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Written by:
Robin Miller
08/06/2008 - 07:47 AM
Indianapolis, Ind.
Canadian fans "get" open-wheel - will 2010 bring more races north of the border? (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos
Hello open wheel types and thanks for all your questions. I intend to answer your questions every week during the season, so just e-mail them to openwheelmailbag@gmail.com. Don’t feel left out if I didn’t directly respond. I appreciate your interest and passion.
~Robin Miller
Q: About the IRL schedule, thanks for pointing out that we Canadian fans "get it." I am from Edmonton and attended qualifying day for the race and even on Q-day the crowd was huge. Something I don't get is why can't Canadian companies get behind our drivers. I know the cigarette ad ban drove Player's out, but there are a lot of Canadian companies bigger than Player's. For example, Bombardier sponsored the pagoda at Indy, but they don't sponsor any of the talented French Canadian drivers from their home province of Quebec. You'd think they would get a lot more bang for the buck by sponsoring Alex Tagliani or Andrew Ranger than by sponsoring a tower only rarely glimpsed on the TV broadcast. Here in my home province of Alberta, we are the number one source of oil in North America. Yet the biggest players in the oil sands, have never gotten into racing despite a clear link to their product.
Here in Canada Paul Tracy has name recognition along the lines of Wayne Gretzky and even he can't get a large Canadian company to sponsor him.
Earl McKenzie, Edmonton
RM: It's always puzzled me how Canada can have so many passionate open wheel fans and so many great races with good attendance yet no companies besides Player's and Molson have ever stepped up to sponsor a Tracy or Ranger or Carpentier or Tagliani. I use to think Gerry Forsythe just asked for too much money and that's why Tracy didn't have a sponsor after Player's left, but it doesn't seem like that was the problem.
Q: I am hopeful about IRL racing at Laguna Seca someday. I am curious why Ontario didn't even bear mentioning in your article about a dream schedule in 2010? I understand why Long Beach survives but of course want as many races in California as possible.
Cliff in Huntington Beach
RM: If Laguna would spend some major money, get a straightaway, a couple braking zones and widen the track in a few places, I think Indy cars might come back. Right now it's a terrible show for everyone except motorcycles. As for Ontario, I assume you meant Fontana which played to good crowds the first couple years of CART and then steadily declined to a few thousand with the IRL. It's a tough sell for NASCAR nowadays and, for whatever reason, it's not a very popular place unless you're into drifting.
Q: I guess I was just drinking Bruton's Kool-Aid because I was really hoping to see the open wheel series back in Loudon again next year. So, as you said, I was more than disappointed to see the 2009
Royal Richardson, Chester, N.H.
RM: Terry Angstadt of the IRL made it very clear that Loudon was high on the list but not for 2009, not considering all those contracts still in place.
Q: I like your schedule for the ideal in 2011. I will take issue with a few tracks. I mean, what fun would it be if we completely agreed? I need to go on the record with my feeling about the 1.5-mile Bruton Smith snooze factories. The racing stinks in Cup on these tracks and it’s better in Indy cars only because Indy cars are better on any track. But, if you have to have a track in that area KC would be better than Iowa. I want nothing to do with Rusty Wallace (and I like Rusty) and his racetrack for “Hot Rods." The track is too small and has too much in common with the 1.5-mile track type of racing. Richmond is a good market to be in and it draws a good crowd but I think it will ultimately be as costly due to crash damage as Texas.
As far as Las Vegas I sincerely hope you are talking about the street course and not the oval.
Alan, Tampa, Fla.
RM: Iowa was a damn good race this year but KC is like so many other ISC venues, an exercise in aero and, yes, sometimes it produces some exciting finishes but not lately. Give me places where a driver can make some difference. Yes, I was referring to that awesome street course in Vegas that Champ Car ran in 2007.
Q: I read the article on the perfect schedule and am curious as to why you left Kansas off. You said goodbye to it but does it not draw a good crowd? The races seem to be pretty exciting.
John Pitcock
RM: Like I said in the answer above, it's had a couple fantastic finishes but the crowd looks to be about half of what it was four years ago so I think the new IRL can do better.
Q: It seems fairly obvious from the minor tinkering for the 2009 schedule that Terry Angstadt message is, "We won and Champ Car lost, so we don't need or want you." Successful fan favorites like Cleveland, Road America and Surfers were nixed while these loser momentum races like Richmond, Kansas City and Chicago were retained. The next major step will be the new chassis and engine formula, along with race and point rule revisions. Are we in danger of Augstadt once again not listening to the fans and staying with what he knows? Is Terry Angstadt to IndyCar what Steve Johnson was to ChampCar? If so, IndyCar's days are numbered.
Don in Chardon, Ohio
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