Good Job, Milka

Hurray for Milka Duno!
Good to see someone standing up to the brash, cocky Danica Patrick, who obviously feels the IRL — if not the world — revolves around her.
Danica is very brave when accosting a guy who can’t respond, but wisely kept her distance when confronting someone not afraid to take her on.
Milka Duno brings class to the IRL, something Danica apparently will never have, even if she manages to win on fuel mileage a dozen times.
Wayne DeWald
Arlington, Texas

Racing’s Latest Loss

Racing lost one of its good guys last Friday night at Toledo Speedway when Terry Gibson lost his life during the first heat of the Midwest Supermodified Ass’n event. He was known as being a positive influence in the pits, and to those of us who love the raw power of the supermodifieds, he was the smiling face one hoped to see on race night.
It’s tragic that he won’t get to participate in the Supermodified Nationals this weekend at his home track, Sandusky Speedway.
As the cars fly around the track this weekend, most of us there will think of Terry and how the show just isn’t complete without him.
Jan M. Smithson
Columbus, Ohio

Ryan’s Replacements?

With Ryan Newman leaving Penske Racing, Roger doesn’t have to look far for a replacement.
After watching the Lime Rock race along with the St. Petersburg race earlier in the year, both Penske ALMS drivers Sascha Maassen and Patrick Long have perfected the bump-and-run technique.
At least the Dyson drivers are true sports-car racers and don’t retaliate.
Jim Kupstas
Shavertown, Pa.

Speed, Take Heed

What the “Heck” — as in Steve from Reading — hit the nail on the head about Speed’s declining coverage. Fellows, take heed and get back to Speed’s roots.
I was, however, appreciative of Speed’s coverage of the Rolex 250 for Daytona Prototypes. This was great racing, pounding down the straight, hammer down going through the gears. Then, hard on the brakes and back down through the box. Neat stuff. Lots of passing, good hard racing.
Then, for the really good stuff. Kokomo Speedway for Indiana Sprint week. For the record, good for Dave Darland, who won his dad’s namesake race, the Bob Darland Memorial. But the real show was Jon Stanbrough and his hooked up Foxco No. 53 sprinter.
Watching Jon rocket down the straights and then flick into the turns lap after lap with unbelievable consistency and control was truly poetry on a dirt track.
Thanks to Jon and the Fox brothers for such a memorable experience.
Evert Wolfe
Logansport, Ind.

More Praise For Ethanol

This is in response to misinformation shared in a Public Forum letter titled “Ethanol Isn’t The Answer,” published June 18.
Iowa Corn has been promoting the benefits of ethanol for more than 30 years, and we are proud to have the top-performing Indy cars running on 100 percent corn-based ethanol. They are a highly respected league and have seen the pure power that ethanol lends to the cars and the drivers. The fact that they are reducing our dependence on foreign oil and cutting greenhouse emissions is an added bonus to the league.
Ethanol today has come a long way and continues to improve in water usage and energy efficiency. Water use today is just a fraction of what it takes to make a gallon of petroleum — about three gallons compared to 10 gallons of water to create one gallon of petroleum.
Renewable ethanol is extremely energy efficient with every 100 BTUs of energy, including planting, cultivating, harvesting and processing, yields 167 BTUs of ethanol.
Lastly, ethanol is renewable and has  reduced harmful carbon-monoxide emissions by 30 percent and carbon-dioxide emissions by 27 percent. It has even been shown to help offset the greenhouse-gas emissions of fossil fuels by 35-46 percent.
You don’t need to worry that using corn for ethanol will be taking food off the dinner table because most of the corn grown in Iowa is not for direct human consumption. Less than 10 percent of our field-corn crop goes directly to food and other uses, which truly affects your grocery bill by pennies. Transportation and marketing, on the other hand, eat up 82 cents from every food dollar.
With only two years under its belt in ethanol use and more than 30 years of promotion by Iowa’s corn growers, we, as corn growers, don’t hesitate to pat the IRL on the back for making a decision that helps make the world a better place to be and also creates power for fast cars and great racing.
Julius Schaaf
Chairman, Iowa Corn Promotion Board
Johnston, Iowa

Welcome Back, Millstream

With so many stories of tracks closing down, it was with great joy that I went to the reopening of Millstream Speedway.
The track was a little rough around the edges, but so what? They were racing sprint cars at Millstream again.
I can’t wait to see the next sprint-car race at Millstream.
G.P. Stouder
Ft. Wayne, Ind.

Competition Yellows

Competition yellows?  Pits closed under green flag racing?  The drivers and crew chiefs are adults, so if they continue to race after their tires are worn out and they fail, so be it.
Goodyear and NASCAR might think about a partial refund of the fans’ ticket prices.  But I guess it’s like they say;  “You pay your money and takes your chances.”  I felt sorry for the ESPN commentators trying to put an exciting and happy face on what was otherwise a dull race thanks to NASCAR’s manipulation.
Glad I didn’t pay for a ticket and pay $4 a gallon for gas to drive over to Indy to see this fiasco!
G. Jerry Tiller
Terre Haute, Ind.

A Debacle

How many more fans will NASCAR lose after Sunday’s debacle at Indianapolis, with their CoT and their puppets, namely Goodyear and their top four or five corporate teams. 
 It’s amazing that not one person interviewed had anything bad to say about Goodyear or NASCAR, or could it be that ESPN only broadcast certain interviews? They must have those strings pulled very tight. NASCAR already knew after practice and qualifying what the results were going to be, or Goodyear would not have brought in an additional 800 tires from Pocono.
Since they already knew about the track conditions from last year’s race, why wasn’t testing conducted earlier this year to enable Goodyear to have enough time to develop another tire compound?  
What an injustice to the paying public for the prices that they had to pay to watch about 10 single-file 10-lap heat races.  Disgusting to say the least!
Harry Weitze
Prescott, Ariz.

 A Sham

In the words of Woody Allen, the Brickyard 400 was “a travesty of a mockery of a sham.” 
Big Bill France once said that NASCAR wasn’t about racing, it was about entertainment.  Well, I’d hesitate to call this year’s event a “race,” and if you know anyone who thought it was entertaining, I’d like you to introduce me to him/her so I can find out what they are drinking and get me a bottle. 
I would say that NASCAR and Goodyear, at the very least, owe the fans and IMS a public apology.  If it wasn’t for the thunderstorms today in northern New Jersey, I would have bailed on this turkey hours ago and gone to work in my garden.

Dave Smith

Bloomingdale,  N..J