The distribution of the new engines has been anything but well-orchestrated. Nobody held Lotus' feet to the fire when it became obvious it couldn’t pull its weight and there was no backup provision for the teams not hand-picked by Honda or General Motors.

Shank, the first to sign with Lotus, couldn’t get a call back from anybody until he won the 24 Hours of Daytona. Fisher wore out her speed dial and Walker had to lean on his old boss to help get Ed a Chevy.

Honda and Bobby Rahal thankfully rescued Sarah so right now it appears everyone with enough money will be set for the season opener (although Paul Tracy maintains that if he had a Honda, he’d have a full-time ride with Shank because his associate sponsor is Honda of Canada).

Fisher didn’t deserve to be kept dangling until the last minute and this is certainly no way to welcome Shank into the club. He’s been more discouraged than encouraged to join the series.

I'm not sure if Bachelart had the funding in place for a full season, but his seniority at least merited some straight answers.

It’s not that Bernard didn’t care about those teams, but he couldn’t devote the necessary time because he doesn’t have it. That’s why Horne or Walker would be invaluable. They could have asked the manufacturers some tough questions, maybe sounded the warning bell about Lotus months ago and worked with the owners to try and keep them apprised of the car/engine situations.

Either one can give the owner’s perspective, which is important. They know all the pitfalls, all the tricks and most of the lies. They also know what is worth Randy’s time and what isn’t. The former car owners could make decisions that are good for the series, right now and down the road.

Phillips is a very clever fellow about race cars with a great work ethic but he’s got to be the policeman 24/7 and doesn’t possess Horne’s or Walker’s depth of overall knowledge. Barfield’s job is to manage the races – not the racers – and both of those guys could use an experienced hand to lean on or bounce ideas off of – just like Bernard.

Before he retired, Horne was just like Walker—living and breathing Indy car racing and they’re the only two people I can think of with the wherewithal, passion and knowledge to be fair as well as respected by the paddock.

Horne has made it clear he’s not interested in anything full-time and Derrick would need a hall pass from Ed and TGeorge, but both care deeply about INDYCAR’s future and are definitely interested in helping the cause. Maybe a consulting role could be a possibility.

A lot of us want to see Bernard succeed but there is way too much on his plate and hiring Horne or Walker as his facilitator/sergeant-at-arms would make his job much easier.

And give INDYCAR an experienced voice of reason.

Robin Miller brings 40 years of experience to his role as SPEED.com's senior open-wheel reporter, and serves as a frequent contributor to SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED