Marcus Ericsson Staying With Andretti Global in 2027 Season

thepitwindowLeave a comment

From IndyCar:

Andretti Global announced Aug. 6 it has signed Marcus Ericsson to stay with its NTT INDYCAR SERIES team for the 2027 season.

Ericsson (photo, top), who won the 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge with Chip Ganassi Racing, will stay at Andretti Global for a fourth season in 2027. The Swede will compete the team’s three-driver lineup alongside Will Power and Kyle Kirkwood.

“I’m really excited about the contract extension,” Ericsson said. “I think it’s been a good year for us. We’ve really been turning things around after last year, and we’ve put in a lot of hard work, and that’s really been paying off.

“The results haven’t always gone our way this year, but I feel like we’ve been competitive and in the mix on every type of track. That makes me excited for next year and to be able to build on the momentum we’ve created this year. So, I’m super excited about that.”

Marcus Ericsson

Ericsson (photo, above), 35, is ninth in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings this season in a rebound after finishing a career-low 20th last season. He earned his first career NTT P1 Award for pole in March on the Streets of Arlington and finished a season-best second in June at World Wide Technology Raceway.

“One of our priorities has been building consistency across our INDYCAR program, and bringing Marcus back is an important part of that,” Andretti Global President Jill Gregory said. “He’s shown exactly what he’s capable of this season through the speed and results he’s delivered. Keeping our driver lineup together next season allows us to build on the chemistry and performance we’ve established as a team.”

Ericsson’s return provides continuity to a lineup that has combined for one victory, two pole positions and 11 top-five finishes this season.

The Longest Race- Too Long?

thepitwindow1 Comment

The Freedom 250 in the nation’s capital on July 23 was scheduled for 125 or 212 miles, which makes it the longest street race of the season, and the longest street race St. Pete in 2019.

IndyCar announced this week that the race distance has increased to 147 laps and 250 miles, making it the longest true street race in IndyCar history. Cleveland’ Burke Lakefront airport circuit had races of 300 miles in 1982 and 1983, but I would not consider that venue a true street race

In your humble blogger’s opinion, the half of an Indianapolis 500 distance is too long for a race on this type of circuit.

From 2013-2019 St, Pete races were 110 laps., 198 miles. The fastest time for those races was two hours and four minutes in 2019. I attended every one of those races, and I thought each one was exceedingly long.

In 2025, IndyCar street race distances averaged 171 miles. St. Pete was the longest race at 180 miles, and Toronto was the shortest at 160.74 miles. Detroit took the most time to complete at two hours.

To date in 2026, Arlington was the longest street race at 191.1 miles, and the checkered flag fell after one hour, 55 minutes.

At the original Washington 212 miles, we were already looking at a two hour plus event. Now, the race should take at least two and a half hours to complete. I have no problem with an oval race at that length. At least there will be passing and some excitement. But, we are talking about a street race, and a new circuit at that\.

I don’t understand the change in distance, and the rationale that it is keeping with the 250 years theme falls flat. After all, 250 is just a number. Making the race 250 kilometers is a better idea.

IndyCar cut 75 laps from the Nashville race, citing excessive heat. Now they are adding 25 laps to Washington during a time of year when the DC area is very hot. I find this inconsistency puzzling.

I understand that situations occasionally require modifying schedules and race distances, but those decisions should be made as circumstances arise. The deecision to extend this race makes little sense.

IR-28 Testing Complete; Palou Wants to Race it Now

thepitwindowLeave a comment

“Tm happy to announce that we will be racing this car next year,” Alex Palou quipped after his first run of the day. Of course, he was joking, but I think he summed up the feeling of most of the paddock. Everyone 0the paddock, the media, the fans- is ready for a new car.

The four-time series champion tested the new car on the second and final day of the ikR-28’s initial test. The day paused for several rain interruptions, but there was a good hour plus of running before the 2 pm hard stop.

“The car feels a lot smoother, a lot more connected, I wouldn’t say easier to drive, but it just feels like you don’t need to fight crazy with the car,” Palou said at the end of the day.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m talking too early, but I think we’re going to break a lot of IndyCar records on all kinds of tracks. So, it just feels like it’s a faster car. It feels like it’s a car that is more capable,” Palou said, echoing Alexander Rossi’s assessment of the car on Saturday.

Mike O’Gara, IndyCar vice president of competition and race engineering, was very happy at the conclusion of the weekend of testing. He said they checked all the boxes they were looking for. The next step is to refine some pieces.

The IR-28 will now rest until after he IndyCar season concludes Labor Day weekend. The first oval test is planned late September. For the oval test, “Everything has to be perfect,” O’Gara said.

Notes

The excitement among the media for the new car was palpable both days.

The huge rear wing looks better when the car is on track. It is less of a distraction in motion.

Questions remain, and the answers are a long way from being answered:

How will the car race?

Will the extra hybrid power allow for different deployment strategies?

What is the expected life span of this car? I will be 80 years old in December, and I hope this isn’t the last new car I see. I understand the plan is to update the car every three years. I want to only see one update before a new car comes online.

It was a thrilling couple of days at IMS, and I’m glad I got to be a part of it. I am anxious to see multiple new cars on track to get a better idea of what the future of IndyCar competition.

Thanks for following along this weekend. next week we will het ready for Portland.

Testing Day 2- Let’s Change Drivers and Do it Again

thepitwindowLeave a comment

Photo: Alex Palou climbs into the IR-28 for an initial run this morning. IndyCar photo.

Good morning from a damp Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It seems as ion we sawn this same movie yesterday. Alex Palou made an early run at 9 am before rain hit again. When the track dries, the rest of the time allowed for testing today should be dry.

Testing is suposed to end at 2 pm, followed by a brief media availability with Palou. I’ll be back at the end of the day with a wrap up.

Rosssi Praises IR-28 After Day 1 of Testing

thepitwindowLeave a comment

The future is here. On an historic day interrupted by weather, 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi drove the new Ir-28 Indy car on its first official test run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rossi had nothing but praise for everyone who helped prepare the car for the test and shared how meaningful the test was for him.

“I’ve been a part of some new car launches before, and I can’t say that any have gone as smooth as this one has,” Rossi said. “That’s down to everyone involved. We’ve all been waiting for this for a long time. Drivers, fans, teams, sponsors and all of you have been looking forward to it, and now it’s finally here.”

Rossi compared the day to Christmas morning.He continued his assessment of the car and the test.

“The car has a lot of incredible qualities that we haven’t even scratched the surface of yet. It was an incredible start and just a joy to drive.”

“Aesthetically, it ticks every box you could hope for,” he said. “I was blown away the first time I saw it. The pictures don’t do it justice. The presence it has in person is pretty amazing. It looks aggressive, and even with a completely new chassis, new aerodynamics, new electronics and a spec damper package, the baseline was very comfortable from the get-go. There’s obviously a lot more to unlock, but it was a great starting point.”

“To be able to be a part of this next evolution of INDYCAR and do it at IMS, a place that means so much to me and all of us here, is super cool,” Rossi said. “I get to play a small part in the history and the future of this championship, and that’s a big privilege. I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Tomorrow 2026 Indianapolis 500 champion Alex Palou gets an opportunity to test the car. Sunday’s run is scheduled to go from 8 am to 2 pm, weather permitting.

Notes

The car is much better looking in person than it appears in teh photos and renderings.

The aeroscreen is wider than the renderings show it to be, but it still is a major improvement over what we see on the current car. Integrating the screen into the framework is a big help.

The rear wing on the road course configuration is massive.

I loved the sound of the engine. I know the actual engines may not sound exactly like what we heard today, but it was loud and throaty like an IndyCar engine should be.

Even at today’s modest laps, I could tell, this car is fast. I liked the way it exited turn 14 and how it ran up the front stretch.

I’ll close with a few more photos I shot today. I can’t wait to see this car on tack again tomorrow.

The IR-28 Era Begins

thepitwindowLeave a comment

The tentative schedule:

IMS road course. Turn 2 mounds open for viewing.

9a-4p on Saturday Alexander Rossi
8a-2p on Sunday Alex Palou
Weather permitting of course.

IndyCar says they will test in damp conditions, but while it is raining, which is currently the case,

@Indycar_Wxman has a less than optimal forecast for this weekend.

My weather app predicts a break in the rain between 10 am and noon.

For the test, the engine is a 2.4 mule engine that was in development when the new engine was proposed a few years ago.

If you choose to go to the track despite the conditions, please be weather alert for lightning.

I will keep you updated on X @tutorindie and on Facebook at Mike Silver.

From yesterday:

Wilbur (Bill) Shaw: The Final Link

Wilbur (Bill) Shaw: The Final Link

thepitwindow2 Comments

Photo: Wilbur Shaw, Jr. beside the Boyle Maserati and the Boyle Racing headquarters truck on the frontstretch at IMS. From Gentlemen, Start Your Engines The Rest of the Story by Bob Gates and Wilbur Shaw, Jr.

Three months ago, Merle Bettenhausen died, bringing an end to one of the most storied racing families. I wrote at the time how much his passing hurt. That pain hit even harder as I learned that Bill Shaw, son of Wilbur Shaw, died this past Monday at the age of 80, closing another chapter of the Speedway’s glory days.

The son of the three-time winner chose his own path, His father strongly discouraged him from racing. He moved to Arizona, where he cultivated his love of horses and rodeo.

A chance meeting with Chan Kibbee, the CEO of Phillip Morris, who arrived in Arizona in an AC Bristol, turned Bill’s thoughts to racing. He chose to pursue road racing instead of a path that would lead to the Indianapolis 500.

Another chance meeting, this one with race driver Bob Bondurant, changed the course of bill’s life. In 1966, Bondurant was severely injured in a crash at Watkins Glen. Although he recovered, his racing career was over. Bondurant opened a high-performance driving school in 1968.

Bill met Bondurant at the Speedway while Bondurant was an adviser on the movie Winning. and he convinced the younger Shaw to attend his school. Bill did very well at the school, then returned home and worked at Stokely-Van Camp.

Bondurant called Bill later that year. he remembered how well Shaw di at the school, and he asked him to become an instructor.

Shaw went on to race at what is now the Rolex 24 at Daytona. His best finish was fifth overall in 1973, driving a Ferrari for Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team.

Bill worked in real estate,and became an evasive driving instructor for the Secret Service. The program was defunded in 1977.

In 2018 Bill collaborated with author Bob Gates to write an addendum to Wilbur’ Shaw’s autobiography, Gentlemen, Start Your Engines. The biography adds The Rest of the Story to the title. The first part is the original, which I read at least three times in seventh and eighth grade. Of course, I had to read it again so the addition would make sense.

In the second part, Bill recalls life as the son of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is a passenger in the pace car for the 500 in the early 1950s.

There is a poignant passage about the night of October 30, 1954, when eight-year-old Bill answers the phone to learn that his father has been injured in a plane crash. he hands the phone to his mother, who is informed of the fatal result.

Wilbur had told his son to “Run your own race,” and Bill, Jr. certainly followed his dad’s advice.

Racing and Indianapolis Motor Speedway now is left with the legacies of drivers from the post Shaw era. The modern era has new stories to tell. Thankfully we still have some Unsers and Foyts around. I hope that they outlive me.

From May

Merle Bettenhausen, 1943-2026; The Last of the Bettenhausen Line

Book Reviews

Book Review: Wilbur Shaw’s Story Continues in Updated Version of His Autobiography- Part I
Book Review: Wilbur Shaw’s Story Continues in Updated Version of His Autobiography- Part II

At Last! The IR-28 is Here

thepitwindowLeave a comment

Yesterday IndyCar introduced the 2028 new race car in a tepid rollout introduction. I thought the renderings should have had a bigger deal made of it. A brief video featuring Matt Damon with a lot of clips of the current car racing wasn’t much of a debut.

As for the new car itself, I was hoping for something a bit more exotic, but I guess there is only so much that can be done to make the car both fast and safe. I do think the new car looks good. A lot of the bulkiness of the current machine is gone. The aeroscreen is the most notable improvement, as it has been integrated into the design. On the current car, where the screen was a retrofit add-on the head on view looked like a giant wastebasket sitting on the car.

The speedway version

The road course setup.

I see some elements of the Swift car that was one of the proposed cars for the 2012 cars. I thought the Swift was the best looking of all the candidates. It was sleek and looked fast.

The road course version has many Formula 1-like components with a lot of downforce.

The car is 100 pounds lighter than the current car thanks to the reduced weight of the aeroscreen, hybrid unit, and gearbox which means it should be faster. The series is talking about breaking the track record at IMS for the 500. That would be cool, but i am more interested in how it races. Will passing be less difficult- not easy, just less difficult? Will there be a smaller wake and less dirty air for the trailing car?

I am glad to see the LED panels back. I hope they have found a way to have them work consistently this time around. They aren’t much help during the race, especially on ovals, but I found them useful during caution periods when you could read them to reset the field.

The window on the rear cover which allows a view of the engine is nice while the car is standing still for exposure. Perhaps it will provide for some interesting camera shots to give each OEM a little more screen time.

A roomier cockpit will accommodate different body types and may prevent some injuries which taller drivers have been subject to, like Stefan Wilson’s back injury last year.

My biggest complaint is that as nice as the new car looks, it is more spec than the DW12 and its iterations. The IR-238 comes with spec dampers, taking away a team’s development of their own dampers. It was virtually the last area remaining for a team to make their car different from its competitors. I hope IndyCar opens up an area of the car to provide e3ach team an opportunity for some uniqueness.

Overall, I like the look of the car. It is sleeker and seems narrower than the current racer. My concern is not setting track records, but how well does it race. Will we see close competition? We have a long way to go to find out the answers to this and many other quesstions.

Testing for the IR-28 begins Saturday and Sunday, August 1 and 2, at the IMS road course. It is basically a systems check to make sure all the components work and work together as they were intended. The test is closed to the public. Turn 2 mounds are not open for spectators. A museum visit might be in order, however.