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John,
I'd love to see Dick Simon back. If I were trying to put a young rookie in the Indy 500, Dick Simon would be guy I'd want -- he has a fabulous record of getting drivers in the field (and having them do well). I've only met him briefly (during the Andy Evans days), but he understood how to drive the track, from his own experience. Unlike many drivers, he could also teach those skills to someone else. (Some of the very fastest professional drivers I've known were completely incapable of explaining exactly what they were doing.)
I'm happy with these new teams; little teams have the opportunity to grow to big teams. Milka Duno isn't a team, of course, she's a driver with a large budget. Peter Baron's SAMAX is the team, and I watched Peter start the team. He's grown it well, both in size the professionalism, in sports car racing, and I expect him to do the same in the IRL (with or without Milka).
I'm happy to see the possibility of Carl Haas heading to the IRL as well. Haas gets far too little credit for his part in the split in open wheel racing, and if he returns to the Speedway there is symbolism far beyond the one or two cars be brings.
As to some of the earlier points in this thread, I know that Roger Penske will race against whoever's out there, and he will regard every one of them as a serious competitor.
Fz.
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