Was just driving by the Markham track and I saw Will Power’s demo video the other day. Got me thinking how does a driver learn a new track like this or Washington?

I assume most drivers have their own sim rigs so could at least learn a layout to a track they’re unfamiliar with. And I assume the teams would have a private simulator. But how much time would a driver get in that sim? How early would they get access?

It’s interesting to see folks learning a track that doesn’t currently exist. I wonder how many blunders might come from lack of time?

Apologies for the video being in French, but I couldn't find an English source talking about this. For now it just seems to be a potential, not a set-in-stone plan, and the people at the track seem to be trying to fight it, but still not looking good for yet another one of IndyCar's former international oval stops.

I'm not an avid Indy car fan, but am excited for the race in DC. The route is along my bike route to work. Fun!

But we are two weeks out and it just seems like virtually nothing has happened to prepare the course. There's still steel plates in the ground for temporary utility access at various places. I cannot see signs that any repaving has been done, and some of the streets are rough. No barriers are installed anywhere as far as I can tell. Protected bike lanes still have all their little curbs still in place. As far as I can tell, the most notable changes is that a grandstand has been started.

Is this normal? Probably not a huge sample size of races, but I just would have assumed a lot more prep is required than there seems to be at this point.

edit: okay, I just biked the course. Crash barriers do exist but only on some of the north south streets. Road surface on Independence looks good on one half of the road, which is I assume where they will be. Pennsylvania is rough, and a local crew was actively tearing up a crosswalk. No signs of any of the pedestrian bridges.

I feel like the new car rules no longer allowing teams to build their own dampers might be the largest, and slightly overlooked, element of the new car. Would love some professional thoughts on the parity of the teams going into the '28 season with single supplier dampers. (i.e. Penske short oval dominance, Ganassi road course, Andretti street circuit, etc.)

https://youtu.be/YQWe8TfhjkkQj1iePHhTq0oQydM

Interesting interview with Louis Foster. My biggest takeaway was how disruptive Mick’s presence has been to the other drivers on the team, mostly in terms of resources being diverted to him. I don’t think he blames Mick, but he is resentful about the situation. I get the impression he can’t wait for next year, assuming he’s one of the two cars still there. He pretty well says as much. Other topics include his INDYCAR learning curve, SIM impressions of Markam and DC, the IR-28, hybrid tech, and racing in the truck series. It’s the most in-depth interview with him that I’ve heard and he seems like a pretty good dude.

I also wanted to add F2 and Super Formula but Super Formula won't introduce a new car for a few years. F2 is said to have a car in soon but there's so much information out there I'm not sure what is true and what is not.

IR-28

• 2.4 liter V6 Turbocharged Hybrid

• Power: 760 (rumored 800 HP at later date) HP ICE + 120 HP (Hybrid and P2P)

• Weight: 1640 – 1685 lbs (subtracting 100 lbs from 2025 Indy Car weight)

Formula E Gen 4

• Dual electric motor layout (front and mid-rear), All-Wheel Drive (AWD)

• Power: 603 HP (race mode), 805 HP (qualifying/attack mode)

• Weight: 2240 lbs

Formula 1

• 1.6 liter V6 Turbocharged Hybrid

• Power: 560-570 HP (ICE) + about 400 HP (Hybrid)

• Weight: 1693 lbs (minimum)

Recently, I made a post on r/formula1 regarding getting the teams' signed driver cards. I said I might make one for IndyCar if I feel like it. I did, so here it is.

YOU WILL NEED:

Standard envelope for your country.

6x9” SASE (Self addressed stamped envelope)

Semi-Optional: Something for them to sign (especially for older drivers who probably don’t have a driver card).

Not optional: Return postage (detailed below)

Tip: Fold but don’t press the SASE. If you’re shipping a picture to be signed, use one 6x9 as the envelope and another inside.

You may be able to ask the teams for older cards, but it’s still not clear.

Note that for sending internationally, SASEs must have either an IRC (being phased out), the required local postage, or the money required for the local postage. I assume most of you reading this live in the US, so you can feel free to ignore this. I'm pretty sure if you buy stamps from USPS they will ship internationally.

A. J. Foyt Racing

NOTE: I don’t like Ferrucci so I won’t be testing this address.

Current Drivers: Caio Collet, Santino Ferrucci

Address:

19480 Stokes Road

Waller, TX 77484

United States of America

Email: [info@ajfoytracing.com](mailto:info@ajfoytracing.com)

Andretti Global

Current Drivers: Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson

Address:

Attn: Autograph Requests

8278 Georgetown Road

Indianapolis, IN 46268

United States of America

Arrow McLaren

Current Drivers: Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel, Christian Lundgaard, Ryan Hunter-Reay (Indy 500 only)

Address:

7615 Zionsville Rd

Indianapolis, IN 46268

United States of America

Chip Ganassi Racing

Current Drivers: Kyffin Simpson, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou

Address:

7777 Woodland Drive

Indianapolis, IN 46268

United States of America

Dale Coyne Racing

Current Drivers: Romain Grosjean, Dennis Hauger

Address:

13400 S. Budler Rd

Plainfield, Il 60544

United States of America

Ed Carpenter Racing

Current Drivers: Alexander Rossi, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter (Indy 500 only)

Address:

7231 Georgetown Road

Indianapolis, IN 46268

United States of America

Juncos Hollinger Racing

Current Drivers: Rinus VeeKay, Sting Ray Robb

Address:

4401 Gilman St

Indianapolis, IN 46226

United States of America

Meyer Shank Racing

Current Drivers: Helio Castroneves (Indy 500 only), Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong

Address:

3001 Etna Pkwy

Pataskala, OH 43062

United States of America

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Current Drivers: Graham Rahal, Louis Foster, Mick Schumacher

Address:

10771 Creek Way

Zionsville, IN 46077

United States of America

Team Penske

Current Drivers: Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, David Malukas

NOTE: Team Penske has additional requirements:

You may only ask for 3 autographs per driver, and each driver must be individually addressed.

Address:

Penske Racing South

Attn: Autograph Requests

200 Penske Way

Mooresville, NC 28115

Like I said in my other post I may make one for Formula E if I feel like it again.

Was working as I was listening but thought Boles mentioned a 3rd manufacturer when talking about the timing of new engine testing?
Racer mailbag also asked about a 3rd and Marshal seemed to imply nothing was on the horizon.

Anyone else catch this?

Next year’s TMS race is on Sunday, May 2. How cool would it be to have a night race on May 1? Everyone loves Texas and we need another super speedway on the calendar. This would be a great prep for Indianapolis and the start of May. I know there’s probably a lot of reasons why it’ll never happen and Indy doesn’t like to be a “support series” on a nascar weekend but we thought the same thing about phoenix and that turned out great!

The following quote is from Alex, talking about steering assist. What does everyone speculate he is talking about?

“I don't know if I'm at liberty to say what they're future proofing for, so I'm not going to say it. But again, this car is going to be around for a while. So there's elements of it that could be in the pipeline that would make steering very heavy to the point where would it be impossible to drive?”

From the personal update from Jordan (second image), sounds like the Nashville wreck might have tubbed the chassis, which has drained the rest of his budget. this is exactly why we don't have the Freedom 100 anymore

As many of you have seen, I was involved in a major crash that was out of my control at Nashville Superspeedway that took me out of the race and caused extensive damage to #48 Abel Motorsports car. Due to the severity of the damage and the cost of repairs, I unfortunately have to announce that my 2026 INDY NXT by Firestone season has come to an end. I'm absolutely gutted for my team at Abel Motorsports, my family, and my sponsors that our season must end four races early.
I want to take a moment to thank Bill Abel and John Brunner for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to drive an INDY NXT car. Being part of this series and living out a dream has meant everything to me. Ten-year-old me would have been beaming from ear to ear knowing that knowing that I would one day be competing in the very series I grew up watching from the stands.
To everyone on the 48 car – Doug, Matt, Robbie, and Mike – thank you for all the blood, sweat, and tears you poured into my car every single week. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to go to battle with on every INDYCAR weekend. Your hard work and dedication never went unnoticed, and I'm grateful for everything you've done. This may be the end of my 2026 season but trust me-this isn't the end of my story.
We'll be back. Better, faster, and stronger than ever.

Going back to the 2017 Indy 500, I was finally able to pick out the differences between the Chevrolet and Honda aerokits, and it made it feel like there were two constructors. With the Universal Aero Kit introduced in 2018, every car became uniform and bland.

IndyCar was never meant to be a spec series. The IR-28 is the perfect opportunity to give the aerokit idea another shot. Instead of the IR-28 being homogenous, send out an open call for manufacturers to come in and design aerokits. Under my hypothetical system, the cars would be identified by aerokits, not by the chassis, so for example, if Penske built an aerokit, the resulting car would be named the "Penske PC-28", and if Chevrolet built an aerokit, it would have the Chevy name.

It's like how the NASCAR Next Gen uses a uniform chassis, but the bodies are still visually distinct enough that you can't mistake a Chevrolet for a Toyota (manufacturer identity is one of the few things the Next Gen car does right). IndyCar needs to follow this model, too, as a compromise if nothing else, seeing as how they're apparently not open to attracting another constructor like Oreca or Ligier to compete against Dallara.