INDYCAR: Miller's Mailbag, 12.24

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 12.24

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 December 24, 2009 Indianapolis, IN

Products of an incredibly strong open-wheel ladder system at the turn of the century, Dan Wheldon, Buddy Rice and Alex Gurney were all shunned by CART. Wheldon and Rice would eventually land in the IRL while Gurney moved to Grand-Am. (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 mentioned in your last mail you talk about karting and the no-shows of Indy car owners at the karting event. I almost makes one think the legitimacy of the “Road to Indy”. It is a tough sell when big bucks and money has to be spent on being involved in the feeder series then on top of that, you are pretty much guaranteed nothing after winning the championships and none of the Indy Car owners even show to watch you. In past years, Indy Car has been missing talent because of the lack of direction of ladder series. To prove my point, Rossi, Summerton, Hildebrand and Edwards are in Europe trying to setup a ride, mean while Barrett and Duno secured their rides in Indy Car and did not come through the driver development series. What are Indy Cars and the Car owner’s intentions with driver development prospects? What is disheartening as a fan are young Karters in America dreams are racing in NASCAR, not winning the Indy 500, does that even run cross the minds those who run Indy Car?

Paul H., Erie, Pa

Danica Patrick and Patrick Long flank ALMS team owner Tom Milner in 2001. While DP and PL both cut their teeth in European open-wheel, only Danica would graduate to IndyCars. Long is now an ALMS champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner. (LAT)

RM: You have identified the problem. The Road to Indy is nothing more than a B.S. slogan that means nothing until the owners actually embrace the concept. When the IRL started, USAC made all its competitors put on a decal that proclaimed The Road to Indy. Sure it was, if you were talking about the Brickyard 400. Other than Matos, name an Indy Lights grad who got a full-time Indy ride based on ability? You can't. And don't say Alex Lloyd, he had to find a sponsor to finally get a seat. The CART owners paid no attention to Atlantics and that's why Buddy Rice, Jon Fogarty, Alex Gurney, Joey Hand, Michael Valiante, Rocky Moran Jr. never got a sniff. IRL owners only pay attention if a driver from Lights can pay. Hildebrand is a prime example. He's young, fast, bright, articulate, talented and AMERICAN! He's exactly what IndyCar needs more of but he's got nothing. It was nice of Michael Andretti to hire him to run Lights but now he's the champ and what did that get him?

Q: To end this decade we should point out that the IRL has made bad decision, again. With the Milwaukee Mile closing, NASCAR makes the right move and moves the Nationwide race to Road America. The IRL leaves a date open on the schedule just in case the Mile works everything out and once the Mile has said that they can't host a race the IRL decides not to fill the date with the best road course in America. And all we need to happen is it to rain and have the stock cars put the rain tires on and have Marty Reid get all excited because NASCAR is "making History" and have Steven Wallace spin 30 plus times in 12 laps and have it take one hour to finish the final 10 laps. Give me a break, hopefully the 2011 IRL schedule will have both the Mile and Road America not to mention Cleveland as well.

Ray Hando

RM: I've probably received 35 emails about IndyCar fans upset that NASCAR has secured the best road course in North America and it's sickening to think stock cars and not Indy cars will be at Elkhart Lake. On a 4-mile track, it would take Nationwide at least two hours to complete the final 10 laps -- unless Steven Wallace had already crashed out.

Q: How can NASCRAP be going to Road America, but we still can't get an IRL race there?? I was sad enough imagining what the IRL cars would look like in comparison with Champ Car, but to think of those lumbering cows going around the majestic Carousel...I just wish the IRL would get there act together and get this track back on the schedule. (Incidentally, what odds are you laying that the NASCAR boys won't top 100 mph around the carousel?)

Andrew Kinsella

RM: I guess I'm anxious to see if the midwest road racing crowd turns out to support the cows on the Carousel. I do enjoy watching the Cup boys at The Glen but it's sad to think that NASCAR has taken over another open wheel property.

Q: In the last mail-bag, you mentioned to ‘Mike’ that Milka Duno does not belong in an Indy car. I completely understand why, she always seems to be completely uncompetitive but I’m confused… she seemed to have a solid practice session in an ARCA car. Also, based on what about her past accomplishments, she seems to be a decent driver. So am I missing something? Can you explain to me why Milka is so uncompetitive in an Indy car? All I want to do is give credit where credit is due. Also, based on what you learned from the tests, who do you believe will have more success in ARCA… Danica or Milka?

Curious Tom

RM: Ask anybody who had to race sports cars with her or the man who brought her into the IRL. She is hopeless on a road course, be it Grand Am or Indy cars, and when you're seven seconds a lap behind your teammates in equal equipment I guess that's the best yardstick. The fact she can make it around an oval should give you some indicator of just how stuck those IRL cars can be at certain tracks. I think she's perfect for ARCA and will undoubtedly win the championship. Not. To mention her in the same breath with Danica is an insult.

Q: After all the hype for the one-race-win-wonder Danica, they push back her debut in NASCAR. Why don't they just admit she won't hack it at Daytona---she has no balls to give it a go!!! Talk about pampering the queen!!! I'm so tired of her getting all the attention when there are more qualified drivers looking for rides. To me, she's not that pretty---can't talk without saying "ya know" 20 times in one interview, and is just an average driver. She has "ONE" win her entire career -- wow--that's impressive!!!

Pat Kleibor/Franklin Wisconsin

RM: First of all, if you don't think she's got balls then you've never watched her race at Texas or Chicago or qualify at Indy in 2005 when the car got sideways. Her battle with Hornish and Kanaan at Texas a couple years ago proved to most that she had no qualms about running wheel to wheel at 215 mph. Is she over-hyped? Probably, but that's not her fault. She didn't send all those NASCAR reporters to Daytona. She's a competent, smart driver who doesn't crash and has been a serious racer since she was 15. And don't always believe what AP writes, they said she wasn't going to run Daytona in Nationwide car but that has yet to be determined -- as she stated in her press conference.

Q: I've been a car racing fan since Jim Clark won his first championship in '64 and your man Jim Hurtubise was still driving at Indy, and I'm not stupid, so let's see if I have this right. Juan Montoya is a superb racing driver who won a CART championship, won Indy as a rookie and won half a dozen F1 races when the competition there was not at all weak - an outstanding record by any measure. He has been competitive in NASCAR this year but thus far has only managed to win one race in three years with a pretty good team. Sam H and AJ Allmendinger are excellent pro drivers with pretty good teams but have not shown much at all. Whatever you think about NASCAR (I live in Charlotte but I'm not really a fan), it's as hard to win a race there as it was in CART back in the early '90s. And I am now expected to believe that this pipsqueak of a girl, whose record as a racing driver is not exactly stellar even in the IRL where the talent pool isn't much of anything, can come to a second tier NASCAR team and suddenly be competitive? I've seen her drive on the highlights and I wasn't all that impressed. She reminds me of Eddie Cheever more than anyone else, and that's not a compliment. She's got that same sense of entitlement that Ed had which I did not like in Cheever and I don't like it in Patrick. Given all this evidence, why would anyone anywhere ever consider the idea that this modestly skilled driver will have any success in NASCAR when there is virtually no chance of it ever happening?

Is the motorsports media coverage now so PC that you have to cover this story like Patrick is some kind of legitimate contender when even a very slightly educated fan knows that simply isn't true? Why doesn't anyone come out and say this?

Scott Wise, Charlotte

RM: I'm not sure anybody who covers motorsports on a regular basis believes that Danica is going to be a contender as a rookie in Nationwide. I think there is a natural curiosity factor about how she'll do in a stock car but that's all because she has shown that she's legit in Indy cars. Third at Indianapolis last May, fifth in the point standings and making progress as a road racer. Is she Parnelli Jones? No, and never will be but she is a serious, competent racer who obviously taking advantage of her popularity. As I said in the email above yours, she didn't request all those NASCAR reporters to come to her test and, sure, SPEED sent me and we did a couple live shows for an ARCA test and I might not have considered it that newsworthy but a whole bunch of folks did (judging by our web site traffic). She's on a good team with JR Motorsports and I think she'll struggle mightily in NASCAR, especially switching back and forth to IndyCar. I think running the whole ARCA series makes more sense than jumping into the deep end with the Nationwide boys. I wish she'd conquer one world before trying another. But she's got an opportunity and a lot more moxie than most people know.

Q: As much as I would like to see Danica succeed in this NASCAR outing just to prove that there are good drivers in IndyCar racing, I just started wondering what would it say about her if she got a win in NASCAR before she won a race in Indycar on US soil?

Alexis, Green, Ohio

RM: It would say she got "The Call." But I think Montoya has earned everyone's respect and Allmendinger did a nice job as well this season. Hornish also had his moments. Let's also recall that AJ, Mario and Gurney all won NASCAR races and a NASCAR driver has NEVER won an Indy car race.

Q: Could you inform all the complainers about the Indy 500 schedule to get their heads out of the sand. If anyone should be upset it would be people like me that have bronze badges and spend a lot of time at the track. Lets look at the facts, a Penske or Ganassi car is going to win the race and the pole. The 11,11,11 qualifying is a contrived joke, Everyone is racing the same car and have already collected the data in every type of weather condition, and if you are racing for 7th place why bother, assuming there are 3 ganassi and penske cars this year? The only way you break into the top 6 is either wrecks or a Paul Tracy or Tomas Scheckter banzai move. During practice you are just out there pounding out meaningless laps and might bang up a car or get hurt. People like Scheckter and Wheldon are ready to go in about 25 laps.The only people who would really benefit from a longer May at this point would be rookies and younger drivers. People like Summerton, and Hildebrand could use a lot of time at the speedway. The fans should be more upset about Indycar considering adopting a car that is not an IndyCar, that would be the self inflicted death blow to open wheel, not about how many practice days Penske and Ganassi can prove to use they're a second and a half faster than everyone else.

BSU Darren

RM: I agree, I think I said you could literally run Indy all in a week and nobody would mind because it hasn't been the month of May since 1995. But I wouldn't say the proposed Delta car is a death knell. There are actually more positives than negatives about it, providing it can handle ovals, high speeds and be operated at the prices that have been quoted. The death knell is five more years of two teams winning EVERY race.

Q: Regarding your comment about the new turbo motor, can you give a brief explanation of why it will be so much cheaper than the current non-turbo Honda?

Alan K, Raleigh, NC

RM: No, but I trust the owners will make that clear in their press conference next month. They're saying $140,000 with the electronics.

Q: Any inside info on USF1? Things seem to have gone awfully quiet. Now I see Ecclestone is predicting that they won't be on the grid next year. Any comments?

Eric, Ohio

RM: I've been skeptical since Day 1 and I saw Bernie's comments but I'd say something needs to be revealed soon. Peter Windsor has remained adamant the car is right on schedule so we'll see.

Q: Can you provide us any updates on de Ferran racings plans for 2010? Do they still have all of the ALMS team members from 2009 on staff?

Scott Thompson

RM: After I said on SPEED REPORT that Tony George and Gil might be merging for 2010, de Ferran sent me an email last week that read: "I'm not dead yet." The team is still together but, obviously, the clock is ticking. It's a good group so hopefully Gil can find a way to make it happen.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Miller

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