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IndyCar
MILLER: Farewell To TGBB
Robin Miller bids an impassioned goodbye to the character known as "The Great Brian Barnhart."
With Race Control now taken away from Brian Barnhart, "TGBB" might become a thing of the past. (IndyCar Series)
To understand how much of an upgrade the IZOD IndyCar Series received in Race Control this week, you have to know how out of control it’s been the past 15 years under "The Great Brian Barnhart."
TGBB’s legacy should be remembered as one of a power-hungry mechanic who was given the keys to the kingdom, thought he was bigger than the show and imposed his ego at every turn.
Instead of following in the footsteps of past Indy car chief stewards, he was allowed to become a dictator, one with no apparent checks and balances and nobody to question his reasoning. His rule book was written with a gray pencil and his rulings were as inconsistent as they were maddening.
Ditto for his communication skills, as he only chose to respond to select phone calls and emails, if at all, according to team managers, mechanics, drivers and owners.
But to really get a glimpse of how amateurish TGBB was in Race Control, one only needed to listen to him during practice or a race.
At a place like Texas, where drivers are on pins and needles every second, he would start screaming into the radios at them and their teams to back off or quit running so close or he was going to throw the yellow flag. I’d heard the rumors, but it took hearing it a few times on my own through a headset to believe it.
Besides making it impossible for drivers to concentrate, the irony wasn’t lost on anyone that the guy who helped create pack racing with rules that mandated high downforce, fixed wing angles and low horsepower was yelling at drivers lap after lap to not run so close…
TGBB would do the same things at other races, just not as frequently, bellowing into the radios that there were 50 laps to go and it was too early to be racing so hard. It’s mind-blowing to think the drivers and teams didn’t end the insanity as soon as it began.
I’ve never tried to keep my beef with TGBB’s handling of some of Indy’s long-standing traditions quiet, and I’m still left to wonder how a guy who NEVER drove a race car at any speed took it upon himself to ruin the flying start at the 500, along with most other ovals. He ordered the front row to be single file on the first lap and suggested the pole-sitter had earned the right to lead that first lap.
Can you imagine Harlan Fengler running that one by A.J., Parnelli, Mario, Herk, Johncock and Rutherford?
Barnhart’s apologists explained that he was worried about a big accident in the first turn. Here’s a bulletin: the essence of Indy is the flying start and if crashes occur, that’s racing.
Changing 100 years of tradition on a whim is as insulting as it is infuriating, and to think he got away with it is almost criminal.
His logic that a driver who takes out 3-4 cars receives just punishment by being placed at the back of the pack was as skewed as his infamous “no passing zones’’ on a street course and gauging a driver’s “intent’’ when there was contact.
Barnhart’s slow exit from power can be traced to his imaginary line call at Edmonton in 2010 when he turned the series, its officials and its rulebook into the laughing stock of the racing world. If you thought that was bad, it was followed by the equally comic going-green-in-the-rain at Loudon last season. But those both take a backseat to the fiasco Barnhart created in the 2002 Indy 500.
TGBB’s legacy should be remembered as one of a power-hungry mechanic who was given the keys to the kingdom, thought he was bigger than the show and imposed his ego at every turn.
Instead of following in the footsteps of past Indy car chief stewards, he was allowed to become a dictator, one with no apparent checks and balances and nobody to question his reasoning. His rule book was written with a gray pencil and his rulings were as inconsistent as they were maddening.
Ditto for his communication skills, as he only chose to respond to select phone calls and emails, if at all, according to team managers, mechanics, drivers and owners.
But to really get a glimpse of how amateurish TGBB was in Race Control, one only needed to listen to him during practice or a race.
At a place like Texas, where drivers are on pins and needles every second, he would start screaming into the radios at them and their teams to back off or quit running so close or he was going to throw the yellow flag. I’d heard the rumors, but it took hearing it a few times on my own through a headset to believe it.
Besides making it impossible for drivers to concentrate, the irony wasn’t lost on anyone that the guy who helped create pack racing with rules that mandated high downforce, fixed wing angles and low horsepower was yelling at drivers lap after lap to not run so close…
TGBB would do the same things at other races, just not as frequently, bellowing into the radios that there were 50 laps to go and it was too early to be racing so hard. It’s mind-blowing to think the drivers and teams didn’t end the insanity as soon as it began.
I’ve never tried to keep my beef with TGBB’s handling of some of Indy’s long-standing traditions quiet, and I’m still left to wonder how a guy who NEVER drove a race car at any speed took it upon himself to ruin the flying start at the 500, along with most other ovals. He ordered the front row to be single file on the first lap and suggested the pole-sitter had earned the right to lead that first lap.
Can you imagine Harlan Fengler running that one by A.J., Parnelli, Mario, Herk, Johncock and Rutherford?
Barnhart’s apologists explained that he was worried about a big accident in the first turn. Here’s a bulletin: the essence of Indy is the flying start and if crashes occur, that’s racing.
Changing 100 years of tradition on a whim is as insulting as it is infuriating, and to think he got away with it is almost criminal.
His logic that a driver who takes out 3-4 cars receives just punishment by being placed at the back of the pack was as skewed as his infamous “no passing zones’’ on a street course and gauging a driver’s “intent’’ when there was contact.
Barnhart’s slow exit from power can be traced to his imaginary line call at Edmonton in 2010 when he turned the series, its officials and its rulebook into the laughing stock of the racing world. If you thought that was bad, it was followed by the equally comic going-green-in-the-rain at Loudon last season. But those both take a backseat to the fiasco Barnhart created in the 2002 Indy 500.
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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