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[champagnepodiums]

hii there!! idk if you're still answering questions but i'm new to indycar and i have been LOVVINGG it!! it's so fresh and new, it's genuinely refreshing to see a series so authentic and genuine if that makes sense lolz

and throughout my time into indy, i've constantly heard about the late dan wheldon. i'm a curious person so i try to find out more about him and what he was like, because the way people talk about him makes my heart twist, he seems like an amazing guy. but everytime i search about him, all it shows up is his fatal crash, it's as if that's the only thing about him... :(

i know there's a hbo docu about him but i wanna know more about him through a fan perspective. could you help me?? thank you sooo much in advance. hope this isn't too much of a question to ask. :))

OH YES I am always around and willing to answer questions (to the best of my ability!)

so Dan Wheldon was before my time (I remember his death though, it honestly scared me away from IndyCar for a long time actually). but I asked my friend Zoeey and she told me this:

"Honestly he was just a genuinely nice guy. Like yeah, he probably had undiagnosed OCD which made him easy pickings for Dario, Bryan and Tony when they were teammates but no one had anything bad to say about him. And always had time for fans." She cited this anecdote from his public Memorial service to exemplify the type of person Dan was and his commitment to the fans. (It also links to Dan Wheldon's public memorial service on YouTube, which if you haven't watched -- I think that'll give you a good idea of who Dan was and how special of a person he was.

I hope this helps!! And if you have any follow ups, let me know!! When I say no question is too big, I mean it!! <33333

[champagnepodiums]

how are you? i feel like i haven't seen your posts in so long!!

i’m doing well 😭🫶🏼

i stopped watching f1 and im not tracking social media numbers anymore and i’ve been doing a lot of early indy 500 research for my new podcast so the thing i’m running into is like — i don’t really know what to post on here anymore besides being an IndyCar Guide and answering questions (which i love doing don’t get me wrong) so I just kinda have been waiting for indycar to get going

[champagnepodiums]

hello yes, logging back in ahead of the scheduled IndyCar open tests tomorrow.

Anything you’ve ever wondered about the history of Indy 500? Indianapolis Motor Speedway? New and just have general questions about IndyCar/Indy 500? Have an opinion you want to share?

My inbox is open and I’m ready/willing to answer anything! If the Open Test actually go ahead (spring weather in these parts are less than cooperative), I’ll be around then too and can explain things in real time!

No question is too stupid, too obvious or dumb! I want to help people understand what’s going on so they can enjoy this beautiful race that I love SO much!

#indycar #indy 500 #like i love the indy 500 so much i’ve been researching for like 8 months and putting a year by year podcast together #i also love to share all my knowledge #and i will not make you feel stupid #that is my promise to you

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What are your thoughts of Indy possibly having that Theramal challenge bc they want to appeal to a richer audience so they can possibly get more money/sponsors for the series? I want to know the business side of why they decided to drop Texas for this. It was mentioned that damage in that first heat incident exceeded the prize pool, so how else are teams incentivized to be more competitive if Indy decides to do this again?

So I actually don’t think it was IndyCar’s desire to not go to Texas this season. From my understanding, IndyCar wanted to run it in late March/early April BUT NASCAR will be there in April and Texas told IndyCar no. Like I would be shocked if IndyCar leaves Texas off next season. But IndyCar knew that one of fans’ biggest complaints was the gap between the first and second race so they wanted to put *something* in between which like I get but I’m begging somebody in IndyCar learn how to frame things better because they did an awful job. They should’ve framed it as a testing weekend imo

I have heard that behind the scenes, team owners are MAD so like I think IndyCar is gonna have to pony up a bigger purse if they want teams to go back to thermal for an “all star race”.

[champagnepodiums]

I feel like me and 2 of my tumblr mutuals were the only people on Earth who enjoyed Thermal. Was it perfect? No. Could it be way better? Heck yeah. But I majorly support Indycar trying something new, and I enjoy the vibe of Thermal so I don’t have much to complain about.

Plus, our alternative was no racing so of course I’m gonna pick racing over not racing.

—xoxo firestoneslicks

So I think there’s more at play here than just “people didn’t like Thermal but racing is racing so they should enjoy it”

IndyCar promised the fans something and did not deliver it AT ALL — I think if IndyCar had advertised Thermal to be a testing opportunity instead of an All Star event, it would have been so much better received. Fans were told “yes, it’s expensive BUT we’re going to make sure it’s fun and cool for viewers at home too” and they just… didn’t. The broadcast largely felt like an advertisement for Thermal — that’s not fun for viewers at home, I don’t think?

Now listen, I was ready to give IndyCar credit for trying something new and a defense because first events are hard and almost never go well. But Nathan Brown of IndyStar ran his article that had Conor Daly (who is working with IndyCar in an official capacity, let’s be very clear about that) say this:

And like — this pissed off A LOT of people. But you have to understand that this kind of rhetoric is exactly what IndyCar does when fans push back. Usually it’s from Mark Miles (and I expect we’ll get our hands slapped by him through the media at some point too). The anger/strong emotions are not so much aimed at Conor personally, just IndyCar in general because goddamn it, fans should be allowed to not like something and they should be allowed to hold the series accountable and want them to be better. And they should be allowed to do it without being told things like “you aren’t real fans.”

Like good for IndyCar for trying something new — I am happy that they did that but god damn, they need to learn how to cope with criticism before they drive away the fans who have stuck with them.

So yeah that’s my unsolicited-ish take on why people were so mad about Thermal — had less to do with the actual event and more about IndyCar’s long history of overpromising and underdelivering and inability to take criticism!

[champagnepodiums]

dying to know y’all’s opinions about indycar’s thermal all star weekend so please give them to me

#indycar

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In indycar is it worse to put under a yellow? Because obviously in f1 that’s the best time to pit but indy seems different

It depends — if they’re in the middle of a pit cycle, a yellow flag can really ruin a day. I think it’s not as big of a magical deal in indycar because indycar will almost always call a full course yellow (unless a car goes off and gets going immediately, they call a local) whereas in f1, they will do just about anything to avoid deploying the safety car so i think that’s the difference?

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Yeah indycar isn’t too pr heavy so unlike f1 you can actually see the drivers personalities

YEAH it’s a completely different culture

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Yeah anon the drivers/team you want to support really depends what other motorsport teams/drivers you support. Only obvious option is that if you’re a McLaren fan arrow McLaren is right there lol

Yeah — I feel like IndyCar’s drivers have a wide array of personalities so really, it comes down to personal taste! I think IndyCar is fairly unique in that way

[champagnepodiums]

New fan here: this will be my first IndyCar race. Which drivers and/or teams would you recommend rooting?

Well I’m always going to pitch Kyle Kirkwood, sweetheart extraordinaire because he’s MY favorite but honestly you can’t go wrong with most of the grid besides Santino Ferrucci tbh.

Do you watch other motorsports? If you tell me what other racing drivers you like, I can better point you in an IndyCar driver/team direction

[champagnepodiums]

Can you explain whether indycar is or isn’t a spec series? I’ve seen some people say it is but there’s also top teams so I’m confused

So IndyCar is largely a spec series — meaning every chassis (think like the base of every IndyCar) is exactly the same. There are also other parts on the cars that are mandated to be same beyond the chassis. BUT there are also parts that the IndyCar teams are allowed to make themselves (within certain perimeters ofc). One such example are the air dampers which apparently can make a big difference. The teams also have control over the aerodynamic set ups which can also make big differences. If you’d like to read more, this article explains things pretty well.

Generally when people talk about top teams in IndyCar, it’s moreso measured by like the size of the overall team + how much money/sponsors they have. If that makes sense?

But great question! Thanks for asking! 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

#indycar

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I don’t follow Indy car, but I know you do. I thought that this could be of some interest to you. ⬇️

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/lNh0CHNre2

OH YES i did see Otmar was in the paddock, it appears? that he is there with Honda. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him involved — i do think he lives in the US (he grew up in Michigan) so involvement in IndyCar would make sense, I think?

ALSO thank you for thinking of me 🥹

[champagnepodiums]

hi!! lil indycar question: when are the hybrid cars supposed to debut? got kinda lost w that

yeah so um that’s a great question and the answer is: it’s a surprise!

it was supposed to debut this weekend but it was delayed and last i knew, indycar was toying with the idea of mid season debut however a lot of smaller teams haven’t had any chance to test with it so they would be significantly disadvantaged if they chose to debut it mid season (unless of course, the smaller teams are provided with ample testing time between now and then which seems… unlikely).

so yeah, we don’t know. i think indycar wants it to debut at some point in 2024 because that was the original timeline and they don’t want the bad PR from being late (again) so i guess we’ll see? it’s all incredibly murky right now

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less than an hour until the indycar season starts. do we have any questions? if not, give me your prediction for the race 😄

#indycar #i feel annoying but also sincerely don’t want anybody to feel like there is nobody to answer qs

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any questions during indycar quali? lemme know! no question is too obvious!!

#indycar #i’m deadass willing to be the go-to guide for indycar this season

[champagnepodiums]

this is your yearly reminder that indycar’s st. petersburg race is in florida, not russia 🫶🏼🫶🏼

#indycar