Where’s the beef?
That’s the question that billows out of the NTT IndyCar Series paddock and fandom through the years, as the quest for storylines always turns to the one nugget that seems missing.
Rivalries.
With the online slap fight between Arrow McLaren Team Principal Tony Kanaan and Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin after he hit Nolan Siegel at Detroit, sending him into the wall, fans and media wonder if this is the spark to ignite something emotional in IndyCar that will create an on-track rivalry.
I say, not really.
Competition is about winning against foes in some sort of battlefield, whether it be on a sports field, an open meadow in central Europe, a video game domain or in life (think sibling rivalry). Want to be the center of attention? Then get a win against someone who doesn’t like you.
Just this past weekend, the NBA’s Indiana Pacers beat the New York Knicks to advance to the championship finals. The history between those two ball clubs dates back to the 1990s, when Reggie Miller was throwing up a choke sign to Spike Lee after previously getting a headbutt from Knicks point guard John Starks. It was heated, and each on-court battle was fuel for the two fan bases.
To this day, even when the ball clubs aren’t competitive, it will be common to hear two demands from the fans: get a high draft pick and beat the Pacers or Knicks, depending on which side you are on.
Now that’s a rivalry.
Kanaan and McLaughlin going at it on X won’t fill that need. For one, Kanaan doesn’t drive anymore. While in NASCAR, it’s enough for Richard Childress to punch Kyle Busch, setting up a generational disgust for each other, this specific feud won’t draw extra eyeballs. There needs to be something on the track to fill this need, and someone on a racing stand won’t cut it.
The quest for this in IndyCar has been ongoing for the last two to three decades as the series has lacked any type of on-track feud. Coincidentally, in his driving days, Kanaan had one of the last physical entanglements in the paddock when he and Sam Hornish Jr. got into it at Watkins Glen in 2007, leading to a fight between the crews and relatives. But the American skedaddled out of open-wheel racing at the end of the year, so no further boxing matches on track followed.
Danica Patrick showed her passion on more than one occasion, famously marching down pit lane at the 2008 Indy 500 toward Ryan Briscoe‘s stall after the two collided, which ended her day, before being intercepted by IndyCar’s then-head of security, Charles Burns. Patrick was also marketed by Texas Motor Speedway as a rival against Dan Wheldon after he was overshadowed by the rookie when she finished fourth in the Indy 500 while the Brit had won.
Nothing really cemented eyeballs to the screen because the rivalry wasn’t consistent enough, nor did it intensify the television product.
It wasn’t Michael Jordan vs. Charles Barkley/Patrick Ewing/Karl Malone, Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady, or Ted Williams up against Joe DiMaggio. That’s what matters to make this work, it must be enduring, week in and week out.
The closest the IndyCar field has had to something that was a consistent on-track rivalry was when Dario Franchitti took up permanent residence in Will Power’s head in their three-year run of championship battles between 2009-2011. That was purely one-sided, as Franchitti cruised to three-straight titles while Power could only watch his quest for the Astor Cup slip away, sometimes due to his own errors.
In 2023, during a hellacious season, Power and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon had a heated exchange after a practice crash at Road America. Power was dealing with overwhelming personal challenges, as his wife fought a deadly infection (unbeknownst to the world), and the stress no doubt took its toll on the low-key Dixon. To his credit, and one wonders if he knew what Power was going through, Dixon didn’t retaliate, reinforcing the character the champion is known to display at all times.
That’s kind of the rub, though, is that the paddock is very close and the drivers seem to have a lot of respect for each other. It makes sense because no one wants to race wheel-to-wheel at over 230 miles per hour at Indianapolis with a guy you want to spit on when he walks under your hotel balcony at Long Beach.
But could there be something brewing? Maybe not driver vs. driver, instead paddock vs. team?
It seems that there is a boiling of frustration occurring with Roger Penske’s stewardship of the IndyCar Series. For all the stakeholders, though, it’s not wise to direct it at the man who saved the day when Covid hit. The Captain is clear in his absolute adulation of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and his investment to make it an Augusta National-like symbol is bearing fruit. After all, the race sold out for the first time since 2016 this year.
But the penalties? The cheating? The lack of a third engine manufacturer? Race control’s no-call on Power after he freight-trained Kyle Kirkwood in practice at Detroit? Costs associated with the hybrid that didn’t impact the show?
I think all of this is adding up. Teams can’t throw rotten tomatoes at Penske because he probably has snipers in the palm trees ready to defend his tidy, clean vest he wears. But they sure as heck can shift fire to their competitor on track: Team Penske. That could be some of the simmering vitriol that spewed from Kanaan after the Siegel incident with McLaughlin.
Some of this happened last year after the push-to-pass scandal. A lot of ire was directed at Josef Newgarden as the season progressed, and probably saw a bit more enhancement when he snookered Pato O’Ward on the last lap to win back-to-back at Indianapolis. While it wasn’t Newgarden who installed the software that overrode the push-to-pass system, he frankly undeservedly received the full brunt of it.
It’s these moments that are adding up in every competitor’s head. They just don’t want to aim it at the millionaire businessman, so instead it has to be directed somewhere else.
And so the paddock is. Penske, the man, has created an environment in which anger and criticism are being directed at Penske, the team. His drivers are paying for it.
The team might be cracking under the pressure. Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global are the only operations to win this year. Penske has three podiums, out of a possible 21 opportunities, and all are third places. Indianapolis was an abject disaster on par with 1995, and Power has turned shoving cars out of the way into a joke on national television.
Meanwhile, Honda is not liking the optics. Arrow McLaren CEO Zak Brown is continuing to tell anyone and everyone what needs to happen in IndyCar to make it bigger and better. And Penske’s downtown Detroit street circuit is still criticized while taking the premium slot after the Indy 500.
So, does a rivalry exist on track between Driver A and Driver B? No, not yet. The ship continues to sail peacefully in the night in that regard. However, is there a different type of rivalry brewing?
Oh yes, I think so.
If there is beef in IndyCar, it’s between the paddock and Team Penske.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.