If you could see plenty of gaps and aluminum seats reflecting the brilliant sunshine at the North end of the track, does it follow that one will be able to see a changing tide when it comes to the popularity of the IRL, or open-wheel racing in general, versus the Mongolian hordes, as they are viewed by the open-wheelies, of NASCAR? (Please ignore “Bent Brent” and “Punch-drunk Jerry,” i.e. the TV commentators who hyped the attendance during Sunday’s race for the sake of theatrics.)

I wouldn’t bet the car keys and certainly not a fixed rate mortgage on the worm turning away from NASCAR any time soon. Way back when, i.e. the early days of the Winston Cup in the 1970’s, gaps in the teeth in the grandstands at NASCAR events so often and uncharitably cited by the anti-NASCAR alcolytes gave the false-toothed impression that NASCAR could never get big. For the holy rollers of open-wheeling, the stock car crowd remains unsavory along with the big, heavy and slower cars. Any indication of a faltering in the tide of stock car racing’s popularity is cause for celebration.

Since it’s the job of writers to stir the pot, I have a plan for the salvation of open-wheeling — or at least the continued rebound of the Indy 500 — beyond the constant chatter of an unlikely reunion between Champ Car and Indy’s league of racing. All IRL and track owner Tony George needs to do is sign up Stewart and Montoya to compete in his biggest event.

It might be expensive to lure them to his own Vision Racing team, but why not the next best thing? If George moved the starting time of the Indy 500 back to Sunday mornings, the dynamic duo could run at the Brickyard and still make the 5 p.m. start in Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. Montoya already has a ready-made ride with Chip Ganassi Racing and Stewart would not have any trouble landing a gig.

Given that Indiana native and former IRL champion Stewart has two Brickyard trophies, he was asked about the absence of an Indy 500 victory despite several years of trying. “I told the people at Chevy that I’m not going to say I’m never going to go back there in an IndyCar,” said Stewart. He added that the logistics are formidable when it comes to the Indy-Charlotte double under the best of circumstances and having done it twice he should know.

It’s not as if Tony is bored by NASCAR. He was having so much fun smoking Kevin Harvick and then Montoya in the closing laps that he was drinking from his water bottle and driving one-handed down the straights, then getting so loose coming off the corners he had to re-cock the wheel.

Montoya, too, was all smiles one year after his debacle with teammate Kimi Raikkonen in Turn 1 at the U.S. Grand Prix, the one that led to his abandoning of McLaren-Mercedes for the taxi cabs of Chip Ganassi’s outpost in the South. This time at Indy he started next to teammate Reed Sorenson and smoked his junior partner all day. He fell behind with a tire that went down during his last pit stop, dodged the blown engine of Earnhardt Jr. and then advanced to second on the fender-banging by Stewart of Harvick’s Chevy.

“It’s a very different oval, a mixture of an oval and a road course,” said Montoya, who first ran a stock car here on the road course in a promotion with Jeff Gordon in 2003. “I like it. It’s funny but I was telling my crew chief most of the times when we have problems is just past the center of the corner of a normal oval and here, just past the center you’re out of the corner.”

Given all the money, competition and, ahem, crowds in NASCAR, it’s unlikely that either Stewart or Montoya will be leaving the tin tops behind any time soon. (Jeez, the Brickyard crowd was merely 250,000 his year.)

On the other hand, once you’ve hit 225 mph down the straights at Indy in a single seater in front of a packed house and catapulted down the barrel of the shotgun at Turn 1, life can’t be quite as exciting lugging a ton-and-a-half of steel through there, even if you’re surrounded by another 20 tons or so.

So bring back the mornng starts and take another step toward promoting Indy’s now steady revival by giving guys like Smoke and JPM a chance to mix it up in the month of May with no false-bottomed TV theatrics required.

Indy Racing League

Dear Brian,

I was at the Mid-Ohio race yesterday, but instead of the usual questions afterwards posed by journalists, I have a suggestion. When you find out who’s in charge of races at the IRL, please let me know.

Watching the start, I had the clear impression that Helio Castroneves ran things at the IRL. Sure, he was the pole starter and earns the right to gas it first. I just didn’t think that included starting a quarter mile ahead of everybody else.

But racers will be racers. Known for his Spider Man moves on wheel fences after victories, in this case the pole man was no super hero, except to those perverts who want to see him finish first no matter what.

Helio might have figured in advance that the odd scenario with the pace vehicle at Mid-Ohio could be worked to his advantage. As you know, Brian, the pace vehicle pulls off midway down the straight prior to the start. And if the pace vehicle driver is slow, it gives the pole starter a jump versus the other front row driver and the line that follows.

So you see there’s a two-part problem here. Whoever’s in charge should be sure the driver of the pace vehicle does the job properly. And, whoever’s in charge should command the respect of the drivers well enough to prevent them from carrying larceny in their hearts on the start.

Actually, it’s a three-part problem. If a driver manages to steal the start, then an ensuing penalty after the fact will send the message that apparently never gets transmitted effectively in the pre-race driver’s meeting. So at least if one race is summarily robbed, the next one does not suffer from attempted burgulary.

I guess we’re only talking about petty larceny here, since race tickets haven’t gotten that far out of hand yet. It’s still a shame that the thousands upon thousands who jammed Mid-Ohio anticipating the return of major league open-wheel racing got a minor league show.

Since this happened to be the 30th anniversary for this writer since I first covered a road race at Mid-Ohio (where David Hobbs in a BMW 320i battled Al Holbert in a Chevy Monza for a Camel GT trophy), I took a stroll through the camping area next to the back straight the night before Sunday’s mayhem took place. In 1977, the family farmers who owned the land next door still had their house and property and were charging 10 bucks to camp in the “back 40″ acres, where I spent the night in a hatchback Honda Accord.

This year, the 100-acre camp ground now owned by the track was jammed with fans in various states of camping pleasure. There were monopoly games by flashlight, home-built full bars, marshmellow roasts and roving dance parties in pick-up trucks. But above all, there was anticipation of teams like Penske Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Rahal Letterman Racing and Andretti Green Racing getting together on the track the next day.

It’s a damn shame that get together meant Tony Kanaan hitting teammates Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti because our hero Helio jumped the start and left a ragged party in his wake. Just between us, I doubt Andretti likes being upside down in the first corner.

Speaking of corners, as you know Steam Corners is the little rural intersection fans pass through if they’re headed to the track from the direction of Columbus. On Sunday morning, I wasn’t able to get within a mile of Steam Corners, which is two miles from the front gates of Mid-Ohio, before the traffic backed up. It’s a crying shame all that anticipation and waiting in line in traffic meant so little once the race started (and then the green flag waved).

It would have been cool to see if Patrick could sustain the pace that got her to the front row. I wondered if Andretti would win his second career race due to his blood-bred talents. Above all, I wanted to see if Scott Dixon could make his way from sixth to the top step on the podium on a narrow ribbon through O-hi-o’s hills. Instead, Dixon got a free pass to second place in the first corner — and made it look easy from there.

To be honest, the fans discovered they had made all that effort just to watch a parade. But at least parades have a drum major that’s visible, out front and in charge. I couldn’t locate or even sense anybody who fit that description at Mid-Ohio on Sunday. (On Saturday, in case you missed it, the ALMS penalized two Ferrari drivers a total of seven minutes for their attempts to steal one another’s race.)

So if you ever discover who’s in charge at the IRL, where most of my fellow journalists seem pretty slack when it comes to pressing the point on such things, please let me know.

Regards,

Jonathan

There’s nothing usual about an industrial espionage case in F-1 that could affect team and driver standings before the year is out. L’affair Coughlin/Stepney continues to meander through the court system in Britain, Italy and the World Motor Sports Council with all indications that McLaren cannot get off without some sort of penalty. In a sport where teams constantly pinch and pilfer ideas from one another by indirect means, the revelation of documents referring to a 2007 Ferrari showing up at a copy shop in England constitutes a new dimension.

I know this case certainly holds my attention!

Meanwhile, Tony George is holding out versus Bernie Ecclestone’s increased sanctioning fee for the U.S.G.P., declining to renew for 2008. George by his own admission is looking for more consistent TV coverage in the U.S. (a package controlled by Ecclestone and more than somewhat lacking at present). Both can agree on landing a longterm sponsor, but there isn’t one at present. (They split any sponsor deal; whoever brings in the dance partner gets a larger cut.) Also, a return of the fall date when the championship is in full swing better suits Indy’s schedule, which now includes MotoGP. In other words, George has said to Ecclestone, the leader in a sport often driven by greed, there must be a way for all of us to make more money.

So whoever said Tony George was dull or weak?

In NASCAR, where the political circus rivals F-1 in terms of a a non-stop revolving door of drama and intrigue, ordinarily it would not be big news that Tony Stewart begins a championship charge in the dog days of summer. Sooner or later, “Smoke” is going to get hot behind the wheel as well as under the collar. Among drivers who have posted at least one win in each of their Cup seasons, Stewart leads the league with nine straight years after his victory at Chicagoland.

But that’s not the story. On a Joe Gibbs Racing team owned by a disciple of discipline, the barriers are being tested by both Stewart and teammate Denny Hamlin. At Milwaukee in June, a late-arriving Hamlin had understudy Aric Almirola removed in mid-race to reclaim his car. This was a case of driver running the team instead of vice-versa.

In Daytona last week, Stewart’s contretemps with Hamlin after their crash was business as usual for “Smoke.” But when Hamlin began retaliating in the media, Gibbs himself had to fly into Chicago for a closed door meeting to clear the air, if not smoke. In a stunning footnote, longtime development driver Almirola is abandoning ship for Ginn Racing next year to share a Chevy with Mark Martin.

Given that there’s little love lost at present between soon-to-be-departed Kyle Busch and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, that makes two of NASCAR’s most accomplished teams with walking tensioning rods in their midsts. (Or three if you count Roush Fenway Racing, where owner Jack Roush is constantly creating foment among his drivers and crew chiefs in a NASCAR imitation of Enzo Ferrari.)

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s scheduled departure from DEI, on the other hand, seems to have that team inspired.

In sports car racing, the Penske Porsches’ three-race winning streak is no longer politically correct going into this weekend’s race at Mid-Ohio. The rule makers at the American Le Mans Series have decreased the air restrictors for the Porsche and Acura prototypes just prior to the return to such high-speed tracks as Road America, Mosport, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca, all expected to better suit the Audi R10 TDI diesel. Evidently, the ALMS cannot get along without victories by one of its major TV and print advertising sponsors.

The Penske team is still looking for its first win in the Nextel Cup with Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch, hobbled at present by the Dodge Charger/Avenger. The team has been trailing Andretti Green Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing in the IRL since Indy as well.

But Penske will continue to find its way in sports cars, NASCAR and IndyCars no matter what, considering a combined annual budget of $100 million.

Given last year’s shuffle in F-1 starting with The Schumacher’s retirement and Earnhardt Jr.’s saga earlier this year, there’s no way the silly season this summer could possibly have measured up. Unless, say, Penske had signed Danica Patrick to a NASCAR deal for next year. So other unpredictable politics will just have to do.

Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jingram666@cs.com

Personally, I like them both. No matter how the passion rises to the surface, for motor racing to work as spectacle, from time to time there has to be more than a demonstration of commitment behind the wheel.

Stateside this weekend, there was Tony Stewart dressing down teammate Denny Hamlin at Daytona. Although “Smoke” can be acused of having only one gear (high dander), in effect Hamlin was stuck in one gear (lead-the-race-at-all-costs). Hamlin used more ego than discretion with an ill-handling car in the opening laps and got hit by “Big Orange” after slowing precipitously in the groove. Then Tony let his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate have it with the hot air gun as well.

At Watkins Glen, Tony Kanaan got blasted by Sam Hornish for cutting him off in the pit road at the end of the cool-down lap after the two got out, another good call. What happens on the track, as far as the cars go, should stay on the track.

When Hornish’s father jumped in and shoved Kanaan on the pit road, things got out of hand much like fights at the high school dance. (Everybody grabs a partner and they all go down in a heap.)

These guys never fight as well as they drive, it seems. I happened to be in victory lane at Texas when Arie Luyendyk went down after one sucker punch from A.J. Foyt. The Dutchman never got in a single lick, unless you count telling Foyt and his driver Billy Boat that the trophy they were receiving belonged to him.

(Luyendyk turned out to be right a day later when totally confused scoring handled by USAC was double-checked; he got the win and USAC got the boot.)

Given Danica Patrick’s outburst versus Dan Wheldon in Milwaukee and now the Kanaan vs. Hornish duel, the blood is less than placid between the teams of Andretti Green, Chip Ganassi Racing and Penske Racing.

Back in the Old World this weekend, a torrid donnybrook broke out as Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes and Honda all hurled legal klag around on issues ranging from sabotage to the passing of proprietary secrets.

At the center of the storm, Ferrari’s Jean Todt played the role of Wimpy. “I will gladly give you an answer on Tuesday,” he replied to all questions. That’s the day the High Court in Britain goes public with the accusations of industrial espionage-type thievery by Ferrari against McLaren’s designer.

Did this load the emotional docket at the British Grand Prix, where the two dominant teams faced off on the track? Was Ferrari’s victory on the British team’s home turf with former McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen that much sweeter, given the post-race court precedings? More than likely. Will the crack in the McLaren armor be further breeched by Tuesday’s procedings? Stay tuned, says Todt.

So there you have it. Gudge matches in all directions on both sides of the pond, within teams and between teams. Tune in Tuesday and at racing rings everywhere in the coming weekends.

Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jingram666@cs.com.

Top ten reasons why Denny Hamlin could become the first driver in 27 years to win the rookie title one year, then the Nextel Cup championship the next.

1. The last driver to take the points championship after winning the rookie crown was Dale Earnhardt in 1979-1980. Once the mainstream media picks up on that stat, Hamlin can benefit from all the talk of his “date with the dynasty.”

2. The Car of Tomorrow drives more like the Late Model cars Hamlin was driving just three years ago. His competition learns quickly, but the necessary style fits relative youngster Hamlin like a kid driving glove. It’s not about grip and aggressive corner entry, hence the victory on two worn tires at New Hampshire yesterday.

“The harder I drove it, the slower I went,” said runner-up Jeff Gordon, the typical comment among the veterans and a guy who had four fresh tires.

3. The decision to take just two tires on the last pit stop by Crew Chief Mike Ford put Hamlin in position to win the race. Most of the season, pit stops have taken him out of contention, if not the outright lead. That’s a huge momentum shift.

“That is a big deal that we won this one on pit road,” said Hamlin. “That is redemption for these guys.”

4. When a driver wins with a four-time champion in his mirrors, it says a lot about the guy behind the wheel. “I knew Jeff was coming but it took too long to get to me,” said Hamlin. “But our tires were just giving up, I mean, 30 laps on the tires, and nearly 100 laps on our left sides. I knew it was just going to be a matter of time before we started heading back towards those guys. Man it was half-a-lap long enough.”

5. The Joe Gibbs Racing team has not yet been tagged with any cheating scandals. If the team stays clean, it avoids the problem of relying on something NASCAR officials find and scuttle, which costs points and momentum on and off the track. (It’s not as if JGR hasn’t tried that route in the past, given some of the sideways, or offset, entries of Tony Stewart.)

6. Generally, young drivers have to learn how to run at the front before they win. Hamlin by-passed that approach in his rookie season, scoring two race victories. He got the experience of running at the front of the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship last year when he finished third, so that hurdle is out of the way.

7. Just one week after the infamous incident at Milwaukee, Hamlin has put behind him the furor that erupted after he replaced Aric Almirola behind the wheel of JGR’s Busch Series car midway in the race. Whatever one’s point of view of that oddball scenario, it clearly demonstrated Hamlin’s clout with the Gibbs team.

(The point of view here: Denny flip-flopped with his comments to the media worse than Kyle Busch on his decision to leave Hendrick Motorsports.)

8. JGR has already won three championships in the last seven seasons, one more than Hendrick Motorsports or Roush Fenway Racing.

9. If you plan on winning the title this year, where eight more COT races remain on the schedule and five during the Chase, you’d best have your butt in a Chevy.

10. The ten points awarded race winners for each victory at the start of the Chase are likely to make a difference by the season finale at Homestead.

By moving up to second in the points despite all the pit snafus, Hamlin and Crew Chief Ford remain in a good position to take the risk of going for victories instead of points. He now is just 30 bonus points behind Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.

“We feel like we’re running well enough we could make up (the bonus points deficit) if we run the same way we have all year,” said Hamlin. “We would just like to start closer to those guys.”

Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jingram666@cs.com