MILLER: If it's Friday, this must be Texas

It's obvious the people who make out the schedule in the Verizon IndyCar Series have never worked on a racecar, because this year's is even more insane that recent ones.

As the mechanics loaded up their equipment on Sunday evening and tried to stay awake on the drive back to Indianapolis or Chicago (Coyne) or Charlotte (Penske, but they usually have a charter), it was the end of a brutal weekend double-header in the middle of a killer schedule.

Let's take a gander at it:

May
12-14: Angie's List Grand Prix at IMS
15: Turn cars around for Indy 500 practice
16-20: Indianapolis 500 practice (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
21: Practice and then "qualify" for the right to qualify the next day (6 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
22: Qualifying and then change engine (6 a.m. to 10 p.m.)
23: Three and a half more hours of practice (home by 8 or 9 p.m.)
24-26: Take cars apart and go through them (only 10-hour days)
27: Carb Day and pit stop contest (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
29: Indianapolis 500 (5 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
30: Memorial Day. Say hi to your kids on the way out the door, then work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to turn cars around for the Detroit street double-header

June
1: Reintroduce yourself to your family
2: Drive to Detroit
3: Detroit practice and qualifying
4: First Dual in Detroit race (ends at 6 p.m., crews go home between 8-9 p.m.)
5: Qualifying at 10:30 a.m.; second Dual race at 3:30 p.m.; load up, drive home and arrive by midnight if they run 90mph
6: Back in shop by 10 a.m. to turn cars around for Texas oval (trucks leave Tuesday afternoon)
10: Practice and qualify at Texas
11: Texas race at night (many Indy mechanics fly home on a charter plane and are back in Indy by 3 a.m.; others fly home Sunday morning)
13: Prep car for Road America test
14: Make the six-hour drive to Road America
15: Tire test at Road America for one car from each team
19: Drive to Watkins Glen for tire test
20: Tire test at Watkins Glen for one car from each team
23: Drive to Road America
24-25: Practice and qualify for Road America
26: Road America race at 12:30 p.m.; mechanics load up and then drive to Des Moines, Iowa, for open test
29: Open test at Iowa Speedway for all teams. Then they make seven-hour drive home and arrive between 2 and 4 a.m.
30: Possible day off

"It's just crazy and my guys are already dead on their feet," one team manager said. "Most of them haven't a day off since late April and this stretch from Indy to two races to an oval in Texas is just ludicrous.

"Good mechanics have left during the last few years and it's going to continue, because a lot of these guys have families now and they're not making the money they used to make here on top of this schedule."

Obviously, some dates are locked in because the promoters demand certain dates, but the ideal schedule for everyone would be every other weekend during April-June-July-August-September.

And this season is a bit of an anomaly – because of the Summer Olympics, there's just one race in August (Pocono).

IndyCar competition director Jay Frye, instrumental in getting Phoenix and Watkins Glen back on the schedule, seems to understand the mechanics' plight better than most in the front office and hopefully will try to put a little space in the 2017 slate.

It might even be beneficial for all involved to take the week off after Indy to give the mechanics a rest and give IndyCar a chance to promote the winner.

Unlike NASCAR, which has a crew at the shop, a different crew at the track and a special crew just for pit stops, IndyCar mechanics have to do it all, and they deserve some consideration. If they don't get some relief, maybe it's time to think about a union, because they've got some leverage.

CORRECTION ON INDY PURSE

The 21 drivers who raced for Leader's Circle participant teams didn't lose $100,000 off the top of their total winnings; it turns out it was $300,000. In other words, Carlos Munoz got a check for $788,743, but $300,000 went right to owner Michael Andretti. So Munoz actually only earned a percentage of $488,000 for finishing second in a race that sold an estimated $28 million worth of tickets.

For Indy-only drivers like J.R. Hildebrand it's a little different, but still brutal. He "earned" $257,305 for sixth place but $200,000 went to owner Ed Carpenter. So Hildebrand got a percentage of $57,305 – or half of that, if he's lucky.

Then there's poor Matthew Brabham. The rookie ran all day, kept his nose clean and finished 22nd to "earn" $202,805. Well, $200,000 went to the KVSH team, and Brabham got a percentage of a whopping $2,805.

Hope it was enough for his bus ticket home to Florida.