Q: After watching the opening F1 race, I can’t wait for IndyCar to start and have a race where the winner is not a forgone conclusion. The announcers were bragging about how many winners were on the grid, but some of them have not won a race in years and many of them have only won one race. In IndyCar, 75% have won races, and they usually have six to eight different winners a year. I am sure Roman Grosjean is looking forward for the chance to have a shot at winning again. My question is, what is the percentage of driver-to-car for success in IndyCar? My guess is that in F1 it is 85-90% car and 10-15% driver. What do you think?

Mark B.

RM: I think it’s more car/horsepower at Indianapolis until the closing salvo, when drafting and picking your spot is key, but HP can still be the difference-maker, as we saw in 2019. For a road course or street race I think it can be as much as 70-30 (driver to car) and that’s why there are multiple candidates to hit victory lane.

Q: Will IndyCar return to Richmond? I know with the pandemic the race was canceled for 2020, but I haven’t heard any word or seen anything on the internet saying they were going to return in the near future. Have you heard anything about this?

Kurt Franck

RM: I doubt it, because it was a home office decision to pull the plug on the IndyCar race, and as much as I wish IndyCar would go back, just don’t think there’s much enthusiasm for it on the NASCAR side.

Q: Any news on the Indy 500 being pushed back to August so it can have more fans?

Craig Bailey, Palm Bay, FL

RM: No, it’s definitely a go for May.

Q: I am 72 and a life-long racing fan. So, I have a feeling that I will win the lottery soon. When — not if — I do, the first thing I will do is pay off the mortgages for all my family and friends. But, the second thing I will do is bring back the Cleveland Grand Prix. I attended every one of them, and can’t believe the last one was in 2007. Great racing, unique venue, great event for Cleveland — the stands were always packed — and the drivers loved it. And it dropped off the schedule because CART and the IRL merged?

So, in your opinion, how much money am I going to have to put up to get the Cleveland Grand Prix back on the IndyCar schedule? $10 million? $100 million? I know I will have to put together politicians — the airport is owned by the City of Cleveland — and sponsors, and I have some experience with that sort of thing. But how much cash do I have to put on the table to get RP’s attention? Seriously. I want to get Cleveland back on the schedule before I go meet Vukovich, Sachs, Clark and Wheldon.

Bob Isabella, Mentor, OH

RM: Well, the race didn’t go away because of the merger, it went away because nobody had the funds to promote it. And to answer your question accurately I would have to ask Mike Lanigan what he spent, and I’m not going to do that. You’ve got Burke Lakefront, the city government and who knows how many hoops to jump through, but I would imagine $25 million would be a good starting number.

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Q: When did they start to monitor pit lane speed? I was amazed at the first round of pit stops in 1985 to watch Mario blaze down the pit lane to get out in first. Were they restricted at all, or was it just get the hell out of there and back to the track? The line on the apron is fun to watch. I don’t think there are any drivers left running that ran that configuration — am I wrong? Do you think there is a chance the apron could come back to open up multiple lines, or is it a permanent memory of the past?

Tony, UT

RM: Wally Dallenbach, one of the pioneers of safety in IndyCar, thinks the pit speed limit was added in the early 1990s, but he adds a great story about the good old days. “When I was driving for (George) Bignotti, he told me to come into the pits at no less than 160 mph, so I did and it was a pretty rough ride.” As for the apron, it would be great to see it come back because it saved a lot more drivers than it ever injured. It was a place to pass or save your ass.

Q: I often hear the story of Janet Guthrie struggling to get up to qualifying speed in 1976, and A.J. Foyt loaned her a backup car to test. Janet got up to a speed that could have got her into the field. Fantastic story — what was the reason that A.J. helped her out? It seems to go against Foyt’s reputation as an old-school racer. If anybody can get the inside story from A.J., it is you. What was Foyt’s thinking back then to consciously upset the traditionalists and let Janet get a chance in competitive machinery?

David, Ithaca, NY

RM: Tony Hulman realized what a big story Janet was, so he simply asked A.J. to let her run some laps to show people she was fast enough to make the race in a good car. It was a great PR move, and was instigated by Mr. Hulman.

Q: I still think that someone in IndyCar missed the boat big-time not picking up on Sierra Jackson. Maybe she wouldn’t have been as quick on road courses, but I’d have bet money she would have been damn fast on ovals with some seat time in a Indy Lights and then an IndyCar. A marriage and two kids later, she is running a wingless sprint car in the Idaho Racing League. She’s still running up front and winning, as is her husband, Johnny Giesler.

I’m glad to see Simona will be back at Indy. IndyCar needs women in the field. We all know what Danica did for the popularity of IndyCar. People bought tickets just to see her and didn’t know crap about the racing! I think this is why Dale Jr. is promoting Hailie Deegan in NASCAR. She’s cute and reasonably fast, although Washington driver Brittney Zamora qualified on the pole and kicked her butt at the last K&N Pro Series race here at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe.

Don Holmquist

RM: I don’t know how to break this to you, Don, but none of today’s IndyCar owners have ever heard of Sierra and I wouldn’t have known about her without your updates. Her best bet would be NASCAR because IndyCar is a road racing discipline more than anything, and she has zero experience. But it’s great that Simona is back, because I think she’s the best female racer ever in Indy cars.