Dear Nigel,

With regards to a venue for the returning USA Grand Prix, would you rather have seen it go to:

a) A new circuit built to modern Formula 1 needs with similar appeal to the classic American road courses (as we are led to believe the Austin track will be, and how Monticello could have turned out).

b) One of the classic American road courses altered to fit modern F1 needs.

c) Another street circuit.

d) A return to Indianapolis.

Chris Ward

“I’m excited with the prospects for Randy Bernard,” said Mario. “The jury is still out, but he’s beginning to show the elements of leadership that we’ve all been hoping for for so many years. He’s talking to a lot of people and I think he’s listening.

“Look at what he said recently about it’s time to bury the reference to the IRL. I talk to a lot of people and so many of them can’t bear to hear the IRL name. Unfortunately, the IRL entity just keeps all the old wounds open. There are probably millions of open-wheel fans who have migrated away from the series and don’t even turn the TV on anymore because they have such bad feelings about the IRL name.

“I called and left a message with Randy when I read what he said in The Star. It takes cojones to do that, to recognise the fact that the IRL name destroyed what was good about Indycar racing. I’m so happy that Randy is addressing this issue because it’s one of many things that need to be put to bed before we move on.

“Randy (above) has got a lot of good ideas and I’ll do everything I can to support the guy. I’ve said to him don’t try to reinvent the wheel. This is a series that had its glory days. A lot of us know what the formula was and we’ve got to get back to that formula. It was a series that everyone took notice of, including NASCAR and Formula 1. But right now it’s reduced to almost a club series. The drivers are barely making a living and nobody cares or knows who they are. There’s no appeal or dimension to it. We’ve got to get back to the level we had 10 and 15 years ago.

“But you can’t do that by copying NASCAR or Formula 1. We’ve got to redevelop the formula that worked for us. We’ve got to get back to venues like Laguna Seca, Elkhart Lake and Milwaukee. These are the traditional venues that are very appealing to the fans and sponsors.

“And they’ve got to get away from all this talk about Scott Dixon being the most successful Indycar driver in history. Why do they take themselves away from their tradition so that everything before the IRL doesn’t count? Where are Foyt, myself and the Unsers? By only quoting the IRL winners you’re giving up the essence of what the sport is all about.

“Indycar racing goes back to the beginning of the 20th century and no other racing organisation anywhere in the world can make that claim,” Mario concluded. “Scott Dixon is a fine driver, but let him fall in line with the rest of the great drivers. Let him go up against Ralph De Palma, Pete de Paolo, Jimmy Murphy, Bill Vukovich, Rodger Ward and all those great drivers who were part of creating the aura of what Indycar racing was all about.”

The Kansas race gave Dixon and Franchitti confidence going into the ‘month of May’ event – shortened these days to just two weekends. The pair were very quick at Indianapolis last year but both hit trouble in the pits and got stuck in traffic at the end of the 500, while Helio Castroneves motored to his third Indy win. Castroneves finished fourth in Kansas last weekend behind Tony Kanaan and ahead of Long Beach winner Ryan Hunter-Reay. Championship leader Will Power endured his least competitive race of the year so far, qualifying seventh and finishing 12th, two laps behind the winner. At this stage the Indy 500 looks like a repeat of recent years with Ganassi, Penske and Andretti as the clear team favourites.

The race in Kansas underlined two of the IRL’s big problems. First, restarts aside, the race was another dull display of follow-the-leader. The cars are not only clunky and outdated in appearance, but also way too constrained in power and overall performance so that they look and sound more like Indy Lights cars than proper, beast-like Indycars. As we all know, the current long-running Dallara-Honda spec car combination seriously lacks for spectacle and appeal.

The other concern at Kansas was the worrying absence of fans, with a crowd estimated at no more than 15,000 and swathes of empty seats. The IRL has struggled with crowd numbers at many races, and at ovals in particular, but has allowed itself to be pushed into an even weaker position at some oval tracks by running as a Saturday support show. In Kansas the Indycars were reduced to Busch league status as a second-line act to NASCAR’s featured Truck series on Sunday.

This is one of the many issues that the IRL’s new CEO Randy Bernard is tackling. Bernard is up to his ears trying to determine the correct new Indycar formula for 2012 (it may have to be pushed back to 2013) but he’s also trying to bring back some of the better races from CART’s heyday. Over the last 10 years in the midst of the CART/IRL civil war the combination of CART, Champ Car and the IRL contrived to destroy no fewer than 36 races – 18 oval tracks, nine temporary or street circuits and nine permanent road courses have vanished or been driven away from Indycar racing.

The fans and media in these markets have been badly abused by Indycar racing and Bernard is trying to find which of these venues might be ready to gamble on bringing back the IRL. He’s been talking to road courses like Laguna Seca and Elkhart Lake, and ovals like Milwaukee and New Hampshire. If the IRL is to rebuild its lost identity it’s essential to leave tracks like Kansas behind and return to venues such as these four. Here’s hoping Bernard can convince the tracks to take the gamble.

Apparently they had done this before and never had a problem, but Stoner complained of a major lack of grip early on in the race (that must be why he disappeared into the distance and built up a 3-4 second gap after only a couple of laps). However, he went on to say: “after a few laps it started to feel better and I was gaining confidence but it let go.” So what’s going on?

If you want my opinion Stoner panicked. Like he had done at Laguna Seca, and at Brno. It’s all very well saying that he is always on the limit and therefore more likely to stack it. But isn’t it a little more than a coincidence that the moment that he has lost it, in the last three races, was when Rossi started closing the gap?

The ever-humorous Italian did admit after the race at Misano that he may not have been able to catch the Australian, but crasher Casey wasn’t to know that was he?

So Rossi leaves his home Grand Prix with a 75-point advantage and is set, without any major mishaps, to take the 2008, and possibly his greatest Championship.

Stoner’s quick, as is Rossi. The Ducati is hard to ride right (you only have to look at poor Marco Melandri to see how difficult), but at the end of the day is blisteringly quick. The Yamaha is getting faster, especially with Rossi leading the development, which is only helped by the fact that he is now using Bridgestone rubber, which is so much better than Michelin that at times it’s almost embarassing for the French tyre manufacturer. But the main difference is that Vale has years of experience and in my eyes is just a better rider. And Stoner knows it.

It was sad to talk last week with each of Derrick Walker (above), Paul Tracy (below) and Carl Haas. All three had tales of woe to tell about how the fallout from Champ Car’s demise has affected them. Walker’s team finds itself without the sponsorship to be able to race in this year’s unified IRL series, Tracy is out of a ride and has no idea what or even if he will race this year, and Haas admits to losing a pile of money on his investment in Panoz DP01 parts and equipment.

As everyone knows, Walker has lost his sponsor and driver Will Power to the renamed KV Racing Technology team and is going to court to attempt to get some restitution from Craig Gore. Walker has not laid-off any employees and will run three Atlantic cars this year but he’s looking at diversifying into the A1GP series or sports car racing or any other sensible form of motor sport that will pay the bills.

Meanwhile, Paul Tracy awaits word from Jerry Forsythe about how Tracy might buy his way out of his multi-year contract or find some other resolution to his dilemma. At the moment Tracy is a pedestrian, without a ride in the IRL. He’s assuming, but doesn’t know if he’ll race at Long Beach. “I feel like I’m standing on the platform and the train’s driving off,” Tracy remarked. “I feel like the guy who got a new suit for the big date and I’m primed and ready for the prom, and she didn’t show up.”

And then there’s Carl Haas (above), a proud man who, with his partner Paul Newman, built one of America’s most accomplished and respected race teams. Over half a century Haas has made his living entirely from racing, selling cars, parts and service to all kinds of formulas and categories. Haas admitted last week that he has lost more than two millions dollars on his investment in Champ Car’s failed Panoz spec-car project. Like Walker, Haas has remained loyal to his people and he has not laid-off any employees.

The good news is that Cristiano da Matta (above) enjoyed a very good first run in a race car last week since his near-fatal accident at Elkhart Lake in the summer of 2006. Da Matta tested one of Bob Stallings’ Gainsco Riley-Pontiac Grand-Am cars at the new 2.5-mile Eagles Canyon road circuit in Texas and after two days and around 140 laps Cristiano was bubbling with enthusiasm. Da Matta will make his return to racing at Laguna Seca in May, driving a second Stallings’ Grand-Am car beside series champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty. Da Matta will share his car with old friend and former team-mate Jimmy Vasser.

“It will be a good way to get back,” da Matta remarked. “I won’t be able to fight for the championship this year, but just to get back to it and next year be serious about the job of going for the championship, it’s very exciting. And to do it with Jimmy who is not only a very good driver but also a very good friend of mine – and he’s also very fired-up about it – it’s like a dream.”