The RACER Mailbag, November 27

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: I know it sounds fickle, but after watching Formula 1 fumble all over itself to suddenly talk to General Motors now that Michael Andretti has stepped down, I would love to see a total power move from GM once negotiations are complete: “After careful consideration we have decided Formula 1 would not bring enough value to the General Motors brand to warrant the upheaval of its addition to the series.” Third supplier in IndyCar engines instead? Brad, Seattle MARSHALL PRUETT: I’ve heard the GM-to-IndyCar rumor since 2010 but can’t find any evidence that says it will happen. Fingers crossed. Q: The announcement that Wayne Taylor Racing will operate the Cadillac GTP program in IMSA for 2025 did not mention Andretti Global as a partner. The RACER.com article noted that Wayne Taylor said the team name was changed from WTRAndretti to WTR at the request of Cadillac. Is Andretti Global still involved? Seems like there is more to this when a significant partner’s name is removed from the team name. What is the latest beyond-the-scenes developments with Andretti Global/Cadillac’s efforts to get into F1? Is the Andretti Global F1 facility really continuing to staff up and work on a 2026 car? I have read speculation that with both Michael Andretti and Greg Maffei out of their respective roles, along with the US Dept. of Justice investigation proceeding, that there may be a compromise in the works to allow an 11th team on the grid. Comments attributed to Mario Andretti and Eddie Jordan recently imply something is in the works sooner rather than later. David, Danville, CA MP: You sent this prior to Monday’s formal confirmation of the Cadillac F1 program being accepted for 2026, but as I wrote in the first Mailbag after Michael was uninstalled at his own team, all of my sources positioned this as a high-level move to weed out the problematic aspects of Cadillac’s efforts to reach F1. Liberty Media had major issues with the Andretti. And General Motors, as I was told, also took issue — far too much drama and public-facing instability for its liking — and an initiative to move forward without the Michael Andretti distractions was hatched to get Cadillac into that 11th F1 entry slot. Everything we’ve seen since then has fallen in line with what those sources spelled out in September because that’s precisely what’s been unveiled. We also noted how, in everything prior to Michael’s exit, the F1 team was presented as Andretti+Cadillac, and how in a post-Michael world, the new positioning was of Cadillac as the entrant, minus the Andretti name. But that never meant the Andretti team went away. Think of the Sauber F1 team, which went by Sauber or some version of Sauber forever, and how it fell back and renamed itself Alfa Romeo Racing from 2019-2023. We all knew it was Sauber making the cars and running the team, but it was presented as Alfa. That’s what is taking place with the removal of Andretti from the now-it’s-Cadillac-F1 routine. On the WTR side, Andretti Global is involved, but mostly by name through ownership of WTR instead of being intermingled in the team’s daily activities. Andretti applied a significant layer of oversight and involvement in their first season together in 2023, and the outcome was far from harmonious. Andretti pulled back and let WTR be WTR in 2024, which was tons better, and that’s the way it will likely stay. Despite being excellent in sports cars for a brief period from 2007-2008 in the former American Le Mans Series, Andretti Global are not experts in IMSA or hybrid GTPs, whereas WTR are among the best, making the recent shift towards being a standalone operation a smart one by its parent company. Q: I’ve been to the Roush Automotive Collection a couple of times whenever there was an open house when NASCAR came to Michigan. There’s a Whistler Mercury Cougar IMSA GTO car, and close by is Tommy Kendall’s All Sport Mustang that he raced in Trans Am. Just by looking at the bodies, it seems to me the IMSA GTO and Trans Am cars from the late ’80s and early ’90s look pretty similar. What are the similarities and differences between IMSA GTO and Trans Am from that era, and could cars from those rivaling sanctioning bodies compete in both series? Brandon Karsten MP: Roush routinely rebodied his Bob Riley-designed tubeframe Ford/Lincoln Mercury/Merkur GTO and Trans Am cars to use in both series. Engine displacement and configuration were the main differentiators, but the cars — minus paint and stickers — were largely identical. Q: On your podcast two weeks ago you said that when a new chassis comes out there will be only 25 cars, not 27 like IndyCar has now. Why is that, and which teams will lose a car? Paul, Indianapolis MP: It’s not official, but every team owner I’ve spoken with regarding charters has said at some point that they expect the release of new cars to coincide with Penske Entertainment trimming the field from a max of 27 cars to 25. As for where the two deleted cars would come from, there’s no answer, since it hasn’t been formally adopted. But I’d start with the three-car teams (Andretti, Ganassi, McLaren, RLL, and Penske) as the first candidates to cull one car. The other option to address is whether version 2.0 of the charter, assuming the 25-car limit is implemented, would allow more non-charter entries to try and qualify for those 25 spots. Would one of those three-car teams trim to two chartered cars and try and bump their way into the races with a third and newly unchartered car, provided it was allowed? Q: Good on FOX for not only getting one of their more popular personalities into the 500 Pace Car, but also using a good chunk of prime NFL pregame show to announce it to the noon Sunday NFL audience. Now, maybe Strahan could have been better informed about some of the details of the job ahead of him, but to have Will Power’s car and the pace car there in the studio with them and to spend that much time on it – these are good signs. Aitch, Richmond, VA MP: It’s the latest example of how the FOX deal is the biggest achievement by Penske Entertainment since it bought the series. The NFL pre-game show on FOX is sponsored by Verizon, so using Power’s Verizon-sponsored car during the shoot was a smart and obvious choice. But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t tell you that in a paddock that is always on high alert for things that could be a conflict of interest in a series owned by Penske where Penske also competes, not every reaction to this has been positive. A call from one person asked why Penske was using the opportunity to benefit himself with one of his cars on a big nationally-televised show, instead of helping one of the other IndyCar teams — possibly one that isn’t as financially secure — to use the hit to land a sizable sponsor. I can see how Penske-helping-Penske was the takeaway for some, and if the show wasn’t sponsored by Verizon, I’d likely agree. But this made sense to me, so I don’t agree.