The RACER Mailbag, April 13

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. Due to the high volume of questions received, we can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll answer as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for length and clarity. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will appear the following week.

Q: I’m worried about my favorite hat autograph-signer, Jack Harvey. If he continues his streak of back-half finishes, does Hy-Vee start to regret making him the face of its advertising blitz? And does RLL, sensing that regret, give Jack "The Veach" and put Santino Ferrucci in the No. 45 for the rest of '22?  Or does RLL let Jack limp on this year while conducting a Kirkwood extraction mission for '23?  Or maybe Pato “I’m distracted by the poop storm that I myself created” O’Ward?

I would hope RLL doesn’t penalize Jack for a missed start due to concussion, but Oliver Askew has something to say about Arrow McLaren SP and my hope. Are my worries legit? Your thoughts welcome.

Dave

MP: I haven’t had a chance to connect with Jack to ask about his weekend, but he was off from the outset and he certainly deserves a pass after the hit at Texas. If he isn’t back to his customary form by Barber, I’ll be surprised. Jack’s 45 car has a newly-promoted race engineer Mike Armbrester on the timing stand, and like every new combination, it takes time for the relationship to hit its stride. They’re both super-talented, so better days are ahead.

Q: Just had a remarkable weekend in Long Beach! Been to the last 25 races here. Question that came up from a friend that joined me this year, and I never gave it a thought -- do the drivers stay in the paddock overnight in their haulers, or do they (or some) stay in more luxury suites/hotels offsite?

P.S. Great to see that battle with Romain and Josef in the end! Stinks that it ended up under yellow, but I will not join that group and will remain a purist that accepts that sometimes this happens.

Pongo in SoCal

MP: Most stay at the Hyatt Regency that sits inside the track. If you happen to walk by the entrance early in the morning or late at night, you'll see just about every driver's scooter parked in front... Sato's crash ended the party a wee bit early, but Grosjean’s alternate tires had nothing left to give and Newgarden was never going to let him go by without a hellacious fight. I don’t think the podium order would have changed if it stayed green until the checkered flag. I’m also not sure Newgarden receives enough respect as one of the best IndyCar drivers today and, if he continues down the path he’s on, as possibly the best of his generation.

It's taking a while for things to come together in the car for Jack Harvey this year, but his autograph-signing game is still on point. Even if his signature looks like it says 'J Wag'. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

Q: Bad stops for both Rossi and Herta last weekend. These bad stops have been going on with this team for years and have cost them countless races. At what point does Michael make massive changes to these put crews? Enough is enough!

Chris, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

MP: It’s been the only consistent aspect of the team’s season to date, which is unfortunate. The other point to make is how, with all the teams and drivers being so close in performance these days, it no longer takes a big mistake to create a setback; perform a nine-second stop when your rival gets out in eight, and you could be screwed. The pressure to be flawless and fast on pit lane is at the highest level of intensity I can recall during the Dallara DW12 era.

Q: Who, in your opinion, are the best five drivers in IndyCar?

Jordan, Warwickshire, UK

MP: I can’t wait to get the angry texts from drivers who weren’t named, Jordan…thanks…

Kidding aside, I’m about results, not potential results, so for those who’ve proven they are top contenders, I’ll pick Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou, Scott Dixon, Colton Herta and Will Power. Of the drivers on the cusp of displacing some of those in that top five, I’d go with Graham Rahal, Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson, Kyle Kirkwood, Romain Grosjean, Simon Pagenaud and Rinus VeeKay.

Q: I saw the Long Beach post-race interview with Jimmie Johnson where he said "you have to live on the razor’s edge on these street courses" and "there's no margin for error." He did have a rough weekend. I wonder where his confidence is as he ponders the edge you have to live on in the concrete canyons of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Jeff, Florida

MP: I felt so bad for Jimmie, returning for his home race, and having things go from bad to worse to miserable. I’m more concerned about a lack of confidence to hang his car out around the next event at Barber Motorsports Park than at the Indy 500. He’ll be just fine at the Speedway. Dipping and cresting Barber’s hills with the back of his car sliding in an instant and needing lightning-fast micro corrections to keep it on the tarmac? That’s where a rough weekend like Long Beach could create doubt.

Q: This one could apply to basically any form of motorsport, but why is it that in F1 and IndyCar in particular, your pace is depending so much on your car setup? How come IndyCar title contenders O’Ward and Rossi needed three races this year to finally score a somewhat decent result after having been off the pace in Texas and St. Pete?

F1 is no different: K-Mag hit the ground running this season, scoring points in both Bahrain and Jeddah, but struggled all weekend long in Melbourne because his team started on wrong foot when dialing in his car.

As if fuel saving and tire management weren’t already painful enough to watch, messing up your car setup is probably what frustrates me the most in motorsport these days. On top of that, it looks pretty obvious to me that some drivers have better engineers than others. Just have a look at IndyCar’s Team Penske: both McLaughlin and Newgarden are the top of the class, while Power (who’s got more experience and won more races than both his teammates together) struggles in the midfield. Same thing at Ferrari: Leclerc is blossoming whereas Sainz (who’s been there three seasons longer and is notorious for being a hard worker) is having trouble matching the Monegasque’s pace. Nothing against Scotty, Josef, or Charles, but clearly modern F1 and IndyCar are both becoming more and more of an engineering contest, and less and less about driving. I might sound like an old timer, but shouldn’t motorsport be about courage, guts, driving technique, focus, giving everything your body can stand and pushing your car to the limit?

What is it in these cars that make their pace rely so much on setup? Aerodynamics/wing angles? Suspensions? Dampers? Ride height? Gear ratios? And isn’t there a way to design the cars to put the performance back in the driver’s hands (and less in the engineer’s brain)?

Xavier from France

MP: Hi, Xavier. I need to clean a few things up, first. Power’s delivered three top fives in three races, so not the midfield. Newgarden’s race engineer has been an IndyCar race engineer for three races, and won two, so he’s clearly very good, but I wouldn’t rank him above David Faustino or Ben Bretzman, both championship- and Indy 500-winning engineers with Team Penske.

Not sure about the frustration with how much chassis setup dictates pace "these days." It’s been that way since the first automobile race was held. Race cars have always relied on quality setups for drivers to perform at their best. It’s a completely false premise you’re presenting, unfortunately.

Back when Parnelli Jones drifted Ol’ Calhoun to victory at the 1963 Indy 500, decisions were made on ride height, toe, damping, springing, tire pressures, etc., to give his roadster better performance than the other cars. Go back decades or forward decades, and the technology changed, but the vehicle setup is what gave drivers the ability to succeed or fail.

Q: We never seem to hear about Little Al Unser anymore. Can you give us an update? Has he completely divorced himself from IMS and IndyCar? Has Patricio O'Ward's career been highly influenced by Adrian Fernandez or Michele Garza?

Tom Fitzgerald, CPA

MP: We don’t? He’s been in the news and on a lot of media outlets for the last six months with the publishing of his new autobiography, which is an excellent read (and like his Uncle Bobby’s autobiography, don’t judge it by the level of truthiness…). Adrian had some involvement with Pato but I’ve never heard him mention Michele Garza, nor do I know who that is. Josele Garza, possibly, the former IndyCar driver from Mexico?

Q: What is the deal with the scraggly starts? Does IndyCar want those starts? Long Beach was horrid, and not interesting at all.

DJ Odom, Anderson, IN

MP: “Scraggly starts” is my new favorite description for an untidy beginning to a motor race. I don’t know if IndyCar wants them, but the starter has the opportunity to wave off the starts and chose not to, so maybe that’s the answer.

Q: This weekend’s pole time at the Long Beach Grand Prix was a shocking 1m05.3095s that shattered the previous pole record by two seconds. And during the race in the final laps the leaders were doing laps in the 1m07s range, which was the previous pole speed. Where are these speed gains coming from? And is it possible to believe that when the hybrids arrive along with the new chassis (not holding my breath after listening to Jay Frye’s comments) that the pole speeds at Long Beach could reach sub-1min?

By the way, I was there at Long Beach and let me tell you there was more people, more excitement and it reminded me of the CART days when Alex Zanardi came from behind and passed Bryan Herta on the final laps and the fans went loud and crazy! When Romain passed Palou and was almost going to pass Newgarden the fans went wild!

Josue Cano, Oxnard, CA

MP: That was the question drivers were asking all weekend: Where’s the crazy new speed coming from? The best answers I could get involved a ton of rubber being put down from all the different series running at the event, plus a new sealant that was applied in some areas and quality tires from Firestone.

Each new horsepower that’s coming in 2024 is being almost match with one new pound of weight, so the concern -- if you’re looking forward to insane lap speeds -- is the added weight will cancel out the added power.

The "Drive To Survive" effect is still going for GRO, more than a year after his last F1 race. He’s IndyCar’s most popular driver, and I even watched McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who was at Long Beach to oversee the Arrow McLaren SP team and drive his vintage Jaguar IMSA GTP car, pose for an endless number of photos with fans who know him from watching DTS.

Honestly, it was a bit strange: At the front of the grid for the last GTP race was Patrick Long, 20-year Porsche factory driver, a Le Mans winner, champion, and one of the best to race sports cars, piloting a Porsche 962, and I counted two people who wanted to take a picture. I walked down to where Zak’s car was to turn on my GoPros in the Jag, and there was a legitimate crowd that formed around him, all to get a glimpse and maybe a picture with the now-famous F1 team principal from DTS. Between Pat and Zak, Long should have been mobbed by fans, but Lord, DTS has made stars out of its participants in ways that are hard to fully process.

Q: On TV, what Scott McLaughlin and Simon Pagenaud did looked pretty reckless -- getting spun and then driving towards oncoming traffic. Will the series let that stuff go or will there be punishment? Maybe it looked worse on TV as well.

Jake

MP: I have no idea what Simon was thinking because there was no room to spin the car without climbing up onto the flower bed, and for Scott, I didn’t see anything there that a dozen other drivers in the various Long Beach races didn’t do before him.

McLaughlin was one of many during the Long Beach weekend who found themselves facing the wrong way. Motorsport Images

Q: Since every year there is a struggle to get 33 starters at Indy, why don't they lower the starters to 24 or 27 and get Bump Day really interesting again? Saturday will be pole day like before, and Sunday is bump day. No Fast 9, no b.s. The traditions have all gone out the windows anyways with the one weekend of qualifying and Fast 9, etc. Who cares about the 33 if they are just going to get one car miles off the pace like in the past?

Alex Bassi, Templeton, CA

MARSHALL PRUETT: We had 35 entries last year, 33 the year before, 36 in 2019, 35 in 2018, and 33 in 2017. Racing has never been about giving up when things get tough, so I can’t see why we’d give up on keeping the field of 33 tradition at America’s defining motor race.

Q: I have a brilliant (dumb) idea. I remember back when a home team couldn't sell out all the seats; the sport wouldn't air on TV. Then local businesses, the TV station, the team, or the league would sometimes buy out the seats to ensure the broadcast.

So here it is: Indy can't run till they field 33 cars. Maybe that would hustle along entries.

Shawn, MD

MP: You get a lifetime bronze garage badge for that idea, Shawn. This problem would be solved tomorrow if that policy was enacted.

Q: Have missed something? Is the Beth Paretta/Simona De Silvestro largely female Indy 500 entry now in jeopardy? These things are always down to money and I cannot see why the cachet of an all-woman entry wouldn't be appealing to select sponsors, or how such an entry wouldn't in some way be assisted and supported by the Penske organization. What gives?

A. Jenkins, Ontario, Canada

MP: They aren’t always down to money. RACER’s most recent Indy 500 entry list update story has plenty on the subject if you’re interested.

Q: We know that F1 requires tracks to be at an FIA Grade 1 to hold a race. Is there a minimum FIA rating that IndyCar uses for tracks to be at in order to host a race?

Michael in Brownsburg

MP: Here's IndyCar's answer: "INDYCAR has additional requirements ranging from safety needs on pit lane to runoff areas, etc., but the minimum rating is a FIA Grade 2."

Q: Refresh my memory, please. Is any portion of the Vegas street circuit the same as that used by the Champ Car event from 2007?

Dave in Eagledale

MP: They are a little way apart – here’s a map.

Q: As I write this there is still discussion about finding 33 starters for this year's 500. Marshall, I'm a traditionalist like so many others but is it really so important that we have 33 starters if it means we have uncompetitive cars just to make a number? I refer to NASCAR's years of having to provide 43 starters, some of which were known to be start-and-parkers. I'm all for tradition, but knowing some cars may be there just to fill the field seems to devalue the integrity of the competitive aspect of the race.

John, Seville, OH

MP: A little story: My first Indy 500 as a crew member was in 1997 with the tiny and unknown Thomas Knapp Motorsports/Genoa Racing team. It was, in every aspect, the 1996 Genoa Racing Indy Lights team in terms of crew and infrastructure, with Genoa team manager/engineer Tom Knapp pulling in some wealthy friends and contributors to acquire a Dallara chassis and two Oldsmobile engines and Angelo Ferro’s Genoa shop and assets, making the leap to the Indy Racing League, with the Indy 500 as our very first event. It was the controversial 25/8 Rule year where the top 25 IRL cars in the standings were guaranteed starting spots, which meant we were one of the outsiders vying for the eight remaining positions.

We showed a lot of promise, but Tom made a mistake on his fuel calculations for qualifying, we ran our 1994 Genoa Formula Atlantic driver Greg Ray dry as he started his fourth lap of qualifying, and then we had more dramas and ended up starting 30th. A pin on the water pump drive broke and we were overheating and out on lap 48. On the surface, we were a group of nobodies, came from the rival CART series where Atlantics and Indy Lights ran, and did nothing to impress anyone.

Then we returned for our second Indy 500 and on a shoestring budget, qualified second and led 18 laps until a broken gearbox ended our day. It’s not like we went from a bunch of nobodies as rookies to a group of somebodies as sophomores, but without a chance to be in the show -- and we had to earn it -- in 1997, we wouldn’t have had the chance to learn and improve ourselves so that we could come back and show our full potential.

We were little more than field-fillers the first time around and surprised the living heck out of everyone on our return. That’s why holding the line and not abandoning the field of 33 matters to me and others, I’d have to assume. There are some great stories -- happy and sad -- that are made each year, and even if we don’t have bumping, there will be some dramas among a few drivers and teams to make things interesting.

And finally, if IndyCar is trying to grow, trying to promote its value and improved season-long car counts and TV ratings, what kind of message does it send by accepting a reduced car count at its biggest and most popular race? If they throw in the towel on its tradition of 33 starters, they open themselves up to big questions from sponsors, promoters, and their main corporate partners about the true health of the series.

Two guys who know a thing or two about Bump Day drama – Ryan Hunter-Reay (bumped in 2011) consoles James Hinchcliffe (bumped in 2018). Michael L. Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: I reference the uptick in F1 interest and ratings in the U.S. that has been documented over the past couple of years. Many attribute this to the Netflix series "Drive to Survive." I have no doubt this has had an effect. However, I believe there is another major factor that no one has mentioned. That is the fact that the U.S. telecasts of F1 qualifying and races are shown commercial-free (at least while the event is occurring). It is a major priority of mine to watch IndyCar, F1, and NASCAR each weekend when they are available. Truth be told, the IndyCar telecasts on NBC and the NASCAR telecasts are hard to watch. Just when the action gets going, a commercial or 12 pops up. The side-by-side commercials are better than nothing, but are still very limited in what the viewer can see.

I know commercials are normally a necessary evil, but the extent of the commercials have reached a point where I believe they are significantly hurting viewership. Especially when half the commercials are repeats of earlier commercials or promos for the networks. Many of these are shown over a dozen times a broadcast. I realize that ESPN is in a special situation since it is able to pick up a program that is basically paid for in another country. Does ESPN make decent profit showing the F1 practices, qualifying and races?

Bill Mapel, Austin, TX

MP: Hi Bill, yes, plenty of folks also mention the no-commercials aspect of the ESPN broadcasts as a positive, but F1 was hugely popular on ESPN decades ago when Senna and Prost were battling each other and we had constant commercials, so I don’t think that’s an actual reason for F1 to significantly grow in popularity here. Another thing -- it’s awesome that F1 has tons of new American fans, but it’s also somewhat funny to see how many of those new F1 lovers fail to realize it existed, and was dearly loved here before DTS landed on Netflix.

Commercials aren’t a necessary evil -- it’s the core business model used by our networks to pay for the shows they offer. ESPN is said to have gotten F1 for next to nothing since F1 wanted to find a bigger cable partner, and in return, ESPN has only benefited from the sizable audiences who now look to their channels for racing content and more.

As Roger Penske mentioned in an article we ran last weekend on his views with F1’s growth in the U.S., F1 is known to be asking for a major bump in compensation for its series with the current contract coming to an end, so if an ESPN or similar pays that hefty tab, it would be hard to see how they’d keep it commercial-free.

Q: The letters that have been critical of IndyCar for its lack of foresight/promotion have a lot to support that notion and I was particularly dismayed at the TMS "event." It was embarrassing. That said, F1 and IndyCar are entirely different products and cater to different demographics with very little overlap. It is not to denigrate any group, but consider this -- If you want to go to the Miami F1 event, sit in decent seats for the three days, pay for hotels, meals and the like, it will set you back north of $7000-$8,000. The seats alone are close to $3,000/pair and good hotels are going to be in the $1,000/night and up bracket.

Compare those costs to the Road America IndyCar weekend with tickets at $150 each for the three days of hotels -- far more economical. How anyone could complain about "high ticket prices" is beyond me. You can spend more in an afternoon at Six Flags.

I prefer IndyCar for a host of reasons, not the least of which is the fan-friendly atmosphere, and in the case of Road America, the best road course in North America with the best brats!

IndyCar desperately needs new equipment/powertrains. I fear that team owners are only looking at the near-term and while they are rightly concerned about capital costs, the cars are dated, tired and are not contemporary with performance envelopes that are sub-par. The old Panoz-Cosworth was a far better package and it is ancient. People go to races not only to see close competition, but they want to be wowed by the equipment. It is a fantasy and people need that in the product.

As an aside, we were a support event for the Long Beach Grand Prix in 2017 as they had our CanAm cars there. I ran my 1972 McLaren M8F and the crowds on Friday were enormous just to see these cars. People were up against the fences as we accelerated down Shoreline. It was spectacular and of course the noise was deafening. This is what people want. Our 50-year-old cars drew more people on a Friday than I have ever seen. We gave them a “wow” moment.

Emmett

MP: Well, Colton Herta did just shatter the Long Beach track record by a mile, but I get your point. This year at Long Beach, the vintage IMSA GTP and Group C cars run by HMSA might have been the most loved cars at the event, and even for those who’d never seen or heard them before Friday, I guarantee you that everyone went home with the searing sounds of the four-rotor Mazda prototypes permanently burned into their memories.

Some of the GTP cars were driven with great speed and some weren’t, but altogether, the evocative looks of the carious prototypes were unforgettable, and when you add in the diverse and amazing soundtracks they produced, this one support race with 10 cars entered served as the biggest reminder of how the eyes and ears need to be dazzled at motor racing events.

Whenever IndyCar gets around to creating a new car, I really do hope they include outsiders -- educated fans -- who can help them to think about the visceral and sonic impacts the cars need to make in order to grow its audience. I don’t know if anything can be done to improve the sounds with the new engines, but it’s worth exploring with Chevy and Honda.

Q: Will the new restrictions for new vehicles sold in the U.S., whereby they will have to travel an average of at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026, affect sports car racing? Do we anticipate the GT field being 100% electric in 2026?

Paul Hirsch, Westlake, OH

MP: I can’t see how government regulations would have any intrusion into motor racing rules, but I do expect all forms of pro racing, maybe with the exception of the NHRA, to have their manufacturers beating the drums of increased fuel efficiency with hybridization or the use of e-fuels in the near future.

The part we try not to say out loud is that in most instances, it’s just a marketing ploy, but hey, if an IndyCar can go from 3mpg to 4mpg because of a change in the rules, that would give its manufacturers a chance to honestly state they’ve become 33.3-percent more fuel efficient…

Q: General Motors and Honda announced they will develop a series of affordable electric vehicles based on a new global platform together. Although it's an expansion of the announcement they made two years ago, it certainly shows two manufacturers has deepened their relationship. It said these vehicles will go on sale in 2027. It's fitting that IndyCar’s hybrid engine will debut as soon as 2024, but I surely hope that we don't have to wait the debut of a new chassis until 2027.

Mitsuki Matsuura, Kanagawa, Japan

MP: Amen, Matsuura-san.

Q: Let's get this out of the way right away. Will there be an F1 + IMSA, NASCAR or IndyCar weekend anywhere F1 goes in the U.S.? My money is on no.

Have a nice Easter,

David

MP: That’s a good place to place your bets, David. I would, however, love to see the Road to Indy attached to one or more of the USGPs.

Q: Last week you had a question from someone who wanted to know how IndyCar could race in states that “suppress minority voting” and are against LGBTQ whatever. Please Marshall, no more, please. I am a race fan (IndyCar only) and these things are tied with global warming at the very bottom of my list of things that concern me. I want to read about racing and racing only. Plus exactly what states are suppressing minority voting? I vote in Michigan, and even here we have always had to have a picture ID to vote. I don’t feel suppressed. And speaking of alphabets, I belong to the HMCC which is Hetrosexual Male Christian Conservative. LET’S JUST STICK TO RACING!!

Don in Michigan

MP: A Mailbag reader submitted something that doesn’t agree with your sensibilities, so rather than simply accept that everything in life can’t be 100-percent catered to your wishes, the call is made to "just stick to racing"? That kind of dismissive response always pisses me off. It was a racing-related question, and while I didn’t agree with the premise, racing questions that involve any reasonable topic are invited.

I have no idea how to illustrate that last letter, so instead, please enjoy a photo of whatever this thing is. This was taken at Watkins Glen in 1973. Motorsport Images

Q: When/how/what conditions would need to be in place for IndyCar to have its own streaming service, a la F1’s stellar streaming service? I have drifted in/out of F1 over the years, but now that I do not have to pay a king’s ransom to get F1 on cable, the full season $79 package with live race coverage, in-car cams on every car, vintage film library, race analysis and full race replay, and no commercials feels like I joined Robin in Heaven (except that he disliked and pooh-poohed streaming, or at least that’s what he told me).

So I’ll ask again: Is R.P. considering an IndyCar streaming service? He can put the Indy version of DTS on it. Screw the cable and TV coverage: put it on streaming. I’d buy it too. Yeah, yeah, I know NBC is putting their heart into Indy, but if the ratings don’t shoot up soon, they will drop Indy like yesterday’s newspaper, so have a backup plan ready to roll.

John Becker, hiding in his bunker somewhere in Illinois

MP: We just need to accept that in terms of which series has the money and capabilities to do big things like start its own streaming service, F1 is Elon Musk and IndyCar is your uncle who bought some scratchers at the corner liquor store and won enough from the state lottery to buy a couple of Harleys and Corvettes.

Roger’s success in all of his other businesses and the billions that have been earned aren’t available for IndyCar to spend. That’s not how he operates. On the other hand, F1 is so flush with cash from manufacturers, race sanction fees, and TV income, it can seemingly do anything it wants at any time.

I did hear media credentials for videographers were highly restricted last weekend at Long Beach due to ongoing filming for IndyCar’s DTS-inspired docu-series.

Q: When you listen to F1 radio traffic, it is crystal clear and easy to understand. And they typically have larger circuits to cover and usually do so with almost no signal drop. I wish IndyCar would integrate a much higher quality system like that. Does it come down to cost, or just a “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” sort of thing?

Jason, Indianapolis, IN

MP: Great question, Jason, and I can only assume the difference is due to the fact that most IndyCar teams make use of radios they’ve had for a little while, compared to F1 teams who have the budget to buy whatever the latest and greatest might be each year. Also, IndyCar doesn’t dictate which radios and repeaters the teams use, so that’s not a series-based thing, FWIW.

Q: So we all know how much Robin Miller hated being asked about this event or that event coming back. So if Milwaukee does in fact come back, I feel it’s only appropriate to name the event after Robin. Say the Robin Miller 225? Or the Menard’s 225 in honor of Robin Miller? Maybe each paid admission ticket gets a $10 meal credit for Mug ‘n’ Bun or Working Man’s Friend? See if you can get R.P. to buy in. Somewhere, Robin would be laughing.

Ken in Geneva, IL

MP: It would embarrass the living s*** out of Robin, so therefore, I’m all for it!

Q: I have written this in the Mailbag comments a couple times so I will now pose this question directly. Shouldn't the next IndyCar chassis be named the Dallara JW24/25, in honor of Justin Wilson?

Rob Joseph, Chandler, AZ

MP: I sure hope they do, Rob. Gianpaolo Dallara renamed the new IR12 the DW12 in honor of the late Dan Wheldon who developed the car in the months prior to his fatal crash in Las Vegas, and while my dear pal Justin wasn’t able to help with the development of the aeroscreen, we know he was a major inspiration for its creation. Granted, the aeroscreen isn’t a Dallara-made item, but if they want to pay tribute to someone with the naming of the next car, the big man gets my vote. I miss him every day.

THE FINAL WORD

From Robin Miller's Mailbag, April 9, 2014

Q: Back in the late '70s and '80s I used to go to Indy every first Saturday in May for Pole Day. I took a friend there and we saw Tom Sneva break the 200mph mark. That was great! I haven’t been back for qualifying since the split, but I’ve been thinking about going again. With the changes to qualifying this year, which day, Saturday or Sunday, would be the best day to attend? Oh, and by the way, why have you softened so much in your email remarks? I miss the old Robin!

Barry, Fort Wayne, IN

ROBIN MILLER: I think Sunday because the Fast 9 is always entertaining and Saturday more or less just sets the preliminary grid unless Sunday gets washed out. Beating on the old IRL or Champ Car was like clubbing baby seals but IndyCar’s product (the racing and depth of the field) is much better and while I don’t always agree with Derrick Walker, he’s doing a good job and is trying to right the ship. I’ll get meaner when the weather warms up.