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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 11.4
Rumors, facts, rants and raves...if you're a fan of open-wheel racing, you must read Miller's Mailbag!
Justin Wilson is one of the most sought-after free agents in the IZOD IndyCar Series. The likable Brit has made a contender out of every Indy car team he's driven for. (LAT)
(Thanks for all of the GREAT submissions for Robin's new tag line. We received so many good ones, we'll use a new one each week until we settle on our favorite. This week's selection belongs to Mailbag reader Mike Semel.~Ed.)
Hello open wheel types and thanks for all your questions. I intend to answer your questions every week during the season, so just email me at . Don’t feel left out if I didn’t directly respond. I appreciate your interest and passion.
~Robin Miller
Q: I'm not much for silly-season banter, but there's one tantalizing scenario that I have not seen or heard about anywhere - Tony Kanaan and Justin Wilson as teammates at KV. It seems like a perfect fit for all parties, albeit depending on the almighty dollar, of course. TK is a former champion with something to prove. JWill is a championship-caliber driver and is perhaps the most talented road racer in the series. Both have savvy when it comes to set-ups. With Kanaan's experience on ovals, the team would gain a dimension it’s never had (even though KV has done a damn good job developing a competitive oval package). Put the two studs together, and they would complement each other while elevating KV, the best "transition team" that has considerable experience and resources. With two Lotus-backed entries, I'm sure the team and the car maker's brass would be excited to have two of the league's stars campaigning their cars - especially coming off a season that saw its drivers struggle just to keep all four wheels intact. It would certainly give the mechanics and engineers some much-needed mojo. To me, a KV-Kanaan-Wilson combination could easily supplant Andretti Autosport as the #3 team and might even challenge Penske and Ganassi, particularly on the twisties. It'd sure be a great story.
Jeff Castellano, New York
RM: I couldn't agree more but you nailed it: the almighty dollar. Justin was in Indy a few days ago to talk to Panther, KV and Dennis Reinbold and I'm sure Gil de Ferran is interested in TK but, so far, neither has a seat for 2011. Those two as teammates would be a fun combo to watch.
Q: So are the assumptions about TK and a buyout word on the street, or just a guess from you? Honestly I find it sad that Andretti can't find a way to keep probably his best driver. I know supposedly there are a few sponsors that may be stepping up for RHR, but why not TK? Also I know that GoDaddy is basically bank rolling Danica, and it also may spill over to the other cars as well, but in all honesty Danica needs to go from Andretti. Yes she is a media sweetheart, but as a teammate she's awful. The cut block at Texas on TK and then racing TK at Miami instead of teaming with him to run down Dixon. One other note, I really wish that Marco hadn't got paid when he first came up and is fighting more like Graham.
Chris
RM: It's a fact and you can reference the commentary I just wrote on SPEED.com. My only answer for why TK doesn't have a sponsor (yet) is that despite the fact he's fast and personable, there just isn't any money out there. If Roger Penske is having trouble, then how can anybody else expect to score a big deal. But I believe TK will land on his feet. As for Marco and Graham, there seems to be quite a bit of difference in their approaches and young Rahal's past season really helped fuel his hunger.
Q: Did you notice the Bass Pro Shops & McDonald's logos on the mirrors of the Target cars at Homestead? How about this scenario? McDonalds use to sponsor TK in CART and now works with Ganassi on the NASCAR side. Since TK is more of an international star as opposed to Graham, could you see Mickey D's returning to Open Wheel to sponsor TK with Ganassi? The more I think of it, Ganassi needs to get Carlos Slim and Johnny Morris to pony up, along with Ronald McDonald, to get TK on the grid in 2011. THAT would be a Superteam! Where do you think TK can find the money to be in a competitive car? TK is obviously the biggest domino that needs to drop as far as the Indy Car silly season. As good as Graham is he's not a Champion, TK is! TK has to be kicking himself in the head for not taking the Ganassi gig. Do you think he looks over at Dario's two Championships and Indy 500 win in the 10 car and thinks to himself "what was I thinking"?
Scott St. Clair, Erie, PA
RM: Randy Bernard is good buddies with the Bass Pro Shops owner and I'm sure he's pitching IndyCar but McDonald's was only in Champ Car because of Paul Newman and I don't think it's likely they'll get back in open wheel. As for TK, I think he's got a line on a sponsor already and he'll either land with Newman/Haas, Gil de Ferran's team or maybe KV Racing. He told me last week he doesn't second guess anything but you know, of course, he's had to think about what might have been.
Q: Well, the silly season is well under way. So far, Ryan Hunter-Reay has a ride
Tony Kanaan does not. Paul Tracy does not. Dan Weldon is not going back to Panther. Or is he. Dan Wheldon is forming his own team. Or is he. Richard Petty Racing is moving to IndyCar with John Andretti and AJ Allmendinger driving. Or are they? What do you hear?
Mike in Green Bay
PS- Ordered my Milwaukee Mile 225 tickets at 6:15 Friday night. Can you make a suggestion to the higher ups to include the phrase "Rex Mays Classic" in the name?
RM: I hear Graham Rahal is getting close to a great ride, J.R. Hildebrand is visiting National Guard brass, PT may have enough sponsorship for a partial season again, TK will be just fine and Justin Wilson is talking to everybody. Not sure about Wheldon but don't think he'll be at Panther. And King Richard bringing AJ to IndyCar would be great, but that ain't happening. How were your Milwaukee tickets priced?
Q: Both Graham and Marco have "tweeted" (I hate that term) recently that they will both be in Las Vegas starting tomorrow. I wonder if a deal is in the works? Sure would make sense to me.
Jim
RM: They're both at the SEMA Show and they won't be teammates in 2011.
Q: About Will Power: he's GOT to be doing something a bit better than the other drivers, and not just set-up wise. But I haven't a clue what it is. Because if you take away the "I know what it takes to win a championship" sort of mentality, and if you take away the oval course prowess (which really doesn't mean much--let's face it), he is the number 1 Hot Dog. This guy drives at a Schumacher-type level. And, furthermore, he hasn't tried to run a championship contender off the road like that jerk did. I like Dario and all, but there is no disputing who the winner really was.
John, West Chester, PA
RM: He's always been brave, fast and talented but now he's confident -- even on ovals. Will did win the most races (5) and led 460 laps while Dario posted three wins and 562 laps led but just came on strong at the end and got a couple good breaks. But watching Franchitti operate on that final weekend was very impressive, and Chip's team just kicked The Captain's butt.
Q: My question is, how long well the IRL originals last? Danica is leaving for NASCAR soon, Ed Carpenter didn't even run a full season, Wheldon seems to be in limbo, Meira is just hanging around making no real difference, and Marco is just lucky that his father owns a team. In the meanwhile former CART and Champ Car drivers are getting the big deals and challenging each other for championships. The only exception is Ryan Briscoe, who did compete in a race or two in Champ Car though and didn't really get going until the merger happened. How long well the former IRL regulars last?
T. Yang
RM: That's a good observation and I was telling Michael Andretti my theory on this. I think guys like Power, Wilson, Hunter-Reay, Rahal, Tags all benefitted from much higher horsepower in Champ Car (and tougher cars to drive) and, obviously, Dario, Dixon, Helio and TK came from CART. Wheldon took offense to me calling him an "endangered species" but that's what those old IRLers like him and Vitor are. Just being quick on ovals isn't enough.
Q: It’s been almost four months since the ICONIC advisory board announced the changes for 2012, but I’m still waiting for some big news or announcement. I understand the rules for engines and aero kits were recently released, but surely to god we should be hearing something by now…right? Personally, I wanted to see Swift, Lola, and Dallara line up and get back to the successful formula of what made the sport exciting and compelling (yea, I know…it’s all about money). So…am I’m being too impatient or does nobody REALLY care? And how is F1 successfully immune to the financial woes Indy Car is experiencing?
Mike, Newburgh, Ind.
RM: Be patient, Tony Cotman and Tony Purnell are still meeting with F1 teams and assorted other manufacturers. Is anything signed? Not yet but they're confident it won't be just a one make series in 2012. As for F1, they have countries behind their drivers and teams, plus major manufacturers.
Q: Many months ago Randy Bernard indicated he was going to put a business plan together for the league and he indicated it would be complete during September. Does anyone have an idea of what is in the plan or if it has been made public? Doesn’t the USAC champion to Indy Lights create an excellent opportunity for Tony Stewart to get involved from an ownership standpoint or some sort of support function? What a story to have Stewart helping USAC champions on the road to Indy. Or, maybe one of the past USAC champions who have been successful in the big leagues.
Jim, Indy
RM: He hasn't shared it with anybody just yet but one of his goals was to reduce the massive debt in IndyCar and that's been accomplished. Stew has supported his roots for several years in USAC and WOO and it's only natural to assume he'll own an Indy car team some day after he quits NASCAR.
Q: How does TGBB hold onto his job?? What do the owners really think of him? What does Randy Bernard think of him? Does he have any supporters? It seems obvious that his actions are the largest source of credibility damage from within the Indycar management structure. I know that Randy Bernard can't change the economy or the Versus contract or many other external factors restricting the health of OWR. He should, however, be able to control the internal manner in which Indycar presents its racing product, including the replacement of such a publicly weak decision maker. Yet, TGBB is still there. That means to me that he must have support from somewhere that restricts Randy Bernard's control [such as holdover support from the George family] or that Randy is OK with TGBB. As a newcomer to racing, a question about Mr. Bernard is whether he really "gets" this sport and the continued presence of TGBB is not reassuring.
Web Beadle, Martinez CA
RM: A lot of us see TGBB as the last link to TG's era and since Randy Bernard wants to cut all references to IRL and start fresh, ridding us of TGBB would seem to make sense. A lot of owners have decided in the past couple years they didn't like TGBB and a couple have expressed their feelings to Bernard. Not sure how he's avoided a pink slip but at least Bernard was smart enough to hire Tony Cotman to handle the new car/engine process.
Q: I hope you can shed some light on this. I recently checked both the Watkins Glen schedule and Indycars own schedule and found no indycar race there in 2011. I called the track office and got the general impression that ISC is not interested in Indy cars anymore. After seeing the crappy attendance at Homestead I can see their case there but Watkins Glen was far better attended. And its only an hour and a half from my house. We were planning to go there in 2012 (and beyond) to witness the true rebirth of OWR in America thru the new Dallara and engine package. Is it too late to blame all this on Mr. George? Somebody help me.
Dave Selleck, Eldred Township, PA
RM: In a nutshell, The Glen was an innocent victim of IndyCar's move to partner with Bruton Smith's tracks and dump ISC's. You are correct, attendance at The Glen wasn't great but it was decent and enthusiastic and everyone loves running on a real road course with history and challenges. Of all the ISC tracks that got cut, this is the one that really hurt. Maybe someday it can get back on the schedule.
Q: If the motors are the same and the chassis’ are all the same, then what are the Penske and Ganassi teams doing to be so dominate? I understand they have more money available, but Indy car racing has evolved into an IROC type of series, with the exception that they get to setup their own cars. Help me understand what they spend their money on to gain the advantage. Please don’t tell it is simply the drivers, because we have seen good drivers in other cars who are simply not competitive.
Mike, Northern California
RM: Because these cars have been around for so long and because these two teams are so thorough and have many of the best people, they've been able to refine and refine the details for ovals. Little things like mirrors, decals, how the bodywork fits -- all make a difference. Sure, Ganassi and Penske have won 31 of the past 34 races but at least they can be challenged on road courses and street circuits every now and then.
Hello open wheel types and thanks for all your questions. I intend to answer your questions every week during the season, so just email me at . Don’t feel left out if I didn’t directly respond. I appreciate your interest and passion.
~Robin Miller
Q: I'm not much for silly-season banter, but there's one tantalizing scenario that I have not seen or heard about anywhere - Tony Kanaan and Justin Wilson as teammates at KV. It seems like a perfect fit for all parties, albeit depending on the almighty dollar, of course. TK is a former champion with something to prove. JWill is a championship-caliber driver and is perhaps the most talented road racer in the series. Both have savvy when it comes to set-ups. With Kanaan's experience on ovals, the team would gain a dimension it’s never had (even though KV has done a damn good job developing a competitive oval package). Put the two studs together, and they would complement each other while elevating KV, the best "transition team" that has considerable experience and resources. With two Lotus-backed entries, I'm sure the team and the car maker's brass would be excited to have two of the league's stars campaigning their cars - especially coming off a season that saw its drivers struggle just to keep all four wheels intact. It would certainly give the mechanics and engineers some much-needed mojo. To me, a KV-Kanaan-Wilson combination could easily supplant Andretti Autosport as the #3 team and might even challenge Penske and Ganassi, particularly on the twisties. It'd sure be a great story.
Jeff Castellano, New York
RM: I couldn't agree more but you nailed it: the almighty dollar. Justin was in Indy a few days ago to talk to Panther, KV and Dennis Reinbold and I'm sure Gil de Ferran is interested in TK but, so far, neither has a seat for 2011. Those two as teammates would be a fun combo to watch.
Q: So are the assumptions about TK and a buyout word on the street, or just a guess from you? Honestly I find it sad that Andretti can't find a way to keep probably his best driver. I know supposedly there are a few sponsors that may be stepping up for RHR, but why not TK? Also I know that GoDaddy is basically bank rolling Danica, and it also may spill over to the other cars as well, but in all honesty Danica needs to go from Andretti. Yes she is a media sweetheart, but as a teammate she's awful. The cut block at Texas on TK and then racing TK at Miami instead of teaming with him to run down Dixon. One other note, I really wish that Marco hadn't got paid when he first came up and is fighting more like Graham.
Chris
RM: It's a fact and you can reference the commentary I just wrote on SPEED.com. My only answer for why TK doesn't have a sponsor (yet) is that despite the fact he's fast and personable, there just isn't any money out there. If Roger Penske is having trouble, then how can anybody else expect to score a big deal. But I believe TK will land on his feet. As for Marco and Graham, there seems to be quite a bit of difference in their approaches and young Rahal's past season really helped fuel his hunger.
Q: Did you notice the Bass Pro Shops & McDonald's logos on the mirrors of the Target cars at Homestead? How about this scenario? McDonalds use to sponsor TK in CART and now works with Ganassi on the NASCAR side. Since TK is more of an international star as opposed to Graham, could you see Mickey D's returning to Open Wheel to sponsor TK with Ganassi? The more I think of it, Ganassi needs to get Carlos Slim and Johnny Morris to pony up, along with Ronald McDonald, to get TK on the grid in 2011. THAT would be a Superteam! Where do you think TK can find the money to be in a competitive car? TK is obviously the biggest domino that needs to drop as far as the Indy Car silly season. As good as Graham is he's not a Champion, TK is! TK has to be kicking himself in the head for not taking the Ganassi gig. Do you think he looks over at Dario's two Championships and Indy 500 win in the 10 car and thinks to himself "what was I thinking"?
Scott St. Clair, Erie, PA
RM: Randy Bernard is good buddies with the Bass Pro Shops owner and I'm sure he's pitching IndyCar but McDonald's was only in Champ Car because of Paul Newman and I don't think it's likely they'll get back in open wheel. As for TK, I think he's got a line on a sponsor already and he'll either land with Newman/Haas, Gil de Ferran's team or maybe KV Racing. He told me last week he doesn't second guess anything but you know, of course, he's had to think about what might have been.
Q: Well, the silly season is well under way. So far, Ryan Hunter-Reay has a ride
Tony Kanaan does not. Paul Tracy does not. Dan Weldon is not going back to Panther. Or is he. Dan Wheldon is forming his own team. Or is he. Richard Petty Racing is moving to IndyCar with John Andretti and AJ Allmendinger driving. Or are they? What do you hear?
Mike in Green Bay
PS- Ordered my Milwaukee Mile 225 tickets at 6:15 Friday night. Can you make a suggestion to the higher ups to include the phrase "Rex Mays Classic" in the name?
RM: I hear Graham Rahal is getting close to a great ride, J.R. Hildebrand is visiting National Guard brass, PT may have enough sponsorship for a partial season again, TK will be just fine and Justin Wilson is talking to everybody. Not sure about Wheldon but don't think he'll be at Panther. And King Richard bringing AJ to IndyCar would be great, but that ain't happening. How were your Milwaukee tickets priced?
Q: Both Graham and Marco have "tweeted" (I hate that term) recently that they will both be in Las Vegas starting tomorrow. I wonder if a deal is in the works? Sure would make sense to me.
Jim
RM: They're both at the SEMA Show and they won't be teammates in 2011.
Q: About Will Power: he's GOT to be doing something a bit better than the other drivers, and not just set-up wise. But I haven't a clue what it is. Because if you take away the "I know what it takes to win a championship" sort of mentality, and if you take away the oval course prowess (which really doesn't mean much--let's face it), he is the number 1 Hot Dog. This guy drives at a Schumacher-type level. And, furthermore, he hasn't tried to run a championship contender off the road like that jerk did. I like Dario and all, but there is no disputing who the winner really was.
John, West Chester, PA
RM: He's always been brave, fast and talented but now he's confident -- even on ovals. Will did win the most races (5) and led 460 laps while Dario posted three wins and 562 laps led but just came on strong at the end and got a couple good breaks. But watching Franchitti operate on that final weekend was very impressive, and Chip's team just kicked The Captain's butt.
Q: My question is, how long well the IRL originals last? Danica is leaving for NASCAR soon, Ed Carpenter didn't even run a full season, Wheldon seems to be in limbo, Meira is just hanging around making no real difference, and Marco is just lucky that his father owns a team. In the meanwhile former CART and Champ Car drivers are getting the big deals and challenging each other for championships. The only exception is Ryan Briscoe, who did compete in a race or two in Champ Car though and didn't really get going until the merger happened. How long well the former IRL regulars last?
T. Yang
RM: That's a good observation and I was telling Michael Andretti my theory on this. I think guys like Power, Wilson, Hunter-Reay, Rahal, Tags all benefitted from much higher horsepower in Champ Car (and tougher cars to drive) and, obviously, Dario, Dixon, Helio and TK came from CART. Wheldon took offense to me calling him an "endangered species" but that's what those old IRLers like him and Vitor are. Just being quick on ovals isn't enough.
Q: It’s been almost four months since the ICONIC advisory board announced the changes for 2012, but I’m still waiting for some big news or announcement. I understand the rules for engines and aero kits were recently released, but surely to god we should be hearing something by now…right? Personally, I wanted to see Swift, Lola, and Dallara line up and get back to the successful formula of what made the sport exciting and compelling (yea, I know…it’s all about money). So…am I’m being too impatient or does nobody REALLY care? And how is F1 successfully immune to the financial woes Indy Car is experiencing?
Mike, Newburgh, Ind.
RM: Be patient, Tony Cotman and Tony Purnell are still meeting with F1 teams and assorted other manufacturers. Is anything signed? Not yet but they're confident it won't be just a one make series in 2012. As for F1, they have countries behind their drivers and teams, plus major manufacturers.
Q: Many months ago Randy Bernard indicated he was going to put a business plan together for the league and he indicated it would be complete during September. Does anyone have an idea of what is in the plan or if it has been made public? Doesn’t the USAC champion to Indy Lights create an excellent opportunity for Tony Stewart to get involved from an ownership standpoint or some sort of support function? What a story to have Stewart helping USAC champions on the road to Indy. Or, maybe one of the past USAC champions who have been successful in the big leagues.
Jim, Indy
RM: He hasn't shared it with anybody just yet but one of his goals was to reduce the massive debt in IndyCar and that's been accomplished. Stew has supported his roots for several years in USAC and WOO and it's only natural to assume he'll own an Indy car team some day after he quits NASCAR.
Q: How does TGBB hold onto his job?? What do the owners really think of him? What does Randy Bernard think of him? Does he have any supporters? It seems obvious that his actions are the largest source of credibility damage from within the Indycar management structure. I know that Randy Bernard can't change the economy or the Versus contract or many other external factors restricting the health of OWR. He should, however, be able to control the internal manner in which Indycar presents its racing product, including the replacement of such a publicly weak decision maker. Yet, TGBB is still there. That means to me that he must have support from somewhere that restricts Randy Bernard's control [such as holdover support from the George family] or that Randy is OK with TGBB. As a newcomer to racing, a question about Mr. Bernard is whether he really "gets" this sport and the continued presence of TGBB is not reassuring.
Web Beadle, Martinez CA
RM: A lot of us see TGBB as the last link to TG's era and since Randy Bernard wants to cut all references to IRL and start fresh, ridding us of TGBB would seem to make sense. A lot of owners have decided in the past couple years they didn't like TGBB and a couple have expressed their feelings to Bernard. Not sure how he's avoided a pink slip but at least Bernard was smart enough to hire Tony Cotman to handle the new car/engine process.
Q: I hope you can shed some light on this. I recently checked both the Watkins Glen schedule and Indycars own schedule and found no indycar race there in 2011. I called the track office and got the general impression that ISC is not interested in Indy cars anymore. After seeing the crappy attendance at Homestead I can see their case there but Watkins Glen was far better attended. And its only an hour and a half from my house. We were planning to go there in 2012 (and beyond) to witness the true rebirth of OWR in America thru the new Dallara and engine package. Is it too late to blame all this on Mr. George? Somebody help me.
Dave Selleck, Eldred Township, PA
RM: In a nutshell, The Glen was an innocent victim of IndyCar's move to partner with Bruton Smith's tracks and dump ISC's. You are correct, attendance at The Glen wasn't great but it was decent and enthusiastic and everyone loves running on a real road course with history and challenges. Of all the ISC tracks that got cut, this is the one that really hurt. Maybe someday it can get back on the schedule.
Q: If the motors are the same and the chassis’ are all the same, then what are the Penske and Ganassi teams doing to be so dominate? I understand they have more money available, but Indy car racing has evolved into an IROC type of series, with the exception that they get to setup their own cars. Help me understand what they spend their money on to gain the advantage. Please don’t tell it is simply the drivers, because we have seen good drivers in other cars who are simply not competitive.
Mike, Northern California
RM: Because these cars have been around for so long and because these two teams are so thorough and have many of the best people, they've been able to refine and refine the details for ovals. Little things like mirrors, decals, how the bodywork fits -- all make a difference. Sure, Ganassi and Penske have won 31 of the past 34 races but at least they can be challenged on road courses and street circuits every now and then.
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