(upbeat music) Welcome to the Marshall Crew podcast and your week in IndyCar, a listener Q&A show. Been a busy week, y'all, good week. Finally, after having to delay for, I think, maybe a month or more than a month. Shabrel, my wife's CT scan, which really will be getting your report card on how things have been going with chemo. And we've been in for the last five, six months. That was earlier this week, spent overnight in San Francisco. One of my favorite cities in the world. My mom was born there. I lived there for 10 plus years. A lot of those while I was off doing IndyCar racing and coming back to an apartment at the end of the season. But anyways, been a busy week recording this on Halloween. Good old October 31st. So final podcast of the month. And then, yeah, by the time y'all are listening to this, it should be the beginning of November. Sad day, sad end of the month every year. October 27th, birthday for our guy, the late Robin Miller, October 28th, the day my father passed back in 1995. So it is very strange every year to realize I've now spent more of my life alive without him than with him. But nonetheless, definitely old man, Mr. Marshall Pruitt, the original comes to mind heavily here at the end of the month. And then we have here on the 31st, as always, thinking of our guy, the departed Greg Moore, one of truly the most amazing drivers I have ever seen. So anyways, a little bit of a heavy-hearted end of the month. We also lost here Bob Riley, what a little over a week ago. And yeah, knowing Bob's contributions to the sport in general, but IndyCar heavily, right? Not just Indy500 winning designs, coyotes in the hands of AJ Foyt, but also his last design, something that had, I think, one victory. What was it, 2000 or so at Phoenix with Buddy Lazir? They switched to a Delara, but nonetheless, the Riley and Scott, Bob Riley design car certainly has a victory within the new millennia as well. So anyways, yeah, a lot of thoughts about those. We love collectively, or even one that I don't think any of y'all had a chance to meet the original Mr. Pruitt. But nonetheless, about two head to my third. What am I, I don't know what, I know penultimate is next to last, I forget what third to last is, but about to head off to my third to last, motor racing, travel, work-related item here in the morning. I'll tell you about that in just a sec. Time to say a big thank you to our show partners on the Marshall Pruitt podcast, starting with FAFF Technologies. Build to print composites manufacturing company or specializing in medium to large-scale automotive, motorsports and military applications. Visit FAFFtechnologies.com. It's PFAFFtechnologies.com. To learn more about their services and how they can benefit your business. Next, it's the Justice Brothers. Makers of premium additives, lubricants and cleaners, and servicing the automotive and motorsports industries for more than 85 years. The victories in all the biggest North American motor races, including the Indianapolis 500, the 24 hours a Daytona, the Justice Brothers products are truly race proven. Learn about their vast history and range of offerings at justicebrothers.com. If you're fond of awesome motor racing collectibles, including FAFF Motorsports McLaren, Gear and goodies, pay a visit to torontomotorsports.com. And finally, you have a new online merchandise home for the podcast, thepruitstore.com. For all the show stickers, models, racing memorabilia, I'm trying to sell and put towards our fun to buy a house, is now live and rocking, thepruitstore.com. So why don't we get rolling with your questions? Don't have a crazy amount. So I love the idea of having a potentially shorter show, famous last words, I always fail in that. But big thank you as well to our friend, Jerry Sutterth, putting everything together for us. Why don't we get rocking and rolling here? Our Minister of Murth, official Minister of Murth of the entire Marshall Pruit podcast. Lance Snyder says, has anyone given Mark Miles a cookbook for all the Crow, he is devouring. Referring to our guy, Pato award, absolute collision of popularity and love and everything he was hoping for last weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix, getting to do free practice one with the McLaren F1 team. So yeah, spoke with Pato a day or two before he headed down. And he did mention that after a month, month and a half, hour long, it's been two months, I don't know, of Mark Miles inserting his foot in his mouth, talking about Pato and Mexico and not being popular enough there to warrant a race. Pato did tell me that he and Mark had recently, very recently spoken and decided to bury the hatchet. So I don't know if Pato served up some Crow or what, but in theory, even with our guy, Zach Brown, wearing a Pato who hat and Pato wearing one of those hats last weekend. In theory, things have been quieted a bit in terms of Mark Miles and Penske Entertainment having to eat Crow. They are planning to meet up and speak with the promoter for there, the Mexican Grand Prix promoter who looks after promotions for the entire Otto Dromo Hermanos Rodriguez here early in the new year. So potentially, maybe, hopefully this 2026 Mexico race that has been desired may possibly become more than just vaporware and might become something. Steve Grinstead says, "Hope all is well in the Pruitt household." It says, "My question, with Ganesi's announcement this week, where does that leave your racing family show co-host? As far as employment for 2025, referring to our guy, the Chris Wheeler, he's still part of the team. I know he's probably one of a number of folks still waiting to hear exactly what role might be offered for the future, knowing that he was race strategist for Kiffin Simpson last year in the number four entry that Kiffin has moved over to the number eight entry. And so, admittedly, I haven't spoken in detail to Chris about this, but I do know that with Kiffin moving to a different entry, I don't know if he's going to be needed in the race strategist role, but I believe he does a number of things for Ganesi. So hopefully that'll continue there. He also says, "When will I be announcing my return to TV broadcasting with Fox?" I appreciate your poor taste, Steve. But not related to that specifically, but that is indeed what I'm heading off to do, catching a early flight tomorrow, flying out to Daytona to co-host the HSR Historic Sports Car Racing live stream. So I think we're going to be streaming for something like 10 hours live from the classic 24 event at Daytona presented by Mission Foods. So yeah, cool historic sports car racing. And lots of racing on Saturday. And then on Sunday, and then flying home and should be home, I don't know, probably get in 11.30 midnight Sunday night. But yeah, that'll all be presented live with a motion picture and all kinds of good stuff coming from Daytona. And that'll be on IMSA's YouTube page and also HSR's YouTube page. So tune in, it might be fun, funny. It might be a calamity, I don't know. It's very much of a last minute show up and kind of figure it out thing for me. But if you've been involved in racing, you are very aware that that is what happens more than it probably should. So won't be totally out of the realm of norm for me. James Malloy says, "With the news of Ganesi entering "Indie NXT with their lineup there, I have to wonder, "Is this a stopgap to keep people employed "while they wait a year to re-enter IMSA "with a certain brand? "Tell me you've read nothing I've written "or said on the podcast for like the last many months, James, "without saying it." Yes, brother, that is exactly what this is. If you want deeper insights on this, payvisitorizer.com. Written this many times in recent months, said this many times on the podcast as well. This is Ganesi having an amazing crew. They obviously get deployed to open wheel and sports cars, but they're very much a universal tool. Hey, we need you to go here. We need you to go there. Go do this, GTP, come back to Indy, whatever it might be. These are immensely talented folks who can be deployed anywhere. And so this is the best solution they've come up with. Short term to take a lot of their IMSA crew, some of their IndyCar crew from those two entries they shut down and find new things for them to do to keep them busy while they do search for IMSA opportunities. So then there are opportunities, just none of them for 2025. So yep, stop, dap, so leuchon. Frank Gurl says with the technical partnership between Indreddy and Marshank Racing coming to an end, there are any rumors about other teams forming a technical partnership with Indreddy. Some of those teams could really use the help in the technical area, especially with shocks. Yes, wrote a story as well. Frank, racer.com, yet again, that being with Indreddy Global Chief Operating Officer, Rob Edwards, who funnily enough, called me about a half hour ago, turns out it was a butt dial, called him back, didn't answer and texted me, said sorry, butt dial. And I'm like, okay, that's so weird. Anyways, interviewed Rob on this exact topic and said, hey, will you be seeking any new alliances to which you said no. Actually, we're just looking to focus in on ourselves here moving forward. Never say never, could happen in the future maybe, but for now, knowing that they have been trying to become more competitive as a championship contending team from start to finish, I do believe that it's a pretty smart approach. Let's make sure that we are giving our 100% focus and attention on the main team goal before trying to do these other deals that might stretch us a little tiny bit thin. You also say your thoughts about Bob Riley during the October 26th, we can sports cars podcast were so true. It's fortunate enough to be able to work as a draftsman and designer from May of 1997 until February of '98. Condoneses to the Riley family and Riley technologies and also thoughts for you and your wife. Well, thank you, Frank, it's kind of you. Nate Falkowitz, how you doing Nate? This is a note everyone has spoken about. The charter program is a big win for the sport, but do you foresee any potential risks? I do. I'm also many months overdue in finishing an opinion piece that I started in, I don't know, June, July, August, something about, yeah, there's some potential positives, but oh boy, there's maybe as many if not more negatives. He says, for example, it's great that current owners can make money from their charters by selling, but does this make it less likely for new teams to enter? Since they have to, quote, pay to play. Also in the same way that owners can make money if the value of their charter increases, could they also lose money because of this system? So lastly, did the current owners have to buy their charters, all the best to you and your wife? Let's work backwards from here. There was a version of the thought process or whatever you might wanna call it, as the charters were being developed and evolved, where teams would indeed need to pay for their charters. That was floated to the team owners, to which they said bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. All things that, yeah, were bad words and no at the end, and Penske Entertainment backed off of that. So at no cost, these were issued. Keep in mind, Penske Entertainment owns the charters. They issue those to teams. They can indeed be rescinded and yada, yada, yada. These are not actual like permanent deeds to an entry that teams have received. You mention also in the same way that owners make money if their charters increase, could they lose money? Potentially, maybe second generation, third generation of the charter? Keep in mind right now, there was no value that team owners had in their teams other than selling the equipment, and maybe the building, nominal return on investment there. The actual, here's a way to partake in the series through this guaranteed entry from the charter. That's a brand new value they have not had. Not under the modern IndyCar series ownership dynamic. So I don't know if there's a lose money possibility here because they're going from zero value to whatever it might be sold for. There's the other aspect of this too, where seeking investors in the charters, a bit like buying a stock, that is something that is allowed as well. So team X that has a charter, two charters, whatever the number is, decides they want to get out of the sport, cool. They can sell those and prema, or who knows, someone else might buy them and cool. Long as Penske Entertainment agrees, and they get a slice of that, they're in the series. But not everybody wants to sell. Nobody wants to sell right now, to be honest, but there are folks who want to take the money out now, and so that is what is starting to be explored, and maybe even happen. Okay, how do I get you to pay upfront for this? And hopefully indeed on the value part, it goes up. So just make it up a random number. Maybe you come in at five million per charter, great. Who knows, maybe in the future, the value is established to be 10. Well, maybe they can sell their stake to someone for 10 or nine or whatever it might be, and they double their money, and someone else comes, and again, it's all what each team owner is willing to do or interested to do, to try and raise money now, take the money out now, the charters, instead of waiting until whatever they might get, if they were to sell. As for risks or shortcomings, yes. Throw a couple out here quickly, Nate. Feel like I might have mentioned these before, but it would have been a little while ago, and it's looking to the present and future where I think there's a pretty big blind eye being turned. Charter is inclusive of 10 teams, receive 25 charters in total, and there's an allowance in the charter for an 11th non-charter team, that being prima-racing two cars to take part in the series. Got it. So, hey, Dennis Reinbold, you've been an entrant for 25 years. You were full-time there for a number of years, you've pulled back, you've been part-time, you've been indie only, but you are someone who every year, at minimum, shows up with two cars for the Indy 500. No consideration given to him whatsoever, and it has wrinkled him like you wouldn't believe, Nate. Let's look at Henry Malucus. Let's look at Bill Abel. Let's look at any of the other, there aren't many of them, but independent indie NXT team owners. We obviously have Andretti Global that's there, they have an IndyCar team. Chipkinasi Racing is in there right now, et cetera, et cetera. But, hey, Henry Malucus, you provide half of the NXT grid. Nine cars, 10 cars, a crazy amount. Without you, the series would fall on very hard times as it was up until just a couple of years ago. You've been here for three, four, five years, the BN Racing converted into what it is now as HMD, yada, yada, yada, but you've been loyal, you've been consistent, and you have generated champion after champion, and/or front-runners who've made their way, or will be making their way to IndyCar. You know what's included in the charter to give the committed, heavily important NXT team owners, a chance of becoming charter members? Absolutely nothing. That concerns me. So, Dennis Reinbold, you've been here for 25 years as an IndyCar entrant. Sorry, no consideration for you. And, hey, folks who are now heavily invested, Bill Abel, from one car to two cars, now he's gonna be four cars next season. He actually owns two Dolard DW-12 Indy cars. Plan to try and go full-time. Charter thing blew that up, unable to get a motor, that blew things up. Just got asked, Nate, knowing that like drivers in NXT, coming up through the Anderson promotion ladder, the USF Championships, they're all ultimately trying to get to IndyCar. Drivers and team owners, mechanics and engineers and so on, but team owners, there's so often a goal and desire. Ricardo Hunkos, where did he come from? Did he start out as an IndyCar team owner? He did not. Junior Open Wheel is where he cut his teeth. Mike Shank, wanna know the first time I saw and heard a Michael Shank racing, it was him. Competing as a driver, but by-and-large running cars in the old form Atlantic series, right? The second step just behind IndyLights on getting to IndyCar, used to compete against his team as an engineer, otherwise another Atlantic teams. Run through the list, there's a lot of teams here that have pretty serious roots. Chip Ganassi Racing's first big open wheel thing was in IndyLights before IndyCar. Driving home the point here of like, "Hey, charter, great! "We've taken care of the 10 full-time owners in today." What do we need to do for those who've been here three, four, five years, if not longer, at that college ball level helping growing, wanting to get to the big time? No consideration given whatsoever. If you put in three years, five years, whatever it is and consistently enter two, three, four, whatever number of cars, quality cars, here's a pathway for you to become a charter member. Nothing. So that's my greatest concern. I have other concerns, but that's my greatest concern, Nate. We know that the 10 who got the charter, it's fantastic. But what is this going to do to discourage the Maluchases who Henry's abandoned any interest in fielding an IndyCar program, Bill Abel, who's abandoned any real interest, might run the Indy 500 next year with his son Jacob, but they're spending heavily and massively invested in NXT but have been effectively turned away and given no reason to dream about IndyCar being a member of that club. So if the folks who are already in spending heavily and huge contributors are like, I guess, we welcome, what crazy person would try and come in, spend a bunch of money and do that kind of stuff in NXT, USF, championships or otherwise, thinking that they are going to get into IndyCar as a charter guaranteed entry. I know Prem is a bit of an outlier. We have a question about Prem here coming up. I'll get to that in a moment, but I think this is just crazy short-sighted Nate. And since there's no money coming to IndyCar team owners as a result of being in the charter. Only charter members are allowed to buy for the 22 leader circle contracts, which are worth about a million bucks a piece. So that's a new thing, but there's no TV revenue. There's no any other kind of revenue coming back to the teams as a result of signing the charter. Nothing. Just gotta wonder, okay, you've created this exclusive club. You're super protected on your entries everywhere you go except for the Indy 500. Why exactly are we giving new potential team owners no real reason to want to become the next Dennis Ryanbold, Bill Abel or Henry Maluchus. Scratch in my head on that one and have been for a long time. Craig Yerush, you say this may be too much for one question, but as a relative newcomer to IndyCar, could you explain the finances? How much money does the series generate from TV, ticket sales, sponsorship? The teams get any of that and where do they get the rest of their revenue from? There's a series itself actually make money. Great question, Craig answered the, did the teams get any of it? They receive nothing, clarify that a little bit. They do indeed get guaranteed prize money. That's what the leaders circle program is. It was established, I'm forgetting 2005, I think or so. The Holman George family, probably tired of me sharing the story, but I'll do it as quickly as I can. Dynamic back then in the Indy Racing League was one of the big teams are doing all the winning and taking home the lion's share of the prize money. And there were a lot of smaller teams compared to the cart IndyCar series, even champ car, but there was just a greater disparity in smaller amount of big teams in the IRL, kicking super amount of butt and then a bunch of smaller teams. And it was a really significant scenario of the haves beating up on the have-nots taken pretty much all the prize money. There were enough have-nots to say, hey, I mean, this is basically appearance money, right? Like you make up the amount of prize money you give out each year and we're never gonna get bigger, never gonna get better unless there's some sort of socialized way of distributing it. So Holman George family came up with the idea of, okay, we set aside whatever the number is. Outside of the $8,500, I think, 20, 25 million a year. We're just going to divvy that up in equalish million dollar slices. So if you sign the document and promise guarantee that you will show up at every race, you will be getting guaranteed prize money. And so that's the system, that's the program, Craig. And it's been around now for again, 20ish years. The number that they get paid per year has gone up or down a little bit, but it tends to be about a million a year. And it's an interesting concept. So IndyCar still pays prize money to win, but it's like 30 grand. And I realized to you and I, 30 grand is a lot of money, but for an actual purse for a big motor race, it ain't much. So the reason the actual money to win second, third, and whatnot is relatively tiny is because, hey, okay, y'all said you would rather have this money to bank each year and take away, you know, a bit of a spin the wheel of whether you might actually land on the podium and get a real big paycheck. So we're going to hand this out. It's going to come in installments. I think it's quarterly installments. And so that's what teams have been getting for those who qualify for it. The latest for the past while has been teams inside the top 22, the entrance championship. There's only 22 leader circle contracts available. So there you go. That is still coming to teams. It is effectively the annual prize money pool that IndyCar, under former owner, current owner, sets aside and that's split evenly among the 22 who earn leader circle contracts based on their standings and the entrance championship at the end of every season. That's it. Hey, we sold a ton of tickets and we're going to share that with teams. No, hey, we just sold huge new advertising package, new rights holder of this. It's the gain bridge Indy 500. It's the none of that goes to the teams. Could Penske Entertainment take some of that and put it towards that 25 million-ish prize money fund that goes to the teams? Sure, but that's their decision on how they want to populate that leader circle bank account for folks to draw from. But the bottom line here is if IndyCar just sells every single ticket on the planet earth for whichever race, that's not something where any of those profits actually go back to the teams above anything beyond that leader circle. As for how much does IndyCar generate from TV, don't know? It's not a number they've ever shared. Have heard the TV, the annual TV contract was something like, I forget what it was, like 44 million. Take away the production costs as IndyCar provides a lot of the production side as well. And after subtracting what it costs for IndyCar to help with the production, the annual profit from that is in the 25-ish million. So again, does that number line up perfectly with paying leader circle? Maybe, who knows? But as for where do teens get the rest of the revenue, that is something where they for sure are seeking their own sponsors and business-to-business deals to cover that off. As for IndyCar itself, keep in mind, whatever revenue from ticket sales for events that they happen to put on, plus sanction fees, right? I don't know the exact number, but it seems like they're all at least million, million and a half to two million per event that they get, plus the variety of partners that they have, like I mentioned, gainbridge pays to be the presenting sponsor, the new 500, such and such is the official tool, the official this, the official that. These general areas are where the series happen to pull in their money. And then asking to the series make any money, not that I know of. All I've heard Craig since day one was complaints from Penske Entertainment about how much it cost and how much they were losing. And you then say here to close, I recall you saying in a podcast earlier this year that Penske was cutting back on the money they put into the series, made me realize I don't understand the finances. Hence the question. Yeah, the restricting expenditures in as many areas as possible, not all areas, but wherever they can to try and bring things closer to being in the black than in the red has been an initiative since they bought everything. They've also made investments, right? Series wise, but would say the most visible investments we've seen has been at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the grounds there. But yeah, I couldn't tell you if they're truly serious, seriously close to being in the black. Again, I hear anecdotally that they lose 10 to 15 million a year, but can't tell you if that's been improved through 2024. All right, let's get into the last couple of questions here. Tim Hubble says continued prayers and health for you and your family. Thank you, brother. So since it is the off season, how about a fun question? What current or recent driver or team combination would you find to be entertaining? How fun would a Frucci and Grocha a pairing driver, a driver pairing at Ganesi? How much fun would that be to watch? It'd be phenomenal. Here's the thing about Frucci and good old Romaine, Gross Jean, if they were teammates, they would love each other. They really would. They don't know how similar they are. They're both extremely smart. They both have a bit of a bit to a lot of a adjutant chromosome, for sure. They have strong senses of humor, fight like mad, and also are the first to point out whatever the real or perceived injustice might be. So I think these two, it might not happen in one flight or one dinner or whatever, but I actually think the fireworks of these two going after each other, they probably still would as teammates. Don't get me wrong. There is very granted, and neither of them has a fan base that is gonna go too wild on social media, but a Kalamailot, Augustine, Kenapino type thing is definitely possible if these two are teammates, but I actually think they would really come to like each other. So yeah, but at Ganassi, let's keep, we don't want Chip to have to be swallowing like heart medication, like frickin' Skittles. So let's not do that. So it's probably even more fun than a Dario Frankidi paltresi pairing at Team Green back in the day. Yeah, yeah, but those two are different enough to wear, yeah, those two were just hyper-competitive, but just very different personalities. So yeah, Farooch and Groschamp, surprisingly similar, says on a more serious topic to close, what allowing manufacturers to design and build the total hybrid power units within a controlled framework attract more manufacturers. Would it be just too expensive? The energy recovery side of the hybrid for sure. I think that is definitely a place where manufacturers, as long as this wasn't, to your point, allowed to cost a trillion dollars and blow things up, Tim, that is the area where interest lies. I'll put this in a, actually I put it in a draft of a story I'm working on about future eggs and future this, that, and the other, but there's one thing, there's one fact. No auto manufacturer is just falling over to build a brand new internal combustion engine for any form of motor racing. It's just not where the industry is at anymore. Internal combustion engines, crazy important. Gonna be a part of our road cars forever, for a super long time, even though hybridization and electrification is growing year by year, but from a racing standpoint, you just aren't going to find manufacturers fighting each other to be able to build a new internal combustion engine. So the hybrid side of electrification, not the internal combustion side, that is indeed, I think, where the more freedom or creativity within a cost-effective framework, as you mentioned, I think that is the winning formula for IndyCar and any other series that are either currently hybrid or heading that way. Randy Maynard, MP, regarding Michael leaving and Dreddy Global and is quite quickly emptied office. Is it possible the powers that be told and Dreddy Global, they had to drop Michael before they would sign them as a Formula One team? Maybe Cadillac gets the nod with Dreddy Global, but with no Michael or Mario involved? This is another tell me you haven't read anything I've written for the past month or two, or listen to the podcast, brother. Yeah, that was the first and main thing I said, right in the episode, right after this all went down, written the same thing many times on racher.com. That is the main thing I've heard and heard right away. This was not just a random thing of, you know, I'm a little tired and I want to slow down and enjoy life. It was, hey, yeah, if you really do want to make it into F1, both on the GM side and the Liberty Media side, we might need to make some personnel changes here to smooth things over and make this thing possible. So I'm not saying that's a fact. I'm just saying that that's what I've heard from day one with Michael and Dreddy leaving, and I've heard nothing since then to suggest that that is a far out scenario. Go faster, Hank. So has heard anything about young Franco Colopinto jumping the pond? I keep seeing a quote of him quote racing somewhere else as he has not gone in F1 seat and is not keen on being a reserve driver type. It's also said, see you in Arlington. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. Haven't heard anything credible to say that he's headed here. Would say his nationality sure does align with a certain team that has one, if not two seats to fill, could the kid slot into a hunkos hauling a racing car for a year or who knows too, and then go back. Lewis Hamilton and some other drivers sure seem to think this kid deserves, has earned a full time seat in F1. So yeah, not that his type of talent is something that should only be fleeting in IndyCar until he goes back, like he's too good for IndyCar. I think he'd find, yeah. This isn't like the backups that you're driving against here. I think he would be blown away at how tough it is here, but regardless, he certainly has the talent in him going and doing a season of WEC hypercar or something. I mean, that's kind of a go-to, but yeah, I would rather see him over here and that could be a lot of fun. Ryan Greco says, what is the IndyCar equivalent of Freddy Freeman hitting a walk-off Grand Slam in the World Series? And then you say, also go Dodgers, no, don't go Dodgers. Although they won the World Series, come on, man. Bay Area guy, San Francisco Giants. Most heated rivalry of my life is against the Dodgers. So unfortunately, they're also Wheeler's favorite team. So he's celebrating, which, yeah, drives me mad. Anyways, did see that Grand Slam. That was wild in game one. You know, really the main one that comes to mind, and I apologize that I'm forgetting the year. I don't know if it was 2014, '15, '16, whatever it was, but it was Iowa Speedway, our man, Captain America, Ryan Hunter Ray, pitting towards the very end. I forget exactly how many laps were left, but the race was dang near over. Everybody was on super worn tires. There was a caution, and he rolled the big old dice, pitted for fresh tires, went from the front to the back, and then was still able to tear through the field and win the race. It was just this, like, what? And huge, huge thing that no one had really thought to do before he did, and it was cartoonish. How much faster he was. So that's what comes to mind for me. Tim Vaughn, he said, "Do you think Potto is popular in Mexico because of IndyCar, F1 Reserve duties, or shirtless Instagram model fame?" What kind of TV rating does IndyCar get in Mexico? Well, I don't know what the ratings would be in Mexico, but hopefully it'd be really good. I think there's another question. I might've come in after Jerry put the list together here, saying it was reasonable thing to raise. Do we think Potto getting three or 4,000 people to show up at a mall for a KitKat appearance? Is the same as getting whatever 50 to 60,000 people to show up to see him at an IndyCar race? Not necessarily. I'll tell you, though, the crowd at that KitKat thing, I have never seen that kind of crowd for an IndyCar driver in my life. Granted, gotta be honest here, they were there to see an F1 driver. I know that the majority of folks know Potto from his IndyCar stuff, but it is truly doing F1, be it testing, free practice ones, or just being seen in the garage, where his popularity has spiked. But would that translate to a huge crowd just to see him? Interesting times ahead. And I'm not equating the crazy show out at the mall to, oh, well, then naturally there's gonna be packed grandstands in Mexico to see him. But I'd just say this. Looking at how folks reacted to Potto at his home race, and not just at the appearance, but also at the track, there were, it seemed like crazy amounts of Potto fans there as well. There does seem to be a bit of a changing of the guard with Sergio Perez struggling possibly, not even gonna finish the season with Red Bull. I'm not saying Potto has a pathway to get into Formula One, but if Checo is done or close to being done there, Potto even kind of hanging around, doing testing, free practice one, and just being on TV with the team, that all of a sudden thrusts him into the position of the closest thing Mexican Formula One fans have to Mexican Formula One driver. So we'll see where that leads, but I can tell you if that trend keeps going, what I think I'm seeing as a trend, it can only help, right? Doing the full Armanos Rodriguez circuit, I would hope IndyCar would not do that because it's way too big, way too many grandstands. I think they, I forget what they said, seats 120,000 people or 200, whatever, crazy. There's no way on earth, it gets half full. Again, if they were to do 50 with an IndyCar race, I think that would be phenomenal. But hopefully it'd be a shorter abbreviated version of the track. So yeah, not looking small with a bunch of empty grandstands in some of the farther off places. But the F1 stuff is truly where Poto's popularity took off in a big way. I know that 'cause I've had that conversation inquiring about it with the McLaren/Air McLaren team. But yeah, he has built something that IndyCar now clearly believes is worthy of trying to make a Mexican Grand Prix IndyCar event of some sorts happen. And I don't think they'd be doing that if they didn't see the numbers and the metrics to go, yeah, this kid in isolation moves the needle. Lord Fike, you have a question for which I have no answer. Says I'm a fan of Forza Motorsports and learned of IndyCar through previous titles. Says IndyCar's absent from the latest version. Was this a licensing issue with the failed IndyCar game? Is there any hope of a return to Forza Motorsports soon? I don't know, did ask our guy Mark Miles about it. I don't know, month, month and a half to whatever it was. I feel like might have put a story out about it where he said there's no real movement, but we're talking to a couple of people. Next time I have a need to raise this topic, which admittedly is a little bit depressing each time because it seems like the answer is no, we've got nothing. I will indeed ask about this. Can mention when I spoke with Miles about this, I think it was Milwaukee. His immediate response was, are we talking about a standalone IndyCar game? Or what progress we have there? Or IndyCar being available as an option within an existing video game that isn't unique to IndyCar, like a Forza Motorsports or Gran Turismo or similar. So he seemed to at least understand the nuance of those two things. I was truly impressed of like, oh, and he seemed to suggest or his line of question to me, suggested that there either is or will be some sort of IndyCar availability in a larger release, something or other. I think, what is it, a Seto Corsa or something like that? There might be an issue, an option. I'm not totally sure here. So instead of fumbling even more and trying to provide an answer, next time I speak with good old Mark Miles, once he is done digesting crow, I will indeed ask him. Y'all, thanks so much for everything you sent in. I am loving the idea of a show that is 45ish minutes long. So why don't we say thanks once again to Jerry Sedith for putting our questions together without a doubt to our friends at FAFF Technologies, the Justice Brothers in torontomotisports.com. We'll speak to y'all next week. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
