INDYCAR: Miller's Mailbag, 3.17

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 3.17

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 March 17, 2010

Ryan Hunter-Reay's impressive drive in his Andretti Autosport debut resonated with most Mailbag readers. The fact that he's only in the car for a few outings in 2010 also resonated with our readers... (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 haven't written in some time but thought I'd throw in my opinion regarding the open wheel races this past weekend. F1: Boring. Not much else to say. IndyCar: Wow! What a great race. Passing, strategy with the weather, it was a great race to watch on TV. It was awesome. Bummed Ryan didn't win (Go USA!) but what a class act. His interview after the race giving a shout-out to AJ's team was stellar. It was also great to see all the different teams up front running. Not the typical Ganassi and Penske show. If all of the road course races are like this, I'll convert from being a strictly oval fan. You thoughts on this past weekend?

Lawrence, Sanford, Fla.

RM: I'd say your analysis is spot on. Even though there was a lot of down time, the actually green flag racing was as good as it gets for a road/street course. Places to pass, bumps and the strategy of going to slicks made it entertaining, if not unpredictable.

Q: I call BS. When I first saw the track layout I thought, guaranteed there will be a big wreck at the chicane on the first lap. BS. I understand why they ground the track surface, but don’t they have street sweepers in Brazil? BS. Eight laps under caution to clean up the mess? BS. A 30-minute red flag? For rain? On a road course? BS. A fine job by Will Power and RHR, though.

Kevin Kovach, Allen Park, Mich.

RM: No argument about that initial yellow, way too long. As far as the red flag, when it's a monsoon and there's standing water and no place for it to go, common sense dictates stopping. We all love rain races but that was pretty extreme for 10 minutes. Tony Cotman said they sprayed water until 6:30 in the morning on the newly-ground surface but obviously not all of that dust went away until after the first lap.

Q: I had a great time watching the Sao Paolo race; it had changing conditions, great passing and a lot of interesting strategy… a great start to the season! It was great to see Will Power come back from such a devastating injury last season. Do you think that Ryan Hunter-Reay’s awesome weekend will bring about more sponsorship/funding so he can compete in more races this season, maybe even the full season? I think the way he raced this past weekend on such a demanding course demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that he’s much more deserving of a full time ride than his over-hyped and under-performing teammates Marco and Danica. How about the fact that Ryan and TK were leading the Andretti Autosport resurgence while the other two couldn’t get in the top half? I hope the ICS makes a poster of RHR flying through the air after hitting that huge bump while pulling off the pass on Briscoe; it would be proudly hanging in my office for all to see.

Kyle, San Antonio

RM: We keep hearing that RHR may be in line for the whole season and last Sunday's show certainly didn't hurt the argument to run him in all 17 races. Probably depends on IZOD. I don't think anybody has ever questioned RHR's talent, just be nice to see him in a stable environment for a couple years in a row.

Q: What a pathetic excuse for a season opener. I don’t know what was worse, the track and its preparation, IndyCar’s top flight executive decision making, the awful TV coverage and photography (note – please don’t call it HD if you use third world video cameras) or the crack safety patrol. I haven’t seen that many safety big shots standing around since Senna was killed in San Marino. Marco was extremely lucky there was no fire! Why would Cotman take credit for that washboard of a track? Too narrow, too slick, too dusty and too bumpy. The Sao Paulo track made Nelson’s Ledges look good. Who decided not to rinse off the dust before after the grinding? Is a rant if it’s true?

Vince Michaels, Akron, Ohio

RM: The camera work did leave a lot to be desired (along with the graphics) and the safety crew looked like the old gang at Langhorne when Sammy Sessions was on fire. Cotman has to take responsibility since he designed and built the track but it made for a damn good race once they finally got going. He said they sprayed water on the track until the early morning on Sunday but the residue didn't go away until after the first laps.

Q: Brazil was great for a street race. Imagine, Cotman is allowed to design a circuit that actually encourages passing! What a concept. He has always been in favor of standing starts. Do you suppose that a standing start might have lessened the probability of 1st turn mayhem? Maybe the IRL folks should listen to him more often. Just a thought...but probably hoping for too much.

Ned Smith, Louisville

RM: Tony said prior to the race there were some good passing opportunities and he counted 95 passes for position during the race so the track turned out to be very racy. The slickness and bumps are part of the process like most new tracks but there was never a chance to run until the day the event started. As for standing starts, absolutely, that's what IndyCar needs to do and it was TC who made them a reality in Champ Car (where they were flawless in 2007).

Q: I must say the first turn after the green was not good...and if my memory is correct, Sato has been the cause of many accidents, I would bet he would be high on the list. Also loved the fact a girl (Simona not Danica) lead the race for a few laps!! Is the track similar to the one that CART used to use? Too bad about the weather. a little bit of rain is great for racing, but not hail! See you on the Speed Report and Wind Tunnel this Sunday!

Steffanee Young, Henderson, NV

RM: That was always Sato's reputation in F1, fast but wild. Simona qualified 12th and DP 13th so we could have a nice rivalry brewing. The track in Rio was called a roval, part road course and part oval, and that's where Greg Moore passed Zanardi on the outside. It was always a good show, just not a lot of people as I recall until the last year when Emmo was the promoter.

Q: Over the last couple of years I suppose I have written you about a dozen times and I have mostly complained about the same things as everyone else; Tony George, the rules, spec racing, Tony George, the rules, etc. You have even put about half my rants in the mailbag. Well, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it has. I tried to watch the race today and just wasn't that interested from the start. This is the first year when I don't think I will really care if I don't see an Indy car race. How can they start a race when the front straight is full of concrete dust so thick that as Marco said you couldn't see two feet in front of you? Water is not in short supply in Brazil, couldn't they have washed it down? Of course their was a wreck; another good example of why they need standing starts. The race was pretty much as usual, boring until a little action at the end. The coverage was not great either- my cable has Versus as HD and digital and HD coverage had a lot of drop outs so I switched to the digital channel and it had no problems and you really couldn't tell much difference in the picture. It was good to see Will win and someone evidently has convinced Marco that thoughtful comments about an accident are far better than emotional finger pointing. But I just really didn't find the race interesting and this is from a real die hard fan. I will be in Birmingham and I hope I have regained some enthusiasm by then. I will look for you in the pits; I will invite you to my table and we can cry over a beer about the days when racing was good and guys would bring their cars to Indy in trailers you could rent from U-Haul.

Tom Justice, Waco, TX

RM: I'll grant you the first 90 minutes was tough to sit through, but the closing laps saved the day (and that's all people usually remember anyway, 1992 Indy is the prime example) for a lot of people, judging by the mail. They watered the track heavily but obviously the dust lingered at the start and created some whiteouts at the back of the pack. Maybe by Birmingham, you'll be reinvigorated and I'll try to find my STP t-shirt to wear.

Q: I do have a question...how come NASCAR can make delays go on all day and IndyCar can't run all the scheduled laps? I find it hard to believe that Versus has a strong lineup following the race that can't be televised later.

TJ Spitzmiller, Rio Rancho, N.M.

RM: Good question, the show with Junior Seau changing tires for Scott Dixon was moved back to give the race an extra half hour and I'm not sure what followed that but it seems like you could certainly go the distance since VERSUS paid big money to televise your races.

Q: I know the IICS still has serious issues facing it, but I thought I'd write the one positive letter for this week's mailbag. I'm very cautiously optimistic for the 2010 season. 1. The last half hour of the Brazil race (all that I saw) was very exciting. I saw at least two or three passes for the lead, which was two or three more than I saw in the entire F1 race (excluding pit stops and damaged race cars). The track offered two great passing opportunities, although from the replays I've seen the first turn might need some tweaking. Perhaps something like Mid Ohio does, moving the start line somewhere else. 2. A non Penske/Ganassi car was competing for the win. RHR's run was a great story, although I seem to remember a similar run at St Pete last year that didn't secure a full time ride either. 3. IICS officials (your favorite Barnhart included) showed that they have the guts to make the right call and delay qualifying while the track (lack of grip) was fixed. 4. The grandstands (very impressive, Sao Paulo, especially considering they're temporary) were jam packed, and there was more than two sets of portable gym bleachers. 5. I saw a new IndyCar add, the first I've seen in a year. I thought TK on the jetski was cool. It was a definite upgrade over older IZOD ads featuring models, a ugly modified Dallara, and a CGI car driving around Infineon that had Izod logos pasted over RHR's old Ethanol car. We still have a long way to go, but I thought Sunday was a step in the right direction.

Kyle, Chapel Hill, NC

RM: Your letter is the general tone of most of this week's offerings: people were frustrated with the delays but thrilled with the last 10 laps of racing. A standing start could cure the first turn. Cotman said he and Barnhart knew early on in practice that slippery spot had to be addressed so it wasn't guts as much as common sense.

Q: I'm an open wheel fan with DIRECTV who was also looking forward to a US F1 team, I have got nothing going for me right now. I'm surprised "Billion dollar Bernie" Ecclestone didn't fork out some of his petty cash to help out USF1, since he has such a love for Americans(ah sarcasm). Anyway on to IndyCar, I enjoyed watching the race today in highlight form on the Speed Report and was surprised to see Ana Beatriz finish two spots ahead of Danica and Simona De Silvestro one spot behind her. That might not be the best thing for IndyCar if Danica isn't the biggest female draw, that gets attention away from her and would probably make her move to NASCAR all the faster, there goes another American from IndyCar. Yeah, she had problems and 13th and 16th aren't great finishes but for Ana and Simona to do pretty good in their first starts might get some attention and who knows what they might do the rest of the year, to early to tell and I think Ana only had a one race deal. Yes it would be great to see a lot more Americans in IndyCar but if teams were fined for not having at least one American on they're team that would only hurt the series right now, and we don't need that! It would also be nice to see only road courses (except Indy), or at least Texas, Iowa and Miami could use the road course not to abandon them. A boy can dream. Bye the way, THANK YOU SARAH FISHER! for stepping up and giving fellow American Graham Rahal a ride for a couple races, she knows how it feels to be over looked.

Patrick Sager

RM: Good news, DIRECTV is saved and back on VERSUS so you win one and lose one. Simona and Danica qualified together on Row 6 so a good rivalry could be brewing. Ana had no problems like Simona (cut tire) and DP (spun on slicks in rain) and she just soldiered around but Danica did pass Dario at one point so that's noteworthy. Sarah throwing Graham a lifeline is a damn good story and I hope he gives her team and Dollar General a good ride.

Q: Hallelujah! Versus broadcasts are back on DIRECTV! As soon as I saw the news I tuned in to the Sao Paulo Indy 300 re-air to see the circuit and the winning pass. Good looking circuit. Now let's promote the hell out of IndyCar racing and get people to realize that NASCRAP is not the only form of racing (if you can call it that) in existence! Your final statement on The SPEED Report was that Graham Rahal may be close to a mid-season deal with Target Chip Ganassi. I don't doubt you; you usually hit the nail on the head concerning rumors, but how much substance is in this rumor? What is the tip-off or connection that makes Ganassi and Rahal a likely pair (other than the fact that it needs to happen)?

IndySteve, Springfield, Oregon

RM: Ganassi is serious about fielding a third car for Graham because he realizes IndyCar needs him and both are working sponsors to try and make this a reality by May.

Q: Overall, an enjoyable race in Brazil, even if the weather made it a timed race. As IndyCar becomes more of a road racing series, I think it's going to become more difficult for the women (Danica, in particular) to win. The men definitely have an advantage in handling the car. Do you think it's inevitable that Danica goes to NASCAR for the same reason Hornish did -- they just can't compete on the road courses?

Phil Brown, Denver, Colo.

RM: Even though she shined on road courses in Atlantics, DP has fared much better on ovals in Indy cars and I think it's more about her style than her strength. You almost have to horse the car around certain road and street circuits and really be aggressive and she's more about finesse and gradually working on her speed. Having said that, she qualified seventh at The Glen last year and even got PT singing her praises. And when she was leading Will Power at Long Beach, he couldn't catch her so it's still a work in progress. As for Sam, his improvement on road racing was huge before he went south.

Q: Is it me or does it seem to be a huge disconnect with the way Indy Car treats their sponsors compared to say NASCAR? Alex Tagliani must be one hell of a salesman to get B&W Loudspeakers to sponsor him enough to be on his side pods and the announcers NEVER mention the important new sponsor until halfway through the race after hew got wrecked out and they interviewed him with his B&W cap on in the pits. Come on guys, no wonder no one wants to sponsor an Indy Car driver, there is little to no exposure and the things the league COULD do don't get done(heads in sand?)! How many times could those guys have plugged B&W the whole first part of the race when Tags was up front? I don't need to hear about the Dallara/Honda/B&W Loudspeakers car every 15 seconds like NASCAR, but SOME mention of these sponsors would be a HUGE improvement. Is it that hard to figure out?

Joe Saxon, Alpharetta, GA

RM: There is no doubt that FOX really makes a concerted effort to take care of sponsors in every telecast and that's just good business all the way around. Sure, it's hokey sometimes when they zero in on somebody running 22nd and rave about the great race he's having, but they always give the sponsor a good hit and that's invaluable. You are correct, Tags and his own team was a good storyline that needed more explaining and praise early on.

Q: I had a pretty good idea for marketing for the IZOD IndyCar Series. Why hasn't anyone pointed out that the series is the most diverse series in America? Drivers from Brazil, Scotland, Britain, Venezuela, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, and of course the USA, meanwhile NASCAR can't come anywhere CLOSE to saying that they're diverse, and they've got numerous programs aimed at trying to increase driver/crew diversity. Don't get me wrong, we need more Americans in the series, but while we have such a diverse group of drivers, why don't we try capitalizing on it?

Chris Luling, LA

RM: I think IndyCar has done that occasionally in the past few years and CART always trumpeted its melting pot of talent but IZOD likes to focus on the speed, the colors, the excitement more than various backgrounds of the drivers (at least so far).

Q: How about a course in Indy car history for Bobby Rahal. He said that Indy cars have never had a sponsor of a consumer product like NASCAR had with Winston cigarettes. Around the same time that NASCAR was acquiring Winston as a series sponsor, USAC, who was running Indy cars at the time, acquired Marlboro cigarettes as a series sponsor. True to USAC's heritage, they screwed that up by allowing Marlboro competitor Viceroy to compete. Or, for Rahal, does Indy car history begin with the first CART race rather than with Ray Harroun? Rahal's "nascarization" of Indy car history?

Gerald Dorich

RM: You are correct, the USAC Marlboro Championship Trail (I still have the decals) began in 1971 and closed by 1972 when Viceroy was allowed in and just think of the millions and millions of dollars that Marlboro spent with Mr. Penske since those days (RJR came along in 1972 for NASCAR). But I'll cut Bob some slack on this one, not a lot of people remember the Marlboro story.

Q: Well the folks at IndyCar just emailed out a survey to me from their website. The survey asked me to rate my Top 5 cars from all of the potential chassis. The survey also asked if prefer faster racing or closer racing and how my interest levels would change if the cars could exceed their usual 225mph range once again. I was very surprised by this survey and was wondering what your opinion of all this. Does IndyCar finally get it? Are they actually going to listen to our opinions? How much do you think the new CEO Randy Bernard and the rest of the IndyCar staff will take our opinions seriously to implement changes that reflect the opinions of the fans?
John Baadilla Norwalk, CA

RM: I don't know how much weight your opinions will carry with the new cars, but I do know Randy Bernard wants to hear from you people.

Q: So Barnhart wants to get the cost of a chassis down to $360k. What I've heard though is that even the current cost of $680k for a rolling Dallara is more like $1M with all the stuff that needs to be done to it after it comes out of the factory in Italy. So is $360k the target final price, or just the price paid to Dallara? If it's not the final price, is there consideration from the league towards making the $360k chassis less needy for an additional $300k worth of crap to get it ready to race? What figure are the team owners pinpointing for a race-ready chassis?

Clint, Chicago

RM: Can't answer either one at the moment but Ben Bowlby's concept was $600,000 for car and engine and I think Barnhart was just using $360,000 as an arbitrary number.

Q: I've been watching Indy Cars race in person since 1967 at Mosport for the Tely Trophy Race, so I really don't wish to rant about Tony George's Imitation Racing League! The Delta Wing car looks really really good, fast like a dart. Unfortunately it probably won't work, When you narrow the track at one end that severely you affectively create a three wheel vehicle. Having seen side car races, also at Mosport, they are not particularly fast. The best handling three wheelers always have the wide track at the front. Think about it, how would you dial in wedge on the Delta Wing? So what does Indy Car really need right now? Here's my two cents. One manufacturer supplying rolling chassis only, no body work, no belly pan, no aero package. Just a crash worthy nose cone, tub, fuel cell, engine bay to except various engines, and suspension. Then Foyt could produce his own Coyotes, Penske his own well Penske's, Ganassi his own Targets, Gurney his own Eagles etc, etc. This way they would all look different, and the American creative juices could start to flow! All different, but with the same footing. How about it?

Randy Shanklin, London, Ontario, Canada.

RM: I don't know if your idea could fly but I certainly like the thinking behind it. Make your own bodywork, suspension and aero package. Might not be the right economy for it, but I'm going to send you email to Bowlby, Barnhart and Bernard.

Q: Just a small rant today. Why is it that two AMERICAN sponsors, the National Guard and the Boy Scouts of America have agreed that they need British drivers in their cars. Have they not noticed that they are marketing to Americans and as such should have one in the cockpit? Watching Dan Wheldon bark orders at the Guard members in the commercial with his accent isn’t funny, its appalling. When will the powers that be wake up? All this does is further the push to send American divers to the taxis. By the way, any news on Cleveland coming back in 2011?

Chuck Obendorf, Stow, Ohio

RM: If the case of Wheldon and Panther, I think if they hadn't had a multi-year deal, John Barnes would have tried to get Graham Rahal in the National Guard car this season. I hear Alex Lloyd is driving the Boy Scout car for almost nothing so maybe it's not such a bargain seat but I certainly understand your point. As for Cleveland, sadly it doesn't look good, I understand Mike Lanigan wants Houston more than Burke Lakefront Airport.

Q: What's happening with Bruno Junqueira? I have not seen his name mentioned for several months. He was always a great competitor. Being an open-wheel fanatic for probably more years than you, I have enjoyed many good drivers over the years and hope we again see Bruno as well as those you have discussed recently who should be driving Indy Cars. Fortunately Graham Rahal will be back.

Doug Black, Oro Valley, AZ

RM: Raising his family in Miami and I imagine he'll be in Indy during May looking for a ride. A good guy and a good shoe.

Q: I saw a video of the Vancouver 1997 race and it got me thinking about the lack of passing in IndyCar. It was certainly hard to pass there, but Zanardi went from 1st to 22nd and 2nd to 11th back to 4th with almost all of the passes coming on the track where others complained of the lack of passing opportunities. Maybe the current drivers are just scared to pass or too satisfied with a top 10 finish. Tracy was able to pass in Toronto last year. Not saying the Dallara is a fine car, but had the drivers been real racers the racing could be a lot better. Then I have one question regarding the CART Texas race in 2001. Why didn't CART lower the boost through the pop off valve to slow the cars just enough to make it safe to race? Or why didn't they make teams put on as much downforce to slow the cars? The race would suck as every does every race where you do not have to lift off, but at least they would run it, wouldn't have to pay millions to the track and it would be a lot less embarrassing for the series.

Matt, Prague, Czech Republic

RM: Zanardi made passes where few others dared (Laguna Seca, 1996) and PT has never been afraid to take a chance but those were the days of different tire companies, chassis and engines so the disparity helped the overtaking in many cases. As for Texas, they discussed taking off the rear wings and pulling the turbochargers but nobody could agree. It wasn't as black and eye as you might think because CART got all kinds of good press for protecting its drivers.

Q: I'm not even sure where to begin here, I'm so angered at the state of IndyCar. Don't get me wrong I love IndyCar and have fond memories of it. The biggest thing that bugs me is the whole open wheel/stock car comparisons its an apple and oranges comparison. What's wrong with liking both series. Maybe I'm weird like that but I'll watch anything racing be it the local short track, boats, motorcycles or F1. As long as there fast machines and someone pushing it to the limits I'll watch. The second thing that bugs is the whole there is not enough American drivers argument. My favorite driver back in the day wasn't American he was Dutch(Arie Luyendyk). I think its more of a marketing and press problem then the fact that they are not American. Who doesn't like Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon what does it matter where they came from? Look this isn't nascar where you can have rivalries where they are bumping and banging, but there is still is rivalries out there and tempers flaring over something. Even if they hype of teammate rivalries like in F1 I'm sure still there is a story someplace. There is so much wrong with where IndyCar is these days. Someone should have taken Tony George out back and beaten him a long, long time ago. To turn one of the best series in the world in the late 80's early 90's and run it into the ground like he did so he can stroke his ego. This has got to one of the biggest blunders in business history. I cant decide if he got dropped on his head too many times as a kid or learned business from the people who ran Enron. I can't think of someone in racing that I despise as much as him, though Bernie Ecclestone does come close(but that's a whole other rant for a different day and column). Some things that I think will help the series is: 1) Get away from spec racing. I think this one is pretty self explanatory to anyone who reads this column. I hope instead of one chassis for 2012 that they allow all of them(as long as there about equal) and convince more engine manufactures to come in. 2) Promote your drivers and not just Danica either. I would think that this is a no brainer also. Last I checked there are roughly 20 other drivers but they get eclipsed by her story. Even worse then that there has been some great stories but they get shuffled down cause of the stupid mismanagement of the series or tracks such as Milwaukee (again whole other rant for a another day). 3) Grid Girls. As far as I'm concerned every series should have grid girls. If they need help they can contact me and sacrifice my time to look for them. I know it will be a hard job but someone has to do it. 4) Bring back Road America. What can I say I'm from Wisconsin, besides everyone knows its one of best road course in America.

Russ, Waukesha Wis.

RM: Congats Russ, the rant of the week.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Robin Miller became an Indy-car junkie in late 1950s and stooged for his hero, Jim Hurtubise, at the 1968 Indy 500. He went on to work as a vent man and board man on Indy pit crews from 1971-77. Miller bought a Formula Ford from Andy Granatelli in 1972 and raced it in SCCA until 1974 when he purchased a midget from Gary Bettenhausen, competing in the USAC midget series from 1975-82.

Robin flunked out of Ball State College in 1968 and began working at The Indianapolis Star sports department in 1969, covered motorsports there from 1969-2000.

In addition to his broadcast work. Miller's also covered IndyCar racing for Autoweek, Autosport, Car & Driver and On Track magazines over the past 35 years.

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