Oilpressure

It’s that time of year again, when we all pause to give thanks for the blessings in our lives – and eat. I’ll be glad to share what I’m thankful for, but I’m not sharing any of my turkey.

As an IndyCar fan, I’m thankful that our series seems to be on an upward swing. There has been a significant surge in talent on the track and behind the pit wall in the past year. Where that is most apparent is at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.  In the past six months, they have added Jay Frye, Brian Barnhart and Gavin Ward to their top staff – and they dumped Devlin DeFrancesco in favor of Mick Schumacher. The son of the great Michael Schumacher has never raced on an oval, and racing DNA is not always passed down through the generations. But on the surface, it looks like the team made a major upgrade.

Other teams have made strides in the offseason, including Dale Coyne Racing getting a shot in the arm from Todd Ault (assuming the money is real) and getting the services of reigning Indy NXT champion Dennis Hauger – with the assistance of Andretti Autosport on Hauger’s car. Arrow McLaren has beefed up their staff in the past few months also. If Alex Palou runs into any type of bad luck to bring him back to the rest of the field – it could be a very competitive season in 2026.

The FOX deal certainly looks like it is paying dividends. Some of the ratings they reported could be a little skewed, since they were comparing 2025 races, which were all on network over-the-air television; to NBC races in 2024, which had some races on USA Network as well as streaming. But after a shakier start than I expected, they vastly improved their product over the season.

Selfishly, I am thankful to finally have a race back in my hometown. From 2001 through 2008, IndyCar raced at the Nashville Superspeedway. The racing wasn’t great, but I got to spend a weekend watching shiny race cars go fast, while sleeping in my own bed. There is a lot to be said for that. Then due to the stupidity of local track management at the time, they let the race slip through their fingers. In 2021, the series returned in another form – racing around Nissan Stadium on the streets of downtown Nashville. After three years and a few twists of fate, the Music City Grand Prix ended up back on the oval in 2024 and has provided excellent racing for the past two seasons, They will return next season, albeit in July instead of being the season finale.

Most importantly, I am thankful that the NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are now both under the leadership of Doug Boles. He brings a very unusual skill set that combines brains, passion and an understanding what the fans want. When you look at the absolute mess that is going on with the NASCAR lawsuit, and how leaked text messages have shown how their leadership has such disdain for their car owners, the drivers and the overall history of those that built their sport – I am thankful we have a very capable leader who actually appreciates what he has in the sport.

Boles compares favorably to leadership in other sports including the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NHL. I think most fans realize how lucky we are to have Boles. My only concern is that the dual role of heading up IndyCar and IMS is too much for any one person. But if anyone can pull that off – it’s Doug Boles.

On a personal note, we have had a rough year in our household – and it started on New Year’s Day, when Susan was hospitalized with sudden liver issues after being relatively healthy for the past couple of years. The next couple of months saw her go into liver failure, then renal failure and even suffer a mild heart-attack. She came home for good on March 10, but in far worse shape than when she went in. Over the next few months she showed slow, but steady improvement. She was back at work and we went to all of the race weekends we had planned on. But mid-September she had a setback with an infection, and was hospitalized for five days. In mid-October, she was hospitalized again for another five days with severe anemia. She is currently on the upswing, but we’ve learned that you never know what’s around the corner and to take nothing for granted.

But I’m thankful she is still here. Five and a half years ago, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told she had 10-12 months to live. After grueling chemo, surgery and radiation – she has certainly beaten the odds, and has been scanning cancer-free ever since. Her health issues now all stem from the chemo and radiation treatments she went through to beat the cancer. But she realizes how lucky she is, and we are both grateful that she has been able to mostly thrive over these past few years.

I am also grateful to be in a position to retire from my day job in a few weeks (Jan 9). Over the years, I’ve seen so many of my co-workers being forced out a few years short of retirement. Being close to retirement age, they were unable to find anyone that would hire them. Not only were they unprepared financially, they felt shame and disgrace by being fired from a job they had had for years – usually through no fault of their own.

I am thankful that it was totally my idea to retire and announce my retirement date a year ago. Few people in the workplace these days, get to go out on their own terms and actually have a retirement party without any clouds of doubt or suspicion lingering. My retirement party on Thur Jan 8 will be a celebration and a happy occasion. I’ve made one request – I want it to be a roast, where my co-workers lampoon me. I would much rather have that, than have people stand up one by one and give sappy speeches. I want this to be funny. And of course, I get to have the last word.

The big question of the day…Will John McLallen, my former One Take Only cohort, show up? The person organizing the party asked me to provide a list of former co-workers I’d like to invite. For those that don’t know, my on-again and off-again friendship with John is off-again. From 2018 to 2021, we did not speak – and I’m still unsure what I did. For a few years, we got along fine and even recorded some more episodes.

But John can be a little fragile. He and I are on totally opposite ends of the political spectrum. He went radio silent in January – coincidentally the day after the inauguration. I’ve not heard from him since. I have called and texted with no response. He is apparently one of those people who chooses politics over friendship. I have many close friends and casual relationships with people with far-different political opinions than I do. But as I thought about it, John does not. What a shame!

I put him on the list to be invited. He and I worked together for 15 years, and I was his direct supervisor for four of those years. Did I mention he was also my Best Man, when Susan and I got married at IMS in 2012? I would like to have him there for all kinds of reasons, most of which to see if we can bury the hatchet. While most of those former co-workers responded to the organizer that they would be there, John’s only response to her invitation was “Thanks”. Oh, well…we shall see. Regardless, it will be a fun celebration and I am looking forward to retirement. Two months later, Susan and I leave on a ten-day Caribbean cruise as an official celebration.

So there is a lot going on in our lives and a lot to look forward to and thankful for. I am also thankful to be able to continue this site in some capacity. Readership has dropped off since I stopped my regular schedule of three times per week, but that was to be expected. But many of you have stayed with me and I am very thankful for that as well. Who knows, once I retire I might get back into the groove – but it probably won’t be as frequent as it was. We’ll see. But I do plan to return next week with a much deeper dive into the changes at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Susan and I want to wish each and every one of you a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

Susan and George Phillips

This entry was posted on November 26, 2025 at 7:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.