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IndyCar
PRUETT: The Firing Of IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard, Part 1
Randy Bernard’s firing is filled with unhealthy levels of drama and intrigue...
The handling of Randy Bernard's exit from the IZOD IndyCar Series was far from pleasant of professional, but for those who wanted him out, the reasons for making a change were many. (Photo: IMS Photo)
Like most things involving change within Indy car racing over the past 30 years, the tale behind Randy Bernard’s firing is filled with unhealthy levels of drama and intrigue.
There are so many points, counterpoints, facts, lies, public agendas, hidden agendas and self-inflicted wounds in what transpired, it’s hard to present them in an orderly and chronological manner so I’ve broken this into a two-part feature.
My colleague Robin Miller has chronicled Bernard’s triumphs more than once recently (and expressed his outrage), so rather than repeat that list or those sentiments, I’ll stick to the unsavory and less publicized bits that took place behind the scenes with Bernard's departure.
And rather than present commentary at every turn, this is meant to be more of a neutral analysis of what transpired wherever it was possible than an impassioned look at how it all went down.
REASONS TO FIRE SOMEONE
Count me among those who were stunned and amazed at the hasty decision taken by the Hulman & Co. board to fire Randy Bernard on Sunday.
To be clear, I’m not stunned or amazed that he was fired—those plans had been afoot in some shape or form since 2011, but rather by how it transpired in such a the-world-is-going-to-end-if-we-don’t-do-it-right-now manner.
I’m also stunned by the ham-fisted way it was handled and presented to the world. Public Relations students will use this as a case study of what not to do for eons. More on that tomorrow.
Like most people, I’ve been fired before. Once at a job in the corporate world, I was told my heart wasn’t in it (trust me, it wasn’t) before being shown the proverbial door, and I’ve also been replaced by a more experienced and talented engineer (true on both counts) at an Indy car team.
There are other reasons for being fired, obviously, but either doing a bad job or having a more qualified person come along are the most common examples I’ve seen. Running Bernard’s firing through both scenarios, we can instantly cross off the latter option.
That’s not to say a better CEO doesn’t exist, but the Hulman & Co. board clearly did not have that person, whoever he or she turns out to be, ready to show up to work Monday morning.
That leaves poor job performance as the reason for Bernard’s dismissal. It can be spun in many different ways, but in essence, Bernard was told “you’re not meeting our minimum standards to keep the job” via the board’s vote. For those outside the series, that’s the hard part to reconcile or accept.
After three years on the job, a myriad of reasons—some performance related, some inter-personal and some involving an articulated plan to unseat him—came together to shift Bernard from having control of the series to being cast aside overnight.
It was done in a messy and amateurish way, but the how Randy Bernard was fired and the reasons for his firing are two separate things.
And as easy as it would be to paint Bernard’s firing as strictly a political move, it would only tell part of the story.
BUT I DON’T UNDERSTAND…I THOUGHT EVERYBODY LIKED RANDY…
Randy Bernard was, by many accounts, the most popular CEO in modern Indy car history, and that’s CART, Champ Car and IndyCar combined.
Unfortunately, that popularity rested almost exclusively with IndyCar’s fans.
Within most of the paddock, and that includes team owners, managers and drivers, Bernard will be remembered as one of the least popular, most disliked CEO in decades.
Loved publically, loathed privately.
Weigh that against IRL founder and former IndyCar boss Tony George who, by comparison, ranks as possibly the most hated open-wheel principal of all time among the fans, yet, during his reign, was generally well received by the paddock.
Loathed publically, liked privately.
We’ll get to the details in just a moment, but to understand how and why Bernard was released on such short notice, it’s imperative to accept that a significant portion of the paddock did not want him to remain on the job.
SILENCE
The most ravenous calls for Bernard’s head started just after the season finale at Fontana.
But, as many keen observers noted, the Hulman & Co. board, IMS CEO Jeff Belskus and, most importantly, IndyCar’s team owners and drivers, were dead silent at a time when they could have stood behind him.
Granted, that wasn’t a new or recent development, but when it mattered most, Bernard found himself twisting in the wind with no public or private support.
It was only when IMS was pressed that a tepid, “Randy Bernard’s employment status has not changed” style quote was issued by the track’s PR department, rather than via Belskus through the PR department.
At this point, enough people began to ask why Bernard wasn’t getting the support from the IndyCar paddock or an endorsement from Belskus they expected him to receive, while others, including driver Graham Rahal, ratcheted up the conversation through Twitter by calling for a definitive, Caesar-esque thumbs up or thumbs down.
“Come on people either keep Randy or fire him but this is foolish and embarrassing for this sport,” he wrote.
Even compared to those who remained completely silent, Rahal’s impersonal stance with Bernard spoke volumes.
Bernard had been unpopular within the series for some time. That was nothing new. How that unpopularity—during a relatively quiet off-season—turned into a run-and-hit-the-eject-button emergency is where we’ll find the most gristle in what took place.
SO, WHAT LED TO THE PADDOCK TURNING AGAINST BERNARD?
To quote the Beatles, this is a long and winding road.
I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this section, but here’s everything I’ve known firsthand and had reinforced by those within the paddock—including some who played a big part in Bernard’s demise--during many days of battery-depleting calls.
Bernard came into IndyCar as an outsider, one who didn’t know the sport but had endless enthusiasm and a lot of big ideas on how to take a stagnant series and restore some of its shine.
Among team owners, his hiring wasn’t universally popular, but most were willing to give him a chance to work his magic. As it turned out, he was given an incredibly short leash and it didn’t take long for the most active owners to start keeping a ledger of every major and minor misstep.
Perspective and opinion is everything in this situation, and as that ledger grew to a point where the bulk of paddock, the Hulman & Co. board and Tony George’s takeover team felt it was time for a change, the items below are the most serious offenses that were levied against Bernard.
• If we’re to build a chronology of sorts, you can start with the ICONIC committee that Bernard assembled in 2010 to craft the framework and vendors for the new 2012 Indy car.
Some owners were vehemently opposed to the DeltaWing concept, while others felt that choosing anything other than the DeltaWing was going to deal a fatal blow to IndyCar. Some wanted Lola to become to sole supplier, while others were keen on Swift. The eventual choice of Dallara drew the ire of a surprising number of owners who felt the entire ICONIC process was rigged from the outset.
“Why did they bother with that Mickey Mouse show?” asked one owner at the time. “Anyone with half a brain knew it was going to be Dallara the whole time, so why jerk everybody around?”
Regardless of which chassis you liked the most, just know that for some, when the DeltaWing/Lola/Swift options weren’t selected, the first fractures started to form. Questions about Bernard’s ability to lead and make the right forward-looking decisions were also cast.
• Scrutinizing the next major item that shook the paddock’s confidence, the implementation of double-file restarts in 2011 was a season-long problem for IndyCar drivers, in particular. Whether you liked or disliked the move, just know that for the majority of the drivers, it was seen as something they didn’t want, felt was too dangerous and, except for one or two of them, railed against through the end of the 2012 season.
Those restarts didn’t prove to be the cataclysmic move that many drivers predicted, but its implementation served as the first big event where drivers went from believing Bernard was on their side to feeling he ignored their concerns and put the show ahead of their safety.
It wasn’t the first instance where the topic was raised, but for the drivers, the double-file restarts really drove home the need for Bernard to hire a competition director of sorts—someone to handle the affairs of the paddock while insulating Bernard from making future decisions about rules, restarts, technical affairs and many other items where he lacked experience and historical reference.
(Cont.)
There are so many points, counterpoints, facts, lies, public agendas, hidden agendas and self-inflicted wounds in what transpired, it’s hard to present them in an orderly and chronological manner so I’ve broken this into a two-part feature.
My colleague Robin Miller has chronicled Bernard’s triumphs more than once recently (and expressed his outrage), so rather than repeat that list or those sentiments, I’ll stick to the unsavory and less publicized bits that took place behind the scenes with Bernard's departure.
And rather than present commentary at every turn, this is meant to be more of a neutral analysis of what transpired wherever it was possible than an impassioned look at how it all went down.
REASONS TO FIRE SOMEONE
Count me among those who were stunned and amazed at the hasty decision taken by the Hulman & Co. board to fire Randy Bernard on Sunday.
To be clear, I’m not stunned or amazed that he was fired—those plans had been afoot in some shape or form since 2011, but rather by how it transpired in such a the-world-is-going-to-end-if-we-don’t-do-it-right-now manner.
I’m also stunned by the ham-fisted way it was handled and presented to the world. Public Relations students will use this as a case study of what not to do for eons. More on that tomorrow.
Like most people, I’ve been fired before. Once at a job in the corporate world, I was told my heart wasn’t in it (trust me, it wasn’t) before being shown the proverbial door, and I’ve also been replaced by a more experienced and talented engineer (true on both counts) at an Indy car team.
There are other reasons for being fired, obviously, but either doing a bad job or having a more qualified person come along are the most common examples I’ve seen. Running Bernard’s firing through both scenarios, we can instantly cross off the latter option.
That’s not to say a better CEO doesn’t exist, but the Hulman & Co. board clearly did not have that person, whoever he or she turns out to be, ready to show up to work Monday morning.
That leaves poor job performance as the reason for Bernard’s dismissal. It can be spun in many different ways, but in essence, Bernard was told “you’re not meeting our minimum standards to keep the job” via the board’s vote. For those outside the series, that’s the hard part to reconcile or accept.
After three years on the job, a myriad of reasons—some performance related, some inter-personal and some involving an articulated plan to unseat him—came together to shift Bernard from having control of the series to being cast aside overnight.
It was done in a messy and amateurish way, but the how Randy Bernard was fired and the reasons for his firing are two separate things.
And as easy as it would be to paint Bernard’s firing as strictly a political move, it would only tell part of the story.
BUT I DON’T UNDERSTAND…I THOUGHT EVERYBODY LIKED RANDY…
Randy Bernard was, by many accounts, the most popular CEO in modern Indy car history, and that’s CART, Champ Car and IndyCar combined.
Unfortunately, that popularity rested almost exclusively with IndyCar’s fans.
Within most of the paddock, and that includes team owners, managers and drivers, Bernard will be remembered as one of the least popular, most disliked CEO in decades.
Loved publically, loathed privately.
Weigh that against IRL founder and former IndyCar boss Tony George who, by comparison, ranks as possibly the most hated open-wheel principal of all time among the fans, yet, during his reign, was generally well received by the paddock.
Loathed publically, liked privately.
We’ll get to the details in just a moment, but to understand how and why Bernard was released on such short notice, it’s imperative to accept that a significant portion of the paddock did not want him to remain on the job.
SILENCE
The most ravenous calls for Bernard’s head started just after the season finale at Fontana.
But, as many keen observers noted, the Hulman & Co. board, IMS CEO Jeff Belskus and, most importantly, IndyCar’s team owners and drivers, were dead silent at a time when they could have stood behind him.
Granted, that wasn’t a new or recent development, but when it mattered most, Bernard found himself twisting in the wind with no public or private support.
It was only when IMS was pressed that a tepid, “Randy Bernard’s employment status has not changed” style quote was issued by the track’s PR department, rather than via Belskus through the PR department.
At this point, enough people began to ask why Bernard wasn’t getting the support from the IndyCar paddock or an endorsement from Belskus they expected him to receive, while others, including driver Graham Rahal, ratcheted up the conversation through Twitter by calling for a definitive, Caesar-esque thumbs up or thumbs down.
“Come on people either keep Randy or fire him but this is foolish and embarrassing for this sport,” he wrote.
Even compared to those who remained completely silent, Rahal’s impersonal stance with Bernard spoke volumes.
Bernard had been unpopular within the series for some time. That was nothing new. How that unpopularity—during a relatively quiet off-season—turned into a run-and-hit-the-eject-button emergency is where we’ll find the most gristle in what took place.
SO, WHAT LED TO THE PADDOCK TURNING AGAINST BERNARD?
To quote the Beatles, this is a long and winding road.
I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this section, but here’s everything I’ve known firsthand and had reinforced by those within the paddock—including some who played a big part in Bernard’s demise--during many days of battery-depleting calls.
Bernard came into IndyCar as an outsider, one who didn’t know the sport but had endless enthusiasm and a lot of big ideas on how to take a stagnant series and restore some of its shine.
Among team owners, his hiring wasn’t universally popular, but most were willing to give him a chance to work his magic. As it turned out, he was given an incredibly short leash and it didn’t take long for the most active owners to start keeping a ledger of every major and minor misstep.
Perspective and opinion is everything in this situation, and as that ledger grew to a point where the bulk of paddock, the Hulman & Co. board and Tony George’s takeover team felt it was time for a change, the items below are the most serious offenses that were levied against Bernard.
• If we’re to build a chronology of sorts, you can start with the ICONIC committee that Bernard assembled in 2010 to craft the framework and vendors for the new 2012 Indy car.
Some owners were vehemently opposed to the DeltaWing concept, while others felt that choosing anything other than the DeltaWing was going to deal a fatal blow to IndyCar. Some wanted Lola to become to sole supplier, while others were keen on Swift. The eventual choice of Dallara drew the ire of a surprising number of owners who felt the entire ICONIC process was rigged from the outset.
“Why did they bother with that Mickey Mouse show?” asked one owner at the time. “Anyone with half a brain knew it was going to be Dallara the whole time, so why jerk everybody around?”
Regardless of which chassis you liked the most, just know that for some, when the DeltaWing/Lola/Swift options weren’t selected, the first fractures started to form. Questions about Bernard’s ability to lead and make the right forward-looking decisions were also cast.
• Scrutinizing the next major item that shook the paddock’s confidence, the implementation of double-file restarts in 2011 was a season-long problem for IndyCar drivers, in particular. Whether you liked or disliked the move, just know that for the majority of the drivers, it was seen as something they didn’t want, felt was too dangerous and, except for one or two of them, railed against through the end of the 2012 season.
Those restarts didn’t prove to be the cataclysmic move that many drivers predicted, but its implementation served as the first big event where drivers went from believing Bernard was on their side to feeling he ignored their concerns and put the show ahead of their safety.
It wasn’t the first instance where the topic was raised, but for the drivers, the double-file restarts really drove home the need for Bernard to hire a competition director of sorts—someone to handle the affairs of the paddock while insulating Bernard from making future decisions about rules, restarts, technical affairs and many other items where he lacked experience and historical reference.
(Cont.)
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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