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 read that Mike Cannon has abruptly left PREMA. Is that an accurate report, and if so, do you know why? There has been a m assive turnover of engineers, technicians and managers the last several years, so this isn’t a huge surprise. Does he have a new destination? Can’t imagine he would find something more appealing.
Dave
MARSHALL PRUETT: One of the great things about working in racing as a mechanic and the other things I did from 1986-2001 was making a ton of friends who remain in IndyCar (and IMSA) today. One of the negatives, at least in a professional capacity as a reporter, is some of those conversations with friends in the paddock are of a personal nature and aren’t subject to sharing at the time they happen.
But Michael later chose to share his side in a public forum, and said it was due to the team ignoring his input and feeling his experience was being wasted. There’s more to the story, but falls under the between-friends category.
Cannon was only at PREMA since the end of last year, so this was indeed a surprise. I’ve heard from two team owners who are interested in acquiring his services, and doubt we’ll get through the next Mailbag or two without his confirmation at a new (or former) team.
Q: Do you have any information about what happened to Benjamin Pedersen after being dropped by Foyt in 2023? Did he hurt his chances in the series that badly with his antics at Mid-Ohio that year?
Matthew Houk, Columbus, OH
MP: Mid-Ohio didn’t hurt his chances. The team wasn’t great, and his family allegedly got the deal of the century with a three-year, $9 million contract, but with the numerous crashes, including the destruction of a chassis on the first lap of the season, that three-year budget was said to have been used up mostly in Year 1. There were other allegations about missed payment deadlines, and those misses opening the door to exiting the contract.
I haven’t seen the contract, so I can’t tell you what’s real or not real. But the fact that the kid was replaced by Sting Ray Robb, who was rumored to bring $9 million for a single year, suggests what the team needed to survive as a two-car program.
I always liked Benjamin. He didn’t get much of a chance to show us anything. Given a second season, with a better team than he had in 2023, I think he’d make a more positive impression. Not saying he’d be bothering the top half of the field, but he wouldn’t be parked at the back.
Q: What a great response to the question/comment from Mike in Michigan, and yes I am a Rush fan as well. That said, despite my age (73) I identify with younger people on most things and in the case of IndyCar we are aging out of relevance.
Of all the owners who make their opinions known, Zak Brown comes closest to nailing the fundamental problems with the series. I start with the machines themselves and we state the obvious in saying that they, too, are aged out.
There is little about them that excites, and the only reason to watch is that the racing is fantastic and the drivers are, for the most part, tier one players. But as you said, that alone does not make it work. Watch races from the golden era in the 1990s, and the fields were not tight, with the quality up and down the grid far more variable. However, the cars themselves were weapons, and when they all started/warmed up on the grid it was incredible to the senses.