INDYCAR: Miller's Mailbag, 11.30

INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 11.30

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

Robin Miller | Posted November 30, 2012

The Mailbag is in! (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

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: Drove down from San Francisco with my neighbor to Perris Speedway and took in a great tradition: The Turkey Night Shoot Out. Great to see Kyle Larson - reminded me of Jud Larson. Bryan Clauson was there with the underrated Bobby East and the great Tracy Hines. Saw Chad Boat and Randi Pankrantz. I bet Billy Boat and Wally Pankrantz are proud of them. On this Thanksgiving night I was thankful that I had the chance to see over the years: Tony Stewart, Robbie Flock, Sammy Swindell, The Wild Child, Gary Bettenhausen, Larry Dickson, the great Rich Vogler, Dan Drinan, Mel Kenyon, Tom Bigelow, Stevie Butler, Jimmy Sills and the "King" Steve Kinser. All racing on dirt, hardly any media just hard core fans. I know there are some very bitter contributors to the Mailbag. When spring comes, find the nearest quarter-mile dirt track to you. If you a see a race, it will remind you of why you fell in love with the sport to begin with.

Gerry Courtney

RM: Wish I could have been there, heard from a lot of people that it was a good show and it’s back on dirt where it belongs. Larson certainly has Jud’s savvy for going sideways and he’s sooooo good.

Q: Now that the Hulman & Co. will have a new man in Mark Miles does that mean that Jeff Belskus was demoted or was it so he could concentrate on being the IndyCar CEO? Miles has stated that everyone reports to him even Belskus. Seems to me like maybe Belskus might be the next one to go since has no racing background, either. Hope Miles has the sense to hire someone who has some racing background to be a president of operations who can actually run the day-to-day operations and report to Belskus.

Steve Cooper

RM: It would seem like a demotion but Belskus is still president of Hulman & Co. and he orchestrated the takeover so I imagine he and Miles are tight – at least for now. My fear is that Brian Barnhart will be put back in charge of racing.

Q: Long time OWR fan. Listened to the 500 live on radio in my younger days (the 60’s). 1986: The entire race was televised live flag-to-flag on network television for the first time on ABC. Before that it was taped delayed and shown the same day. Saw drivers die. Did traffic control for the Pocono 500 when I was a LEO. I have sat back and listened and read the posts here. CEO’s will come and go but the way they let Randy go doesn’t say much for the leader’s character. It seems there was a lot of jealousy the way he turned things around in his short time. Jeff Belskus was a man lying in wait. Now that he is in charge and has a plan laid out by Randy so let’s see how he will improve on that. The ball is in his court. Now with Mark Miles the new CEO any and all things will be his reasonability to make or break the series. I’m not a big fan of NASCAR but the France family has run their business as ‘it’s my way or the highway.’ No bullying by the owners or drivers. I only live 7 miles from Pocono race track and still debating on if I’ll go in person on watch it on TV.
Joe S, Albrightsville, PA

RM: I asked Belskus at the press conference last week why Randy was fired and he gave us the rhetoric that it was a “mutual” decision and we’re looking forward, etc. But I think you may be right, jealousy could be a factor (which is insane since Belskus and Bernard both supposedly were working for the common goal) and the underhanded way it took place leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. Besides being incredibly stupid, it was unnecessary and amateurish. I wrote a couple of times and said on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain that it would have been nice for Belskus to give Bernard a vote of confidence during the summer and now we know why that didn’t happen.

Q: I have a hard time understanding, maybe you can help me. Jeff B. is new CEO of INDYCAR, good friend of Tony G. and they think that Jeff is going to do what is best for IndyCar and not do what Tony wants? Please! This was planned from the beginning with Tony G. coming off the board and then firing Randy so Jeff B. can be put in as a puppet for Tony G. to have control again, hoping no one will notice. Am I wrong?

Jeff Laughlin

RM: Your logic is sound except my understanding is that TG and Belskus haven’t been friendly since Jeff took Tony’s place a couple years ago. And, if that’s true, the last thing Belskus would orchestrate would be selling IndyCar to George or returning him to power.

Q: With the drama from this offseason, will we see any odd alliances of teams that were on opposite sides? Could we see Penske, Foyt and Rahal working together in some instances as an f-u to the guys who pushed for change up top?

Jeremy from Harrisburg

RM: I don’t think so. I think everyone but a couple owners is concerned about the direction but not sure it’s a Lynch Mob mentality like we witnessed the past six months.

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Robin Miller

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