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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 10.28
We've got a fever, and the only thing that'll satisfy it is More Mailbag. Here's the latest batch of Q&A items from the best Indycar scribe on the planet.
Robin Miller  |  Posted October 28, 2009   Indianapolis, IN
With the big success of shared IndyCar/ALMS event like Mid-Ohio and Long Beach, would the ALMS do a better job of running the IRL? (LAT)
Hello open wheel types and thanks for all your questions. I intend to answer your questions every week during the season, so just . Don’t feel left out if I didn’t directly respond. I appreciate your interest and passion.

~Robin Miller

Q: I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the Speed Report, and found you covering the World of Outlaws race in Texas. I don’t know how much you have watched/covered winged sprint car racing over the years, but I reckon you know quite a bit about it. But I have to disagree with your stance in regards to the current championship situation: specifically, your point that Joey Saldana should be at the top based on the fact that he has the most wins. While I do agree that race wins should be a huge factor in determining a champion, one must also take into account the performance a driver has had over the entire season. Saldana has had a great season, no question, but I believe that Donny Schatz is the best sprint car driver in the world right now. While Joey has won more races, Schatz has been running up front more often that Saldana. I think that should also play a role in determining a champion. Schatz’s win total is nothing to scoff about. While Saldana has 19 victories on the season, Schatz also has an impressive 12 win total on the year. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, Schatz has been a contender to win in almost every single race this season, even more so that Saldana. Schatz has also taken home several of the biggest races of the season (Kings Royal, Knoxville Nationals, etc.)
Robby Renfroe

RM: Thanks to Tony Veneziano of WOO, this will be the sixth time in 31 years that the winningest driver will not be the WOO champ (Bobby Davis Jr., Dave Blaney, Sammy Swindell, Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski) and I understand the consistency argument and no question that Schatz is the man to beat. But qualifying should never carry as much weight as it does, especially when you then draw for positions. I still like my pal Gordon Barrett's system: one point for a win.

Q: Is the Indy Racing League for sale? What I mean by this question is, if a sanctioning body (like IMSA) came along and made a serious offer, do you think they would sell? I think the IRL would be a great fit for IMSA because of their already impressive portfolio of racing leagues (ALMS, Atlantics, Star Mazda, etc). They are a solid organization with good relationships with tracks, manufacturers, sponsors and fans. No to mention respect from the racing community and sponsors (something Tony George never had). They could easily put together exciting race weekends with ALMS, Star Mazda and the Atlantic series. It would be a win, win situation for everyone. Think about the potential for cross over teams, information and resource sharing, sponsor cross over, etc, etc. I’m just a desperate open wheel fan with a dream. What do you think?

Jerry Stell, Williamstown, NJ
Will the new FF2000 Series help prepare hopeful IndyCar drivers for the big show? (LAT)

RM: I think the party line is that it's publicly not for sale but TG's sisters don't want to own the series -- they simply want to run IMS like the old CART days -- and if somebody came along with the proper financing and plan, yes, it would be sold. But I can't imagine IMSA having that kind of cash or interest. Ditto for ALMS. But maybe John Menard would rescue it down the road. Or the car owners might buy it, gee, doesn't that sound familiar?

Q: Wow, what a depressing mailbag this past week. From the cries of dissent and boycott, to the boyhood memories that I could totally relate to. So what is to be done. If indeed we need to start over....who has the money, energy, and interest to do it? Exactly how much money would it take? And for how long? I'll play the lottery tonight, but I need to know what I am getting into just in case I win.

Chuck in Atlanta

RM: The estimates I've always heard was that it cost between $50-60 million a year to operate the IRL and that's purses, marketing, promotions, handouts and staffing. It's not a matter of how much it costs because the series really has no tangible assets other than a few trucks. It's a matter of who has the passion and money to do it the right way? Penske isn't interested and I suggested Menard in the answer above. But, trust me, it's a very short list if one even exists.

Q: I'm hoping you can shed some light on what really feels to me like a giant lie from the ICS and Versus. In an article written just before Homestead, Versus CEO Jamie Davis is quoted as saying that through 11 races (all but Homestead), Versus had garnered 26.7 Million viewers. In an article from October 19th (after Homestead), that number is upped to 29.5 Million viewers. Yet we are told that Homestead drew only 268,000 viewers. So.... either the repeat of the race, the FIL race, or the Qualifying shows drew ratings that dwarfed the actual race (doubtful), or somebody is counting viewers multiple times. I understand they're counting the first hour of the raceday broadcast as another show (though adding those viewers to the race viewers and announcing that number seems disingenuous at best), but even that is difficult to imagine adding up to 2.8 million viewers. I was wondering if you might be able to make some sense of this! It just strikes me as an all out lie by the folks responsible for the ratings-sinking TV deal they signed last year. Am I wrong?

Dennis McEwen

RM: No, you're not wrong it's simply called TV speak. VERSUS totals all its telecasts to get what we all know is a bogus number. The number that counts is the initial showing and I did a story last summer that showed the average VERSUS race was about 240,000 (based on the real numbers) and that ABC drew 1.2 million (without Indy which was a 4.0 ratings). Please read the next email below.

Q: You're right on many things open wheel including this ICS TV deal on Versus. The numbers have come in. According SportsBusiness Daily, the 17 races of the '09 IndyCar Series averaged 1.2 million viewers across ABC and Versus, down 28.4% from last year, when telecasts were on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. The 12 race telecasts on Versus averaged 315,000 viewers, compared to 778,000 for 11 races last year across ESPN and ESPN2. No wonder teams can't find sponsors. To lose more than half your audience because of this change is unacceptable and puts both the teams and the series at a HUGE disadvantage when sitting across the table from potential sponsors. You can't argue with the Versus product, but it appears to me that league gave up too much in order to get a pre-race show and some post-race interviews. This deal reminds me of when the National Hockey League left ESPN for Sportschannel in the late 80's. All that deal got the National Hockey League was 1/3 fewer homes and NASCAR became the 4th largest televised sport and hockey fell to somewhere near where the IRL is right now. The only reason I can think the IRL would stick with this deal is the league needs to money. Perhaps they need the ca$h to fund the TEAM deal. If that's the case then this is a terrible cycle which only hurts the teams. Sure they get a little money from the league but what the teams need is sponsorship, which they wont be able find since barely anyone is watching (other than us die hards). It's time to talk to CBS, NBC or FOX about buying time.

Scott St. Clair, Erie, PA

RM: You have identified the problem. VERSUS supposedly pays $6 million a year to the IRL and the new regime isn't about to quit accepting money and start paying to be on network. But that is exactly what needs to happen so the teams can try and get sponsorship. It's a vicious cycle that could prove fatal to IndyCar.

Q: I was wondering if you have heard from the family of Tony Renna lately? I have been thinking about him, maybe because the Ganassi #10 car won the championship this year...I don't know. I remember going to Indy and taking a track tour on the bus shortly after his fatal accident. I remember seeing all the rusty catch fence that gives character to the track, until we got to Turn 3 and saw the shiny new fencing and posts in the area of the crash that took his life. Man, I miss him.

Chad, Bourbon, Ind.

RM: I corresponded with Tony's dad a few years ago but not recently. Yes, it was very sad as well as a very strange accident that has never really been explained in total. It's almost like some people want to act like it didn't happen.

Q: Have we returned in time to 1978? At that time, the OWR series consisted of the Indianapolis 500 — which had a huge following and great TV ratings — plus a few other races that got no real TV coverage or media attention, and no one cared about them. USAC didn’t have the first clue as to how to market a racing series. IMS and the Hulman family had no reason to weigh in on the series as a whole, as long as they could pack the Speedway every May with a mixture of OWR enthusiasts and a couple of hundred thousand bodies through the turnstiles who didn’t pay attention to motorsports at all, except for that one event. Looking back on that era, it was an unsustainable model that had to change or the series would wither away to nothing except the venerable 500. Change only came when there started to be a groundswell of action by the team owners; and then the issue was pushed over the edge when several members of the USAC Board of Directors perished in that plane crash in April of ’78. Well, by all appearances the series is right back where it was in the late 70’s … except now we have an Indy 500 that lost nearly all of its former glory. USAC, of course, hasn’t changed a bit. Will we soon reach a point where the more rational and far-sighted team owners will finally get fed up, seize the reins and take over — CART-style? Will there be some precipitating event, like that plane crash of 31 years ago? Or will the series fold altogether, and be reconstituted by a group of dedicated teams? Robin, dust off your crystal ball and look into the future a few years: Where do you think things are headed? Where will the series be a year from now? Two years?

Chris, in Boone, North Carolina

RM: Let me say that Dan Gurney's White Paper still rings true today, 30 years later, because all of his questions and concerns still remain. Indy car has no leadership and no plan and it's more or less the Indy 500 and a bunch of other races nobody seems to care about. I have no idea what the future holds but somebody needs to step up and steer the ship.

Q: A question from Dave Long last week about the disparity between cars in the past brought up a very good point. What type of racing should IndyCar be trying to achieve with a rules package? A lot of us would like to see open rules, but that can and will lead to big disparities between teams. Does the average American racing fan have the stomach to watch that now that they have become used to NASCAR and even IRL pack racing? Will that help build a fan base and sponsors, etc? I suppose the alternative is basically what we have now - spec racing in packs with the big money teams clobbering the field anyway. Doesn’t seem like that has done much for the fan base either. If I were in charge I’d go to scary fast cars with monster horsepower. You may not have many finishes where the difference between 1st and 2nd is measured to the thousandth of a second. But, you’d have a series full of cars that challenge the best racers, and you’d have an identity. You’d be the series with the most powerful racing cars, on the most diverse race tracks in the world – the truest test of driving skill. The “product” isn’t all about the closest finishes.

Mark, Littleton, CO

RM: Have you been talking to Gil de Ferran? That's exactly how he feels, Indy cars were famous and respected because they were the fastest, baddest and scariest cars in the world. Or "beats" to quote de Ferran. The spec/pack racing is a product of the NASCAR mentality and I agree wholeheartedly that many of us fell for Indy cars back when you might not have three cars on the lead lap -- let alone a photo finish. We appreciated the skill and daring required to survive the '60s and '70s.

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