Robin Miller's Mailbag for January 16, presented by Honda Racing/HPD

Your questions for Robin should be sent to millersmailbag@racer.com. We cannot guarantee we’ll publish all your questions and answers, but Robin will reply to you. And if you have a question about the technology side of racing, Robin will pass these on to Marshall Pruett and he will also answer here. 

Q: Since 1979 I've noticed a lot of IndyCar drivers in the Daytona 24 Hour race and also some F1 drivers as well, with this year being no exception. I think we’ve got at least a third of the Indy 500 field in it. Other than A.J. Allmendinger, no NASCAR drivers. Why do they shun this race?

Doug Ferguson, Debary, Florida

RM: Other than Chip Ganassi, who often 'invited' his Cup drivers to compete at the Rolex 24 ('invite' is a nice way of saying 'instructed'...), most Cup regulars now pass on the race due to the short offseason they have between the end of The Chase in November and the Daytona 500 in February. Jimmie Johnson is a perfect example of this; he did a number of Rolex 24s, but ultimately cited the need for more downtime between Cup seasons for stepping back. On the flip side, IndyCar drivers are so dang bored by January, they're taking anything they can find at Daytona just to stay fresh.

Q: Correct me if I am wrong. A few months back, Will Power met an Australian politician and Surfers Paradise was brought up. She said we want it back, Power said so do the drivers. Next thing we hear after IndyCar had a meeting with the Australian reps is that it’s maybe on next year's schedule. That sounds way too easy, but if that is all we need to get tracks back on the calendar, maybe we can ask Bobby or Graham Rahal to drive up to Cleveland and talk with the mayor. Zachary Claman DeMelo (bad example) can talk with the mayor of Montreal, or TK with a mayor in Brazil somewhere, or...

Ron, Toronto

RM: Ah, if it were only that easy. Evidently this all happened because Australia initiated it and obviously found money – the key. It takes a lot of money to stage a race, especially if you have to bring in fencing and grandstands, and without a major sponsor and a promoter, a city doesn’t have a prayer. We always heard the Queensland government lost millions on the CART races but didn’t care because it was good for the local economy. But I do think Montreal could be back in play by 2021.

Q: I was listening to Marshall Pruett's podcast with Graham Rahal, and I struck by Graham's business acumen. He owns a performance shop and seems to be quite good at finding sponsorship. Has Graham ever mentioned to you an interest in becoming an owner after his driving career is over? He seems like a natural.

Brian Henris, Fort Mill, SC

RM: Never asked him about it, but he’s a smart kid and he learned a lot the year he put together the Big O Tire deal for his ride with Ganassi. He spent months driving all over the country and meeting with people, and admitted it was quite an education.

Q: Can you provide any more detailed info on Conor Daly’s 2019 plans? Last info was he had some leads and options. Is anything developing here?

Dave, Sylvania, OH

RM: Spoke to him Monday after hot laps at the Chili Bowl, and he said he’s definitely going to run the Indy 500 and trying to roll it into another race or two. But the Indy ride sounds like a good one, so let’s hope so.

Q: I think it is great that IndyCar is going to finally get some great coverage on prime time television with NBC. But I noticed one thing on the schedule that puzzled me. Why would they not televise the Long Beach Grand Prix (probably the biggest race outside the 500 - and one of the biggest in the nation) on prime time Television? They are going to show it on NBCSN. This makes no sense to me.

Fernando Diaz, Torrance, CA

RM: Unfortunately, Long Beach is locked into its April date and who could blame them since it’s never rained on race day in five decades. But that also happens to be the same time as NHL playoffs on NBC, and it’s doubtful anything is going to change, either way, down the road.

Q: I hate to compliment ABC on anything. But NBC won't have Indy 500 qualifying on either network? That is not a good move. Qualifying coverage was a good infomercial to remind people that the Indy 500 is coming up. Not only did it change stations, the 500 also lost network coverage.

Jeff Loveland

RM: Indy qualifying will either be on NBC or NBCSN both days, and the details will be announced at a later date.

Q: Should we read anything into Alexander Rossi's drive for Penske at the 24 Hours of Daytona? Is this possibly a sign of things to come?

Jonathan and Cleide Morris, Ventura, CA

RM: The Captain started eying Rossi in 2017 and I’m sure he’ll make a play for him when his contract is up with Michael Andretti. But Honda is a big player in this and it loves Alex, so I think it’s going to do whatever is necessary to keep him. And the fact R.P. runs an Acura in IMSA and a Chevy in IndyCar shouldn’t confuse the issue, I’m sure Honda “suggested” the 2016 Indy winner would be a good fit.

Q: What happened to Helio? Is he still racing? If so, where and when? He was my racing guy.

Barry Cutler

RM: He drives full-time for Roger Penske’s Acura program in IMSA, and he’ll be suiting up for this year’s Indianapolis 500 with The Captain.

Love him or hate him, chances are your opinion of Paul Tracy was a strong one back in the day. Image by Levitt/LAT

Q: I'm Canadian, but must admit, during his racing career, I disliked Paul 'Chrome Horn' Tracy for his cocky, over-aggressive persona. Remember the race when he spun off, barged back onto the track rashly, taking out Bourdais, and rather than a post-race apology, tried to fist fight him afterwards? But now, in his outspoken commentary role, I find I quite enjoy Tracy. What is your opinion of the man, and has it changed over time?

Mars Jenkins

RM: First off, it was Alex Tagliani he speared at San Jose, and he tried not to fight but Alex persisted so he threw him down. I always liked P.T. because he was so raw and rambunctious and refreshing. His duels with Michael, Little Al, Dario and Seabass are exactly what IndyCar needs today, and Paul pissed off a lot of people along the way and probably cost himself a couple championships but he was authentic, if not a little crazy. I suggested to my boss at NBC that he’d be a good analyst, and I think he’s proven to be over the past few seasons.

Q: I saw P.T. at the Roar before the 24. He looks really good and happy, but he is a little too wide to fit in an Indy car. I was able to ask him the question that has been burning a hole in my mind all year: “Now that you counsel all the young drivers to be patient, how many races could you have won for Roger if you had been patient back in the day?” He didn’t have a real answer.

Dick Hildebrand

RM: I figure he threw away at least six victories for The Captain, another half dozen for Barry Green, and probably three or four for Gerry Forsythe. Patience wasn’t in his vocabulary.

Q: Hope all is well, and I enjoy the Mailbag every week. I'm an avid IndyCar fan and have been attending the 500 and other races since 2011. My question is about the Indy oval test that they usually do late March/early April, but last year had at the beginning of May. Is there any chance of them making that a permanent change as kind of an "opening day”? It would be a great opportunity to take my girls out there without too many people as they love the track. Also, I'm 31 and have about 10 buddies that I've gotten into watching IndyCar every race because we're able to do the fantasy league. Just in the short time I've been interested, it seems the series has come a long way.

Ross Cosat, Greenfield, IN

RM: The Indy open test is set for April 24 with Indy practice opening May 9 for the road race and May 14 for the oval, so I don’t see any changes in that format. But it’s great you’ve got your pals and daughters interested, and I think IndyCar is definitely on the upswing compared to a few years ago.

Q: I am a longtime IndyCar fan who is finally getting a chance to visit Indy for the first time (unfortunately not during one of the race weekends) this year. What is your recommendation for where I should visit over my weekend? I don't want to miss anything important?

Victor, Toronto, Canada

RM: You’ve got to go to the IMS museum, take a ride around the track in the tour bus, visit Sarah Fisher’s go-kart track in Speedway, then stop by Dallara’s shop on Main Street a couple blocks away, eat breakfast at Charlie Browns and lunch at the Workingman’s Friend, shop at Bob Lorton’s Gearheads out by Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, and go by Marie Hall’s store in Speedway to check out her photos and memorabilia.

Q: You stated in last week's Mailbag "Indy drivers, mechanics and owners are the only ones that belong in the IMS HOF." So who would be your Mount Rushmore of IMS?

Curt Fulp, Columbus, Indiana

RM: Tony Hulman, Vuky, A.J. and Mario.

Q: My wife And I are looking into possibly attending the Detroit GP this coming June. I am confused on the parking there. I see there is shuttle service from GM Center. I'm not familiar with downtown Detroit and GM Center. How does this work? Can you fill me in on best plan to park for Detroit? I did call the track and I am still confused. Something about two different pick-up and drop-off places? Glad to see you’re upright and ready to take the wheel again.

Andy, St Mary's, Ohio

RM: There is no public parking to my knowledge on Belle Isle, so the shuttle is by far the best option because it drops you off right in front of the circuit and you walk over the bridge and into the track.

Q: You've said everything was going very well with CART in the early '90s because attendance, sponsorship and television ratings were at an all-time high. However, when the IRL was being put together, it seemed like there were some drivers and owners in CART like Eddie Cheever and A.J. Foyt who could not wait to jump ship. So clearly there some growing dissension in CART. My question is, what were some issues in CART back then that really needed to be fixed?

Dan, Las Vegas, NV

RM: The CART owners were the haves and have nots in the late ‘80s, and a select few made decisions regardless of how the majority voted (electronic fuel injection comes to mind), and there were favorites for certain engines and other people (like Al Unser) couldn’t get one for Indianapolis. CART really never had a plan but it succeeded in spite of the owners, and by 1993 it had Nigel Mansell and worldwide attention. Bernie was a nervous wreck, and Bill France kept telling TG he needed to start his own series (gee I wonder who that helped?).

If Tony would have started the IRL in 1988 and stuck to his guns about engine leases, expenses, etc., the IRL might have succeeded. But he couldn’t have picked a worse time to divide open-wheel. And CART wasn’t real smart about including TG in its plans, although he never said anything in the board meetings. A.J. was always a USAC guy and never sold on CART, so he loved the idea of another series. Cheever had good rides but never won a race in CART so the IRL was a godsend, while a guy like Buddy Lazier drove nothing but crap wagons in CART and finally got even footing in the IRL and shined. The bottom line is that The Split crippled open-wheel racing for a long time and it’s gradually starting to recover, but it put NASCAR light years ahead.

Mario signing autographs and chatting to fans: a familiar sight at every IndyCar race. Image by Levitt/LAT

Q: How wonderful that IndyCar is commemorating the 50th anniversary of Mario's win at Indy this year! You were so right in your video that he is a true ambassador for the 500 and the series. When interviewed, Mario gives honest and thoughtful responses, and with fans he is always generous with his time. And if one is lucky enough to ride in the two-seater with him, I understand they receive the ride of their lives. I loved the new Mario and Andy sweatshirt you wore in the video, both the design and the color. I am damn mad at myself for not checking the website more often, and completely missed the December ordering window.

Deb Schaeffer

RM: Mario is always the first guy all the writers call when something major happens because he’s seen and done it all, and he’s the best spokesman for IndyCar. When Robert Wickens got hurt last summer at Pocono, NBC let me interview him and he gave a thoughtful, factual commentary on the dangers of racing, the many improvements and what else can be done. I’ve never seen him refuse a fan’s request for an autograph or photo – ever. He never forgot where he came from, and it’s always a pleasure to be around him. We’ll have the store open again in April, so you can get your Mario shirt then.

Q: Hi Robin, glad to have you back. People make a deal out of drivers paying for rides vs owners paying drivers. Would you say that most of these are not checks from personal family fortunes like Lance Stroll, but a potentially healthy and more sustainable shift in the racing business model? Seems to me that drivers are starting earlier in their careers cultivating sponsor relationships (and now social media following). In turn, many sponsors find more value in the continuity of backing a driver as they grow or switch teams and developing them as a brand ambassador versus writing a check for rolling billboard with the hope of buying success that translates to exposure. (There’s cheaper ways to get exposure.)

Examples like Budweiser and The National Guard (when he couldn’t take Bud to Hendrick) for Dale Jr and GoDaddy for Danica investing in them despite their relative lack of on-track success. Even non-race fans know Dale and Danica, but few know Scott Dixon or can name other racers not an Andretti or Lewis Hamilton (who has also been very savvy at this.). The sponsorship dynamic is just different now, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As race fans we need to embrace these drivers who are helping to expand the appeal of the sport as they look for dollars to drive.

Aron Meyer, Tucson, AZ

RM: IndyCar has some father-son alliances (Zachary Claman de Melo, Jordan King, Ed Jones) but sponsorship for the most part is either some kind of business-to-business deal or a company taking a liking to a young guy (Zach Veach) or a new product looking for an audience. The old days had sponsorships like Budweiser and Bobby Rahal or Mario and Michael with Kmart and Texaco or A.J. with US Tobacco that became very identifiable. Jimmie Johnson and Lowe's, Little E and Bud or his dad and Goodwrench, DW and Tide, but that consumer product identification is vanishing.

Q: Just finished an article about the Road to Indy and it talked about the budget issues in comparison to some of the European series to run the MRTI ladders, and says that  "After talking to some guys in Barcelona at the Euroformula Open and Formula Renault round, 90 percent of the feedback I got was amazement that an Indy Lights budget for a year is, give or take, around just a million bucks."

Now, I assume that budget is after purchasing cars and equipment, but I have read and heard everything under the sun about how much it takes to run a Lights team. He says "around a million bucks" and others say it is not that much less than running a full IndyCar? How can there be this much disparity out there in what it costs to run the Lights series? Is there any purse whatsoever for where you finish in a Lights race?

Second, the biggest pieces of the puzzle left to fit for this year’s season for IndyCar (outside of a series sponsor announcement) continue to be Carlin and Juncos, although I certainly assume one of the Carlin cars is Max Chilton full-time. Do you think Carlin will have two full-time cars as last year, and do you think Juncos will be showing up at most or all races with at least one car?

Forrester, Myrtle Beach, SC

RM: Lights is roughly $1 million for the season but IndyCar could be anywhere from $4-8 million depending on your sponsor, budget and the number of races (and that’s on top of your Leader’s Circle money of $800,00). Here’s what IndyCar says about the Lights prize money:

“With Mazda’s departure, IndyCar's number one priority was to maintain the $2 million+ in scholarships for the 2019 champions across the entire Road to Indy program, which we have done. The USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 per race prize money was recently announced and we are now finalizing the Indy Lights portion and it will be announced very soon.”

Trevor Carlin will make his line-up public soon, and we’re all hoping Ricardo Juncos can run Indianapolis and a couple other races.

Q: As a near life-long fan of IndyCars, I only discovered the Road to Indy a few years ago, but what a revelation! It was like opening up your Christmas present and finding three more gifts in there along with the one you were expecting. The kids from all three series -- USF2000, Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights -- are all great fun to watch racing and their talent, even at this stage in their careers, is obvious and entertaining to watch. It's more great open-wheel racing that we open-wheel fans get to watch on almost every IndyCar race weekend.

I was well aware of Pato O'Ward, Spencer Pigot, Jack Harvey and Zach Veach long before they showed up in IndyCars, and because of the Road to Indy their ascendancy was an obvious thing to me. In the last few years us hardcore Road to Indy fans could get up early, log on and watch much of the practices and qualifying and almost all the Road to Indy races online, live, at IndyCar's live Timing and Scoring. Is that now lost to us with this new NBC package? I'm going to go through bad withdrawal symptoms, if that is the case, and I cannot see how it could be any good for the Road to Indy or for IndyCar. What does Dan Andersen have for us? What does IndyCar intend for them? I'm even willing to subscribe to NBC Sports Gold for them, but not just the Lights. It would be a crime to lose the chance to see the other two series. The only way to keep the Road to Indy healthy is to make fans, and you make fans by showing racing.

Mark in Texas

RM: I’m told the Lights races will all be shown on the NBC Gold pass and a decision hasn’t been made yet on the other two series, but stay tuned.

John Paul Jr - one of open-wheel racing's unfulfilled talents. Image by MP Archive

Q: From your holiday guide, I just finished reading Sylvia Wilkinson’s 50/50 about John Paul Jr’s racing career and fight with Huntington’s disease. Please share some memories of his racing at Indy and on the IndyCar circuit. With low budget teams like Mann, PDM and a few others, he got the job done. Thanks!

Ralph Power, Indianapolis

RM: He was such a natural, and beating Rick Mears at Michigan and dicing with Mario at Las Vegas are two of his early highlights. He had zero open-wheel experience and he was up front in the VDS car with the best in the business. He was also a great kid who unfortunately had a monster for a father and that cost him a great career.

Q: I'm wondering if there is going to be a reasonably-priced streaming option for the NBC televised races this year. The local affiliate and the major cable/satellite companies are feuding over money, and I don't want to miss out on a good portion of the season.

Jason, SLC UT

RM: From our friend at IndyCar PR, Mark Robinson: “All IndyCar Series races will be telecast live on NBC or NBCSN. In addition, races may be viewed live on NBCsports.com or the NBC Sports app by verified viewers (those with cable, satellite or telco subscriptions). As announced last week by INDYCAR, all races will be available on a same-day delayed basis through INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold, the direct-to-consumer streaming product. Details on how to sign up for INDYCAR Pass, including its cost, will be announced soon.”

Q: Truly happy to see you headed in the right direction health-wise. Been reading your stuff since I was a kid (early '60s) and love the insight. A few Mailbags ago I asked about Indy greats and nominated Vuky as arguably the greatest. I noticed recently another reader thought Rocket Rick should be ahead of A.J. While I agree with what you that Rick is certainly one of the best-ever at Indy, I always felt there should be an asterisk next to his name as he only ever ran at Indy with the best team in the business -- a team so good it once took a taxi driver and gave him an Indy win. If I remember correctly, Rick's brother ran circles around him before they got to Indy. How great do you think the Rocket would have been at Indy if he had never driven for Penske?

Mike Bray, Flower Mound, Texas

RM: Impossible to answer. What would have happened if Vuky hadn’t hooked up with Travers & Coons? Or if A.J. and George Bignotti hadn’t been together? Or if Clint Brawner hadn’t snapped up Mario? Or if Big Al hadn’t teamed with Bignotti? Every great driver had a great car or team, or both, behind him and those guys all made those teams better. I have no doubt that Mears would have won driving for Pat Patrick or Jim Hall or Dan Gurney or Carl Haas and Paul Newman, but maybe not four times.

Q: Being a BSU grad from the late '70s and a race fan, I have always admired your work for open-wheel racing. I was hoping to continue to see you do the grid run interviews. Can you reflect on that possibility? Do you still like picking horses, as I used to see you at the OTB downtown Indy?

Rick the Rickster from Indy

RM: Well thanks, but not sure about the grid run. Right now it would resemble the grid limp, and to be honest it’s tough to get the necessary five minutes in our pre-race show because everything is packaged so tight. I enjoyed doing the driver features last year ,and I think we’ve got some good stuff in the works for 2019. I pick horses worse than pro football games (if that’s possible) so I haven’t been to the downtown parlor since it left Illinois and Washington.

Q: Great to hear you are on the mend. I second another person’s point that you should record your history in racing in a book or three. Decade by decade would be fantastic. I'm turning 40 this year and continue to learn about Indy, the drivers, and cars, and with as much as I enjoy your writing and in race input, I'm ready to get the whole story. How about something like 'Life's the Pits* The Robin Miller Story' (*in a good way)? I just booked a hotel for the Barber weekend and was wondering if there you have any suggestions for where to sit, as all vantage points look pretty good as well as local places to eat, drink, and/or be merry. Really looking forward to visiting their museum.

John M. Lee

RM: Just wandering the hills around Barber is perfect because of all the elevation changes and you can see a lot. Go to Rusty’s in Leeds for lunch and dinner -- best barbeque in ‘Bama and home of Charles Barkley. The museum is world class, just like the hospitality at the track. As far as a book, not sure I’ve got the energy.

Frankly, it was about time somebody asked a question about Tora Takagi. Image by Levitt/LAT

Q: Whatever happened to one of my heroes, Tora Takagi? I loved the livery of the car, and he was quite a character and I love Derrick Walker. Try to make it up to Angel Park this year and I'll buy you one! Thanks for all you do for the greatest sport in the world, and take care.

William Schleif, Hales Corners, WI

RM: No clue. In CART, he was fourth at Houston and Chicago in 2001 and 2002, respectively, for Walker Racing before heading to the IRL where he was rookie of the year at Indy in 2003 for Morris Nunn, starting seventh and finishing fifth. He returned to Japan to own a Formula Nippon team and ran some sports cars in 2006.

Q: Read questions in the Dec. 26 Mailbag about title sponsors, ABC Supply sponsoring Pocono, and ABC Supply support of A.J. Foyt’s Racing team. You said ABC sponsorship likely keeps Pocono on the schedule and the Foyt team still garners respect. They both had respect in Milwaukee too, when ABC Supply was the title sponsor as ABC Supply HQ is only an hour’s drive from the track. A.J. Foyt is honored at Milwaukee by having Victory Lane named for him. A.J. also had races named in his honor at Milwaukee. Without a title sponsor like ABC Supply to keep Milwaukee on the schedule -- it’s gone. Why did ABC Supply quit Milwaukee? Could anything bring them back?

Bob, The Milwaukee Mile

RM: Milwaukee going away had nothing to do with ABC Supply. And I’m sure they’d consider it if the race ever came back.

Q: Looking forward to another great season, and especially all that is May in Indiana. Will there be a midget program in the infield this May, and has the Speedway looked at doing something special to honor Donald Davidson, another irreplaceable icon much like yourself? I would like to see him get to wave the green flag.

Steve in Lafayette

RM: No midget race in May, but I would love to see IMS honor Donald with a statue at the museum and let him start the race.

Q: In last week's Mailbag, Jim Patton in Texas asked about USAC Indiana Midget Week and associated costs, etc. It's $25 per race and you can buy your tickets at the door,or you can buy them in advance from USAC. Several of the midget drivers compete in sprint cars on the same night, so you also get to see a USAC level sprint car show as well. Overnight camping is usually free and the camp grounds have the most informative and nicest open-wheel dirt fans around. The race schedule is set up so the camper trip between races is minimized and makes sense. Concessions at the track are really reasonable. The only thing better than six straight nights of Indiana Midget Week is eight different races of Indiana Sprint Week in 10 days. Give Jim my email address and we'll hook up with him at one of the races.

Mike Hickman, Beech Grove, IN

RM: Thanks much for this info Mike. You are so right -- midgets are great but Indiana Sprint Week is the best.

Q: For a while now I have been reading what people have to say about what track is the fastest half-mile dirt track. Ultimately the arguments come down to track distance. Then there are the arguments becomes about what to measure with and where. Measuring wheels. On the inside, the outside. In the middle or the racing groove. That last one really makes me laugh. Racing groove? On dirt? What track? What night? What set up? What end of the track? My question is this. I don’t know if any body has a set of rules for measure in every dirt track out there and even if they did who’s to say any promoter would follow it. But, all of that made me ask the question. Who sets the standards for tracks like IMS etc? In the olden times I would have imagined AAA/USAC and I would guess that now the FIA determines the methodology. And where is the racing surface at IMS measured to obtain the magic 2.5 miles?

Alan Turner

RM: Many tracks are measured 15 feet from the outside wall, but it’s no exact science since IndyCar and NASCAR have been all over the map on ovals. For instance, CART measured Gateway at 1.27 miles in 1996 and NASCAR called it 1.25 miles. AutoCub Speedway in Fontana was measured 2.029 miles by CART but only 2.0 miles by NASCAR. Both groups said Nazareth was a mile but in reality it was less than a mile. They also changed Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport circuit distance once after a few years and that eliminated all the track records. I guess the best answer is that it’s measured from wherever the sanctioning body chooses. Or the track. Or the promoter. Why won’t you ask me if the pole car can be bumped at Indy? That’s much easier.

Q: As I was crossing into Arizona on I-40 a few weeks back, I had to stop to change a tire. Once rolling again, I wondered if tire technology can be applied to catch fencing. Successfully doing so might at least change the structure from being a cheese grater to a safety net, or to less of a cheese grater. For example, if tire "strips" -- containing current road or race tire technology with steel belt infrastructure -- were used in place of the steel that is in use now for fencing, would that make for a "safer" fence and still allow for clear sightlines while, perhaps, not costing too much (whatever that price may be)?

Tires are durable when taken care of, and the rubber might help address material longevity and offer some safe flexing upon engagement. I know many considerations must be taken into account, such as driver and spectator safety, what will the material do to a chassis, will fire retardant be required on the rubber (yes), debris concerns (which already exist as soon as cars get off the ground), and such, but I wonder if this idea has ever been considered? I have taken some time to write this so that additional uses of tire technology seem plausible and rational in thought and not just wishful thinking. With that in mind, how about wrapping the steel posts holding the fencing with properly proportioned "soft" tires rung over the posts, i.e., a tire barrier for the posts? Alternately, has it been considered to try to pad the upright posts in any manner? Perhaps with something akin to a crossbar pad, like guys used to put on their Bultaco and Maaico handlebars. A cover for the padding would also allow for advertising on the posts.

Continuing with the earlier theme, can tire technology be applied as an outer layer on (or in place of) the helmet shell to better spread impact absorption? The "protect the head like it's an egg" thinking has maximized its potential, I think, for this level of motorsport. The losses of Dan and Justin, and Robert’s injuries, along with Hinch’s thoughtful commentary, have made me again question standard operating practice. Opportunity does not knock, in my opinion. It is always there for the taking. Knowing where to go with it has always been the tough part for me. I really enjoy the driver's thrill show in IndyCar and just want to help generate ideas that help them, and if it is profitable for companies involved, all the better (and probably necessary).

Pat, near Mid-Ohio

RM: I sent your suggestion to IndyCar, and while it’s way over my head, I’m sure the FIA safety committee (which Jay Frye and Tony Cotman attend) has explored just about every conceivable option to improve fencing.