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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 8.30
Always genuine, never lite: It's Miller time. Here's the latest Q&A from SPEED.com's IndyCar guru.
Ryan Hunter-Reay had a weekend to forget in Sonoma. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
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 have to say that I’m disappointed in my countryman, Tagliani. That kamikaze dive bomb was totally pathetic. He complains about being taken out in Montreal, yet a week later, singlehandedly helps decide the championship, robbing RHR of a potential title and the fans of a close season finish. You know there are plenty of Canadians for us Canadians to cheer for. Let’s see Robert Wickens in an Indy car challenging Hinch for best Canuck! Wickens beat highly rated F1 driver (and teammate) Jean-Eric Vergne to the FR3.5 title last year and is in DTM now. Heck, I’d like to see Andrew Ranger back. Tag’s resume isn’t too impressive. How he has a ride and PT doesn’t is beyond me. I know you like Bronte, but I think it’s time for Alex to sail off into the sunset. At least Tags took his helmet off when RHR spoke with him, although it looked like he had the audacity to argue. He is such a nice guy, but that move showed how desperate he is to generate a result, what say you?
Trevor Bohay, Kamloops, BC Canada
RM: Other than RHR I doubt anyone feels worse than Alex but up until that point I thought he’d been driving better this season than the past five years added together. He’s been qualifying well and racing clean and hard so it was, as you say, disappointing. But I think he’s got a couple good years left. I’d love to see Wickens and Ranger in IndyCar.
Q: Sonoma was another kick ass race! I loved battle with Hunter-Reay and Dixon; it was like watching Ali and Frazier going at it. I found it interesting that Hunter-Reay got so pissed about Tagliani giving him the boot and then Ryan went ahead and did the same thing to Viso. I guess it must be OK to punt someone that is NOT in championship contention.
TZ Spitzmiller
RM: RHR got a drive-thru penalty as well.
Q: Congrats to the other RB, Ryan Briscoe. That was a much, much needed win. Do you think it'll save his ride? So, IndyCar loses out to bicycle racing on NBC. Could you (or perhaps Marshall in one of his always excellent expository pieces) construe for us why, or better yet, how this is possible? There are quite a few of us out here in fan-land that don't fully understand the ins and outs of this TV contract. On the surface, it makes absolutely no sense. Yesterday was a perfect day for displaying IndyCar on the national NBC channel, NOT NBC Sports Network. No competition on any network anywhere (no WWF-Car, NFL still in preseason, golf had no big name players) and the bicycle race was already being shown on NBC SN. I thought Ropin' Randy had friends at NBC? At least IndyCar got a mention on the NBC Sports Update.
Derek, Sterling, VA
RM: That’s a good question, it obviously can’t hurt and I just hope Briscoe either stays with RP or gets a decent seat elsewhere because he’s a good racer and great with the fans and media. The TV explanation is simple: NBC does not have a contract with IndyCar and, as much as we all were hoping, did not out-bid ABC in negotiations. The deal is with NBC Sports Network. Period.
Q: I'm glad Penske didn't throw team orders out at the finish, but I'm disappointed that the yellow resulted in Briscoe passing Power in that caution sequence. I'm trying to figure out why there isn't any consistency in regards to some tracks leaving pit lane open and some tracks closing pit lane. The rules need to adopt a black and white rule for this. Either they are open from the green to the checker or they close when the yellow flies.
Ryan in West Michigan
RM: Here’s a reply from Beaux Barfield:
“I left the pits open because the Safety Team was close enough to the incident to get there quickly. Also, the incident was far enough from the track to be in a safe location. Pit openings/closings during cautions are very venue and incident-specific. If we consistently closed the pits as in years past, we would significantly alter the outcome of our races. By adding the option to leave the pits open this year, we have improved our ability to maintain the integrity of the competition. At Sonoma, had we closed the pits, Briscoe would have gone from 1st to 9th place. And by the way, Briscoe maintaining the lead during that segment was more due to the slow pit stop for Will Power than the pits being left open. If the #12 had a better stop, Briscoe would have cycled back to 2nd place where he was before the entire pit stop sequence.”
Q: Whilst watching IndyCar here in the UK, we had Marino Franchitti as a studio guest. He branded the safety team at Turn 7 as "useless" for trying to push-start RHR instead of using the starter causing him to go one lap down. I know the safety team do a mostly excellent job, but on this occasion, I have to agree with Marino. It was totally comical to watch two of them trying to push RHR, only to give up and then have the truck drive to where he was pushed to re-fire him using the on-board starter. Why didn't they do that in the first place??? RHR is fighting for a championship, and despite his subsequent penalty for Viso, he could have finished 10th and been the last car on the lead lap. Instead, he ends up 17th. Surely, those few extra points could prove to be vital. Yet another reason why anti-stall on ALL cars and not just Honda's can't come soon enough!!!
Graeme Watson, Tyne & Wear, U.K.
RM: It did look like a Chinese fire drill but there was a reason. Initially, when they tried to re-fire RHR the starter did not work so that’s when they tried to push start him. That wasn’t working so they went back to the starter, jiggled the cables and it worked that time. But, sadly, it was too late for Ryan.
Q: I'm sure you heard Bourdais' comment about the tub breaking when struck by Newgarden's gearbox. If you watch the crash in slo-mo, you can see it hit the tub while the rear wing structure hits Bourdais himself! I think somebody should give the credit and attention that the new cars deserve for being so safe. That could have been a deadly crash.
Mark McCauley
RM: Seb called it the hardest impact of his life and it broke the tub in half so, hell yes, big kudos to Dallara and Newgarden’s car was written off as well with a broken finger his only wound.
Q: At Sears Point Marco Andretti claimed that he ran his engine hard in order to waste it during the race so as not to incur the penalty when he loads his final (fifth) bullet. How is this not a penalty if he wasted the Chevy on purpose? It took several seasons for F1 to perfect its long life engine format. Will IndyCar revisit their rules on only five engines and 1,850 miles and 10-spot penalties next season? And finally, after using up seven engines of her allotted five Lotus', will Simona get the same spec Chevy/Honda for next year as Penske/Ganassi? She deserves to have the same chance that was denied her all of this year.
Terry, Mich.
RM: Marco’s engine was in its death throes so whether he tried to kill it or not is inconsequential. IndyCar has discussed looking at the engine rules for 2013 and, yes, Simona will be picked up by either Honda or Chevrolet since Lotus appears all but gone.
~Robin Miller
Q: I have to say that I’m disappointed in my countryman, Tagliani. That kamikaze dive bomb was totally pathetic. He complains about being taken out in Montreal, yet a week later, singlehandedly helps decide the championship, robbing RHR of a potential title and the fans of a close season finish. You know there are plenty of Canadians for us Canadians to cheer for. Let’s see Robert Wickens in an Indy car challenging Hinch for best Canuck! Wickens beat highly rated F1 driver (and teammate) Jean-Eric Vergne to the FR3.5 title last year and is in DTM now. Heck, I’d like to see Andrew Ranger back. Tag’s resume isn’t too impressive. How he has a ride and PT doesn’t is beyond me. I know you like Bronte, but I think it’s time for Alex to sail off into the sunset. At least Tags took his helmet off when RHR spoke with him, although it looked like he had the audacity to argue. He is such a nice guy, but that move showed how desperate he is to generate a result, what say you?
Trevor Bohay, Kamloops, BC Canada
RM: Other than RHR I doubt anyone feels worse than Alex but up until that point I thought he’d been driving better this season than the past five years added together. He’s been qualifying well and racing clean and hard so it was, as you say, disappointing. But I think he’s got a couple good years left. I’d love to see Wickens and Ranger in IndyCar.
Q: Sonoma was another kick ass race! I loved battle with Hunter-Reay and Dixon; it was like watching Ali and Frazier going at it. I found it interesting that Hunter-Reay got so pissed about Tagliani giving him the boot and then Ryan went ahead and did the same thing to Viso. I guess it must be OK to punt someone that is NOT in championship contention.
TZ Spitzmiller
RM: RHR got a drive-thru penalty as well.
Q: Congrats to the other RB, Ryan Briscoe. That was a much, much needed win. Do you think it'll save his ride? So, IndyCar loses out to bicycle racing on NBC. Could you (or perhaps Marshall in one of his always excellent expository pieces) construe for us why, or better yet, how this is possible? There are quite a few of us out here in fan-land that don't fully understand the ins and outs of this TV contract. On the surface, it makes absolutely no sense. Yesterday was a perfect day for displaying IndyCar on the national NBC channel, NOT NBC Sports Network. No competition on any network anywhere (no WWF-Car, NFL still in preseason, golf had no big name players) and the bicycle race was already being shown on NBC SN. I thought Ropin' Randy had friends at NBC? At least IndyCar got a mention on the NBC Sports Update.
Derek, Sterling, VA
RM: That’s a good question, it obviously can’t hurt and I just hope Briscoe either stays with RP or gets a decent seat elsewhere because he’s a good racer and great with the fans and media. The TV explanation is simple: NBC does not have a contract with IndyCar and, as much as we all were hoping, did not out-bid ABC in negotiations. The deal is with NBC Sports Network. Period.
Q: I'm glad Penske didn't throw team orders out at the finish, but I'm disappointed that the yellow resulted in Briscoe passing Power in that caution sequence. I'm trying to figure out why there isn't any consistency in regards to some tracks leaving pit lane open and some tracks closing pit lane. The rules need to adopt a black and white rule for this. Either they are open from the green to the checker or they close when the yellow flies.
Ryan in West Michigan
RM: Here’s a reply from Beaux Barfield:
“I left the pits open because the Safety Team was close enough to the incident to get there quickly. Also, the incident was far enough from the track to be in a safe location. Pit openings/closings during cautions are very venue and incident-specific. If we consistently closed the pits as in years past, we would significantly alter the outcome of our races. By adding the option to leave the pits open this year, we have improved our ability to maintain the integrity of the competition. At Sonoma, had we closed the pits, Briscoe would have gone from 1st to 9th place. And by the way, Briscoe maintaining the lead during that segment was more due to the slow pit stop for Will Power than the pits being left open. If the #12 had a better stop, Briscoe would have cycled back to 2nd place where he was before the entire pit stop sequence.”
Q: Whilst watching IndyCar here in the UK, we had Marino Franchitti as a studio guest. He branded the safety team at Turn 7 as "useless" for trying to push-start RHR instead of using the starter causing him to go one lap down. I know the safety team do a mostly excellent job, but on this occasion, I have to agree with Marino. It was totally comical to watch two of them trying to push RHR, only to give up and then have the truck drive to where he was pushed to re-fire him using the on-board starter. Why didn't they do that in the first place??? RHR is fighting for a championship, and despite his subsequent penalty for Viso, he could have finished 10th and been the last car on the lead lap. Instead, he ends up 17th. Surely, those few extra points could prove to be vital. Yet another reason why anti-stall on ALL cars and not just Honda's can't come soon enough!!!
Graeme Watson, Tyne & Wear, U.K.
RM: It did look like a Chinese fire drill but there was a reason. Initially, when they tried to re-fire RHR the starter did not work so that’s when they tried to push start him. That wasn’t working so they went back to the starter, jiggled the cables and it worked that time. But, sadly, it was too late for Ryan.
Q: I'm sure you heard Bourdais' comment about the tub breaking when struck by Newgarden's gearbox. If you watch the crash in slo-mo, you can see it hit the tub while the rear wing structure hits Bourdais himself! I think somebody should give the credit and attention that the new cars deserve for being so safe. That could have been a deadly crash.
Mark McCauley
RM: Seb called it the hardest impact of his life and it broke the tub in half so, hell yes, big kudos to Dallara and Newgarden’s car was written off as well with a broken finger his only wound.
Q: At Sears Point Marco Andretti claimed that he ran his engine hard in order to waste it during the race so as not to incur the penalty when he loads his final (fifth) bullet. How is this not a penalty if he wasted the Chevy on purpose? It took several seasons for F1 to perfect its long life engine format. Will IndyCar revisit their rules on only five engines and 1,850 miles and 10-spot penalties next season? And finally, after using up seven engines of her allotted five Lotus', will Simona get the same spec Chevy/Honda for next year as Penske/Ganassi? She deserves to have the same chance that was denied her all of this year.
Terry, Mich.
RM: Marco’s engine was in its death throes so whether he tried to kill it or not is inconsequential. IndyCar has discussed looking at the engine rules for 2013 and, yes, Simona will be picked up by either Honda or Chevrolet since Lotus appears all but gone.
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