Q: Nobody goes out and buys an Explorer because a car with Mustang decals wins a race. Ditto for a no-longer-made Camaro. So how about this?
Have NASCAR run famous older stock car bodies. 1968 Torino for Ford (their best NASCAR design), ’70 Monte Carlo, the car Chevy returned to NASACR with. Toyota hasn’t a history, so maybe their first fun sporty coupe, a ’72 Celica. The blunter design of these cars would slow them down as well – something NASCAR seems to want to do.
Lloyd Parker
KC: Sometimes the past needs to stay in the past. Yes, those cars are famous and had their time in the sport, but things evolve. There is no way to know that those cars would perform well now. Plus, I think the manufacturers would disagree with you about the philosophy. They plan and execute activation based on the vehicles they are trying to sell, and they want to show off their product.
Q: What role, if any, will Michael Andretti have in the new Cadillac Formula 1 team?
Art Howle
CM: Essentially none, as far as I’m aware. He’s no longer part of the project, other than being someone that Daniel Towriss – the CEO of TWG Motorsports that effectively runs the team – can lean on for advice given their history working together. It’s a shame, because he put so much effort into getting that project moving, and so nearly had an F1 team to turn when Andretti nearly took over Sauber a few years ago, but recent comments at St. Pete suggest he’s happier after stepping away from team management and ownership.
Q: I have a bar friend who is a huge F1 fan, and particularly a huge Lewis Hamilton fan. He is as passionate about F1 as I am about NASCAR. Since the Australian GP was a 9pm start time here out west, he and I decided to meet at our bar spot to watch F1.
We watched Isack Hadjar lose his car and stuff it in the tire pack on the formation lap. After, we noticed Lewis’s father console Isack almost immediately. We understand that the Hamiltons have been his mentors, and we understand that the Racing Bulls have another car to worry about as well. But we were both wondering why was Lewis’s father there to console him almost immediately and not his team principal?
Kevin, Arizona
CM: That was just the nature of the layout of the paddock in Albert Park and timing of Isack’s return. Isack’s team principal Laurent Mekies was on the pit wall as there was still a race about to start and Racing Bulls had Yuki Tsunoda’s car in it, whereas Anthony Hamilton was either in the Ferrari garage or hospitality, but either way just a few yards from where Isack was coming back into the paddock and able to reach him (Isack came in from the end nearest the pit exit and therefore had to walk the majority of the length of the paddock, past most teams). Hamilton obviously doesn’t have an operational role to consider like a team principal does at that moment, so he was free to go and console him.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali also went down to the Racing Bulls hospitality to comfort Isack and give him some words of encouragement, and there were multiple team members there to speak to him, too.
Q: My family and I were moved at seeing Anthony Hamilton consoling Isack Hadjar after he spun out. Is there a personal connection between Mr. Hamilton and Isack, or is he just a decent human being who knew someone needed a hug? Either way, it’s hard to not vote for Mr. Hamilton as F1 Father of the Day.
Bary
CM: The only connection is the fact that Isack is a massive Lewis Hamilton fan and hasn’t hidden that fact. He met him before when he was a child early in his racing career, and openly spoken about how Hamilton is a role model he looks up to. So I believe Anthony was aware of that, but aside from knowing it would mean a lot to Isack to have his support, he was just acting out of the goodness of his heart to try and comfort an upset rookie.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, March 19, 2014
Q: If what I’ve read on Facebook is true, it looks like Texas World Speedway is facing what seems to be the nemesis of all abandoned open-wheel venues: developers with armloads of cash. Do you have any good stories about Indy cars at TWS?
Dan Wildhirt, CO
ROBIN MILLER: I saw that and it’s amazing it’s taken this long. At Texas in the mid-’70s with Bill Finley’s team and Bentley Warren driving, Warren had a problem in qualifying and only went quick enough to be the first alternate. But Bobby Unser blew up and didn’t qualify, so USAC came along and asked Finley if they could buy his spot. He said sure. Then they paid the slowest qualifier to give up his spot to Uncle Bobby. They took the money and left. We were loaded up but I suggested we wait until warm-ups were over the next morning in case somebody crashed. As fate would have it, Bob Harkey hit the wall and we were back in the race — a double payday for Finley, and the only contribution I ever made to one of the last true chief mechanics.