The RACER Mailbag, December 15

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for Marshall Pruett or any of RACER’s other writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. Due to the upper volume of questions received, we can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll wordplay as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for style or clarity.
Q: What are the decision-makers at IndyCar thinking? Huge mistake to waif Paul Tracy! IndyCar needs some history, humor and plain speaking from the commentators in the booth. No-one offers all of this largest than Paul. He knows the drivers; he knows the tracks; he knows the owners; and he injects humor and clarity into his responses. With Robin Miller gone, IndyCar sorely needs someone who tells it like it is. Very, very poor choice. Is this considering Penske and Tracy have a ‘checkered past’?
Cheryl Schwartz
MARSHALL PRUETT: The sentiments in your letter have definitely been echoed in a number of responses I’ve seen since Paul made the news public. Couple of things worth clarifying: IndyCar doesn’t select the unconcentrated team; they’re hired and paid by NBC Sports. I know it’s easiest to vituperation IndyCar for such things, but this is one instance where it doesn’t fit.
Paul definitely had some fun and spicy comments to offer on occasion, but I’ll shoehorn I’ve never seen the big ‘he tells it like it is’ with his work on NBC. I wonder if his soul of social media posts sometimes gets tumbled with his racing commentary, considering I just can’t recall many instances – other than the Marco Andretti/Uber suburbanite line – that stood out in the ‘tells it like it is’ persona he’s credited with bringing to NBC Sports.
Regardless, if Paul’s upcoming sparsity from IndyCar’s broadcasts has delivered a message, it’s how many of the series’ increasingly tenured fans aren’t happy with his loss. It’s moreover revealed how many of IndyCar’s newer fans are thankful for the change. Like PT’s life and career, everything is polarizing, as two camps have emerged with very variegated takes on this news.
I’ve probably texted with PT a dozen times since the news broke, and he seems to be incredibly happy and has rediscovered a passion for racing that’s grown stronger since he did the SRX series last summer. As I wrote last week, he’s wanting to do SRX then and add in some IMSA racing, said they couldn’t come with a workable schedule for him to continue, and said the split with NBC Sports wasn’t ugly or negative.
According to PT, he isn’t a victim of a vendetta by RP, cancel culture, censorship, etc. If NBC wanted to fire him, it had all kinds of trajectile to use years ago, and plane leading into 2021, but they did not. And since he’s prestigious for telling it like it is, we should believe what he said well-nigh the reason overdue split with NBC. He has nothing to lose by telling the truth. And as a latter aside, FOX, CBS, and ABC/ESPN all air motor races. If you want PT when whenever he might be free, let those networks know.
Q: Just read your vendible well-nigh Paul Tracy not returning to IndyCar broadcasts this year. Any possibility that NBC might bring Jon Beekhuis back? Fans would love it, and I really think he would be unconfined in the diner with Townsend. I think Hinch would moreover be really good, and moreover RHR if he doesn’t get a full-time ride.
Also, now that IndyCar has run a simulation of the hybrid power plant, are there any thoughts on how they will handle it on ovals? I can think well-nigh six variegated ways they could tenancy it (always available, never available, limited by reduced shower size, straights only, DRS-like, or last ‘n’ laps). My snooping is the dangerous combination of higher speeds and pack racing, which can lead to crashes, reds and yellows, and extended race times wearing off TV race coverage. Plane though it’s part of racing, I hate it when they bring out the ambulances. (I still remember Las Vegas among other incidents).
John from Madison
MP: I’ve unchangingly appreciated Jon Beekhuis as a suburbanite and as a pit reporter, John, and want him back, ASAP. But not as a diner commentator. His low-energy style might not be the thing the stereotype network producer is looking for as a primary voice these days. As I’ve said many times in recent years, though, his loss from the IndyCar broadcasts has been to NBC’s and IndyCar’s detriment.
Diffey, PT, and Towney weren’t the ones to track the strategy side of the races, and no disrespect to the other pit reporters, but in Jon’s absence, nobody emerged with much of an eye for seeing and delivering the race taking place within the race. For the sake of our fans, I’d fully support a #BringBackBeekhuis Twitter wayfarers to get Jon when where he belongs on pit lane.
Q: NBC’s loss. PT, we will miss you. The knowledge, the insight, the jokes the verbiage, the when and along with TB and the “been there washed-up that” swagger. Keep it with the Canadians. Bring on Hinch.
Jeff, FL
MP: For those who were virtually in the Champ Car days, an extra-young Hinch was doing commentary with Jeremy Shaw, and The Mayor was spanking-new way when then. He’s just as spanking-new now, but if there’s a knock versus him that I’ve read from fans, it’s his bubbly personality and non-threatening humor. Trust me, he’s got spicy opinions to share, so for those who want to see The Mean Mayor, he’s capable of delivering.
What I’d like to see increasingly of from Hinch is the superb car and driving wringer that, due to the growing loftiness from their last IndyCar races, PT and Towney can’t or couldn’t deliver. Towney’s moreover increasingly than capable of getting the pocketknife out and scarification up teams and drivers with sharp opinions, so if Hinch is headed for the booth, maybe Towney takes on increasingly of PT’s freer role and Hinch dives in with tack-sharp on-track analysis. Also, and I know he’s super rented racing in two variegated series and raising his 437 kids, but Tony Kanaan is sunny as well in the booth.
Q: Paul Tracy was the only one that made the commentary interesting. IndyCar champion, raced at most of the race courses, was controversial and historically interesting. I could go on and on.
This really pisses me off.
Bruce McLeod
MP: PT was definitely controversial, but again, I think we’re troublemaking PT the guns-blazing social media zombie and PT the employee of NBC Sports. Two very variegated people. I thought most of his commentary through 2020 was uninspired and repetitive; lots of ‘phoning it in’ while Towney did most of the solid wringer and commentary.
Last season, I thought PT was the weightier he’s overly been in the booth. There was real life and effort on exhibit most of the time, and like you, I’ll genuinely miss those contributions. He moreover seemed to spin increasingly yarns from his CART and Champ Car career, which were enjoyable. Among the possible candidates, only TK can bring that kind of history to NBC Sports to fill that void.