Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.
Q: Where would you put Alex Palou at this point in his career versus the all-time greats? Winning three championships in his first five seasons must be up there with anybody, yes?
Randy, Milwaukee
MARSHALL PRUETT: There are only five human beings in the 100-plus years of IndyCar history to win more championships than Alex Palou. Let that sink in for a moment. And then consider he’s rocketed up that all-time list in five seasons; the guy arrived at Dale Coyne Racing in 2020, became a champ as a sophomore, had an off-year as a junior with the self-induced contractual distractions, then settled in and has added back-to-back titles.
He has 13 wins so far; next on his list to overtake with between 14-17 wins are Tom Sneva, Simon Pagenaud, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Zanardi, Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Jimmy Murphy and Danny Sullivan. It’s another “let that sink in” scenario.
He reminds me of peak Dario Franchitti and Jimmie Johnson. Just clinical. Makes the best of a great supporting cast, and he’s taken the Franchitti School of Winning IndyCar Championships course to heart. Murders the field, including teammate Scott Dixon — the modern master of Franchitti’s formula — with cold point-scoring efficiency through podium appearances.
He manages risk-vs-reward better than any of his rivals, which is reinforced by standing on the podium 34 times so far in 84 races. That’s 40 percent, which is ridiculous.
Palou won’t be mistaken for IndyCar’s “fastest” driver with just six poles, but there’s no trophy, ring, and million-dollar prize given to the annual king of IndyCar lap times. He’s IndyCar’s “Mr. Sunday” because that’s where he does his best work.
Crazily enough, he’s done all of this without a single oval win. He’s been on pole at the 500, and been on the podium on other ovals, so the talent is there and he’ll get some wins. His Indy record is something to admire; on debut with Coyne it didn’t go well, finishing 28th, but since then, it’s been a second, a ninth, a fourth, and a fifth. Four straight top 10 finishes at the Indy 500 answers whether he’s got what it takes to become an all-around great.
Once he starts to solve that oval victory puzzle, we’ll have a reason to debate where he belongs in the bigger conversation about all-time talents, but it would be premature to go there before he’s aced the oval side of IndyCar’s multi-discipline challenge.
Q: I see the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) is now being shown live in America on the RACER Network.
I know most of your audience is mainly U.S. motorsport-focused (and F1 these days) but I highly recommend they check it out. The first round at Donington was brilliant! Branch Hatch Indy course next.
As much as I love the series, I do think it is stuck a bit in the past from a media standpoint so I hope this deal means you can bring your wonderful reporting skills to the sport and share this great sport to a fresh new audience.
Dan Mayhew, UK
MP: The BTCC was what drew me to the SPEED Channel in the 1990s. Once the channel turned into an endless rotation of “Pinks!” (SPEED’s equivalent of Ridiculousness), it lost some charm, but there was a decent volume of unique international racing to be found. Can’t wait to see how the RACER Network might evolve.
If the Franchitti School of Winning IndyCar Championships had an app, you just know that Palou would be on that thing constantly. Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Q: After reading all the complaints and thoughts about early-season viewing of IndyCar, both good and bad, I have one suggestion.
FOX did a great job of pimping the series. The ads for the three drivers were entertaining, funny and would have made me watch, even if I weren’t a lifelong IndyCar fan. But they promised speed and made the racing look fast, frenetic and dangerous. The first three races delivered little of that. I suggest that IndyCar add an oval in the first two or three rounds. I know those tracks are harder to find and apparently harder to draw fans to than a street course, but other than creating accidents (normally) street courses are notorious for offering less passing.
You recently mentioned Phoenix again, and I’m not pushing any one oval, but let’s find something that allows side-by-side racing and passing and shows off the speed of IndyCars earlier than the Indy 500. I know this would have to be a West Coast or Southern track, but let’s get it done Mr. Penske and crew.
P.S.: From a scheduling standpoint this past Sunday, April 27 would have been a great date for a race (Barber?) instead of packing so much into early May. Oh, and F1 is in Miami on the same day as Barber. Horrible timing for viewership!
Mark, Milwaukee
MP: If the mostly boring start to the season has proven anything, it’s that Penske Entertainment needs to take a finer look at how it structures its IndyCar seasons. There’s more scrutiny placed today on providing entertaining races than I can previously recall, and that’s where being intentional in laying out the calendar to include one or more ovals prior to Indy would be wise.
It’s not always as easy as it sounds; Penske doesn’t own any ovals other than IMS, and therefore needs to rely on the interest of others to hold a pre-500 event or two on an oval.
Circling back to your point, with all of the FOX hype, which was built upon the anticipation of many compelling seasons leading into 2025, a more deliberate schedule with early races that hold a higher likelihood of matching the hype would be a wise move.
As for your final point, we’ll get a good look at how both series fare on network TV without going head-to-head. IndyCar goes first on FOX and shortly after the checkered flag, F1 fires off on ABC. Not sure how that’s horrible.
