INDYCAR: Miller's Mailbag, 10.11

INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 10.11

Always genuine, never lite: It's Miller time. Here's the latest Q&A from SPEED.com's IndyCar guru.

Robin Miller | Posted October 11, 2012

With Pocono back on the IndyCar schedule, some fans would like to see the big Michigan International Speedway oval return. (Photo: LAT)

Hello open-wheel types and thanks for all your questions. I intend to answer your questions every week during the season, so just email me at . Don’t feel left out if I didn’t directly respond. I appreciate your interest and passion.

~Robin Miller

Q: After watching “Wind Tunnel” I am psyched about what Randy Bernard is trying to do with the IndyCar schedule. Adding Pocono to the mix is great. The track was designed for Indy cars and Pennsylvania has great race fans. Anyone going to the race from the Midwest should take the week off plan on stopping at Sharon Speedway, Lernerville and Williams Grove on the way to or from the "tricky triangle." Guys like Dale Blaney, Tim Schaffer and Fast Freddy Rahmer can gas it with the best of them! I also like what Randy is trying to do with the TV schedule where NBC-SN starts off the year, ABC picks it up, then back to NBC-SN. If the NASCAR fans can follow from Fox to TBS to ESPN surely the IndyCar fans can! The doubleheaders sound cool and I think having just three of them won't overdo it. The schedule is getting closer to what we "old" fans want but what about places like Road America, Cleveland, Elkhart Lake or Phoenix. Wouldn't the addition of those make a good schedule great?

Scott St. Clair, Erie, PA

RM: Agreed on all counts. I covered or worked every Pocono 500 from 1970-1989 and it was an open-wheel crowd for a decade until that USAC/CART debacle in 1981. Continuity in TV coverage should help and a prime time show on ABC at Texas is the plum. Doubleheaders worked in the ‘60s and ‘70s and should be a hit with the fans as well as the promoters.

Q: How can the newly paved, ultra smooth, lightning fast, in the backyard of the Big 3, Michigan International Speedway be left off the new schedule? It's the perfect place for another 500 mile race to bring back the glory of Indy car. Belle Isle getting two races? C'mon! Come up for air IndyCar. Have a Saturday race at Belle Isle and the Sunday 500 on the 2-mile oval! You attract both kinds of open wheel fans from all over the Midwest.

Chad Nickels, Sarnia, Ontario Canada

RM: I like your idea for Belle Isle/MIS twin bill but it’s not going to happen. I do think MIS has a shot at being back on the schedule and it hosted some of the best Indy car races ever.

Q: I certainly have no love for ABC's IndyCar broadcasts, you know all too well that most of us IndyCar diehards don't. However, I understand the need to make the most of them as ABC is the series' only over-the-air broadcast outlet, and seeing what Randy Bernard got out of ABC was probably the most pleasant surprise of the 2013 schedule. The schedule itself has its flaws (big late season gaps), but I think it represents progress overall (first time since the late 90s, I think, that no ovals left the schedule). The almost continuous block of ABC races over the summer should help retain some viewers post-Indy and having the 400 miler at Pocono on over-the-air TV is good, but I was shocked to see Texas in a Saturday prime time slot on ABC. I'm not sure how Randy pulled that off, but he should get major kudos for it. It can only help TV ratings and sponsorship sales. It also got me wondering, when was the last time Indy cars raced in prime time on over the air television? Was it back when ABC aired the Indy 500 on tape-delay?

Ty, Houston, TX

RM: Saturday night is never ideal for viewership but the fact it’s on network TV is huge because it gives you so much more of a chance to catch the casual fan. And, if next year’s race in anything like this past one, maybe you can keep them for a couple hours. I would say, yes, the old pre-taped Indy 500 days were likely the last time.

Q: The new schedule is incredibly interesting. It's great to see added ovals and the rebirth of the Triple Crown is definitely a unique aspect to auto racing in America. That said, I have two changes I would have made to the schedule.1) Drop the double header in Detroit and instead run it at Baltimore. Charm City was by far the best street race of the year and having two races seems like a no-brainer. 2) Make the Texas doubleheader really interesting: Have one race on the oval and the second on the "roval" road course. I don't think Indy Car has ever done a roval and Texas would be a great place to try the experiment. Fontana would be another good choice for an oval/roval doubleheader (I would suggest Indy as another alternative, but I know that it will just get shot down, so I won't). The idea of running the same race twice in a row seems a bit dumb, so why not mix it up a bit? The oval aces would do well on both layouts, but road course guys would have a better chance on the roval race. Randy Bernard always says that he's got the best drivers in the world, so how about adding yet another type of track to the mix?

David Zipf

RM: Depending on how the doubleheaders fare, there could be more in 2014 but Texas isn’t slated for one (no ovals are yet) and one Texas race on prime time is just fine. The roval/oval combo could be interesting if the logistics could be worked out but not many good seats for the roval race.

Q: Why shouldn't IndyCar race at Road America for free? At least for a year or two anyway? Let's face it, IndyCar has been trying to re--build its fan base for what, 15 years or so now? There was the demise of the IRL moniker, Danica, the unification. These were supposed to restore IndyCar. It hasn't been working out too well has it? I wish I had a nickel for every time I've read the words "hopefully" or "hopeful" in either articles about IndyCar or fan comments about IndyCar. Then there is the seemingly endless hype. A 19-race schedule for 2013 indeed. Sounds good, but it's really a 16-venue schedule. Yet even more hype. So everyone wants the series to go back to Road America, but it isn't happening. Stupid. The reality is IndyCar has a meager status in the mainstream sports arena in the USA, so give some free exposure to the public.

Steve Wyant

RM: Back in the Champ Car days, Elkhart Lake’s sanction fee was only $250,000 because CC needed to be there. I think we all agree that IndyCar needs to be back at the greatest road course in North America ASAP but Randy Bernard answers to a bottom line and a board of directors so we won’t see any freebies. But maybe a discounted deal with a sports car doubleheader for 2014. That’s our best hope.

Q: With the release of the 2013 schedule the annual more ovals chatter has started despite the addition of Pocono, and the talk of Phoenix 2014. I was wondering what the deal was with Pikes Peak and Gateway ovals lately. With everyone begging for more ovals and the 1.5 mile issue (although that has been solved it seems with the Texas set up last year) it seems like these are two difficult to drive ovals that the drivers would love the challenge of. I was a little too young to remember the popularity of the events when open wheel racing was ever in these markets. I was just wondering if anyone has ever been interested in taking IndyCar to these venues, and what your thoughts on the two tracks might be?

Kaleb Hartman, Indianapolis, IN

RM: Pikes Peak was built on the wrong side of Colorado Springs, according to the locals, so drawing from Denver was difficult and Gateway’s attendance steadily dropped from the CART opener to the last IRL race. Don’t think there’s a market or any interest on either side.

Q: There are published stories about F1 negotiating a long term contract for Long Beach starting in 2014. Have you heard anything; if it happened am sure it would be instead of IndyCar. That would theoretically be three (Texas, New Jersey, and California) F1 races in the US; something the Bernie has talked about for many years.

Ken, Los Molinos, CA

RM: Long Beach got a sweetheart sanction deal in the open wheel merger but it’s time for the contract to be renewed and it may get a bit contentious between Kevin Kalkhoven and Randy Bernard. Gerry Forsythe and KK own the show so they can certainly shop it but Bernie isn’t in the habit of giving out deals and F1 is plenty pricey compared to IndyCar.

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