"Well the Folger's Ford was running real good today, thanks to the Folger's Ford crew... (LAT Photo)

Q: I am one of the old school open wheel supporters who went to watch this year's Indianapolis 500 and could actually feel the increase in public interest all month long! Tony George must have felt this same atmosphere and with Mr. Cotman now giving him some very sage advice, I hope he can start to give NASCAR some major headaches when it comes to Madison Avenue money. Do you (as a Indiana native) believe that he has the intellectual acumen to now be a thorn in the side of Mr. France when in comes to actually taking back some of their high-profile sponsorship dollars and thus tip the balance back to the IRL? He is open wheel's only hope right now and he has to annoy the hell out of NASCAR for getting as far as he has at present. What does his next move have to be to slay the 800lb gorilla that is stock car racing?

Russ The Brit

RM: I think Tony learned a lot these past dozen years and one of his main revelations was that NASCAR and ISC were not his allies or friends. Bill France Jr. encouraged TG to start his own series and, of course, we know that only made NASCAR the real winner of the open wheel war. I told TG he needed to let his wife run his team and he needs to run the series, because he wanted to be king and now he is, but he doesn't seem to want to do that at this time. He says he's got a lot of good people working for him, but I disagree. The only hope I see (on the racing side) is letting Cotman call the shots and Terry Angstadt seems to be competent on the marketing side. NASCAR seems to be losing steam, so the next couple years could be a chance for Indy cars to steal some sponsors back and make some in-roads in this lopsided race.

Q: As the price of oil climbs through the roof, the U.S. auto market will make a drastic shift toward compression ignition engines. It is the case in Europe now and VW and Honda will have new models that beat the pants off the gasoline hybrids in the '09 models. If the IRL wants to jump into the future, they should allow the diesel revolution into the Speedway and the IRL. For once, what works on the track might be relevant to something people would want to buy in the future. What I don't need in my garage is a 32-valve V8.

Bryan Weber, Dartmouth/Hanover NH

RM: I can't be sure but I think that's one of the topics discussed at the recent owner's meeting in Indy and it would seem to make a lot of sense. I'm sure it would get Audi over here in Indy cars.

Q: Do you have a candidate for the first driver to schlep his sponsor relentlessly to the TV microphone? Mine is Geoff Bodine, a decent guy but he or somebody on his team went over-commercial. So 20, 25 years ago, Bodine dropped out of a NASCAR race and said, "My Folger's Ford should have been a top ten car today, and we had a good run going in the Folger's Ford, but it's too bad we wrecked the Folger's Ford. I want to thank my Folger's Ford crew for giving me a great Folger's Ford to drive. We'll put the Folger's Ford in front in the next race at...” Before the year was out, all the NASCAR jocks were forced to parrot this demeaning B.S. I find it unbelievable that there are fans who miss Danica copying this drivel, but then some "fans" will attack her for anything.

Frank Dalton, High Point, NC

RM: I think you've got a winner. Bodine seemed to do it first and, as you said, ad nauseam. It's mind-numbing nowadays because the crew chief starts out his answer to any question (Yeah, Butch your driver just went over the wall in Turn 1, did he say anything failed? "Well, the Coca-Cola/Tide/Pennzoil/Jim Beam/Falstaff Grim Reaper Chevy was running good. What was the question?") I'd like to see driver and owner points taken away for any and all references to the sponsor during an interview.

Q: Why can't Graham Rahal find a top-line sponsor? He should be exactly what every company is looking for when spending money on a driver/team/car. He is a winner, intelligent, well spoken, American, and has a recognizable last name, plus he is driving for Paul Newman and Mr. Haas, a proven top-of-the-line team throughout open wheel history. I don't understand why he only has the Hole in the Wall Camps and a couple McDonald's stickers on his car. Also, what is a realistic percentage chance that we will see either Graham or Marco (or both) in an F1 ride within the next five years?

Irby Johnson, Peoria, Ill.

RM: Don't forget he's only 19. It's a mystery because Ralph Hansen is the best sponsor finder in the business and he's yet to score a big one for Graham. I think he'll have Rexall on his car at Edmonton, but that's a one-off and I guess this just shows how hard it is to find money for open wheel racing right now – despite unification. I've been predicting Roger Penske will have Graham in his car by 2010 (he'll be 21) because he's the perfect template for The Captain. Don't think F1 is interested in either Marco or Rahal at this time and I don't think they're interested in F1 anymore either.

Q: I want to know why Andretti fired Bryan Herta and Christian Fittipaldi in the middle of the ALMS season. It didn’t seem right giving Christian only half a season. Also, I want to know why Penske’s ALMS team never races at Le Mans. I think it would be great sponsor opportunity for DHL since they are international and great for America to know that one of their teams is the best in the world. And finally, I think Marco needs to go to Europe to learn how to become a more developed racer, without his old man looking over his shoulder. If it weren’t for his dad he probably would not be racing (sorry to say).

Curious Jason

RM: I think Acura is cutting out one of its ALMS teams for 2009 and I think AGR knows it's on the bubble, so maybe it got Montagny to save the day. Herta deserved much better treatment since he's been so good for AGR in IndyCar and ALMS, not to mention a supposed friend of Michael Andretti's. As for Marco, look at young Rahal. Not driving for his dad is probably the best thing he could have done and I give Bobby credit for keeping an arm's length away from Newman/Haas/Lanigan and not interfering. With Marco's personality and inconsistency, I’m not sure he could drive for anybody else right now except his father. But I think he'd certainly have offers from other teams. Penske will eventually get to Le Mans.

Q: I wish some F1 team would take Scott Dixon away from us. His winning all the time is becoming a drag. Are his credentials good enough? I remember he seemed to come into CART from nowhere. He won a race I was at in Nazareth and I thought it was Mauricio Gugelmin in the car! He's probably talented enough, right?

Ed, Hartford, CT

RM: He was Indy Lights champion and very comfortable in moving to CART. He's smooth, smart and obviously as comfortable on the ovals now as he is road courses. Yes, he's got the talent but is too old for F1.

Q: I recently read Lars Anderson's story in Sports Illustrated about NASCAR safety measures taken since the death of Dale Earnhardt. Anderson recounts how NASCAR developed SAFER walls and the HANS system and one NASCAR official says they are working things other motor sports haven't even thought of. There is no sign of the following words in the article: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar racing/IRL, CART (or Champ Car). It's one thing when the yuk-it-ups on NASCAR TV claim those inventions, but this is a little different. Would you care to give us a correct history lesson?

Fred, Simpsonville, SC

RM: My pleasure, Fred. That story read like a NASCAR advertising section and it's obvious 'ol Lars is in NASCAR's hip pocket. He doesn't know much about racing, let alone safety and that article was maddening in so many ways. Jim Downing, Bob Hubbard, Steve Olvey, Terry Trammell, Bob Melvin, Delphi and Tony George have made racing safer. NASCAR has been a bystander, acting only when its biggest star was killed in an accident that he should have walked away from. I really enjoyed the reference to the NASCAR safety team. Really? What a load of $#&@.

Q: With all the talk and bad publicity about "Mad Dog" Marty Roth this season, what's the deal with "Maniac Marco" Andretti? Is he getting a percentage of the parts and chassis sales he generates from all the wrecks he has caused or been in? What's up with this guy? Brain fade or the old "I'm an Andretti get the hell out of my way" syndrome?

CanAm Bob

RM: Not sure. He has flashes of brilliance followed instantly by brain fades, but I suppose it's part of being 21 and still learning.

Q: Niki Lauda once called oval racing "lazy man's racing." He's right, especially with today's IndyCars – all downforce, no skill required, which is why a certain female driver for AGR and Ed Carpenter are lamenting the prospect of more road races. I think a Western Hemisphere version of F1 (but with a ton of street courses, a few flat ovals, more horsepower and more attitude) wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Didn't that formula actually work for CART in the 1990s? It would certainly expose what a crock NASCAR-style oval racing actually is.

Joe Esty, Aurora, Ill.

RM: First off, oval-track racing is Indy car racing's heritage and remains its most exciting form in terms of the paying customers and television audience. Indy, Michigan, Phoenix, Milwaukee and Loudon played to some of the greatest races ever and it's what gave IndyCar its identity so many years ago. When CART broke away from USAC it needed venues, so road courses and street circuits were added to the mix and by the early '90s CART had the most versatile and challenging circuit in the world. The IRL's rules makes running wide open a necessity on most ovals and this creates insane driving and way too many crashes. That's why today's Indy car needs to get 300 more horsepower on the road courses and 500 more on the ovals, lose the tunnels, computers and let the real drivers rise to the top. Get back Phoenix and Loudon to go with Milwaukee, Michigan, Iowa and Indy. That's a nice mix.

Q: This is likely too long for the mailbag, but I thought you might find it an interesting thought experiment. In the July 9 mailbag, you responded to a comment about the depth of the talent pool right now. You responded that the problem is too many great drivers in NASCAR that should be in IndyCar. Consider this: A.J. Allmendinger, Marco Andretti, Townsend Bell, Ryan Briscoe, Ed Carpenter, Patrick Carpentier, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Robert Doornbos, Jon Fogarty, Dario Franchitti, Alex Gurney, Bryan Herta, Sam Hornish Jr, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Bruno Junqueira, Tony Kanaan, Patrick Long, Darren Manning, Vitor Meira, Danica Patrick, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Buddy Rice, Tomas Scheckter, Oriol Servia, Scott Speed, Tony Stewart, Alex Tagliani, Paul Tracy, Ernesto Viso, Dan Wheldon, Justin Wilson. That's 33 drivers. There's your Indy field.

Even better, that would mean Rafael Matos, Alex Lloyd, Hideki Mutoh, Franck Perera, J.R. Hildebrand, Jonathan Summerton, Jonathan Bomarito, Carl Skerlong, Dane Cameron, Anthony Foyt, James Hinchcliffe, Kevin Lacroix, Alan Sciuto, Richard Antinucci, Daniel Herrington, Sean Guthrie, Robbie Pecorari, Colin Braun, and Jeff Simmons would all be in Indy Lights cars or advancing to Indy cars.

Whenever anyone asks you what an overabundance of ego on all sides can cause, this is it. This is what open-wheel racing in 2008 could have been. And that's not even taking into account Gil de Ferran and Adrian Fernandez, who might well still be in IndyCars had the grass been greener. Not to mention Jimmie Johnson, who SO should have been the next Rick Mears. Argh!

Frustrated Fred

RM: That list makes me wince.

Q: While the crashes under yellow did provide some amusement, the race at the Glen was mostly boring. There was little to no passing among the leaders except in the pits... Almost as bad as a NASCAR restrictor plate race. We need big honkin’ wings, flat bottoms (no diffusers) and 80 inches of boost with a push to pass to put the racing back in the IRL. Another bone of contention was the driver autograph session. People were lined up in the order they arrived but the simpletons in charge, rather than have one orderly line, posted signs over each driver's table and the Oklahoma land rush re-enactment ensued. Why can't they limit the number of autograph seekers and send them through one line? It works at events like the Porsche Rennsport Reunion (which I daresay had bigger crowds). They could even charge an admission fee and donate it to a different charity at each event. The IRL organizers need to make these events more fun and fan friendly. And meeting Rick Mears at his book signing was a gas... A real class act all the way. And why no Despain-Miller for president bumper stickers?

Bob

RM: See my earlier answer about horsepower and aerodynamics (we agree). Autographs should be signed until everyone gets what they want. Mears is the classiest. Despain wants Hillary, I got dumped.

Q: A number of years ago, I think at Mid-Ohio and in F1, I remember seeing cranes parked near the gravel traps in the corners. When somebody went off and got stuck, they threw a local yellow, then lifted the car out of harms way in less than five minutes. They didn't need any safety vehicles on the track, because they didn't tow the car out. This also eliminated the insane full course cautions that are ruining open wheel road racing. Why can't they do this at all the tracks? Maybe because the full course cautions allow them to show more commercials?

Rick Schneider, Charlotte

RM: It worked fine in CART before they also lost their minds with all the full-course yellows. It makes people switch channels and it's a rip off for the paying customers at the track. Shame on you for suggesting something sensible like that.