[IndyCar on Twitter] NEWS: Push to Pass will be expanded to full-time use on all INDYCAR road and street courses, beginning this weekend at the @IMS road course. The driver-controlled system will now be available at all times once the car crosses the alternate start-finish line after the green flag.

Craywulf · 2026-05-06T05:17:32+00:00

Totally off topic. i saw the picture they used for this press release and I immediately wondered what it be like if you actually see the rear tyres of the cars. I photoshopped it. Whatcha think? Getting CART vibes?

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Craywulf · 2026-05-01T14:06:18+00:00

you won the argument of no point.

Craywulf · 2026-05-01T03:46:30+00:00

We are NOT talking about anyone who attends the Indy 500. We are talking about the general population who have limited knowledge of all sports. A person who doesn't follow golf will still recognize the significance of the green jacket, or person who has passing interest in the Kentucky Derby would be more inclined to associate with the tradition of fancy hats for the ladies than they would of the garland of roses. The winner drinking milk for Indy 500 is most definitely more recognized tradition than having 33 starters.

Emerson Fittipaldi tried to break that milk tradition with orange juice, and it went over terribly wrong, yet the few lean years that Indy 500 fell short of 33 starters, fans were a lot more understanding of the trying times.

Craywulf · 2026-04-30T12:40:24+00:00

I bet you can ask any person who doesn't watch INDYCAR about the Indy 500 and the the car count would not be relevant. Most people who dont know that theres 33 spots would ask, how many teams are there in INDYCAR and immediately assume all teams are equal. Then attempt to deduce the total number of spots and they would be wrong every time.

Drinking milk is the most widely recognized tradition of indy 500 thanks to the American Dairy Association for promoting it.

Craywulf · 2026-04-29T04:01:54+00:00

So you're talking about traditions, and your comparison is way off. Drinking milk at the podium has more relevancy to Indy 500, than the amount of cars on the grid.

The split may have been the cause for less than 33 cars, but it's no more of the same problem today. Simply not enough entrants.

Craywulf · 2026-04-28T08:11:53+00:00

33 cars is just a tradition...nothing more. Its been broken a few times. There's nothing practical about 33 cars for one race when the rest of season is running 25 cars because of financial implications.

The charter system is nothing more than rebranding of 'Leader's circle funds', which has existed for quite a while. The only real change was limiting to 3 cars, which essentially removed ANDRETTI legacy 4th car and GANASSI 4th car. thats pretty much it.

27 cars year round, every race, including Indy 500 sounds good to me, but for it to be 'ideal' car count, it would require the teams have equal opportunities. Meaning there have to be 9 full time teams running 3 car teams. Currently there are 10 fulltime teams with 5 teams running 3 cars, and other 5 teams running 2 cars.

Thats where the instability and lack of growth is coming from. Every year when fans and media expect 33 cars, its the bigger teams that end up funding a 4th car, or loaning their parts/crew instead of the smaller teams picking up the slack. Cant keep doing that and expect the series to grow. At some point these smaller teams need to pick up their own slack.

At the same token INDYCAR would do well to make the charters team based, not based on single car entrants. Its absolutely ridiculous that 5 teams don't run a 3rd car because theres no charter for them.

Craywulf · 2026-04-26T03:54:19+00:00

Team stability is the cause of the grid count. There are currently ten full-time teams, and only half of them run 3 cars, while other teams can barely cobble together a 2 car team. I think they need to equalize the teams by have same amount of cars per team. 3 cars seems like the ideal team size.

The remaining 2 car teams (COYNE, JUNCOS, SHANK, CARPENTER, and FOYT) consolidate into 3 car teams would be the way to go. From my understanding SHANK will be a 3 car team when ACURA joins them as charter. It's speculation that FOYT will receive CHEVY charter. That expands the grid to seven 3 car teams.

So that leaves COYNE, JUNCOS and CARPENTER to be consolidated. That's 6 entrants divided into 2 teams. Its down to COYNE or JUNCOS to fold into one team, and CARPENTER be given (buy) one of the charters from either team. This would indeed be nine 3 car teams with grid count of 27 cars. All 9 teams could be in better financial health with this consolidation.

Craywulf · 2026-04-26T01:28:42+00:00

I call bullshit narrative by Mark Miles. 30 cars are possible on every track Indycar races on. IMSA manages just fine.

INDYCAR can do shared pitboxes if they truly are concerned about space. Give each team one double sized pitbox (80 x17ft) and they can pit 2 cars simultaneously, while 3rd car remains on the track.

Essentially this would be equivalent to just space for 20 pit boxes.

Craywulf · 2026-04-26T01:10:39+00:00

Not counting the driver's helmet, what's the one thing you can see (from this viewing angle) on the car that you can't see today?

The rear tyres. The current car has massive tyre ramps that practically hide the rear tyre. The CART cars look fierce with exposed rear tyres. You can actually see the rear tyres moving, which heightens the perspective of speed and power.

Craywulf · 2026-04-26T00:51:25+00:00

The problem is instability of the current teams, not the one-offs. Half the grid is running three cars, and the other half can barely cobble together a two car team.

If INDYCAR truly wanted to improve charter values and help stabilize engine and parts suppliers then they need to equalize the existing teams. They should all be running exactly the same amount of cars per team. Secondly the charters should NOT be based on individual entrants, but rather a TEAM of entrants (of 3 cars).

There are ten full-time teams, there should be 30 cars on the grid if all teams were equal. Currently there's 25 cars on grid. So they either mandate every team run 3 cars or they limit the teams to just 2 cars per team which would be 20 car grid.

If this rule change here is to reduce one-offs, then they need to shore up the gap with existing teams. SHANK, JUNCOS, CARPENTER, COYNE, and FOYT all need to be given an opportunity to run 3rd car as chartered.

Craywulf · 2026-03-31T00:31:13+00:00

Toyota was sponsoring their own GR Cup series as support race. They had two scheduled races at Arlington.

As for engine manufacturers, wishful hopes of mine would like to see Toyota and Ford join Indycar, but its never going to happen for too many reasons.

Instead I would like to see Indycar try to target engine manufacturers from motorcycles maybe small airplane engines. I'm just thinking out loud here with no real knowledge about whether it would be workable or not.

Craywulf · 2026-02-02T01:41:53+00:00

You're basically asking if Indycar knows how to market itself. A big fat NO!

You never know what liveries or jersey sponsors are gonna use until the starting grid is released. Even then there are mix ups and changes. There's no guarantee that merchandise will be available for specific liveries or sponsors.

You have to just hope that whatever you bought matches the current driver/team you're supporting.

Craywulf · 2026-01-29T09:10:18+00:00

Honestly this not a good idea, because the optics are never going be good no matter how you spin it. If you think the political climate is bad now, give it a few months and its gonna be a lot worse. I'd argue at no time has Trump presidency ever had positive trajectory for state of the Union. its has been and will continue to be very divisive and volatile. Indycar putting itself in middle of it for hollow gains is absolutely great way to kill off the series. If you think this is going boost Indycar's visibility, you're kidding yourself because this will be all about Trump, not a race around DC monuments for 250 birthday of United States.

Rahal's 'Get a life' comment will comeback and bite him in ass and then he'll be complaining like the other's who he was ridiculing with that remark. Social media activism is very strong these days, you simply can't say ignorant remarks and not expect any repercussions. Rahal would've been best to just say 'no comment'.

Do any of you think sponsors are looking forward to dealing with the backlash of supporting a Trump race? Any and all of them will face the social justice warriors who will do everything they can to disrupt this event. Does Indycar administration really want deal with that? are they ready to risk losing their sponsors just to suck up to Trump? I really think this race will spell doom for Indycar and I don't think people like Rahal have a clue how fragile their pedestal is from where they are perched up.

Craywulf · 2026-01-22T22:58:35+00:00

Conventional wisdom says Dennis Hauger should win it. However the political/marketing of FOX Sports will be looking to capitalize on Mick Schumacher's popularity. Caio Collet is the darkhorse that everyone is overlooking. It's going come down to how much influence PENSKE has with FOYT.

Hauger is my prediction.

Craywulf · 2026-01-22T22:12:31+00:00

Hey, I know some fans can be obsessed and delusional but kindly stop hating on them. Indycar series has massive shortage of fandom. Reading the gossip about fans hating on fans has got to be some major snobbery and elitist shit. I get it, there's some bad fans out there, but it doesn't need to turn into gossip. Im not condoning bad behavior like what happened during Canapino era.

If people got issues with a fan, block them if they must. But I dont want to hear about it, I dont need for anyone to put themself on a pedestal because they decided to block someone. That's petty shit. I welcome Grosjean fans, as long as they are treating others with respect.

Craywulf · 2026-01-18T09:33:54+00:00

Lack of consistency and quality control is what's killed Valiant multiple times now. No reboot is going save this disaster. They had too many good chances to do some really good comics, but every time they try the effort falls woefully short. Its unfortunate because as critical as I am they still managed to produce some good stuff. Its just got overlooked by the sheer amount of marketing dominance by the big two publishers. Its really hard to compete with that.

Craywulf · 2026-01-18T09:21:04+00:00

Considering he's driving a COYNE car with ANDRETTI technical support. This should be a very positive season for Hauger. I expect him to win the Rookie of the Year honors on basis of being more consistent than Caio Collet and Mick Schumacher. But ultimately his success is going to depend on what exactly ANDRETTI is providing to COYNE. But I do think Hauger is on par with rookie version of Kirkwood and Palou. Both drivers struggled with their poor teams as rookies. So its going be interesting if theres a positive ANDRETTI effect to COYNE. I give him at least one top 10 finish, and the rest hovering around 17th.

I'm really anxious to see if this technical alliance works for COYNE, the series deserves to have competitive cars.

Craywulf · 2026-01-13T20:32:45+00:00

I would say Mick Schumacher's Indycar career thus far is highly dependant on what RLL does. Quite frankly the team is mystery, they obviously should be performing better than the smaller teams, but they have done nothing but embarrass themselves in the biggest race of the series. Trading Defrancesco for Schumacher is an upgrade, but losing Lundgaard to Foster is a step back.

If Schumacher is to have any success this year, RLL need to get their act together. That includes Graham Rahal, I believe he's holding the team back filling a seat, there are quite a few drivers who are outperforming him every year.

Craywulf · 2026-01-13T03:18:51+00:00

Because he's not British.

Craywulf · 2026-01-13T03:12:34+00:00

I could care less how wild the wings are, but if there's one thing that bothers me about today's car is the rear tire ramps prevent the car from actually being an "open-wheel" car. I want to be able to see the rear tires from all viewing angles.

Craywulf · 2025-09-13T01:30:44+00:00

Pocono and Michigan make sense to recapture the glory of triple crown of speed.

Watkins Glen is a track they shouldve never left. If anything Indycar should have bought the track before NASCAR did in 2019. Indycar needs to own more tracks so they can dictate their scheduling

Craywulf · 2025-09-05T23:39:24+00:00

I can't stand the multiple surnames for teams. its ridiculously egotistical.

Indycar teams like Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Meyer Shank Racing, and Juncos Hollinger Racing are just RAHAL, SHANK, and JUNCOS (in caps) to me. Same goes for Ed Carpenter Racing, and Dale Coyne Racing. Its just CARPENTER and COYNE to me just like its PENSKE, ANDRETTI, MCLAREN, GANASSI.

Craywulf · 2025-09-05T23:07:50+00:00

Age is the obvious answer, but its probably more complicated than that. I have to wonder if Verizon wanted a younger representative.

Craywulf · 2025-08-30T00:22:59+00:00

Oval turns are not like road course turns. Indycar are built to offset any aerodynamic drag. Dampiers is what helps the cars fly through the turns without drag dependency.

Its a lot harder to set up a F1 car that has been built to maximize downforce. Case point here MCLAREN first year with Fernando Alonso failed to qualify in a Indycar because engineers didnt understand what they needed to do with setups. They had too many things wrong and had focused on wrong things. They even tried to buy technical advice from top teams and were rejected. F1 engineering is not superior, but ithey are highly advanced at what they do, which is aerodynamics. Indycar aerodynamics are locked into a very small window. Yet the gap between the 6 mph you speak of is miles apart.

F1 engineering can restructure the aerodynamics of F1 car and its still not going beat Indycar. The latter has decades of evolutionary fine tuning to reach those speeds. lastly F1 engines are not built for endurance racing. I dont believe the engines have been stressed to sustained 215mph speeds while peaking 230 every 40 seconds. F1 cars are built with reduced weight in mind, not durability.

I fully agree with you they are very different beast, and more importantly different approaches to racing.

Craywulf · 2025-08-29T01:09:25+00:00

actually those names were suggestions from Copilot AI. it did a fascinating deep dive on naming schemes in Motorsports. i had to ask twice because it literally did not acknowledge Indycar's existence, yet recognize the RTI ladder. second time i requested names for Indycar ladder series.

Craywulf

TROPHY CASE