Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. Due to the high volume of questions received, we can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll answer as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for length and clarity. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will appear the following week.
Q: Saw this device handed to Scott McLaughlin after winning pole at Nashville. What is this?
Also, although you print so many complaints about Peacock, I love it. At the start of each season I subscribe to Peacock — commercial-free. IndyCar, NXT, IMSA, Supercross, Tour de France… all with no commercials.
Ed
MARSHALL PRUETT: Per Penske’s Ron Ruzewski, it’s an electronics cooling device. We’re on the same page with Peacock, Ed. Whether it’s the racing content or the other pieces of entertainment, it gets used quite a bit between my wife and I.
Q: I wonder if there’s any chance to see Hemelgarn Racing again at the Indy 500, as the team still competes in USAC Silver Crown series? Or are there any other potential old or new teams for IndyCar in the next two to three years?
Frank Lehmann, Germany
MP: I’ve heard Vasser Sullivan mentioned a few times of late, but that’s about it. It would be amazing to see Ron and the Hemelgarn team back in IndyCar, but I wouldn’t associate their efforts in USAC with anything that’s brewing for the 500.
Q: Just reading that Alex Palou won’t honor his signed 2024 contract with McLaren. His Monaco Management people parted ways with him. Zak Brown is on receiving end of losing a driver this time. Court with Ganassi last year, and now this news. Alex sure doesn’t seem to have any integrity or character. I hope his career tanks.
Craig, Naples, FL
MP: Of all the things I never thought I’d write, there’s a strong James Harden vibe with Palou. Harden, who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers, is trying to force his third trade in three years, all despite signing multi-year deals with Houston, Brooklyn and now the 76ers. He’s disliked the situations he’s been in and pushed until he got what he wanted, regardless of what his contracts required him to do.
He recently opted into a $35.6 million deal for next season to guarantee he gets paid, but doesn’t want his current team to be the one to pay him that money, so he’s raising hell and attempting to engineer his way out of Philly.
The best reaction I saw to the latest Palou drama was on Twitter, where someone posted a meme that read, “Honey, if they’re willing to cheat with you, they’re willing to cheat on you,” in response to Brown’s aggrieved email to the Arrow McLaren team. We’ve got a lot of Palou letters to cover, so I’ll move onto the next…
Q: I realize this is probably the 47,000th Palou email, but mine requires a little bit of a tin foil hat.