RM: Well, she ran good on road and street courses in the lighter Atlantic cars and, other than a couple races last year, she has struggled on those types of tracks. Ovals have definitely been her strong suit. If Motorola stays with her (or if she has somebody else wanting to sponsor her), I think AGR would definitely want her back. But her dad may shop her to NASCAR. Hope he talks to Franchitti, Hornish, Allmendinger and Carpentier before he makes that mistake.

Q: Count me as one who believes that Danica is getting a bad rap on this Milka Duno incident. My first reaction was that it would be fun PR for IndyCar. But then I became a little disturbed when watching "Take One" on the IRL's supposed media partner, ESPN. Skip Bayless and the rest of that panel dissed Danica and talked about how "tired they are of her act," all along proving to us how little they know about racing. They got caught up in it being "another Danica incident," oblivious to the fact that Milka was at best negligent in her driving; maybe even worse. This is sexism, pure and simple. If a male driver rightfully headed to another's pit after that kind of driving to ask what gives, do we really think it would be news? Let alone spun as the better driver's fault? (As I'm writing this, NBC5 news in Chicago is all over the incident during their sportscast. Perhaps the "Take One" experts should realize what a golden goose Danica is!)

Michael Vicari, Chicago

RM: I agree with your assessment. As for Skip Bayless, why would anybody care what he said about football or basketball, let alone auto racing? He is so phony on that show, he makes Rusty Wallace look sincere.

Q: Bryan Herta has a tough job (driving coach for Vision Racing). Do you think A.J. and Ed will ever be road course racers? As the IRL increases the number of road races, what will be their future if they fail? I'm all for giving drivers a chance to prove themselves (Briscoe is a prime example), but there is a limit.

James, Greensboro

RM: Here's the best example I can give. Tom Sneva was as good an oval racer as ever came along but was laughable on a road course. Yet he got better and better and, while no threat to be confused with Jim Clark or Dan Gurney, became respectable. Little Foyt had so little experience when he got put in an Indy car, he needs laps and laps and laps. Carpenter is pretty decent on ovals so there's no reason he can't learn to road race. That team has no direction on road courses and hiring Herta was very smart (now they should let him drive one of the cars to establish a baseline) by Tony George. But it won't be easy because the competition all came from road racing.

Q: Well, Mid-Ohio was another race that had about 10-12 extra laps of yellows that were unnecessary. Why is the IRL unable to go green more quickly? I don’t understand it. I also don’t understand how the supposedly best open-wheel drivers in the country can’t complete a clean pass, be they the passer or the passee. It reminds of when Archie Bunker and his son-in-law ‘Meathead’ would both try to go through a doorway at the same time….

John Vecchi, Sarver, Pa.

RM: Mid-Ohio, Laguna, Sonoma, The Glen and Elkhart Lake all suffer the same malady – they were built 50-60 years ago for sports cars and small formula cars, so they're all way too narrow and places like Mid-Ohio have no passing or braking zones to speak of, so people have to take chances. I believe there was at least two local yellows thrown last Sunday, so we're making progress.

Q: As an avid motorsport fan, I watch the majority of Indy car races here in the UK and if I have a spare 48 hours will attempt to watch NASCAR too! The overwhelming majority of Europeans do not take U.S. open wheel (or NASCAR for that matter seriously) as it's perceived as primitive in comparison to F1 and oval races are also a considered a bit pointless. Having said that, the biggest problem with F1 is that there is too much technology and unless we have rain at a Grand Prix weekend what we have is a two-hour procession consisting of two Ferraris and two McLarens and the most you can get excited about is pit stops. Is this the pinnacle of world motorsport?!?

In principle the concept of the IRL/NASCAR is great – equal equipment, same engines (not the case in NASCAR, I know) but a sense of fair play. Having said this the two series are just the same as F1. Indy is dominated by AGR, Ganassi and Penske and NASCAR has it's own cartel of three big teams who take all the spoils.

Going back to my earlier point about U.S. open wheel being slightly backward, I know from reading your column that there are a few contentious issues such as yellow flags, ugly cars, predictable results, Honda engines etc...

Watching the Dallara-Honda package at Watkins Glen was embarrassing. The cars looked painfully slow and a million miles off from what a top-level single-seater racing car should look, sound and perform like.

How is Indy ever going to attract sponsors, fans, top drivers from around the world and more importantly from the U.S. and not paying drivers if the championship continues with this “Mickey Mouse” element to it? Open wheel, I feel, needs a strong series in North America as an antidote to F1 and because NASCAR isn't what racing is about!

John, London, England.

RM: When Nigel Mansell turned his back on F1 as world champ and came to CART, trust me, the English looked at ovals as serious racing – as did Bernie, because CART had this great mix of road courses, street circuits, small ovals and superspeedways. It also had four engine manufacturers, five chassis and two tire companies. I hear what you're saying – spec racing sucks at the highest level – but the economy here is so bad, it seems like the only alternative to the powers that be. Except they realize that having more engine manufacturers could mean a big infusion of money and marketing, so they want to make chassis exclusive (bad idea) and open up the engine playing field. What we need is a new chassis and many new engines NEXT YEAR, not in 2011 because the Big 3 have way too much of an advantage. We'd like to see more horsepower for road courses plus optional tires to try and put a little life into these out-dated circuits. Oh yeah, and sprinklers to make every road race a wet one.

Q: What are the chances that Paul Tracy will win in Canada? I've been a fan for many years and am really glad to see that Paul got a ride, but with the learning curve the other Champ Car teams have been facing, is it even plausible to hope for a win by Tracy? And, of course, you got it right! You said that TG should step up and help get Paul a ride and it happened! Will you be performing any other miracles for open-wheel racing?

Barry Sturgill, Fort Wayne, Ind.