Q: Hey Robin, is it me or was attendance is down at St. Louis? Looks way more sparse in grandstands then previous years. Hope it’s not that the area is already over IndyCar. Could it be lack of support events? Two weekends before, the Formula Drift series was at St. Louis. Going forward, it would be a good opportunity to combine events. IndyCar should invite them over and have bigger event. Plus, get more of the 18-35 demographic from the Formula Drift crowd to get some more followers of IndyCar.

Kevin, Long Beach, CA

RM: Not quite sure what you were looking at, but last Saturday was their best crowd of the three years, and I’d say 30,000. They ran Indy Lights, Pro F2000 and K & N stockers on Saturday, so not sure how you could have any more action than that (plus the vintage cars also ran). I don’t think IndyCar needs Formula Drift to draw a crowd at Gateway.

Q: Gateway puts on a good show with good attendance. Has IndyCar given any thought to doing two races at Gateway? Maybe a daytime one in April, and a night one in August? Best investment of the year has to be NBC Gold!

Jim McGlynn

RM: No, but they’ve lobbied for the season finale, which would be perfect. The days of two races in one year are long gone – way too tough to get a crowd once, let alone twice at an oval. Glad you enjoy Gold, thanks for subscribing.

Q: What a race! So if Gateway can fill the seats like they do, why can’t Kentucky, Chicagoland, and Michigan? It’s not marketing, either. Diehard IndyCar fans like myself in the Midwest don’t need marketing to know when and where they are racing, and IndyCar has a enough diehard fans to make it interesting enough for those tracks to host races.

Donald Mathews

RM: I have to disagree. It is marketing and promoting and wanting IndyCar at your track, which none of those places you mentioned do. Gateway advertises on the radio in Indianapolis three to six months out, and has bus trips from Indianapolis to the race. It doesn’t let people forget the date or month, and that doesn’t happen at Pocono or Iowa. Could IndyCar work again at Kentucky? Absolutely, if Kentucky wants to put in the effort.

The folks steering the ship at Gateway know what it takes to get people to show up for oval racing. Image by IndyCar

Q: It was great to see a good qualifying crowd (all things considered with the times) at Gateway. I know it was still not much, but in terms of oval qualifying attendance it had to be second-best to Indy, easily. Also, a good turnout for the race, as you mentioned on TV. My question: Despite a good crowd, what happened with the last 50 laps or so? It seemed like a lot of people left. I hope I was just seeing things; that was a bit discouraging for such a good race. There have been many positives about IndyCar lately, I hope we keep pushing forward.

Kyle Patin from Milwaukee

RM: Brother, I’m busy running around the pits or going to the medical center, and I didn’t notice people leaving early and you’re the first person to mention it, but it certainly could have happened. Seemed like a lot of folks were standing and screaming at the checkered flag, but it’s tough to gauge how many were left.

Q: Do you think Hinch, Rossi and Hunter-Reay got together before the Gateway race and decided to give Sato a bad time in Turn 1 to see what Sato would do? Conspiracy? Grudge? I agreed with you, Robin; the Pocono thing with Sato was a racing incident.

Barney, Reno, Nevada

RM: No, I don’t think anybody thinks like that on an oval. Everyone is scrambling for a spot heading into Turn 1, and it just seemed ironic those three nearly tangled again.

Q: After watching the race Saturday night, which was great, I don’t ever want to hear one driver bitch about a track being unsafe after watching some of the outright dangerous driving they did. Hinch literally drives to the inside wall blocking the hell out of Pagenaud. What if Pagenaud didn’t get out of it in time and climbed Hinch’s wheels and hopped the pit wall and into who knows what or whom? Hinch would probably be the first to complain about the track. I am all for hard racing, but IndyCar needs to rein these guys in a bit or come down HARD on them.

Speaking of stupid driving, why didn’t IndyCar give Ferrucci (awesome run, BTW) a penalty for his completely classless chop on Newgarden on the last lap? They have given a lap or 30-second penalty to drivers for far less. Newgarden lost two or three positions for that. He would have been fourth by passing Ferrucci. Instead he was seventh. Essentially, that cost Newgarden seven points, so remember these points in the final analysis.

Mark in Cincinnati

RM: Gateway breeds aggression and taking chances, but that’s why we watch, right? As for Ferrucci’s incident, here’s the take from Race Director Kyle Novak: “TK was aggressively defending on the back straight, Ferrucci overdrove the corner trying to make the pass, and got into the marbles in Turn 3-4. He kept correcting and Newgarden smelled blood and drove it into the grass trying to get by at the exit of Turn 4 and looped it. Newgarden thought the last correction to the racing line by Ferrucci was intentional, but since he almost crashed trying to save it, Race Control found it hard to assign blame.”

Q: Am wondering if Sebastien Bourdais has somehow lost his enthusiasm for driving? Not just in his interview with you after the Gateway shunt, but it seems like in every interview at least since and maybe even at Indy, his heart just doesn’t seem in it any longer. Thoughts?

David Spear

RM: No, you can’t go as fast as he does and not have your heart in it. I think he was pretty despondent after his crash at Gateway because he was having such a strong run, but he’ll be fine this weekend at Portland.