Q: I was wondering if you have any news as to what Graham Rahal's plans are for this year? I was under the impression that he was pretty much a lock to be teamed with Hideki Mutoh and Alex Lloyd, but now it seems that McDonalds has left the team and he still isn't signed. I feel that it's incredibly important for the IICS that Graham has a solid ride next year.

J Henke

The fate of Graham Rahal is still up in the air for 2010, according to Miller. (LAT)

RM: It's imperative that the best young American driver has a competitive ride but right now young Rahal is scrambling. There is one good possibility out there for him but it's a long way from happening. NHL may only have Mutoh because I'm hearing Lloyd's deal has gone south and there's some friction between Mike Lanigan and Bernie Haas.

Q: Tell me how bad it looks for the IRL not having the Indy Lights champ in a Indycar? Last year Rafa Matos was lucky to find a team that wanted to a fresh start and already had a budget sorted, one of the few! It's hard to believe that with the merger just a couple of years ago now, there hasn't been much adopted from the Champ Car playbook. Not saying there's a lot to gain from a series that was being run having to subsidize most of the teams in it. If there were a few good ideas taken. the Bridgestone red's and push to pass were a good start. Looking at all of the ladder series that the IRL are adopting what’s to say what's happening to J.R. Hildebrand in the move from Lights to Indycar won't happen to the 2010 USF2000 champ to a Star Mazda ride? Now granted the level of budgets are on two completely different levels. Why isn't the series sponsor promoting a scholarship to the next series? Firestone to give the series champ a season of free tires and a exclusive tire testing schedule with the team that he chooses for example. so at least that championship title isn't lost to a GP2 seat!? I think this model that Champ Car used in 2006 with the $2 million dollars showed that If there's a prize worth winning they will come. Let's not loose credibility for our ladder series and find J.R. a ride! if proving yourself within a ladder series does nothing, what's the point?

An optimist!

RM: It looks just as bad as when Buddy Rice and Jon Fogarty got no chance in CART after winning Atlantic titles or Alex Lloyd, Wade Cunningham, Jay Howard (stop me any time) being stonewalled except for a couple one-offs. The Champ Car reward got Simon Pagenaud into a seat with Derrick Walker and you are spot on, that needs to happen in Lights because $2 million could at least get the champ's foot in the door with somebody instead of watching. Hildebrand having a better shot at GP2 than IndyCar is sickening because it's true.

Q: I am a huge Indy car fan, but I fail realize importance of having more Americans in the series. Sure, I love my country but this isn't the A1GP. I think the emphasis should be getting the best drivers in the series for competition sake, not to worry about nationalities. Also, I don't understand how Paul Tracy has become this open wheel god. I was a huge fan of CART, but never watched another race once Greg Moore died (which sparked me to only watch IRL races). Tracy probably won 10-15 races within 10years. Then CART tanks, the big teams and good drivers leave and it becomes the Bourdais and sometimes Tracy show. In general, the pool of drivers was unknown and weak and Tracy who was one of the few talents with a good team took another 15 wins in about 6 seasons. He was good in the late Champcar years, but is only mid pack in the IRL, much like Doornbos. Could you please tell me where I'm going wrong?

Ryley Weir

RM: Indy was built on American stars. Make no mistake, Clark, Stewart, Hill, Rindt and Brabham upped the interest and credibility in the '60s but we were cheering for AJ, Mario, Gurney and Parnelli to beat them because Americans like to cheer for Americans. Even in CART's heydays in the '90s, when it had Mansell, Emmo, PT, Blundell, Gugelmin, Moore, Franchitti and Zanardi, there were 10 damn good Yanks in the 28-car lineup and Mikey, Little Al, Sullivan and Rahal had a nice following. The American media doesn't care about Scott Dixon or Dario or Ryan Briscoe (all good drivers and good guys) and that's why we need Marco, Graham, RHR and Danica to be winners and contend for championships -- recognizable names and AMERICANS. Danica became famous overnight because she was a tiny, pretty, sexy, racy AMERICAN female. NASCAR rules because so many people care about certain drivers -- all AMERICANS. I went to the Chili Bowl a couple weeks ago and there were 15,000 people five nights in a row that wore T-shirts and cheered loud and long for their favorite AMERICAN short tracker. If Danica was from Denmark, do you really think anybody would care? As for PT, he was always one of the fastest drivers when CART was loaded with depth and on many occasions he was the best. Sure, he's past his prime but he could have won Toronto last year and he's still a bigger draw than 99 percent of the full-timers in IndyCar.

Q: An open rulebook makes sense: You have a minimum weight, length, wheelbase, tub, carbon fiber only for safety. You mandate production-based engines, drive trains, and suspensions. An enterprising USAC guy with some backing buys or leases a used chassis or possibly builds his own and drops in a heavily massaged production engine. I could see Ford, Honda, Toyota, VW, or whoever, saying "Okay, if you're using our engine, you might want to do this." An open rulebook based on production parts would naturally bring interest (and money) from the manufacturers back into the sport without them feeling they have to make an expensive long-term commitment.

Phil Brown, Denver, Colorado.

RM: You silly man, why would IndyCar want to attract more competitors and manufacturers? Didn't you hear, 33 is only a number and Brian Barnhart doesn't have time to mess with a rulebook, he's got to concentrate on his speech to the drivers when they go out before qualifying three times a day.

Q: I just read that John Menard’s engine company (Menard Competition Technologies) won a design and engineering award in Europe for their V12 Superleague engines. I didn’t even know that Menard owned an engine company, let alone supplied an international racing formula. Why in the hell can’t the IRL use MCT as a supplier of cheap race engines combined with the Delta Wing project and really bring the costs down? For the Superleague he builds a 4.2 liter V12 that produces 750 h.p. that supposedly has rock-solid reliability and sounds badass. I don’t know if that application would be applicable in the future IRL chassis but surely MCT is advanced enough to build an engine to their desired specs. I know Honda provides a large cash infusion to the series, but this is a viable option to not be held hostage and would provide a competitive alternative and really bring the costs down in my opinion. Honda has always said that they prefer competition and I’m sure that MCT could get a manufacturer to step up and slap their name on the side of the engine. Is this “pie in the sky” thinking?

Todd L. Whitehurst

RM: My information is that Menard has submitted a proposal to be an Indy engine.

Q: With all of this talk about a new car for the IZOD IndyCar Series, why isn't there any new talk for a more relevant open-wheel car for USAC? Instead of an ugly fendered bathtub, why not make a rear engined dirt car, that could run separately and not in direct competition with the front engined sprinters. Heck I would buy one. Then you would get Boat, Whitt, and Saldana battling around with slideways rear engined experience, maybe even open up Indycars as a career track again out of USAC.

TJ Halsema, Athens, GA

RM: I'd much rather see those three guys running a rear-engined Silver Crown car on an IndyCar weekend rather than one of those bathtubs on Wednesday night at Charlotte or Phoenix. But I imagine money would be the problem. I'm amazed so many guys can still afford to run USAC or even weekly shows at Kokomo or Bloomington.

Q: What do you think of the Sao Paulo track design? On Google Earth its looks like the straights are wide enough and it looks fast and who do you think is going to win the 24 hours of Daytona?

Ray Hando

RM: I trust Tony Cotman and he said there's going to be a couple of places to pass. As for this weekend on SPEED, I'll pick Gainsco's boys.

Q: Do you see Casey Mears at all over the off-season? He only has a ride in the first six races of the Sprint Cup Series. Perhaps in passing, you should mention he take a look at running Indy if he doesn’t have a ride lined up in Nascab come May? Would A.J. put him in an extra car? What about Penske? Would he run a fourth car as a favor to Rick Mears?

Matt, Oshawa

RM: That's an interesting question. Casey's only Indy experience wasn't a good one (bad car) and he might like to put Indy on his resume. But, with The Captain already running three cars, driving for Team Penske isn't likely.

Q: I'm angry this week, Miller. No, I'm FURIOUS. Okay, I get that people aren't going to be too keen on the Delta Wing. I don't blame them for questioning something they haven't seen yet. What's gotten me pissed isn't about the car itself, but the amount of pessimism about the proposed 325 horsepower turbocharged 4 cylinder engine. Complaints range from the power being identical to a road car all the way up to the most infuriating of all, "there's no history with Indy for such an engine." I'm 26. People nearly three times my age have made these statements. People who have been to Indy in the 50s 60s and 70s. People who SHOULD REMEMBER THE DAMN OFFENHAUSER!!! YES, the Offenhauser! That little FOUR-CYLINDER ENGINE that used it's 420 horsepower to win more Indy 500s than ANY other engine in history! (24 Indy 500 wins for the uninformed) That engine powered cars MUCH heavier than today's cars to 188 MPH. Of COURSE a 325 horsepower car could give a lightweight car some serious speed. Not only that, but if the Delta Wing is truly a wingless design(in the sense of visibly exposed wings) then it's a tiny bit of a throwback to the old days, while at the same time using modern engineering INNOVATION to maintain modern levels of grip. Sounds to me like the Delta Wing is the PERFECT car for the IndyCar Series - reviving the legacy of the greatest engine in Indy history as well as combining the old days of the wingless cars with modern innovations. And if the series is worried about keeping Dallara and Honda around... Come on, it's not going to be easy to set up a whole new company to build this thing, so there's no reason Dallara can't contribute the manufacture of certain components(or even be contracted to build the whole thing so long as they keep it at the actual cost). Honda wants a V6? Build it so it can also carry a naturally aspirated V6 in addition to a turbo-4. That'll open up options to attract more engine manufacturers. BRING ON THE DELTA WING! And if the prototype doesn't work as expected, then we'll just take the next-gen Dallara offering. It can't end up any worse than what we have, after all.

Ryan "D-Boy" Hewitt

RM: I like the upper case letters, that shows anger and passion. I think you have nailed what Ben Bowlby has been preaching to Honda, Firestone, IMS, IRL and IZOD.

Q: As an old midget racer (figuratively if not literally) what are your thoughts on Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, WI deciding to promote races themselves rather than continue a 60 year associated with BMARA? They are even offering a $1000 appearance incentive for those who show up for eight shows. Shades of CART-IRL on a dirt track?

Greg Green

RM: I hadn't heard about this until your email so I don't know the specifics of why there's been a falling out. But I will say that Angell Park remains one of the truly great midget tracks in this country.

Q: Robin, I am so smart sometimes I scare myself. Open-wheel racing in America SUCKS. If you go to YOUTUBE and type in "CART 1994 Season" you will see the best open wheel racing ever. Somehow they seem to be on top of each other the entire race. If only we could go back to that. Do not fear, I know what to do. First you have a two double feeder system. The first is the road racing side. You start in the IndyCar Stars of Karting, then go to Formula Ford, US Formula 2000, Star Mazda (should be US Formula 3), Formula Atlantic, then IndyCar. The other line is: USAC Midget, USAC Sprint Car, USAC Silver Crown, USAC Gold Crown (if it ever happens), Indy Lights, the IndyCar. It's the best of both worlds; ovals and road courses. They start running ovals in Star Mazda, and road courses in Gold Crown. The marketing ploy could be "Tim has cut his teeth on the short, fast ovals of America, where the boys become men, and John has honed is skills in the twisty, quick road courses of America where smooth is fast. Now they do battle for the first time in the IZOD INDYCAR SERIES!" The other big thing for IndyCar is the chassis. Dallara can stay, they can just add Panoz, Lola, Penske could make his own chassis again (maybe not), and maybe some of the Grand Am chassis companies could come over like Crawford, Coyote, Riley, and Swift could do something again. The engines could either be a turbo 4, turbo 6, or NA V8. They could still have Honda, maybe a Ford badged Cosworth, and a Chevy badged Ilmor. I would love to see the season start out at the Copper World Classic in Phoenix, go back to Loudon, Laguna Seca, Road America and Michigan and, maybe back to Fundidora Park in Mexico. So Robin, what do you think? I am only a 19 year old college student at Southern Poly State University in Marietta Georgia.

Buddy Campbell.

RM: A passionate plea from a college student with a sense of history and too much common sense.