Midday update from Milwaukee

AR1 talked with Zach at Long Beach and he said that he was looking for an IndyCar ride this year. Then he made the decision to have his lower arm operated on which took him out for the season. The Ohio native is here in Milwaukee with his wrist in a brace that he hopes to shed in the next week or two. And the 20 year old is working on next year's ride.

Veach drove in the 2013 and 2014 Indy Lights series with Andretti Autosport.

I asked how he liked the one day practice, qualify, race. "I am kinda an old soul. I like having one day to practice and make changes and one day to test them before qualifying. Then race on the 3rd day."

When I asked how he felt about the Fontana race, he stated that it is good that the veteran drivers commented about the safety because Us Young drivers are fearless and we don't think about all the consequences.

We will keep monitoring his progress and hope to see him in an IndyCar soon.

We hear Rodolfo Gonzalez will be driving one of the Dale Coyne cars at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma.

AJ Foyt might think moving practice, qualifying and race all into one day is like the old days but the way the rules are these days makes it harder for the IndyCar teams to be like the old days. The teams are not allowed to have a spare car setup ready to run. So if have a crash during practice or qualifying, you require time to install an engine into a spare car and hope you can get the car back together in time to start the race at the back of the pack.

The fans also have something to say about a one day schedule. How can you justify traveling a long distance for just one day of racing? And making the schedule available in advance of purchasing an airline ticket would also be nice. IndyCar needs to give the fans their money's worth for a race weekend. It is hard to tell your spouse that you are flying to Milwaukee for the one day sprint race!

I talked with Simon Pagenaud today at lunch and asked him when can we expect that first win. "I should not have been that quick to say it would be right away. People forget that Michael Schumacher struggled his first year with Ferrari. Things are coming together with my team but every race something happens to delay that first win. In Fontana , our pit stop before the yellow came out for Rahal's fuel nozzle messed up our strategy." When I asked him if he could predict whether it will be on the oval or a road course, he stated " it could happen at either. I like the short oval."

Lucille Dust reporting for Autoracing1.com from Milwaukee