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Bernard’s Blazing Saddles at the IRL Corral, The Redeemed Team, “Meet Gary, He’s Our New Chief Mechanic”, Audi's Cost Savers, HPD’s Helping Hand, and more...
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted February 09, 2010   Oakland, CA
In the current financial climate, factory drivers are becoming a dying breed in sportscars. Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner, the 2008 ALMS LMP1 champions, are the latest to suffer from the shrinking budgets. (LAT)
I’m Glad Santa Brought Me a Flak Jacket

It has been a grumpy two weeks for me and my most beloved series. Somehow the IndyCar I grew up on – the one I used to lay on the floor and listen to on the radio in the 1970’s because most of the races weren’t televised on the West Coast – has turned into a sequence of bad soap opera plots acted out by IndyCar’s top brass.

I’ve gotten a flood of emails and texts from people since the Kee-Rock piece went up, ranging from ‘thanks for saying what I was thinking’ to ‘you are a complete idiot.’

(Actually, the ‘you’re an idiot’ emails come in regardless of the topic.)

While I’m old enough to have lived through some of IndyCar’s most glorious times, I’m most interested in seeing the series return to its place of prominence and importance. What happened in the past was great, and serves as a valuable learning tool, but looking at the current state of IndyCar though rose-colored glasses is a perfect way to avoid the problems it continues to face.

Sadly, many think that only positive reinforcement should be allowed during IndyCar’s rehabilitation process.

I won’t completely rehash the Kee-Rock op-ed, but as far as I’m concerned, anyone that stands in the way of progress, or prefers to paint things as better than they are, is acting as an enabler to the IndyCar Series. IndyCar isn’t dying, but it is withering at an alarming rate thanks to some poor decision making and some rather shady practices of late. The manner by which the 2012 car has been handled is the latest cock-up to emerge.

The Delta Wings were the first to present a total concept to the League, but were met with skepticism from the outset. After a year’s work in the design and simulation of his 2012 car, Ben Bowlby was still branded as a lunatic by IndyCar for his radical new creation.

One of the top engineers in the IndyCar paddock with full knowledge of the situation called me on Friday to say, “Bowlby’s last Lola ChampCar was the easiest car to make go fast I’ve ever worked with. You could put it in the top-5 with half a brain. The thing was fast, reliable, and had a huge setup window. I don’t get why [IndyCar] have convinced themselves otherwise. Ben knows what he’s doing and has the history to back it up.”

Although the Delta Wing car and general concept was shot down by the League, soon after, a bunch of other, similarly radical cars start popping up. It’s another Arsenio Hall ‘Things that make you go, Hmmmnnn’ scenario.

I’ve worked with Lola, Dallara and Swift, and they are all capable and distinguished manufacturers. From my perspective, I’d love to see four new 2012 cars from the aforementioned constructors, and believe each one would bring high levels of quality and creativity to a form of motorsport that sorely needs it.

It wasn’t so long ago when Dallara, GForce, and Riley & Scott shared the IRL marketplace, and they all peacefully co-existed. The three also won IRL titles, further proving that choice is good and shouldn’t be ignored with the next generation of designs. A spec chassis isn’t what we need. Four different chassis that meet a certain spec is where the League needs to go, and looking at how devastated the American open-wheel job market has been, multiple IndyCar constructors would pull a lot of talented people out of the unemployment line.

But where things spin out of control is when I see the League’s attempt to marginalize the group that created the blueprint for 2012, and then embrace those that have followed behind them.

As one veteran team owner said to me on Saturday, “It’s a dirty, dirty game of pool IndyCar is playing right now.”

Whether you like the cars or not, NASCAR was able to devise a plan to build and implement the Car of Tomorrow, and get it on track in a short amount of time. F1 threw out their old rule book and crafted a new car for 2009 that delivered incredible racing, and ChampCar did the same in 2007 with the Panoz DP01.

The precedent was set by three major series within the past few years to recognize a need for a new car, to act on that need, to carry it from the design phase to completion, and then go racing with those new cars in a very reasonable timeframe.

With the IndyCar Series, that precedent had been lost or forgotten. The current Dallara has become so old, it is just a few years away from being accepted in most vintage racing series.

(I’m not kidding on this one. The window for vintage eligibility is usually 10 years after the date of construction…by 2012, the current Dallara would be eligible to run at the Indy 500 and the Monterey Historics.)

So much time passed without action by the League, their entrants got fed up and fashioned a design of their own. Inaction by the organizers led to not just action by the paddock, but a newfound unity that hasn’t always existed.

If you look at the paddock as Labor and the League as Management, Labor feels their big idea was just copied by the men upstairs, and we should be thankful that the paddock hasn’t formed a Union, or they would likely be on strike at this moment.

For anyone that believes this IndyCar Labor and Management issue has something to do with vendettas, an old feud between CART and the IRL, or anything else tied to the past, it simply doesn’t. This is brand new.

The Car of 2012 rift is about today, not yesterday or yesteryear, and has nothing to do with The Split, Unification, IMS or Tony George. Within the past few months, the League has found an opportunity to create an open wound where one had not previously existed.

No matter where your loyalties reside – the League, the Delta Wings, Dallara, Lola, Swift, CART, ChampCar, USAC, AAA, or elsewhere – the only loyalty I can think of that matters is a dedication to the health and growth of IndyCar racing.

Once the League realizes that the road to prosperity begins with removing the wedge they’ve placed between themselves and the paddock, real forward progress can be made.
For some within the IndyCar Series, this group causes concern. For others, Wednesday's launch of the Delta Wing project will further outline where the paddock believes the series must be taken. (Delta Wing)

The Delta Wings tell me they will keep reaching out to the series in the hope that the League’s frosty reception will eventually thaw. We’ll soon learn how long they will continue to turn the other check.

The paddock wants to be a player in the 2012 solution, not a customer to whatever the League comes up with. If there’s one message to receive and remember, this is it.

Another point of distinction is that the Delta Wings want to provide a solution, not the solution. A lot more will be shared in their presentation at the Chicago Auto Show, but the IndyCar of Tomorrow they’ve been pitching for over a year now – what has become the 2012 car – has never been about becoming the sole supplier.

The Delta Wings have shown they are capable of producing their own car, and if the League treats them as anything less than a full partner in the 2012 process, putting this genie back in the bottle will be impossible. This group of wealthy and powerful team owners won’t simply wipe the Delta Wing project off their hard drives and sit idly by as they wait for IndyCar to tell them what cars to purchase for 2012.

The paddock wants a seat at the table – just like the F1 entrants did which resulted in the Concorde Agreement, and as the USAC entrants did which spawned Gurney’s White Paper. Whether you side with Labor or Management, history has shown us that if Labor doesn’t get what it wants, it tends to go elsewhere.

Unless the League has 20 cars and a whole new ownership base waiting in the wings, I’d recommend they pull out a chair and invite the Delta Wings to be seated.

OK, with all of that said, let’s touch on another topic I’ve been asked about a lot -- IndyCar’s new CEO -- before celebrating all of the wonderful things that happened at the Rolex 24.

Bernard’s Blazing Saddles at the IRL Corral

Bear with me on this one.

Spike Lee’s 1989 masterpiece Do the Right Thing was a seminal depiction of race relations in the Bed-Sty section of New York, where tensions between the mostly African-American neighborhood and the owners of ‘Sal’s,’ an Italian restaurant, refuse to acknowledge the history of its local inhabitants.

Anger begins to boil over when some of the youth that frequent Sal’s notice that Sal, and his sons, who are Italian-American, only place photos of beloved Italian singers, athletes, and movie stars on their ‘Wall of Fame.’

From Frank Sinatra to Joe Di Maggio, the wall represents only the people Sal considers worthy, and despite the uproar from the African-American community -- a community whose patronage keeps Sal’s in business, to include photos of prominent blacks -- Sal refuses, citing that he owns the restaurant and the wall, and will never bend to their wishes.

Things reach the boiling point when Mookie, played by Spike Lee, can no longer deal with Sal’s un-bending, vitriol-filled ways, and acts out by throwing a garbage can through the front window of the restaurant, where a fire soon engulfs the pizzeria and a riot ensues.

When it comes to the hiring of Randy Bernard to act as IndyCar’s new CEO, call me Mookie.

I’m ready to throw a garbage can through the IRL’s proverbial window in protest over their continual lack of willingness to hire someone that the entrants – their customers – want to see up on the wall.

I have nothing personal against Randy (like most people in the IndyCar paddock, I don’t know him), but at a time when effective, racing-savvy leadership is needed, hiring someone whom no one has heard of has left a lot of people scratching their heads.

Mind you, I’m not afraid of change or taking risks, but when a niche form of auto racing goes out and hires someone who comes from an uber-niche sport like Professional Bull Riding, one must wonder how these decisions are made.

OK. Time for an intermission.

This was my initial response to Bernard’s hiring.

And then I spent 45 minutes speaking with him on Monday. All I can say is, “Get ready, Martha, ‘cuz there’s a new sheriff in town!"
The 2000 IRL season found Riley & Scott (L) fighting Dallara (M) and GForce (R). The Delta Wings, along with most fans, would like to see a return to a multi-chassis IndyCar Series. (LAT)

And for IndyCar fans, get ready to have a Blazing Saddles moment, because that’s how different Bernard is to the last sheriff we had. (As much as I’d love to include the NSFW movie clip, you’ll have to visit YouTube and search for ‘new sheriff scene blazing saddles’ on your own.)

Prior to speaking with Bernard, I was feeling rather ‘Mookie’ about the whole affair, but as I reached out for opinions on Bernard over the past few days, the wave of positive feedback I’ve gotten from owners -- the ones that aren’t easily appeased -- has forced me to temper my skepticism. It seems that a lot of them – the ones with millions of dollars on the line – have been impressed with Bernard in their initial meetings and conversations.

As much as I didn’t want to like him (and not him personally, but what he represents as an outsider), I’ve hit the rewind button on my Do the Right Thing daydream, watched as the garbage has come back out of Sal’s window, looked on the glass returned to become an un-shattered pane, and will state that I’m genuinely excited for what he can bring to the series.

(Just know that I appreciate all 3 of you who care.)

All kidding aside, what Bernard did with the PBRA is commendable, if not mercurial. The work ethic he demonstrated to get the PBRA where it is today, and the inclusionary practices he employed with his staff, promoters, and sponsors, happens to be just what IndyCar needs to become credible and relevant on a national stage.

The place the IndyCar Series has taken itself to – where it is seen as an impenetrable fortress – is the exact opposite structure and image Bernard developed the PBRA into. Things like clear expectations, deadlines, and delivering on promises are what he’s known for within his current organization. If you’ve been a follower of IndyCar, you’ll know how radical those leadership qualities are, and how sorely they’ve been lacking.

It’s Bernard’s Blazing Saddles at the IRL Corral, and I can’t wait to see this movie's first act.

One team owner with a lot on the line told me, “Yeah, he’s a marketing guy, but he’s also an action guy. He put on something like 80 PBRA events in Brazil, in addition to what they do here, and that’s pretty amazing. Don’t get caught up in his lack of Indy knowledge; he knows sports management. He gets it.”

The next bit, though, is what really caught my attention. After independently vetting Bernard, the owner came away with a serious dose of respect for our next IndyCar CEO.

“I’ve heard Bernard turned down some very lucrative offers to go elsewhere, but chose us instead. He certainly had choices. He won’t be making big dollars here, I guarantee you. There’s no doubt he came here on purpose. The guy chose something hard rather than something a lot easier and better paying. That says a lot to me.”

While I’m mostly on board, I’ll admit that I still have my fears about Bernard. Despite turning down bigger and better offers, this still isn’t a lateral move. This isn’t Pepsi’s CEO leaving to run Coca-Cola. If you compare where he’s coming from and where he’s going to on the ladder of recognized sports, it’s a steep climb.

If turning nothing into something with the PBRA was tough, try doing the same with a property that has fallen harder and faster than a certain sex-addicted pro golfer. Catching people’s attention with a new sport like the PBRA is one thing. Getting people to care about a sport they once loved and have since written off is altogether different.

The job ahead won’t be easy; provided he can get everyone from Brian Barnhart on down focused and in-line with his expectations, the real work can begin. His strengths are in marketing and promotions, but feeling his influence in that area will only come after he scrubs away the imprint of his predecessors from inside the IndyCar offices. To say the IndyCar entrants are anxious to see how this all plays out is a massive understatement.

For those of you that weren’t in the Rolex 24 paddock, I can tell you that the main topic current and former IndyCar folks wanted to talk about was the hiring of Bernard.

‘What in the (insert string of colorful curse words) are they thinking?’ was the common refrain from those I ran into. Never have I heard so many express their desire for Tony George to be placed back into power.

(On the topic of TGeorge, now that Tony’s gone, who else will send me emails asking if my mother knows I’m a jerk? Like when George W. Bush left office, IndyCar racing has lost its primary source for pure comedy Gold. We can only hope that Bernard will provide the same levels of unintentional comedy, but he looks too sharp to slip on the banana peel Tony always seemed to have in front of him…unless you count Randy publicly stating he’d be leaning on Brian Barnhart as he got up to speed in his new job…)

As I spoke to the various people at Daytona, it was that very comment about leaning on Barnhart that sent them into a tailspin. Bernard didn’t know it at the time, but it was just the thing he should not have said.

It would have been too controversial to distance himself from Barnhart from the outset, but with almost all of the IRL’s old management now in the rearview mirror, it would have been a deft political move to establish his name without any association, either real or perceived, as being a shareholder in Barnhart’s plummeting stock.

What happens at 16th and Georgetown when Bernard takes office on March 1st is unknown. I’d expect him to keep everyone on staff. Knowing how much he likes to build and renovate, look for Bernard to err on the positive side, and to work with everyone – including Barnhart – to move the company forward.

He’s said to be a man that values giving people second chances, and with someone other than Tony George as his boss, Barnhart could have his first proper mentor. As an outsider -- one that doesn't bring the usual motorsports-rich skillset, Bernard could serve as the agent of change in the IndyCar Series and for the beleaguered B. Barnhart.
Randy Bernard (M), is more than the new sheriff in town; he's a new kind of sheriff. (LAT)

It would have been improper for Bernard to speak at length in our call about such things while three weeks away from his first day on the job, but he was adamant that his comments about leaning on Barnhart weren’t made by mistake, nor were they the words of a fool. If he's to engage everyone in IndyCar's healing process, excluding Barnhart from the process would send the wrong message.

“I stand by what I say about Brian. When I went and did my due diligence with team owners and the people I met with, whether they loved him or not, and honestly, nobody said they hated him. They said that he knew the rules and did a good job. But to my point, I’m a huge believer in Brian. I hope that management from the top down can work together as a team.”

Bernard’s lack of hubris and self-aware sense of and humor came out frequently on our call, but none more than when he tipped his hand to reading some of the comments recently written about him.

“My…well, I can’t use the word ‘vision’ because Robin Miller said not to…my plan is to create teamwork between team owners, the management, and our sponsors so that we work together, and so that we all come up with the best solution for the League. That includes everyone.”

My initial ‘Mookie moment’ came from seeing another yet unqualified candidate get the keys to the IndyCar kingdom, but after peeking under the hood, I’m cautiously optimistic that the League hired the right man for the job. He lacks the auto racing experience I wanted, but in retrospect, maybe Bernard’s ability to come in without being tainted by open-wheel’s murky past is a good thing. He's baggage-free.

He isn’t a rookie to sports, the administration behind sports, or the marketing and promotions side. Throughout our conversation, Bernard came across as anything but a ‘suit.’ And to my complete surprise, Bernard asked more questions than I did – a rarity amongst auto racing CEOs.

Like Cleavon Little’s character in Blazing Saddles, Bernard isn’t just the new sheriff in town, he’s a new kind of sheriff. In a town accustomed to sheriffs with a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach, Bernard’s ‘ask questions first’ style will take some getting used to.

It’s a good thing February is the shortest month of the year -- March 1st can’t come soon enough.

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Marshall Pruett

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