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Robin Miller’s Mailbag for November 18
Written by: Robin Miller   
11/18/2008
Indianapolis, Ind.
 
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
What next for Danica? (LAT photo) ยป More Photos

Q: Have you any inside poop on what’s going on over at AGR with respect to Danica Patrick? There have been some strange goings-on taking place over there the last two months. After Chicagoland, Danicacryptically referred to an impending announcement from AGR on her fan website which led to the logical speculation that AGR would be running A1GP and Danica would be driving the first race. Then about a week prior to the opening race at Zandvoort the posting on Danica’s website was pulled down and Charlie Kimball was hired for a “1 and Done” effort. Shortly after Zandvoort, Michael Andretti was quoted in a press release on A1GP’s website that both Danica and Marco would drive in A1GP for the season. Now over the weekend a story was published on Indycar.com stating that Marco would be driving the remainder of the season for Team USA. Then the story published on A1GP’s website quoting Michael Andretti’s statement saying Danica would participate in A1GP is then removed.

Now factor in the events of November 8-9 when Andretti Green tested former Formula 1 driver Frank Montagny for an unlikely 5th seat at the very same time that Danica and Pop just so happen to show up at Phoenix to “take in” a Nationwide Series race. If you remember back to the season Michael made an 11th hour blockbuster offer to keep Tony Kanaan. Did Michael make the decision to break the bank to keep TK knowing he would have to pay for it with other decisions? Would one of those decisions happen to be tossing Danica overboard after the 2009 season? It was stated in June that AGR and Danica would be opening talks for a new contract. In August Danica said she was happy where she was. Now we have actions that give the appearance of public posturing by both sides. This situation certainly looks ripe for a Super Sleuth to do some snooping around.

Redteam

RM: My spies tell me that Ms. Danica wanted compensation for her A1GP ride and that request was declined by AGR, who figured they were doing her a favor by getting her some off-season road racing miles. So it’s true that Marco is in the seat for the rest of that season. She’s
in the final year of her contract and she brought Motorola to the tune of $7 million a year, so I would think AGR wants to keep that relationship going (provided Motorola sticks around). But don’t think NASCAR wouldn’t love to snap her up to “justify” its mighty diversity program. So I imagine they’ll be pursuing her for 2010.

Q: It’s looking like ethanol sponsorship will not be with RLR next, and with the announcement of them running a BMW in ALMS, what has a better chance of happening – RLR closes down the ICS team and run a second BMW with Ryan Hunter-Reay in it or them getting a sponsor like IZOD or something to sponsor the Indy car?

Raymond Hando

RM: Bobby Rahal admitted in a story I wrote last week he was “nervous” about Ethanol’s future and Ryan Hunter-Reay said it was “bleak” and I understand it’s official – Ethanol is not coming back. RHR doesn’t want to drive sports cars – he belongs in an Indy car and while Rahal says they’re still searching for a sponsor and want to keep RHR, he’s out there looking for a ride along with Justin Wilson, Paul Tracy, Darren Manning and maybe Will Power and Oriol Servia. Be nice to see IZOD step up and keep him at Rahal Letterman because they’ve been quite impressive together the past two years and open wheel cannot afford to lose Rahal’s team.

Q: Regarding Helio’s future, if he can’t get his trial moved from March to November and Penske has to let him go, then he’s found innocent during his trial before the month of May, would AGR consider adding Helio for Indy to run a 5th car? And beyond that, would AGR try to find the funding to run him in 5th car for some other races after that? Even if those things I mentioned above don’t happen, since Danica and Hideki Mutoh will be in the last year of their contracts in 2009 with AGR, could it be possible we see an AGR lineup in 2010 of Kanaan, Castroneves, Andretti and Danica?

Damon in Hilliard, Ohio

RM: Helio’s trial is staying in March but if AGR runs anybody it would be Franck Montagny, I assume, but there’s way too many “what ifs” surrounding Castroneves. If he’s innocent, wouldn’t Penske put him in a car for May? Or has the fact he’s been indicted by the Feds made him persona non grata with The Captain? I know I’m supposed to answer your questions but this one is impossible at the moment.

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