Q: Once again, Gateway delivered a good race with passing, strategy calls, handling issues and plenty of drama at the end. Great coverage by NBC including that TV shot where the broadcast team caught the tire blisters during the first series of pit stops. Just great camera work, and a production team that cares. Never would have predicted Sato for the win! Now, on to the questions: It’s been too long since we saw Tony Kanaan smiling at the end of the race. It was really good to see him race and finish well. Tony and the Foyt team have had a rough year. How much did this finish mean to Tony, and how much do you think this will help him decide about 2020? Can you lend some insight into what happened with Rossi’s strategy? They had been able to get up front and compete, and then it all went backwards in the last 30 laps or so.

John Balestrieri, Milwaukee

RM: It was good to see T.K. and Ed Carpenter on the podium again, and I’m not sure what 2020 holds in store for A.J.’s team. Kanaan wants to have a farewell tour and certainly deserves it, but unless it’s Foyt, not sure where he’d go. NBC’s Kevin Lee told me he talked to Rob Edwards after the race and the strategy was to stay out and hope to catch one more caution, because it was the only way they figured a top-five finish was attainable.

Q: Gateway again put on a great race. I live on the western U.S., but hope to get there to watch in person some day! Always attend the Indy 500 (first turn, 35 years straight), but Gateway is becoming a must-see as well. Marbles. With all the technology involved, and the many years that Firestone has been supplying tires, why can they not supply a tire that has grip but doesn’t shed rubber as we saw at Gateway? That race would have been awesome if running a second lane were possible without risking it all. You may never get rid of all the marbles, but some compromise where a tire will maintain its integrity but still have grip would allow two-wide racing without the outside car running on ice. Should IndyCar be open to other tire manufacturers?

If I heard right, Penske changed Newgarden’s engine overnight. Is there no penalty in doing that? I thought there would be a penalty if you didn’t start with the engine that was qualified?

Bob from Idaho

RM: A tire war isn’t going to get rid of marbles, it’s simply a byproduct of creating tires that perform at a high level before dropping off, which in turn, creates overtaking in most cases. I’m not sure you could have asked for a better race in the tight confines of Gateway than we saw last Saturday night. No grid penalty for changing engines, that’s F1 and NASCAR.

New engine, no problem for Josef Newgarden. Image by Levitt/LAT

Q: First, hats off again to John Bommarito and Curtis Francois and their respective teams for another outstanding oval IndyCar race at Gateway. I attended the 2017 event and this weekend’s event; I must say they have truly uncorked the genie on how to promote and run an oval weekend. Constant on-track action from multiple series, as well as celebrating IndyCar’s past with the exhibition runs by the Vintage Indy Car group. They should put on a clinic for other track owners on how to make IndyCar work for them. 

As good as the race action was, I have one observation – that I also noticed in 2017 – and this involves IndyCar itself. On four separate occasions during yellow flags, IndyCar safety trucks were backing up into race traffic while in the middle of the track. This is an absolute no-no on any racetrack, and IndyCar should know better. There is no excuse for this, and somebody needs to get to IndyCar and get this fixed before the safety trucks run backwards into an oncoming race car and there is a catastrophic result. There were no injuries, and no reason for this action. Any idea what gives here?

Jonny, Foothill Ranch, CA

P.S. Also found my new favorite driver for the future while watching the Indy Pro 2000 race – with a name like Sting Ray Robb, how can he miss!

RM: Just a part of track cleaning, and all the drivers are aware of the trucks so it’s not a dangerous situation. As for Gateway, it’s the best of all worlds – a great owner in Curtis, promoter in Chris Blair, PR man in John Bisci and sponsor in Bommarito. It was hard not to compare the difference between Pocono and last Saturday. The fans were treated to non-stop action from noon until the checkered flag at Madison, while they sat in silence in Pennsylvania waiting for the late starting time.

Q: It was fantastic to see the crowd at Gateway for Saturday night’s race! What a great race as well. What has been the key to their success? Are all of these individual ticket sales due to effective promotion and advertising, or are corporate hospitality and complimentary tickets the key to the crowds? Either way, why can’t this formula be duplicated and work for the other ovals on the schedule?

Tom Anderson, Mesa, AZ

RM: The key is having an owner like Francois willing to do whatever it takes (re-pave the track, re-route the roads to help traffic flow, add parking spots, add concessions), a promotional mind like Blair who understands the product, and the audience and a sponsor like Bommarito that’s gung-ho and spends big money to help make the race an event. They had a few thousand comps given out last Saturday, but they were paid for by companies.

Q: I attended Gateway in 2002 and decided then that I would not return until the Grandstand in Turns 1 & 2 were open. I was surprised to see it open Saturday, because those seats were not available on the track’s website. Had I known they were open, I would have attended in a heartbeat. For me, it’s all about sight lines. NBCSN didn’t have a camera on top of the main stretch stand because they put them where the sight lines are good, like in Turn 1. Still, I will not return until I can leave home with Turn 1 tickets in hand. Was this stand opened out of necessity? Can you check with Gateway on their future plans for Turn 1?

The Rickyard

RM: It was a last-minute corporate buy and the request was for 11,000 tickets, so Turn 1 was the only place that could accommodate that number and keep them together. Just write to the track and ask about Turn 1 for next year. I’m sure the website has an email address. (ED: Try info@wwtraceway.com)