Hemelgarn crew chief Lee Kunzman confers with driver Buddy Lazier. (LAT Photographic)

Q: Is Indianapolis Motor Speedway doing anything special to start the build-up for the Centennial Era at the Speedway? Do you ever hear from Rollie Beale - a former USAC Sprint car star and 1973 National Sprint car champion over Lee Kunzman?

Steve, Whitehouse, Ohio

RM: The Speedway started showing some great memories of races and legends on its website a few days ago. The Centennial Era Moments can be found at IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com and Tuesday's about the 1982 Indy 500 with Mario and Johncock was really cool. There is also some kind of gala next month to kick off the celebration but I think you need to own a coat and tie. As for Rollie, saw him at the 4 Crown Nationals at Eldora last year and he looks great. I see Kunzman every week at team lunch and he's still got that twisted sense of humor.

Q: Ex-Indy resident who is now in Chicago. I have one question: what is the reason behind all the yellow flags in IRL racing? Some races were rendered unwatchable. It seemed like an extraordinary amount were just stupid mistakes or was there some fault with the car? An accident now and then happens but it seemed like something else was possibly behind some of the yellows.

RM: The promoters asked the IRL to extend the caution periods so they could sell more beer and hot dogs. No, that's not true. It's a malaise that has permeated IndyCar and NASCAR. Several laps of yellow for debris or for a harmless spin. It's insane and maddening and you can hear people clicking off IRL races every time it happens.

Q: Indy's promotion of itself as "the greatest spectacle in racing" is apt -- 90 percent spectacle and 10 percent racing -- but it's a total waste of a good racing month. The proposal to shorten May needs to go all the way and have teams arrive on Thursday, practice on Friday, qualify on Saturday and race on Sunday then pack up and head to the next track where they can do some real racing. I know TG doesn't like that idea, nor do the good folks of Indianapolis, especially Eli Lilly, Rolls-Royce and the other local corporate honchos, but the month of May needs to be shared with the rest of the open-wheel racing community. While the IRL teams are cooling their heels in TGs back yard doing not much of anything during May, the roundy-round boys are getting in four race weekends, garnering attention and TV time, and bleeding off fans the open-wheel types could compete for, if only they were competing.

Big Al, Clearwater FL

RM: True Big Al, the month of May is now down to Carb Day and Race Day (if we're talking attendance and interest) and it would be cost effective to either run someplace else in early May or have some kind of a qualifying race like The Winston to try and create some excitement while waiting on the green flag.

Q: You could build on your article about Sammy Swindell at the Chili Bowl quite a bit by going into detail about Sammy’s qualifying experience at Indy and his brief Indy car career. At Indy he was flat out for four laps, never lifted and his lap times were almost identical. Even though he has been somewhat controversial during his career he and Steve Kinser are in a class by themselves in the modern era. By the way what is the modern era anyway?!

Ned Hart, Fort Wayne

RM: It's the era you and I remember. Sammy got a raw deal in his Indy-car days at Patrick Racing and at least Steve finally got to make the show. Both are amazing in their desire to keep gassing it.

Q: Any chance a fan fund could be set up where we throw 20 or 50 bucks in to help get PT in a car, Id give to see my favorite driver back in a ride.

Dan Weilacher, Catoosa, OK

RM: It's a noble gesture but I just don't think there would be enough people to get PT anything competitive. But if you hit the lottery.....

Q: I just finished reading Crashed and Bryned about Tommy Bryne ( Amazon U.K. ) and loved it ( especially as I think I met him in Long Beach during his Indy Lights stint ). I wondered if you had any memories of him

Kevin McKenna

RM: Only that he came over here with solid credentials in road racing but never got a shot in CART. Always was a pleasant guy. Like me.

Q: I was wondering if you are going to air the 2009 Chili Bowl on Speed? If so, when?

Ron Edgerton. Tulsa, Ok.

RM: The latest info I have is that SPEED will show it Feb. 14. Not sure of the time, sorry.


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








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