Q: I read Marshall Pruett’s piece on zero emission fuels, and this might be a game-changer for IndyCar. Obviously the development and production of such fuels are out of its hands. IndyCar’s move to hybrid would pale in comparison if it could become the first to adopt this in racing. It would put the ethanol transition years ago to shame, and maybe even invite new OEMs into the fray.

Greg in NJ

RM: Over to Marshall: “It certainly has the potential to be a huge development if it becomes a real thing. Most people understand the reasoning behind going semi- or full-electric with road cars — all done to reduce harmful pollutants being pumped into the atmosphere. Pretty simple thing: If internal combustion engines make the bad pollution, go away from internal combustion engines. But for those who follow the electric vehicle world, there’s some nasty environmental issues there as well, mostly with the battery material harvesting and disposal sides.

“Provided something close to a zero-pollutant synthetic fuel can be used in road and race cars, lots of problems get solved and the long-term need for EVs gets raised. Until we see the ‘e-fuel’ revolution happen, it will remain more of a mythical solution than a surefire thing.”

Q: Do you have any old columns or stories that you have written about Gordon Smiley? Even 40 years on, the video and images of the crash at Indy in ’82 are haunting. I have read several accounts about his history in Formula Ford and his endeavors in the UK, plus his ultimate “eye on the prize” of racing in Formula 1 — that he openly treated the Indy 500 as a mere stepping-tone to get there. I’m trying to reconcile some differing stories about his experience (perhaps inexperience) at the Brickyard, and the seeming two sides to him. Some reports say he was gregarious and openly helpful to fellow competitors, and others have him being a real handful to work with, quite confident in his abilities and not afraid to tell anyone about it. Donald Davison kind of straddles the line in a couple of the interviews I’ve watched. You have been exposed to a lot of personalities over the years, and I was wondering your thoughts on him and his abilities/potential?

Brad in Seattle

RM: Gordon came up to the Indianapolis Star’s sports department on winter day in 1980 to introduce himself and lay out his plans to succeed in CART. He was very personable, and I reminded him we’d met once at Mid-Ohio when he lapped me in the national Formula Ford race. He tangled with the Bettenhausen family and wrote Rick Mears a long letter apologizing for causing an accident, and that was pretty unusual since most drivers would simply do it face-to-face back then. He was very brave, and that eventually cost him his life in 1982.

The morning he died I was with some guys from the Star in the first turn during practice, and Gordon was having a helluva time. A.J. rode his bike down to where we were standing and watched a couple laps and said, “that boy is gonna bust his ass. You should go tell his chief mechanic.” So I walked down to Derek Mower and explained what A.J. said and what I thought I saw as an ill-handling car, and he replied: “I’ve been trying to calm him down all week but he’s obsessed with the Whittington brothers because they’re faster. Before he went out to qualify I told him to just run four laps, and if it’s not good enough, we’ve got all week to get the backup in the show. But he slammed down his visor and said he was going to run 200 mph.” I wrote a column later that basically said Smiley committed suicide because he refused to listen to his car or crew chief and simply drove into oblivion. I got a nasty letter from a preacher for being too insensitive, but I was merely trying to re-emphasize that Indy will bite you if you don’t respect it. And, that day, he didn’t.

There were never any question marks over Smiley’s bravery. Motorsport Images

Q: I have been an A.J. fan since I was eight years old, and listened to him win his fourth Indy 500 in 1977. I thought of a question to ask him, from a safe distance, a while ago. Watching some of the stupid or over-aggressive mistakes some drivers can make got me wondering when was the last time A.J. had an accident due to his own mistake, rather than someone else’s oops or mechanical problems? I pose this question in a sincere way, betting that he has to go pretty far back into his career to remember such an error. He was such a smart driver who didn’t overuse his equipment that I would think it would stand out to him that he had caused an accident by screwing up, and I wondered if you could pose this question to him, and see if he remembers such an incident? Thanks for your great work, and hopefully an answer to this question.

Glenn Kozora

RM: Do we count when he drove his bulldozer into the pond and flipped? Honestly, I can’t recall very many accidents that were his fault over five decades. Maybe his tip-over at DuQuoin in 1970, but he was so smooth and so smart he never seemed out of control.