I Disagree Mr. Miller

Love him or hate him, every IndyCar fan knows who Robin Miller is. He does not shy away from sharing his opinion and won't sugar coat it to make you feel good. He has been around since front-engine roadsters were the only option at the Speedway and when he started the infield feature nine-holes of a golf course. Now only four holes of Brickyard Crossing are located in the middle of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the front-engine roadsters have retired to their cozy home in the track's museum.

Putting racing politics aside, no one can doubt Robin Miller's love for IndyCar racing. Which is why his latest column about having Indianapolis 500 practice and qualifying condense to the week before the race hits a cord with me. In his column, it sounds to me as if Miller is raising the white flag and calling it a day. He knows interest in Pole Day is gone, Bump Day is gone and wants to shorten the schedule. Miller proposed practice Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, one qualifying day on Wednesday night, Thursday as a free Fan Appreciation Day with drivers signing autographs and as a rain-date for qualifying, Carb Day on Friday with the fastest six qualifiers racing for $1 million and pole position, parade Saturday and race Sunday.

I disagree Mr. Miller but not on all counts.

I love the idea of a free Fan Appreciation Day. The Thursday before the race could become a media day of sorts for the field of thirty-three with driver and fan interactions happening all throughout the day. Open the garages, fire up the barbecue and have a Gasoline Alley party the night before Carb Day.

I disagree with shortening the schedule but I understand where Miller is coming from. Yes Pole Day will not be a sell out, yes we barely have thirty-three cars and there will probably be no bumping but things can get better. Yes I am being optimistic but I have to believe. Miller cites Mark Miles interest in increasing speed and maybe one day hearing "it's a new track record" again over the public address system but that's not the only thing that has to be revived.

Bump day should be revived. If Miles wants the nostalgia of speed why not the nostalgia of a driver coming to the Speedway for his only IndyCar race of the year and beating one of the big boys to get in the field? Why couldn't we go back to grandfathering past cars to run Indianapolis? Yes, I know those Dallara IR-03s were ugly but if someone wanted to tinkering with the car to fit in a twin-turbo Chevrolet or turbo-charged Honda, why stop them? Or if someone wanted to make the Panoz DP01 capable of racing on ovals, why stop them? Instead of having a limited selection of what chassis a team can use, it could (keyword being COULD) increase car totals. Sure, does anyone want an old IR-03 to qualify for Indianapolis? Probably not but Al Unser Sr. didn't cry when he won in a year old car in 1987. And I never heard Miller crying when Jim Hurtubise failed to qualify a front-engine roadster from 1975 to 1981, over a decade after the last roadster had successfully qualified for the Indianapolis 500. Buddy Lazier scrambled to get a DW12 for this year's race. What if there wasn't this scramble? What if (IF being the keyword) Bryan Clauson could have taken a IR-03 and qualified? Or if another five or six or seven drivers decided to try to qualify with an IR-03? Bump Day would be be Bump Day and who would be against that?

This is not a nostalgic view, calling for a magical snap of the fingers to return to the late 80's and early 90's. All IndyCar has to do for the Indianapolis 500 is realize what a slightly more open rulebook could allow. IndyCar bringing in another manufacture or two running inline-4, diesel-hybrids would be nice but that's not happening in the near future. Now that the DW12 has been developed on-track for nearly two years there must be a gap over the old IR-03 and there should be little worries of the old car showing up every DW12. But grandfathering the car to run Indianapolis and having a driver take it out and beat out six or seven DW12s wouldn't be the end of the world. Hell it's a Dallara beating another Dallara. Dallara wins no matter what. Let's not just mothball old cars but allow them to be phased out.

The way the month of May is currently set up is fine. Let's be serious for one second and let me do my best Allen Iverson impersonation; Miller, you're talking about practice. Not the race but practice, and qualifying. Who cares if only a couple of people show up for PRACTICE!? They wanted to spend their money on practice and good for them. If the Speedway wants to save some money, send out a few less yellow shirts for practice. This week of practice gives some teams needed testing time and testing time they are no longer allowed to do on their own. Sure shortening the schedule will save them some money but they will lose time gathering data.

As for the $1 million, fastest six challenge on Carb Day: This is a guy who has been crying for money to be added to the Indianapolis 500 purse and now he wants $1 million (which I guess will magically fall from the sky) to be used on a Carb Day stunt for pole? Come on, Miller.

Instead of turning the Indianapolis 500 into just another race, let's keep it the way it is and open the rulebook up by allowing teams and drivers to take a chance with older equipment.

Day Six at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Carlos Muñoz returned to the top of the speed charts on Thursday with an average speed of 225.163 MPH, leading an Andretti Autosport 1-2-3 with defending IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay in second (225.006 MPH) and Marco Andretti in third (224.882 MPH). Scott Dixon was fourth (224.468 MPH), the fastest Honda. Chevrolets occupied the next five spots with Helio Castroneves (224.457 MPH), EJ Viso (224.221 MPH), JR Hildebrand (224.075 MPH), Ed Carpenter (224.019 MPH) and Oriol Serviá (223.995 MPH). Takuma Sato was tenth (223.660 MPH).

We had our first accident during practice week when Conor Daly made contact with the wall exiting turn one. Daly walked away from the accident with no injuries. The Inidanapolis 500 rookie was twenty-eighth quick (220.780 MPH).

AJ Allmendinger was eleventh (223.660 MPH) ahead of Simon Pagenaud (223.465 MPH) and Justin Wilson (223.460 MPH). Townsend Bell (223.182 MPH) and Dario Franchitti (222.818 MPH) rounded out the top fifteen.

Other notables: Will Power sixteenth (222.383 MPH), Tony Kanaan seventeenth (222.165 MPH), James Hinchcliffe twentieth (221.887 MPH), Simona de Silvestro twenty-second (221.776 MPH), Josef Newgarden twenty-seventh (221.152 MPH) and Graham Rahal thirtieth (220.555 MPH).

Buddy Lazier hit the track for the first time during practice week. He completed the refresher course. Still no word on the #99 Schmidt Honda but another new name has been added to the list of potential drivers. 1999 Indy Racing League champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Greg Ray has expressed interest in the open seat. Greg Ray last raced at Richmond in 2004.

Weather for Fast Friday calls for a high of 76 degrees Fahrenheit with a 60% chance of precipitation. Winds SE at 10 to 15 MPH.

Day Five at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

It took five days but Honda finally showed some muscle with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti being the fastest on Wednesday at 224.236 MPH. One-off driver Townsend Bell was second (223.716 MPH) ahead of Helio Castroneves (223.699 MPH), Ryan Hunter-Reay (223.093 MPH) and Ryan Briscoe (222.803 MPH). The Andretti Autosport entries of Marco Andretti (222.741 MPH) and EJ Viso (222.727 MPH) were sixth and seventh ahead of Alex Tagliani (222.350 MPH) and Scott Dixon (222.312 MPH). Rookie Carlos Muñoz (222.268 MPH) rounded out the top ten. Fastest from Tuesday, James Hinchcliffe was fourteenth (221.670 MPH).

Ed Carpenter was eleventh (221.879 MPH), ahead of points leader Takuma Sato in twelfth (221.805 MPH) and Simon Pagenaud in thirteenth (221.677 MPH). Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing saw one car move from the bottom with James Jakes jumping up to sixteenth (221.241 MPH) but his teammates Graham Rahal and Michel Jourdain, Jr. were still down in thirtieth (219.123 MPH) and thirty-second (218.037 MPH) respectively.

Dragon Racing drivers Sébastien Bourdais was twentieth (220.949 MPH) quickest and Sebastián Saavedra was twenty-fifth (220.343 MPH). KV Racing Technology teammates Tony Kanaan and Simona de Silvestro were twenty-second (220.721 MPH) and twenty-eighth (219.859 MPH).

Other notables: Oriol Serviá seventeenth (221.153 MPH), Will Power twenty-third (220.719 MPH), Conor Daly twenty-fourth (220.659 MPH) and Justin Wilson twenty-seventh (220.174 MPH).

The big news from Wednesday was the announcement Buddy Rice would not be competing in the third Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports. Names that have been thrown around as potential drivers for the #99 Schmidt Honda are Jay Howard, Katherine Legge, Bryan Clauson, Richie Hearn, Jaques Lazier and Davey Hamilton.

Forecast for Thursday calls for a high of 80 degrees Fahrenheit with a sixty percent chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 MPH.

Day Four at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

For the fourth practice day, we had a fourth different name on the top of the timesheet. James Hinchcliffe set the fastest average speed on Tuesday at 224.210 MPH while driving Marco Andretti's #25 RC Cola Chevrolet. JR Hildebrand was second (223.652 MPH) with Marco Andretti (223.570 MPH), Helio Castroneves (223.556 MPH) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (223.332 MPH) rounding out the top five. Josef Newgarden was the fastest Honda in seventh (223.123 MPH). The next Honda on the timesheet was Charlie Kimball in nineteenth (220.722 MPH).

Ganassi Racing's two Target entries of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon were twenty-second (220.502 MPH) and twenty-fifth (219.848 MPH) respectively. The other Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold cars were in the top half of the timesheet with Oriol Serviá in ninth (222.093 MPH) and Townsend Bell in twelfth (221.898 MPH).

Fan-favorite Tony Kanaan was twentieth (220.645 MPH), the slowest of the Chevrolets. None of the three Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing cars were better than twenty-ninth and that was James Jakes (219.191 MPH). Michel Jourdain, Jr. was thirty-second (217.118 MPH) and Graham Rahal was thirty-third (216.633 MPH). Points leader Takuma Sato posted the slowest average speed on the day at 216.616 MPH.

Other notable names on the timesheet: Will Power fourteenth (221.654 MPH), Sébastien Bourdais sixteenth (221.088 MPH), Simon Pagenaud twenty-first (220.591 MPH), Ryan Briscoe twenty-third (220.100 MPH) and Alex Tagliani thirty-first (218.213 MPH).

1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier has yet to make a practice lap.

Weather forecast for today calls for a high of 84 degrees Fahrenheit with winds WSW at 15 to 25 MPH. Chance of rain is twenty percent.

Day Three at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Day three of practice for the 97th Indianapolis 500 saw Marco Andretti post the fastest average speed at 225.100 MPH ahead of the Chevrolets of Helio Castroneves (225.075 MPH), Ryan Hunter-Reay (224.386 MPH), Will Power (223.784 MPH) and JR Hildebrand (223.624 MPH). Points leader Takuma Sato was the fastest Honda at sixth quickest (223.363 MPH). AJ Allmendinger was the fastest rookie in seventh (223.264 MPH) ahead of James Hinchcliffe (223.075 MPH), Tony Kanaan (222.833 MPH) and Josef Newgarden (222.340 MPH).

Conor Daly completed rookie orientation and was twenty-eighth quickest (219.044 MPH). Pippa Mann, Ana Beatriz, Justin Wilson and Townsend Bell all participated in their first practice session for the Indianapolis 500 yesterday. Wilson was fourteenth (221.810 MPH), Bell twenty-first (221.137 MPH), Mann twenty-third (220.500 MPH) and Beatriz twenty-sixth (219.975 MPH). The lone driver yet to make a practice lap is 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier. He is expected to make his first appearance this afternoon.

Other notable speeds from Monday practice were Oriol Serviá in eleventh (222.069 MPH), Simona de Silvestro seventeenth (221.613 MPH), Ed Carpenter twentieth (221.154 MPH), Dario Franchitti twenty-second (220.549 MPH), Scott Dixon twenty-fourth (220.419 MPH) and Graham Rahal twenty-fifth (220.360 MPH).

Today's weather forecast calls for a high of 80 degrees Fahrenheit under partly cloudy conditions with winds SSW at 18 MPH. There is a zero percent chance of rain.

Opening Weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Two days of practice for the 97th Indianapolis 500 have been completed as the IndyCar teams get ready for qualifying this weekend.

Day one saw Ed Carpenter jump to the top of the timesheet at 220.970 MPH (40.7296 seconds). Josef Newgarden was second in his T-car at 220.920 MPH and rookie Carlos Muñoz was third at 220.720 MPH. Muñoz and fellow rookies AJ Allmendinger and Tristan Vautier passed rookie orientation with ninety minutes to spare. The final rookie to complete rookie orientation will be Conor Daly who was in Spain on Saturday and Sunday racing in the GP3 Series where Daly finished 3rd and 5th. Daly is scheduled to complete rookie orientation today.

On Sunday Andretti Autosport ran all five cars and all five were in the top six positions. Muñoz continued to show his pace and was quickest at 223.023 MPH, ahead of defending IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (222.825 MPH), EJ Viso (222.523 MPH), Marco Andretti (222.485 MPH) and AJ Allmendinger (221.279 MPH). James Hinchcliffe was sixth (220.907 MPH). Charlie Kimball was the fastest Honda in seventh on Sunday at 219.778 MPH with Carpenter (219.756 MPH), Newgarden (219.706 MPH) and Tony Kanaan (219.636 MPH) rounding out the top ten.

Drivers who have yet to take to the track for practice are Daly, the three Dale Coyne entries of Pippa Mann, Ana Beatriz and Justin Wilson, Buddy Lazier and Townsend Bell.

A third Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry was added to the entry list on Saturday. The #99 Honda was entered without a driver. Pippa Mann has been listed as the #63 Honda. The #40 Ed Carpenter Chevrolet is still on the entry list.

Weather for today at the Speedway calls for a high of 61 degrees Fahrenheit with winds going WNW at 12 MPH. There is zero percent chance of rain.

Things I'd Like To See This May

The month of May and the Indianapolis 500 is IndyCar's only unquestionable time on center stage. When the clock hits noon on May 26th, doesn't matter what else is going on, the Indianapolis 500 will be the biggest event happening. IndyCar must capitalize not only on showing the best racing IndyCar can produce but capitalize on bringing eye balls back to the TV not only for the Detroit doubleheader the following weekend or Texas the weekend after that but all fourteen remaining events.

What I'd like to see doesn't seem over the top to me. I'm not asking for IndyCar to magically sign another two engine manufactures for 2014 or magically get the NBC Sports broadcast team to cover the ABC races as well. Rather take advantage of the current situation and get people interested with what's on the table, not fairy tale ideas. 

1. Promote the Triple Crown. During the Kentucky Derby broadcast the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes were mentioned on accident. I know the IndyCar Triple Crown returns for the first time in twenty-four years but let's not act like it doesn't exist like the Mario Andretti Road Course and AJ Foyt Oval Championships. Stating from the beginning of the Indianapolis 500 broadcast that it is leg one of the IndyCar Triple Crown with causal mentions of Pocono and Fontana is all that IndyCar should be looking for. Heck, Pocono is on ABC and we know no matter who wins Indianapolis, someone will be racing for $250,000 at Pocono. That's much more exciting than the usual $35,000 bonus a winner gets. 

2. People not being afraid to cover the Oriol Serviá/Dreyer & Reinbold situation. I am not saying turn the month into a telethon to save the team but let people know what Indianapolis means to this team for the rest of 2013. It very well could be due or die for the Catalan and D&R. Serviá had a team shut down on him in 2002 when PacWest closed up shop. Hopefully that won't happen again. When Sarah Fisher started her own team in 2008 things were shaky. She had little money and Indianapolis was her only shot. When she spun and collected Tony Kanaan it appeared her career had ended. However Dollar General stepped up and now look at Sarah Fisher's little team. They have won a race, are full-time, have a good partner in Wink Hartman and have a popular driver. Not saying Dreyer & Reinbold's season will be saved but getting the story out there doesn't hurt the team, it can only help them.

3. Let's NOT blow the Kurt Busch test out of proportion. He did it. Unless he is in the race, it was only test. Let's not turn it in to speculation for what is to come in 2014. It brings nothing to the race broadcast. If Busch is to run an IndyCar race sometime during 2013, worry about it when it happens not before it's announced.

4. Let's stop talking about a road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's the month of May and it's sickening. We can get back to this nonsense when June rolls around but one final time: NO ROAD COURSE RACE AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY! IT WOULD BE A DISGRACE!

5. An improvement in the relationship between IndyCar's television partners. Sometimes I shake my head at how ABC/ESPN and Turner/TNT have no problem cross promoting NBA playoff games but when it comes to IndyCar it's as if neither ABC nor NBC knows each other exists. I'm not sure whose arm IndyCar has to twist but they have to find them and fast.