stand. And who else was Kenrick going to have
to testify? There were a couple of prominent owners and
I don't dismiss that as a possibility that because the
problem with Roger would be he's not just there as
a NASCAR team owner. They were going to ask him
(25:15):
about the financials of IndyCar.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And the speedway and everything.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Yes, and he doesn't want that out there. No one does.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
And we now know I don't know we know everything,
but we know an awful lot about the financials of NASCAR,
which takes away a little bit of your neotiating power
in these kind of deals and the costs of everything,
so just baffling and charter prices I hear basically doubled.
So that's something out of that. So that's been good.
(25:46):
Does that impact IndyCar, Well, if they kind of lock
in charters and make it so you must have one
to compete, probably will have a little bit of an
impact there. New IndyCar officiating system was announced last week.
This has been talked about for a little while. New
independent not for profit organization has been established and will
(26:06):
be governed by a three person independent officiating board.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
I think I like this idea.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Marshall Pruet at Racer listed some of the possibilities. Steve Horn,
Derek Walker, Chris Barruby from Chevrolet, Levi Jones recent Indie
Next director, Art Saint Cyr and Ted Klaus from HBD
all have connections, all have relationships in the paddock. The
(26:32):
three people they chose may have some relationships but not
really but they know motorsport ray Evernham, raj Naire, longtime
Ford executive, and Ronan Morgan from the FIA. So from
that standpoint, I think that makes sense that there are
no pre conceived relationships or less likely to be some.
(26:57):
What else do you take from this? What else miss there?
The team owners? Let's let's back up just for a second.
The team owners were given a list of they It
was narrowed down I believe to twelve. Let's pick a number.
Maybe it was fifteen, it doesn't really matter. They were
given a list to choose from, and the team owners
went through a voting process each team owner depending on
(27:20):
how many cars you had. You know, it isn't just okay,
there are eleven team owners. Everybody gets one vote. Now,
if you have a three car team, the way I
understand it, you got you got three votes, and if
you had a two car team, you get to anyway,
put the votes together.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
They went through a couple of rounds and they came
up with three three names or two names the two
that Ray Evernham and the Ford executive that most people
you know wouldn't have a little connection to, or most
of our listeners wouldn't. And then the FIA get got
the third seat. So the FII FIA is represented, which is,
(27:57):
you know, give some of a globe perspective, and then
the three of those will comprise the board, and the
board then will hire the race director, could be Kyle Novak,
could be somebody else that still has not been you know,
decided at least announced, I guess is a better way
(28:18):
of putting it. So it's important to know that the
team owners voted on these these board representation, this board representation,
and so it wasn't you know, Chip Ganassi deciding which
three he wants Mike Hull on the board and it's
going to be you know, a Penske executive, and you know,
(28:40):
there was three people that all the team owners voted
for or two. Excuse me, because the FI took the
got the third seat on the board. So anyway, we'll
see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
The thing for me is I just this is always
it's a perception issue for most people you know who
you know, Who's the reason Penske Entertainment needed to distance
itself from the officiating decisions, so that preferential treatment to
one organization or against another organization, or however you want
(29:14):
to look at it, you know, trying to remove that.
But perception is an individual thing. I mean, your your
perception of how this looks might be different than mine.
Go through one hundred people might be different all the
way through. So it's challenging to know how people receive this.
We're going to have to see a moment that happens
(29:36):
on the racetrack, you know, and then it has to
be adjudicated and we'll see how it goes. And if
people like people's perception is that it was a fair process,
then it was a successful endeavor.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
So Indy car is working a bit with the FIA.
Maybe no coincidence that the licensing points system and the
requirements to get a super license changed announced just about
the same time.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
So what this now means is that.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
It's still forty points, which grant you a super license
if you win the IndyCar Championship and they bumped up
the points beyond that. But if you finished second in IndyCar,
if that was your rookie year, you still don't have
a super license, unless maybe you won the Indy Next
Championship the year before and some other things. But top
three in F two still get forty points, and I
(30:24):
think fourth in F two is thirty, the same as
second in IndyCar. And what this would have done is
it would have I think it would have probably made
Colton Hurta eligible when he was being courted by Alpha
tore in twenty three, and it would have basically made
(30:45):
him eligible for this year.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
He would have had thirty.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Nine, and then they could have done a free practice
one at some point at the end of this season
to get him to the forty. But other than that,
I kind of think this is mah. I think it's
it's also kind of a nothing burger. I'm not sure
what it does for Indy Car other than make it
easier for F one to take their drivers. It does
(31:10):
help a little bit with the lack of respect or
the perception, but this was done because it's good for
Formula One. They want to strengthen their hold on America,
so this gives them the opportunity. If there's someone in
America that they want, they can go grab them and
don't have to worry or have a better chance of
(31:31):
getting them and making sure they have the super license points.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
If someone wants Poto Award, I don't.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Think he does have one, So the ones that have
one are Polo Dixon, Potto McLaughlin that's the only drive.
Kyle kirk wo but does not have one. So this
will increase those chances. If someone says we want Kyle
Kirkwood or whoever else, they can go snatch them.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Well, earlier in this conversation, about fifteen minutes ago, you
were siding with the drivers on a on a separate issue.
If kym Kirkwood or Pod Award or any other driver
in the Indy car Paddock wants to go to Formula one,
I'm supportive. I get it. It may not be good
(32:14):
for a business, it may not be good for our business,
but I'm for the drivers too. And if Alex Pulow
indeed wants to go to Indy five hundred. Why should
the point system keep him from from going. If he
wants to get hired, go great. That's his business decision.
That's that's how I feel. I mean, it's not it's
(32:37):
not good for this sport. I would like to see
him stay. But the Colton Hurda has been eager and
willing to sign a Formula One deal, and this silly
point system is has prohibited him from doing it. That's
what's silly about the whole thing. If Colton wants to
do it, great, I'm all for it. I support Colton.
(32:59):
He's a good young man. He's a great race card driver,
and if he wants to go run Formula One, have
at it.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
I think he's going to be better prepared doing it.
You're n F two, but probably he probably is. He
probably with a brand new team next year as a
brand new driver. I cannot see that going well. I
think it maybe could have gone okay if he would
have gone to Alfati with a more established team in
twenty twenty three, then then he would have had a
chance to compete a little more straight up, I guess
(33:28):
you're always still going to be based with compaired with
your teammate, but say his teammate with Sergio Perez. That's
going to be hard to match Sergio Perez when you
are rookie. And if that's how everything is based. He
did his first test in an F two card. I
wouldn't worry too much about the times. I think he's
a run fifteenth out of twenty, but that's the first time.
We'll see where he goes. But it comes back to
(33:51):
this is not going to be easy. This is not
going to be easy for him to be in the
top five of F two. I think that will be
massively impressive if he can do.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Something like that.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
All Right, we'll get to your tweets and we're going
to try to save some time for burning questions.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Next on track side.
Speaker 5 (34:06):
How this is Scott Dixon and you're listening to trackside
on ninety three to five and one I seven five
the fan okay, rapid fire. Through a few Twitter questions,
McKenzie says, how do you think will Power will do
championship wise? I honestly think we'll see will contending for
the top five and things go right.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
He could be battling Polo.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
So one of my burning questions would be, uh, Power
versus Malucas and the point standings next year. Who you
got who scores more points points? Is it or Power
or is it Melucas? It's Power, I think so too.
I think it's an interesting it's an interesting head to head.
(34:46):
We'll have to see this next question will continue that.
Dan Baker says, over under one point five the number
of Racist Power wins in twenty six. I'll take the
over question. I'll take the over. I think he wins too.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I I think he's going to do really well. Winning
two races is hard. I'm going to say the under,
but I'm going to say he's still fifth or better
in the championship by winning one race. I think will
Power won the championship by winning. I think he won
two races that year. Did he win one? I think
(35:21):
he won one?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
I think will Power is all about consistency. My point being,
I think he can win one race and still have
a great season this year.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
So a great Aeni meeni miney mo.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
I will take one saying I still think will is
going to be top five in the championship.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
The only reason I can test the top five is
you start naming names, and it's pretty tough. It's pretty
tough to stop at four. You know, you got to
know Alex Polo is going to be in there. You know,
Poto Awards going to contend. You know, Scott Dixon is
going to contend. You know, Joseph Neugarten is not going
to have He's not going to be twelve like he
was this year. You know, McLaughlin, Luinguard, Kirkwood. I mean,
(36:09):
you know, you think it gets late early, he gets
you get to five pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Yep, fair enough.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
What are the odds, Jason Lee Burke ass what are
the odds New Garden resigns with Team Penske.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You know, it depends on how the first half of
the season goes. If I mean he did seem genuinely
rejuvenated by winning the last race the season, we'll see
them all. But if he comes out and he's he's
back to what we've expected, and the Team Penske has
(36:45):
some time during the offseason, I think the best thing
that they've had is a few months now to regroup.
You know that they had a massive turnover in May.
They never had a chance to regroup, and having a
few months where they're not racing, you know, build some relationships,
understand roles, they've repositioned some people. Maybe it just feels,
(37:07):
you know, with Joseph and Team Penske moving forward, I
think for Joseph it's going to be does this feel
like the place to be? And it has nothing to
do with you know, does he win the first race
or anything. I think just does he feel does he
feel like he's a part of it. I think that's
how Joseph is going to approach it. I think it's
two parts. I think it's that and results. I think it's.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
One of the fascinating parts of twenty twenty six. What
will Team Penske be? Can they recover from whatever it was? Ninth, eleventh,
and twelfth and it took a win? What did new
Garden finish twelfth? But he was eighteenth or something like
that with a couple of races to go, so we
(37:50):
know they're not that. But do they get back to
having all three cars in the top six or at
least the top the two veteran drivers in the top
five or is this still going to be a process.
We still did not know who is engineering the cars.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
If I would have told you that both Meyer Shank
Racing to your point earlier in the first segment about
Meyer Shank building and building and building, both Meyer Shank
cars finished ahead of all three Penske cars in the standings.
That's unbelievable, Paul jay Ingram fifty six. As wife's retired,
So now we can travel. Is there an official IndyCar
travel club like baseball teams have that has lodging and
(38:32):
other premiums and or planned gatherings for fellow travelers not
local to each track. I don't.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
I try Indycarnation. Yeah, they offer.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I don't know of anything, but I think that'd be
a good business to be in. Maybe maybe you should
put that on your list top five places to go
and you can be the travel director.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Oh no, I've got enough.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I do know that there are some flick the Midwest trips. Yes,
there are some difference, Like Sports Entertainment Travel organizes a
few around the Midwest, but they're not going to.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Do I don't think they do all of them.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
I would try Indcarnation, and I would think that that
might be just kind of a community where they might
share some ideas. Hey, this is where a lot of
people stay and go. From that standpoints Austin Taylor asked
any idea what Sebastian Weldingen is doing in twenty twenty six.
I do not, but even if I did, I wouldn't
(39:28):
say because they haven't announced it yet. I'm not really
in the business of scooping junior level drivers and their plans.
I've not seen his mom in a few months, and
we often chat as racing parents. I would think that
they'd like to continue to try Europe. He had some
success in Italian F four last year, and now that
(39:51):
you know they're supported by Gamebridge and Dan Towers's.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
Company, that they might like to continue that go.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
So maybe something like what you to be British F three,
which is GB three, or maybe British F four, something
along those lines. So he's not I've not seen him
testing over here in USF so my guess is they're
still exploring doing another year in Europe and seeing how
that goes. Lynn Underscore IndyCar has some IndyCar Haiku twenty
(40:21):
twenty five. The Year Polo twenty six Penske celebrating sixty
years in racing. Polo will spoil the party. Merry Christmas,
have a great holiday, and real question is how surprised
were you to see the Sonoco announcement last Friday? Was
cgr A nice looking car, right, Lynn? We double that
that's a great looking car.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Yeah, great looking car. And it's the first time they've
been a full season sponsor since seventy three and it
looks great. And Kiffin Simpson's progress is one of the real,
real pleasant I don't want to call it a surprise.
I mean, I think the surprise is that he's done
this as quickly as he has, but he is if
(41:00):
he takes another jump like that in twenty six, you'll
be really viable in twenty six twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
I think the Simpson family owns a lot of gas
stations at convenience stores, so that might have been a
nice connection to help make that happen. And it's good
business to business. That's how that works. That's how the
investment pays off to where the family is no longer investing.
And Kiffin did his job by being relevant on the
racetrack last year. Andrew Greenan writes, is this a hint
(41:31):
from racer dot com of what the new car could
look like?
Speaker 2 (41:33):
So?
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Marshall Prude has written a couple of stories based on
IndyCar twenty twenty eight, and he shows the graphic here
and you can find that as well. The picture I
see doesn't look that much different than the new car.
My guess is no, that that's just an image. I
think I've had people tell me they've seen projected images and.
Speaker 4 (41:57):
They like the look. But I don't think it's going
to be revolutionary. But it could be wrong.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
I believe I read somewhere Doug Bowl said we may
see images. Maybe that's something we see around the start
of the season.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
We do. We're talking spring now. Yeah, I think that's
what Doug has said. But I don't think that image
is representative yet.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Yeah, I don't think nothing's out there. I've not seen
anything like that. All Right, we ran out of time
for birding questions. But the good thing is bad, then
good Thing season doesn't start at our next show, so
we will still start this in twenty twenty six with
these burning questions that you came up, which what I
thought were very interesting to debate. I'm going to do
(42:42):
some maths how much time we have left in our
final segment and what we missed. Otherwise, Kurt, have a
good Christmas, good holiday, and we'll see you in twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
It'll be great, can't wait?
Speaker 4 (42:52):
All right, stay with us, we'll wrap it up and more.
Next on Trackside, Hi.
Speaker 5 (42:56):
This is Graham ray Hall and you're listening to Trackside
on ninety three five and one oh seven five the fan.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
All right, final segment and what we missed We got
confirmation that Connor Zilich will be in the Rolex twenty four,
the NASCAR star who can drive just about anything. I
suspect he just didn't have the licensing filled out as
why he didn't come out on the original ms of
Rolex twenty four lists last week. That might be the
reason why you don't see James Hinchcliffe's name on that
(43:24):
list jet But he's already been confirmed by the team
to run with FAF Motorsports and the number nine again.
And Zilich will be in the Action Express Cadillact the
number thirty one car. Remember former IndyCar driver Matteas laced
really good in Indie lights and had some success with
AJ Foyd Racing at a time when they just really
(43:45):
weren't having a whole lot really talented driver. He's been
doing a lot of coaching. I've seen him around. I
actually have a run into him in a while, but
I saw he was confirmed today in a Michelin pilot
full season seat in a Porsche for twenty twenty six,
and I forgot to mention this last week. Our friend
Casey Kohler, who's been on the show before. He's been
at Raceway Park and also working with NHRA, is the
(44:10):
vice president of Track Managements for NHRRA. He is now
the president and CEO of U SAX. So congrats to
Casey that starts on January first. He worked at IndyCar
for a while in marketing and back in the day.
I know we've had him on the show in that
role and also had him on the show in his
role with IRP. Kevin Miller, who has been the USAC
(44:33):
president since seven steps into a new role as the
president of ACUS and FIA, so congrats to him as well.
That's it for us. Thank you again for tolerating us
for another year. We are off for the next two
weeks for the holidays. We'll be back on a Wednesday
to start the new year. Wednesday, January seventh, we'll start
talking about IndyCar testing. I think there's a test that
(44:56):
day for at least a couple of cars at Phoenix,
and we'll get into a lot of other things and
probably have some more news by then. Thanks for joining us,
have a good holiday.
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