Robin Miller's Mailbag for December 3

IndyCar

Robin Miller’s Mailbag for December 3

On sugarcane vs. corn ethanol on the IndyCar Series, technical innovation at Indy, Helio's status and much more...

Robin Miller | Posted December 03, 2008 Indianapolis, Ind.

A DP01-based, IROC-like winter series? Maybe in another era, Miller reckons... (LAT Photo)

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: This is a rant spurred by a comment in your mailbag saying the IRL is spinning this Ethanol Change. I don't know why you’re suggesting this to be spin. The industry was a bad partner to begin with for a number of reasons and it was just a matter of time before the corn-based ethanol industry went south. They are only able to produce ethanol because of subsidies, otherwise they would be nonexistent.

The decision by the IRL to switch to sugarcane-based ethanol from Brazil is outstanding. Brazil's ethanol industry is centered around sugarcane, which is much more efficient to produce into ethanol than corn. Corn-based ethanol was a bad idea to begin with and should have never been given government subsides. The IRL is trying to be CLEAN and GREEN, not energy independent.

Alex

RM: Spin would be a figure of speech for today's world but let's get to the point of your email. After speaking with Bobby Rahal, it sounds like three men, led by Jeff Broin, who is the leader of the U.S. ethanol industry, pooled their funds to sponsor Rahal Letterman and the Indy Racing League after Paul Dana sold them on the idea. It also sounds like that after three years none of the other members of the American ethanol industry embraced the Ethanol at Indy concept, so those three men pulled the plug on Rahal's team and IndyCar. So the IRL went with this Brazilian company and, from everything I've been able to read, it sounds like you are correct in that sugarcane-produced ethanol is better in every way (and doesn't drive up the food prices in the USA). The people who have taken out the anti-IRL ads are evidently the same folks who refused to step up and help Broin and his group so it's kinda hard to feel any outrage when you hear Rahal explain the situation. And he certainly got hurt the worst in this deal. You sound very educated in this matter so I hope my explanation makes sense.

Q: BRAZIL? Is TG kidding? If I remember correctly one of the Hulman family's sources of income is a beverage business. Perhaps choosing a different brand of beverage and writing to the corporate office of his brand would get some attention. I'm sick of this lack of patriotism and good sense. NASCAR may not be all American (I hate Toyota being involved) but this fuel move is not meant to be inclusive like NASCAR, it is to be exclusive. Perhaps the farmers in Iowa should show Tony how to apply some of those corn cobs properly.

Tim Tieman, Las Vegas

RM: Please read the above question/answer. I really can't add anything else.

Q: I'm thinking Emerson Fittipaldi is involved in the switch to Brazilian Ethanol. He's been associated with the industry since his Formula 1 days and Copersucar. Emmo spoke at an Ethanol Summit in Indy last May and drove the E85 Corvette Pace Car. What do you think?

Steve, Trenton, NJ

RM: I'm thinking you're very perceptive, although I haven't heard anything officially about Emmo.

Q: Do you think the U.S. auto industry meltdown will have any significant effect on the IRL? I suppose the IRL is lucky, as it apparently only depends on Honda among the auto manufacturers, and Honda is apparently one of the stronger manufacturers at this point. Also, some of your correspondents are apparently unaware that Porsche and Volkswagen are now essentially the same company, as Porsche has become the largest shareholder in VW. Porsche and VW/Audi have never directly competed in the same class on the race track (Audi just being a VW brand name) -- but with this merger, it would seem VERY unlikely that Audi and Porsche would develop separate IndyCar engines.

California John

RM: I guess the only negative effect it could have on IndyCar is if one of the Big 3 was considering an Indy effort for 2011, but that certainly didn't seem likely. As for your Porsche/Audi analogy, it does seem unlikely they would compete head-to-head but all I know is that my source in Germany SWEARS that Audi is coming to Indy. He thought Porsche as well a few weeks ago but that's quieted down. I think Alfa or BMW might be the other possibility but things have been kept pretty hush-hush.

Q: So I e-mailed you a couple of weeks ago about the IRL buying the engines from under the nose of Ben Johnston so that they could kill his series and you said sadly the IRL had no interest in the Panoz or anything else. So now I read that he showed up to the auction only to find out that the auction had been moved up to an earlier date. Did the IRL actually buy the engines?

Kyle

RM: The story I heard was that Johnston showed up at the scheduled time and was informed the auction had been moved up an hour and it was already over. And that Gerry Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven had re-claimed the engines from their own company. Then I read Kalkhoven claims they offered to lease the engines to Ben at a "reasonable rate" because he didn't have the necessary technology to run them. And there is something to that, because it's not like you can just buy a Cosworth, bolt it in, push the start button and go racing. There's electronics galore and I'm sure data engineers would also be needed.

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