INDYCAR: Miller's Mailbag, 1.20

INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 1.20

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

Robin Miller | Posted January 20, 2013

Would Roger Penske be the right man to look after IndyCar? (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: I've been thinking about this for a while, even prior to Randy being made redundant by the IMS board. Although I wish the new leadership well in its managing of the series and speedway I am convinced that there is one person that could successfully turn the business around and that is Roger Penske. It's not really necessary to list all of his achievements the reasons why he is the choice but it's more important to understand which stars (along with the sun and moon) would need to align to make this happen. Mr. Penske would only take over the reins of both entities provided he has juice in it, i.e. he would need to buy into the company and maintain a 50 percent stake in it. He would have to turn over the Penske Racing arm to Tim Cindric (as Bernie did with Brabham) and devote his attention to the business at hand. In all honestly at his age and with his various business interests he probably does not need the headache. As for the Hulman George family this type of agreement most likely would not appeal to them. In the end of the day Mr. Penske will continue to successfully compete in racing and business and the IRL and Speedway will go through these management shuffles until the family tires of the aggravation and succumb to Tony George's offer to buy it and truthfully we've all seen that movie before and know the outcome.

John Mylenek

RM: When Dan Gurney penned the “White Paper” in the late ‘70s, he addressed all the major problems and concerns facing USAC teams but he didn’t have the time, nor the desire to be the boss. That paper turned into CART and Penske and Pat Patrick were the lynchpins and spent some of their own money and controlled the decision making. But if The Captain had done as Bernie and just concentrated on running CART full-time it might have chewed up and spit out NASCAR. It got big in the ‘90s but, obviously, the split, taking CART public and consequently all the CART biggies jumping ship gutted open wheel racing. I’ve heard lately that Bernie might be interested in buying the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but I can’t imagine any scenario that has R.P. leaving his current life to try and run this jungle of lepers.

Q: Please say you have some kind of good news on Ryan Briscoe!? Doesn't seem real promising thus far unfortunately.

Alan Scherer

RM: Briscoe was quoted recently as saying things were looking good and I guess we all figure he could be back at Penske since they signed up for a third car in the Leader’s Circle. Spoke with Tim Cindric and he said they were concentrating on funding a third car before worrying about driver availability.

Q: Let’s imagine we could get all three generations of Andrettis into equally prepared cars (no set-up required) and turn them loose in anger on an oval, street course, and road course. How would you place your bet on each – win, place, and show?

Ray B, Sioux Falls, SD

RM: Michael was so much like Mario in the car, fearless and wanted to lead every lap and fantastic in traffic at a place like Milwaukee or Phoenix. I’d say Mario wins the road course, Michael wins the street race and Marco takes the oval win after his dad and grandpa crash into each other coming down for the checker.

Q: This is something that has troubled me for a while. Where in the world did all the booze sponsorship go?!? As a fresh faced 21-year-old I want some beer sponsors. Miller Lite, Budweiser and all sorts of alcohol companies are pouring money into NASCAR but no one is doing this for IndyCar. Carb day seemed to be an insane atmosphere last year as well as the snake pit being a success it’s pretty obvious that there is a market of young adults just waiting to go bake in the sun, drink and party! I can remember my first few years at the 500 seeing Canadian Club on Dario's car and Jim Beam on Wheldon's. Let’s get em.

Kaleb Hartman

RM: I think it’s fairly simple explanation. NASCAR averages about 5-6 million viewers and IndyCar is around 300,000 to 1.2 million (other than Indy) so other than IMS, there’s no comparison to exposure for Coors, Miller, Bid Lite, etc. But there is Fuzzy’s if you like vodka.

Q: I wanted to throw out an idea. Do you think the teams/owners would run in a non-points exhibition race similar to what the old Race of Champions in F1? It would have to run under either IMSA, SCCA or USAC sanctioning; but a big payday for an old fashioned run what ya brung 500 miler would be pretty bad ass. Also, any update on that 2011 Jigger Award? And for those who don't know Mr. Sirois, his 500 story might be the ultimate Pole Day heartbreak.

Chris Graham, Langhorne, PA

RM: The old ROC was F1 cars so it would have to be kind of like the old Marlboro Challenge and invite everyone and make it a nice pay day and I’m sure there would be some interest. No updates but Jigger remains as fine a person as graces this earth and he never wanted all the sympathy he received, he was just thrilled to get a shot at Indianapolis.

Page 1 of 3

12 3