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INDYCAR: Miller’s Mailbag, 3.21
It's time for SPEED.com's weekly IndyCar Q&A with Robin Miller's Mailbag.
The start to the 2013 IndyCar season is finally here. (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: First things first, I cannot wait for the guys to go racing this weekend? What are you expecting as far as engines go this weekend, will Honda or Chevy have the speed coming out of the gates? Who is your favorite to win coming out of the long off-season? Secondly, how in the world can the men and women of 16th and Georgetown think Poison is going to attract people to the track on Carb Day? My thoughts on Carb Day are that the people that want to party are going to come party regardless of who plays, the people who want to see the cars will come to see the cars but if they brought in a band that is geared towards a younger crowd they could really attract a new group of fans to at least see a good show and maybe become fascinated with the racing.
Kaleb Hartman
RM: Well, based on last week’s testing it appears that Chevy may still have the upper hand at road courses/street circuits. I made Scott Dixon the favorite in my column this week on SPEED.com because, frankly, he’s long overdue for some good breaks. I have no opinion about Poison or Carb Day music since I always went to the Speedway to watch the drivers and cars.
Q: Hi Robin, love the show. BTW - when you have time, can you let me know when the season starts? No one I know seems to know!
Dan in Indy
RM: It starts Sunday at St. Petersburg on NBC Sports Network at noon.
Q: There has been a massive promo from Sportsnet for its IndyCar coverage. Multiple ads during Maple Leaf hockey games on TV and their radio station. Hinchcliffe on air on the radio. Promos on other Rogers TV channels (City TV). I haven’t seen this much promo for anything Indy/CART related since the Players/Molson Indy days.
Paul, Toronto
RM: That’s good to hear and Randy Bernard promised that Rogers would be a gung-ho partner.
Q: After an incredibly long off season with no promotion of the RHR as an American champion, a media day that apparently was very amateurish, no marketing to speak of for the opener and reports of cutbacks, this has the look of an organization that is cleaning up its books to be sold. It doesn't look like there is any plan to grow this under current management. Am I reading this right or is this just a continuation of the rudderless ship called IndyCar?
Matt, Dallas
RM: There’s no denying that IndyCar did little in the off-season to promote its American champion and, other than a Honda 2-seater ad during the Honda Classic golf tourney and promos on NBC Sports Network, the season opener is a well-kept secret. I really like the new NASCAR commercial with all the drivers talking about themselves – that’s exactly what IndyCar needs to run on other networks but it requires spending money.
Q: Someone wrote about the IndyCar media day and concluded with talking about some of the issues that made it come off as a bit amateur. Do you think that one of the problems with IndyCar today is that family members who have grown up in the business are running these types of things and are simply out of their league, versus NASCAR, for example, or other major sports properties that hire and utilize real professionals for things like PR, event management, etc.?
Clint, Chicago
RM: When you go six months between races, you need more than one day in a barn in Alabama or giving 2-seater rides to the homeless in downtown Indianapolis to get back on the media map. IndyCar needs to take a page from the old Champ Car days and charter a plane to bring some key motorsports writers to a test or a race. Either that or go back to the old IRL way of two days of media tours at Indy shops with dinners, etc. Of course when you get rid of the only person in your PR department with any ideas and media savvy, you get what you pay for.
Q: How is Graham Rahal doing with his father's team? Do you think Rahal can fight for the championship this year?
Andrew Marshall
RM: He struggled mightily in the Barber test but hopefully they’ll figure things out. My take is that young Rahal showed enormous potential his first three years and was able to excel under pressure in knockout qualifying. His dad gave Takuma Sato fast cars last year and I expect Graham to respond to his new environment. But it’s time to deliver.
Q: I'm looking forward to the 2013 season getting underway, but I'm a little bit surprised at what some of the drivers have been saying about the standing starts. Some have been saying that the cars weren't really designed for it. Is that really true? I seem to remember Tony Cotman saying that the cars had been designed with standing starts in mind, hence the hand clutch and the anti-stall technology. I also recall seeing Jon Beekhuis do one of his Professor B reports on the subject as well. I appreciate the DW12 was a new car in 2012, but surely the teams/engineers have had plenty of time to get this technology sorted, especially since it's been, supposedly, available since St. Pete last year. Surely when we get to Toronto and Houston and anywhere else where we may have a standing start, then we shouldn't have any cars stalling because they should all have working anti-stall systems because they should have had plenty of practice and the first standing start isn't until July anyway!
Graeme Watson
RM: I remember all the flak Cotman took back in Champ Car when he introduced standing starts but they turned out to be exciting and dependable. I can’t imagine why a driver wouldn’t want a legit chance at moving up rather than being a straightaway behind at the green flag.
Q: NBC Sports Network has suffered from lack of subscribers. Obviously this caused IndyCar races to lack viewership. With F1 moving to NBC Sports Network, it will be interesting to see if NBC Sports Network subscribership will increase. I bit the bullet last night and am now paying Dish the subscription fee to receive NBC Sports Network so I could watch F1 practice this morning. Now I get to watch IndyCar and F1 on NBC Sports Network. What are your thoughts? Will this scenario play out and increase the IndyCar viewership?
Bill Quinn
RM: It should be good for both F1 and IndyCar because NBC Sports will cross-promote both series during the season. “The home for open-wheel racing” is how anchor Leigh Diffey is referring to it and that’s a good way to promote it.
Q: After reading the story about the IndyCar Competition Committee and seeing who is going to be on the 12-person panel, there is one field that I feel was left out. How about putting an IndyCar Fan in the room to reflect on why he/she is paying for the seat they are filling at the Speedway?
Tony Piergallini, Steubenville, Ohio
RM: Nice thought but that’s not going to happen. How about including Will Phillips, the first savvy technical director IndyCar has ever had? He’s not on the committee yet.
~Robin Miller
Q: First things first, I cannot wait for the guys to go racing this weekend? What are you expecting as far as engines go this weekend, will Honda or Chevy have the speed coming out of the gates? Who is your favorite to win coming out of the long off-season? Secondly, how in the world can the men and women of 16th and Georgetown think Poison is going to attract people to the track on Carb Day? My thoughts on Carb Day are that the people that want to party are going to come party regardless of who plays, the people who want to see the cars will come to see the cars but if they brought in a band that is geared towards a younger crowd they could really attract a new group of fans to at least see a good show and maybe become fascinated with the racing.
Kaleb Hartman
RM: Well, based on last week’s testing it appears that Chevy may still have the upper hand at road courses/street circuits. I made Scott Dixon the favorite in my column this week on SPEED.com because, frankly, he’s long overdue for some good breaks. I have no opinion about Poison or Carb Day music since I always went to the Speedway to watch the drivers and cars.
Q: Hi Robin, love the show. BTW - when you have time, can you let me know when the season starts? No one I know seems to know!
Dan in Indy
RM: It starts Sunday at St. Petersburg on NBC Sports Network at noon.
Q: There has been a massive promo from Sportsnet for its IndyCar coverage. Multiple ads during Maple Leaf hockey games on TV and their radio station. Hinchcliffe on air on the radio. Promos on other Rogers TV channels (City TV). I haven’t seen this much promo for anything Indy/CART related since the Players/Molson Indy days.
Paul, Toronto
RM: That’s good to hear and Randy Bernard promised that Rogers would be a gung-ho partner.
Q: After an incredibly long off season with no promotion of the RHR as an American champion, a media day that apparently was very amateurish, no marketing to speak of for the opener and reports of cutbacks, this has the look of an organization that is cleaning up its books to be sold. It doesn't look like there is any plan to grow this under current management. Am I reading this right or is this just a continuation of the rudderless ship called IndyCar?
Matt, Dallas
RM: There’s no denying that IndyCar did little in the off-season to promote its American champion and, other than a Honda 2-seater ad during the Honda Classic golf tourney and promos on NBC Sports Network, the season opener is a well-kept secret. I really like the new NASCAR commercial with all the drivers talking about themselves – that’s exactly what IndyCar needs to run on other networks but it requires spending money.
Q: Someone wrote about the IndyCar media day and concluded with talking about some of the issues that made it come off as a bit amateur. Do you think that one of the problems with IndyCar today is that family members who have grown up in the business are running these types of things and are simply out of their league, versus NASCAR, for example, or other major sports properties that hire and utilize real professionals for things like PR, event management, etc.?
Clint, Chicago
RM: When you go six months between races, you need more than one day in a barn in Alabama or giving 2-seater rides to the homeless in downtown Indianapolis to get back on the media map. IndyCar needs to take a page from the old Champ Car days and charter a plane to bring some key motorsports writers to a test or a race. Either that or go back to the old IRL way of two days of media tours at Indy shops with dinners, etc. Of course when you get rid of the only person in your PR department with any ideas and media savvy, you get what you pay for.
Q: How is Graham Rahal doing with his father's team? Do you think Rahal can fight for the championship this year?
Andrew Marshall
RM: He struggled mightily in the Barber test but hopefully they’ll figure things out. My take is that young Rahal showed enormous potential his first three years and was able to excel under pressure in knockout qualifying. His dad gave Takuma Sato fast cars last year and I expect Graham to respond to his new environment. But it’s time to deliver.
Q: I'm looking forward to the 2013 season getting underway, but I'm a little bit surprised at what some of the drivers have been saying about the standing starts. Some have been saying that the cars weren't really designed for it. Is that really true? I seem to remember Tony Cotman saying that the cars had been designed with standing starts in mind, hence the hand clutch and the anti-stall technology. I also recall seeing Jon Beekhuis do one of his Professor B reports on the subject as well. I appreciate the DW12 was a new car in 2012, but surely the teams/engineers have had plenty of time to get this technology sorted, especially since it's been, supposedly, available since St. Pete last year. Surely when we get to Toronto and Houston and anywhere else where we may have a standing start, then we shouldn't have any cars stalling because they should all have working anti-stall systems because they should have had plenty of practice and the first standing start isn't until July anyway!
Graeme Watson
RM: I remember all the flak Cotman took back in Champ Car when he introduced standing starts but they turned out to be exciting and dependable. I can’t imagine why a driver wouldn’t want a legit chance at moving up rather than being a straightaway behind at the green flag.
Q: NBC Sports Network has suffered from lack of subscribers. Obviously this caused IndyCar races to lack viewership. With F1 moving to NBC Sports Network, it will be interesting to see if NBC Sports Network subscribership will increase. I bit the bullet last night and am now paying Dish the subscription fee to receive NBC Sports Network so I could watch F1 practice this morning. Now I get to watch IndyCar and F1 on NBC Sports Network. What are your thoughts? Will this scenario play out and increase the IndyCar viewership?
Bill Quinn
RM: It should be good for both F1 and IndyCar because NBC Sports will cross-promote both series during the season. “The home for open-wheel racing” is how anchor Leigh Diffey is referring to it and that’s a good way to promote it.
Q: After reading the story about the IndyCar Competition Committee and seeing who is going to be on the 12-person panel, there is one field that I feel was left out. How about putting an IndyCar Fan in the room to reflect on why he/she is paying for the seat they are filling at the Speedway?
Tony Piergallini, Steubenville, Ohio
RM: Nice thought but that’s not going to happen. How about including Will Phillips, the first savvy technical director IndyCar has ever had? He’s not on the committee yet.
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