Microphone 👍👍

17 races in a season (why so little) and they have to have double header weekends? I’m not a huge Indy fan but I think there’s another one also? Is Detroit a double header or California? Is the sport not popular enough to have more races? F1 is up to 24 and NASCAR Cup is 36 and NASCAR Xfinity is 33. Indy should just be on road courses, no ovals.

You can’t pass unless you’re Ferrucci and also newgarden on Saturday. Overall I agree, waste of money, no fuel savings, non-performance gain, heavy, poor balance = no value

No disrespect to Ed, but he just wrecked twice in one weekend and his response is controled by his emotions. Heavier IndyCars arent the problem - stock cars weight significantly more and they dont struggle to follow behind one another. Aero dependence is what has hurt IndyCar oval racing. As long as those wings are making so much downforce, you're always gling to struggle with dirty air in the corners.

I have been going to races since the late 1950's. Granted, I haven't been able to see everyone, but occasionally, I have seen young drivers with talent beyond mere mortals. A 15 year old Sammy Swindell, a teenaged Kyle Larson, Corey Day and a young Cristopher Bell. Jesse Love showed early that he could win in open wheel cars before he ran stock cars. Karl Kinser has said many times that you can't really tell how good a driver will be until they get hurt. It is inevitable and you need to look at how they are after the crash. Personally, I think Daison has the same kind of talent as the others that I named. Eventually we all run out of talent, but personally, I think the sky is the limit for him.

Since the split, Indycar has done a great job on messing up the sport. They start moving in the right direction and once again, take a step backwards.

hope they figure it out before May 2025

Couldn't agree more with Ed Carpenter. The hybrid stuff is nonsense. It improves nothing. Makes the car heavier at the rear making the balance difficult. They won't brake as well or handle as well. They are not faster, but they are a lot more complex for the team and the driver. What is the fricking point? They should shit can them and go back to the fantastic engines they had in CART. It has taken years for me to begin watching this series following the destruction of CART, which was in my estimation, the greatest racing series the World. The leadership in this series must have their heads up their asses. They keep going in this direction they will lose me for good!

The most expensive 100lbs I’ve ever bolted on my race car.

I love Ed. Hopefully this doesn't make him want to retire.

The most expensive 100 pounds I have ever bolted on my race cars... #truewords

I believe Ed. Something just isn't right.

I agree 1000% with him, my sons and I went to Mid-Ohio, we left with 20 to go because there was no passing on the track, seriously it looked like a stock car race . All single file after lap 10

He bought two hybrid engines and doesn’t know how much they cost?

Completely agree with Mr. Carpenter, very impressive interview! I don't think series will abandon the hybrid project, but hopefully a compromise can happen soon. I propose they only use the hybrid at street races with no push to pass. The advantages of the hybrid starting and reversing could be a huge benefit at street courses. In addition street courses are well known for punishing cars, so it makes sense to tune and test the hybrid at those tracks only.

Indycar failure to implement a new chassis for 12 years and attempt to remain 2010 technically relevant. Car doesn’t work with the added weight. Roger better have this added weight at his Speedway or he his a fraud. That show will be as bad as this was was on both days

This Hybrid business is terrible. Hybrids have already ruined F1.

Ed knows

Indy was already a renewable series...the hybrid units are just adding capacitors made with materials mined with horrible processes

Hybrid! More foolishness!

When the ir18 first came out the oval product was awful i wast at 2018 indy 500 it was follow the leader the onky time you could pass was restarts and on pit road. 2019 only the top cars could pass and you had thrilling battle between pagenaud and rossi. 2020 product better same in 2021. 2022 good race. 2023 good race did not like nascar style ending but racing was good and then 2024 most passing ive ever seen since dw12 car which needed to be changed the racing was insane but someone was gonna killed if we kept that pack racing era going. We have had two weekends with the hybrid at two very different tracks.

Stick to what you know, which is nepotism and running in the back.

Spending money to appease a group of people who do not watch or contribute to the success of Indy Car in any manner.

Remember these guys raced go karts when kids and if you were having an issue with your kart you immediately lifted your arm up in the air. These guys all of a sudden have forgotten to quickly get out of the way when their car is having a problem.

Consumers by and large want nothing to do with hybrids or EV’s. I certainly don’t want them associated with racing.

My God Ed Can't you see they're saving the world......lol

I think we know what car Rossi is driving next year...

Hybreds are a joke. Indy trying to copy F-1, Joke. Kneeling to Gaia and virtue signaling' Were green', JOKE.

He really needs to stop driving but in one story he complained about the hybrid system causing issues... OTHERS (including drivers) said it was what was done for NASCAR races at the Iowa track. The LATTER sounds far more likely than the former. But someone winning from 22nd on BOTH races (if I remember correctly) is really astounding. It is rare and there have been really good races this year. Hybrids are going to be around for awhile - both consumer AND racing. People has been whining about the old cars and engines and when something is done - boom - nothing but crap on it.

Going out on a limb and thinking Ed doesn’t like where Indycar is at. I’d be pissed too as an owner that crashed in both races through no real fault of his own. Add in the poor racing, and I get the frustration.

Well we can thank the France family for ruining the tracks but the hybrid system not being a “game changer” like it was advertised is a massive failure. IMSA should not be more technologically advanced than Indycar

In short Indycar is a mess and it falls 100% on RP, the show product is not good. They are running venues that nobody wants nor are they profitable. Detroit was a disaster, there are three venues, Long Beach, Indy and Toronto and the rest don't matter and are losing money for a variety of reasons. The racing is survival WWF style at most tracks and its embarrassing to most in the motorsports- RP needs to sell his team and the series to someone like Liberty Media that made an immediate and massive impact on F1 and it was not because of netflix! All of the teams are now profitable, highly profitable guessing none of the teams in Indycar are?

Talk that talk, Ed! This season has honestly been bad. I cannot recall the last time IndyCar had a bad season, but 2024 has been such a bad year with endless amount of constant bad news, declined ratings, Thermal Club, mid and bad racing (except Barber, Indy 500, and Road America), NBC not treating IndyCar equal, Canapino fans death threats, Detroit, the management being crap, I can go on. There has been a few positives, but there's just been way too many bad stuff going on this year. Such a nightmare season.

This depressing to hear and no wonder why I have not felt compelled to purchase a race ticket for the Nashville finale and I live like 30 minutes to it.

I’m assuming Indycar wants to go hybrid just to satisfy the engine manufacturers or possibly entice another manufacturer to come on board. If it’s the latter then I get it. But if it’s more about trying to expand the fanbase then going hybrid isn’t the way to do that imo. They would need to expand the schedule and locations abroad. Go to Mexico, Brazil, Australia; they have Argentinas most known driver right now, Argentina would be great, but for whatever reason Indycar just refuses to do that right now. I know it’s costly to go abroad, but those races would also return revenue, the hybrid engine doesn’t and it’s still expensive between the parts and testing and now it’s affecting the ovals. And after listening to Ed I’m even more convinced a new car and aero package is needed.

Please,, I want one of those Ed Carpenter shirts.. Blue like that.. sz. Med.

Thank your step Dad Tony for putting the sport where it is now.

Hybrid sucks. C'mon Indy car.

I feel bad for these drivers having to stand around in the heat answering so many questions from so many “reporters” over and over again.

No more than glorified go-karts just droning around at the same speed. Ridiculous speeds in the corners make it dangerous for the fans, (I wouldn't want to watch on the outside of a turn) Put some driver skill into the equation by having to slow down and even BRAKE for the corners.

Dump that hybrid crap!

The hybrid as its done in IRL right now is a gimmick. They really needed an entirely new car design to incorporate it properly. You cant just jam it in there on top of the already existing format. I guess this was done to appease Honda.

Like everything else. Indy Car going "woke".

"Making our product worse" Man, not like short oval racing has ever been good anyway "Show me Honda leaving" Welll, they are leaving. They may stay if ICS goes ahead with the engine changes that is something I've been saying for a while. "Show me the 3rd OEM" Idk how people expected a hybrid system that is a spec part to attract new manufacturers if the whole spending would still be in the V6 not only to catch up with Honda and Chevy, but a new OEM would still need to keep spending a lot to find minimal gains just like those 2 are doing now. So all in all it's not worth joining if things are like this. The 2.4l formula had nothing that would guarantee this wouldn't happen either. Manufacturers aren't willing to spend endless money to find power anymore, except in F1. I guess the average fan and IndyCar team owner aren't smart enough to realize this. Do like other series, bring a fuel flow and torque control based regulation and they'll come. Make it a reasonable power on the ICE, not crazy 900hp, nobody cares about it and it never helped to create good racing. You can achieve something like that with hybrid to give you faster acceleration (550~600hp ICE + 300~350 from a spec hybrid limited to max speed for deployment to focus on more aceleration) but too much end power always creates a poor product and it's expensive to do. Of course the series needs a new car to achieve all that. See LMH/GTP manufacturers aren't dropping a ton of money on engines anymore, they don't need to. You see a few work here and there to increase reliability (specially Alpine getting mecachromed) but that's it. They still spend a lot on developing the other parts of the car tho. I think IMSA/WEC should put a stop on it before it's too late.

Wow I've never seen Ed Carpenter sound so frustrated. But he's right. This has been a messy year. From the Star Wars Trench Run that was Detroit to now facing ovals to finish the season where no one can pass, I think it is okay to pull the hybrids for the rest of the season and figure it out for next year. We need a new car that is actually BUILT for the windscreen (which has shown to be a lifesaver), and BUILT for the hybrid system, but with better downforce. And I think Indycar needs to hold the tracks accountable. Obviously that won't happen in the offseason but they should have started the process of building a car with the aeroscreen designed into it the moment the aeroscreen was a proven tech (which it is). Finally, if the host tracks won't manage the surface in a way that benefits Indycar (and not just Nascar), then Indycar should find other ovals. Maybe back to Texas Motor Speedway, Twin Ring Motegi, or Pikes Peak International Raceway.

Love the honesty, but these are all millionaires and billionaires crying about costs. Now that’s funny. Work out the kinks and race.

During the supposed "network outage" in Saturday's race, does anyone have any info on that? How long did it last? Were all affected, or were some not? Also, how did Armstrong's rear wing caution lights come on under green, when the driver has no ability to activate them? Appreciate any real info!

Go woke, go broke.

Wow! What a great interview. Ed is the MAN for saying what needs to be said. Our favorite series spent a lot of $$ to show how "green" they are and bow to the whims of a lot of folks who don't give a hoot about auto racing. Indycar showed they can do it so ditch the hybrid, make the changes to the car that Ed suggests and cater to our fans and the best interests of the teams that make our product. Auto racing can never be "green" enough to satisfy the eco-nazis so we should just do our best to put together the best series we can and enjoy it. Ed just said what we'll never hear from the Penske/Andretti/McLaren folks. Thanks, Ed, for the honesty.

IndyCar in 2026 has the chance to become the fastest single seater in the world seeing the routh taken by F1...