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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 12.7
Always genuine, never lite: It's Miller time. Here's the latest Q&A from SPEED.com's IndyCar guru.
Tony Stewart's possible return to the Indy 500 in a Roger Penske-owned car drew plenty of interest from open-wheel and stock car fans alike. (Photo: IMS Photo)
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: The Captain may have a ride for Smoke at Indy this year. Love to see another driver who cut his teeth on midgets and sprints competing at Indy. It made me think, we know lots of guys over the years that made the jump from short tracks to Indy, but how about going from the IndyCar circuit to the quarter miles? Besides TK and possibly Viso I can't think of anyone. Who do you like in making such a transition?
Gerry Courtney
RM: Not sure about Viso but Will Power grew up on the dirt and I think Paul Tracy was comfortable being sideways and I would have liked to see Michael Andretti try sprint cars as well.
Q: With Penske saying he is trying to get Tony Stewart to run Indy with him this year, any chance Smoke would consider coming back to IndyCar full time? He has won everything in NASCAR except Daytona and if he drove for Penske he would have a realistic shot at achieving his longtime dream of winning the Indy 500. I think it would be easier for him to run a one off at Daytona and have a full season to get used to the DW12. It would be a huge boost for IndyCar to steal one of the NASCAR drivers for once.
Dustin from Tulsa
RM: No, he’s made his living and fortune in NASCAR and is way too old and entrenched to leave but maybe someday he could branch out and field an Indy 500 effort. That would be cool and more likely.
Q: I have been a fan of open wheel racing for almost three-quarters of my life (I'm only 27). I was a big fan of CART (when it was still around). I have recently become a fan of F1 in the last eight-nine years but I have always wondered as to how and why the CART/IRL split happened. I know of the whole American drivers vs. international drivers and road courses vs. oval racing deal but is there any reading material (books, articles) that explain the split in more detail? Anything that explains the politics, economics, etc.
Luis from California.
RM: No books (to my knowledge) on the subject but basically it boiled down to Tony George wanting to be king and not trusting car owners. The CART owners weren’t very smart about making him part of the club and embracing the guy who ran the Indy 500. Bad feelings, poor communication, bad timing and catastrophic results.
Q: I probably already know the answer to this question, but is there a shred of hope that Tony Stewart will run in the 500? The Captain seems dead serious, but I know Greg Zipadelli is deeply against it. We all know Smoke wants to drink the milk, and I think everyone wants to see him try again. Do you approve of Miles and Belskus? Do you think they will continue what Randy set out to do? And if not, do you think the series will flourish or die? Will aero kits ever happen, and if so when? And what about more engine manufacturers? I am attending Indy in 2013 (for the first time) because that’s what the true fans should do. Who cares about what happens in the boardroom as long as the product is good? (even though what happened to Randy is borderline criminal). Where should I sit, for a decent price?
Stephen Oldfather
RM: Stewart has said repeatedly that he didn’t think anybody could just show up in May and be competitive and he wasn’t interested. But maybe driving for RP could change his mind. I have no idea what Miles and Belskus plan to do but 2013 is already laid out so I doubt they can mess it up. Owners don’t want aero kits and Bernard met with Fiat, VW and Ford in the last two years but nothing on the table. You should spend $85 a ticket and sit in any of the four Vistas in the corners so you can watch the racing.
Q: So the shake-up has happened and we kind of know the 'lay of the land.' But, I still keep coming back to the same theory about IndyCar. It's that IndyCar has become a culture of fear, and I don't mean fear of TG or TGBB or any person. What I mean is, these guys are afraid to innovate, afraid to be self-reliant, afraid to take a risk. That's especially ironic, given that every single owner will to a man or woman say they are successful because they are risk-takers. Yet when they step onto a race-track, they want all the risk taken out, and are ready to point fingers and complain over any perceived advantage one team might have. Spec racing might provide photo-finishes, but at the end of the day it sucks the life out of racing. I am more and more convinced that IndyCar needs to look beyond the quarter, look beyond the views of any one owner, look beyond the self-interests of a tire company or an engine company and declare a bold, visionary rules package starting in 2015. This rules package will drive innovation above all and will not be up for negotiation. Then, maybe all those "risk-takers" out there in business might actually be interested in investing in a sport where innovation equals success.
Earl MacKenzie
RM: You are spot on Earl, today’s owners want guarantees and sure things – nobody has that Dan Gurney/Andy Granatelli/Mickey Thompson spirit of taking a flyer on an idea. They don’t even want to try something as tame as aero kits. Ben Bowlby’s Delta Wing isn’t practical for an oval but it’s the kind of thinking that used to define Indianapolis.
Q: I loved your article about the lottery. If I had won I would have bought LORP and refurbished the road course. Then I would promote a Friday night USAC Midget, Sprint, Silver Crown feature, Saturday V-8 supercar double-header, then Sunday IndyCar race on the road course. Then I would prepare cars for TK, Smoke, the Busch bros, Scheckter, and Simona and offer $10 million if you can stand on every podium. That would be the perfect weekend of racing for me. Why hasn't IndyCar tried to race on LORP's oval, seems like the right kind of track. (30k seats, and it is in Indy, couldn't go wrong right?)
Nick, Brownsburg
RM: There was actually some discussion about IndyCar at IRP (sorry LORP) a couple years ago and a doubleheader there sounds good but the road course would need a lot of upgrading. I used to go to the Hoosier Grand Prix in the ‘60s at IRP and they had all the stars of Indy but not the crowds.
~Robin Miller
Q: The Captain may have a ride for Smoke at Indy this year. Love to see another driver who cut his teeth on midgets and sprints competing at Indy. It made me think, we know lots of guys over the years that made the jump from short tracks to Indy, but how about going from the IndyCar circuit to the quarter miles? Besides TK and possibly Viso I can't think of anyone. Who do you like in making such a transition?
Gerry Courtney
RM: Not sure about Viso but Will Power grew up on the dirt and I think Paul Tracy was comfortable being sideways and I would have liked to see Michael Andretti try sprint cars as well.
Q: With Penske saying he is trying to get Tony Stewart to run Indy with him this year, any chance Smoke would consider coming back to IndyCar full time? He has won everything in NASCAR except Daytona and if he drove for Penske he would have a realistic shot at achieving his longtime dream of winning the Indy 500. I think it would be easier for him to run a one off at Daytona and have a full season to get used to the DW12. It would be a huge boost for IndyCar to steal one of the NASCAR drivers for once.
Dustin from Tulsa
RM: No, he’s made his living and fortune in NASCAR and is way too old and entrenched to leave but maybe someday he could branch out and field an Indy 500 effort. That would be cool and more likely.
Q: I have been a fan of open wheel racing for almost three-quarters of my life (I'm only 27). I was a big fan of CART (when it was still around). I have recently become a fan of F1 in the last eight-nine years but I have always wondered as to how and why the CART/IRL split happened. I know of the whole American drivers vs. international drivers and road courses vs. oval racing deal but is there any reading material (books, articles) that explain the split in more detail? Anything that explains the politics, economics, etc.
Luis from California.
RM: No books (to my knowledge) on the subject but basically it boiled down to Tony George wanting to be king and not trusting car owners. The CART owners weren’t very smart about making him part of the club and embracing the guy who ran the Indy 500. Bad feelings, poor communication, bad timing and catastrophic results.
Q: I probably already know the answer to this question, but is there a shred of hope that Tony Stewart will run in the 500? The Captain seems dead serious, but I know Greg Zipadelli is deeply against it. We all know Smoke wants to drink the milk, and I think everyone wants to see him try again. Do you approve of Miles and Belskus? Do you think they will continue what Randy set out to do? And if not, do you think the series will flourish or die? Will aero kits ever happen, and if so when? And what about more engine manufacturers? I am attending Indy in 2013 (for the first time) because that’s what the true fans should do. Who cares about what happens in the boardroom as long as the product is good? (even though what happened to Randy is borderline criminal). Where should I sit, for a decent price?
Stephen Oldfather
RM: Stewart has said repeatedly that he didn’t think anybody could just show up in May and be competitive and he wasn’t interested. But maybe driving for RP could change his mind. I have no idea what Miles and Belskus plan to do but 2013 is already laid out so I doubt they can mess it up. Owners don’t want aero kits and Bernard met with Fiat, VW and Ford in the last two years but nothing on the table. You should spend $85 a ticket and sit in any of the four Vistas in the corners so you can watch the racing.
Q: So the shake-up has happened and we kind of know the 'lay of the land.' But, I still keep coming back to the same theory about IndyCar. It's that IndyCar has become a culture of fear, and I don't mean fear of TG or TGBB or any person. What I mean is, these guys are afraid to innovate, afraid to be self-reliant, afraid to take a risk. That's especially ironic, given that every single owner will to a man or woman say they are successful because they are risk-takers. Yet when they step onto a race-track, they want all the risk taken out, and are ready to point fingers and complain over any perceived advantage one team might have. Spec racing might provide photo-finishes, but at the end of the day it sucks the life out of racing. I am more and more convinced that IndyCar needs to look beyond the quarter, look beyond the views of any one owner, look beyond the self-interests of a tire company or an engine company and declare a bold, visionary rules package starting in 2015. This rules package will drive innovation above all and will not be up for negotiation. Then, maybe all those "risk-takers" out there in business might actually be interested in investing in a sport where innovation equals success.
Earl MacKenzie
RM: You are spot on Earl, today’s owners want guarantees and sure things – nobody has that Dan Gurney/Andy Granatelli/Mickey Thompson spirit of taking a flyer on an idea. They don’t even want to try something as tame as aero kits. Ben Bowlby’s Delta Wing isn’t practical for an oval but it’s the kind of thinking that used to define Indianapolis.
Q: I loved your article about the lottery. If I had won I would have bought LORP and refurbished the road course. Then I would promote a Friday night USAC Midget, Sprint, Silver Crown feature, Saturday V-8 supercar double-header, then Sunday IndyCar race on the road course. Then I would prepare cars for TK, Smoke, the Busch bros, Scheckter, and Simona and offer $10 million if you can stand on every podium. That would be the perfect weekend of racing for me. Why hasn't IndyCar tried to race on LORP's oval, seems like the right kind of track. (30k seats, and it is in Indy, couldn't go wrong right?)
Nick, Brownsburg
RM: There was actually some discussion about IndyCar at IRP (sorry LORP) a couple years ago and a doubleheader there sounds good but the road course would need a lot of upgrading. I used to go to the Hoosier Grand Prix in the ‘60s at IRP and they had all the stars of Indy but not the crowds.
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