Frenetic Friday -- Randy Bernard Edition

Probably the most significant move IndyCar made in 2010 was bringing on Randy Bernard as the CEO back in the spring. The success he had with building up the Professional Bull Riding series was impressive, but given the fact by his own admission he had never even seen a race prior to his hiring, it made people wonder if he would have the ability to figure everything out and start moving forward in the very short window that sat in front of him.

Fortunately he did, and the series heads into 2011 (and 2012) with the most positive momentum (drink, ye bastards) it’s had in, well, decades really.

I like a lot about Bernard, but here are a few things that really stood out to me this year and why he was such a good hire for the series:

He doesn’t claim to know all the answers. A mark of a good boss in any environment is someone who is willing to listen to others, gather information and make solid decisions. Bernard knows he isn’t a racing expert, his strength lies in his organizational skills and how he gets people on the same page and then takes it upon himself to make the final, informed decision.

He’s not an insider. That’s huge, because one of the problems with CART and the IRL is that they were both basically owned and run by the league’s influential car owners or the most influential family in the industry. That leads to decisions that serve your own best interests. You look at the 25/8 rule (of course), or engine leases, where Roger Penske leased out engines on behalf of a manufacturer and wouldn’t let teams tear down the motors. But of course his team could. I could go on and on, but what Bernard brings to the table is the fact his decisions are made for the best interest of the series and he doesn’t cave to the special interests of some. Hopefully that stays the case for a long time.

He understands the sport’s heritage and history. Deciding to combine all of the records from IndyCar, CART, IRL, AAA, etc. was a nod to the fact we have to honor and celebrate the numbers and records from the past. Open wheel racing is only rivaled by baseball in terms of longevity as a professional sport, and numbers are important to people. Records have always mattered at Indy, but to start combining stats such as wins, poles or national championships recognizes so many more great drivers than had been in the past, and people appreciate that.

Speed is important. Along with the IRL-CART split, I feel the decline of the Indy 500 can also be blamed on the rules that set speeds at their current level. While it was probably necessary for a time in terms of driver safety, the fans became bored with seeing the same 225 mph laps every year. Fans love innovation, speed and track records. The cars, motors and tires are so tuned that everything but race day is nothing more than a glorified testing session. Bernard recognizes this, and his mandate of setting a track record at Indy in 2011 or 2012 was met very positively.

And most of all…

It’s about the fans! In this area, Bernard more than gets it. He understands the element of the fan and our contribution to the sport. He’s taken steps to try and make the events more affordable and give the fans unprecedented access to the drivers and teams. He understands the importance of technology and social media, and a push has been made to utilize those mediums to the fullest. He also knows that there is a “lost generation” fanbase that needs to be introduced (or re-introduced) to the sport. I believe that this area is his biggest challenge and one that will be a high priority for Bernard in the future.

As race fans we have plenty to look forward to in 2011 and beyond. So in the spirit of the New Year, let’s raise our glasses to say goodbye to a great season, and toast what can be an even better one that lies ahead.

Passing on the Tradition

Speaking of Pole Day, this year represented the first time my 14 and 10-year-old boys had been to the Speedway. After enduring a 3-hour car ride from Chicago and sitting in the afternoon heat, the first question my little one asks when we got back to the car: "When do they have time trials again so we can go?" His brother then nodded. Hopefully I've started passing along my love for open wheel racing, and especially the 500, to my kids the way my Dad did to me!

My Top Moment of 2010

Despite the dominance of the red cars in 2010, I felt like there were actually a lot of great moments and some memorable highlights to the IndyCar season. But the one that sticks out in my mind is Helio Castroneves' performance during Pole Day at Indy.

Being there that day I think is what sets it apart for me. To be able to feel the temps (pushing 80) and how the sun was beating down on the track, and to see drivers struggle with the conditions and the tense looks form on their faces as the day went on, it was obvious that this was a tough day for everyone involved.

That's what makes what Helio did so epic, and put in two of the most impressive qualifying runs I have ever seen.

Helio waits for his ride!

Second to provisional pole sitter Alex Tagliani and the first-ever Shootout for the top nine qualifiers approaching, Team Penske pulled Catroneves' time -- which he set in cooler conditions right after the track opened at 11 a.m. -- and sent him back out to run again just before 2:45 p.m.

With the track probably at its absolute worst, Helio pumped out a first lap of 227.319 mph and finished with a four-lap average of 226.774 to jump ahead of Tagliani in the standings.

But he wasn't finished. Ninety minutes later he brought the place to its feet when he opened the shootout by turning his first two laps above 228, the two fastest laps of the entire month, before pushing his average to 227.970.

In the end the shootout became very interesting, with Will Power, Dario Fanchitti and Tagliani giving it good efforts. While Power eventually got within four-tenths of a second from bumping Castroneves out of the top spot, it came later in the session as the track got cooler and everyone's speeds began improving.

Helio's two runs, when they counted the most, came when the track was just dreadful. Some days the car does much of the work, and other days it's up to the driver. Pole Day was definitely one of the latter, and Castroneves was up to the task.

I'm All About High School Basketball This Week...

...but I couldn't go without a mention of the new Indy 500 commemorative stamp. Wow. This is really cool! I've always loved the Wasp and while I know it probably can't be done, I wish a team could paint up their car and run No. 32 this May. Consider it like a throwback jersey!

Simona!

According to several sources (and I'll list one here) it was announced late last week that Simona DeSilvestro has secured a multi-year agreement with HVM Racing that includes the all-important full sponsorship.

"Yes, we’ve signed a multi-year agreement with a sponsor to secure Simona’s future," team owner Keith Wiggins told SpeedTV. “We’ll have an official announcement and press conference in January but that’s all we can say.”

He did reportedly add that the sponsor will be new to racing.


Good news on so many fronts (as you can tell by my headline I'm a Simona fan). I'm not the only one DeSilvestro won over in 2010, as she earned plenty of fans with her outgoing demeanor and respect among her fellow drivers for her performance on a one-car team that struggled with funding all year. At Indy she was a first-day qualifier who finished on the lead lap in 14th place and was named Rookie of the Year, led laps in Brazil and had a great weekend at Edmonton before being spun out mid-race.

A couple of places I've read states that this is a very underrated signing, and I agree. Simona represents the "new era" of driver that the series is looking for and needs to continue with the momentum it has begun building over the last few months. 

automobilemag.com

Young (22), bright and very personable, not to mention extremely talented in the car, DeSilvestro is someone who can represent the sport well in front of sponsors, fans and media. Should her performance steadily improve in 2011, IndyCar would be smart to get her in front of people as often as they possibly can.

A great indication of that is to how well she handled with the car fire incident at Texas. That was a total failure and screw up of epic proportions, but the fact that she was able to handle it with such diplomacy goes a long way towards showing her savvy for knowing how to stand up in the public eye.

Behind the wheel, the fact she is a woman is a sidelight, it doesn't really matter. In relation to the public, I see her as a potential replacement for the retiring Sarah Fisher in terms of overall appeal.

DeSilvestro has that kind of personality and PR intelligence that true fans will be attracted to. Maybe not the fans who follow whichever driver the media tells them to, but sooner or later they will come around as well. 


It's good for the series to have women drivers. From a competition side it is a level playing field so it gives the opportunity for men and women to truly compete against each other, which is great to see. When I'm watching a race, it's just names and cars and numbers. Women can win races, and they already have. No other sport can say that, and that is what makes racing unique.

From a series standpoint, it offers crossover appeal which brings more people into the sport. IndyCar needs to put people in the seats, get them to buy merchandise and watch the broadcast on TV. The more broad the spectrum of drivers, the more potential there is to find fans.

I've read places where Simona is interested in driving F1, but unless he had some sense beaten into him (low blow, but come on, it set itself up and the guy is a chauvinistic ass!) it is very unlikely to happen in Bernie Ecclestone's lifetime -- and even beyond given the heavily political nature of that series. In the end their loss is IndyCar's gain, and I think she will be a force in American open wheel racing for some time to come.

Frenetic Friday -- I'll Play Along!

Great post on IndyCar Advocate today about three defining Indy 500 moments:

http://www.indycaradvocate.com/

Like many, the Speedway is special to me...a living, breathing place that has been a part of my life since I was 10 years old. I have so many memories, of waking up on Pole Day and driving down from Peoria, IL, living just a mile from the track for a couple of years, so close that I could hear the roar of the cars and when teams tested in the spring I'd jump in my car to run down and watch. I've had so many great times with family and friends, and in the end those are the best memories of all.

It's a tough choice to narrow them down, but I'll do my best and add four of mine...


See me in the background?


-- Pole Day, 1979. My first trip ever to the Speedway with my Dad. Like so many, he had his own Race Day tradition, washing and detailing his car while he listened to the broadcast on the radio. He had a passion for the race for 30 years before he ever set foot on the grounds, and that passion was passed along to me that day. I was hooked from the moment we walked in the old entrance at 16th and Georgetown. Rick Mears made a late-afternoon dash to capture the pole at 193 mph, and went on to win the race for the first time two weeks later. That was the start of his own personal dynasty, and that's when it all started for me, too. I still get the same feeling as I did that day every time I walk in the gates.

-- 1988. After going to Pole Day for close to a decade, I finally got the chance to experience my first race, and it was everything I thought it would be. I sat in the short chute betweens Turn 1 and 2 on a warm and sunny day, and every single color just popped in vivid glory. Danny Sullivan dominated the first half of the race, but Mears took the lead on lap 123 and never gave it back to win for the third time. The 2011 race will be the 13th time I've seen the 500 in person.

-- 2009. Helio Castroneves had spent the first few months of the year fighting for his freedom while he battled legal issues in a federal court in Atlanta. Cleared of the charges, he went to Indy looking to catch up on lost time and to find his happiness again. His pole position and third 500 win more than gave him his mojo back. I was going through a tough time then as well, and as usual the month of May lifted my spirits. It was a great way to celebrate my 40th birthday with my good friends Kevini and Joe. Knowing what Helio had just gone through, I could relate and was rooting for him as hard as ever. Helio doesn't know it, but he won that race for me.

-- 2010. I brought my two boys to Pole Day for the first time, passing the 500 down to them the same way my Dad did with me. We went to time trials together for 15 straight years, and I wouldn't trade those days and those memories for anything, especially now that my Dad is gone. The kids loved it (thankfully!) and have talked several times since about how they can't wait to go again. I'm hoping that I've started a new tradition with them!

Did It Get Much Better Than 1993?

Indy Star racing guru Curt Cavin recently remarked in his Ask The Expert blog that his favorite Indy 500 was Jacques Villeneuve's 505-mile win in 1995.

That’s a pretty good call, and probably in my own personal top-5, along with Emerson Fittipaldi’s duel with Al Unser Jr. (1989) and Sam Hornish’s last lap pass of Marco Andretti to win in 2006.

But which race in the Mike Knapp Era (since 1979) is my favorite?

1993.

I had seats in the top row just past the apex of turn 4, still probably the best seats I have ever had. And because ticket brokering (is that the more PC term?) is legal in Indiana, I can say that I paid $165 for those babies, which had a face value of $45.

It was an exciting month. Nigel Mansell had come over from Formula 1 and won his first race on his way to the CART championship. It was the first time since 1958 that the race didn’t include A.J. Foyt, who abruptly announced his retirement on pole day after 35 straight starts. Rick Mears, who had also stepped down from his ride the previous winter, was absent from the field for the first time since his rookie year in 1978.

Even missing that star power,  the race included six former winners, and seven overall as Eddie Cheever would win the 500 five years later.

Another surprise was the front row qualifying effort of Raul Boesel, who gave Dick Simon Racing its first legitimate opportunity to win the race. Boesel took the lead at the start of the race and eventually led 18 laps, but served two stop-and-go penalties which sidetracked his day.

All told, 12 drivers led laps that day. Mario Andretti led a race-high 72 laps before finishing fifth, and Mansell, who had never run a race of longer than 200 miles, paced the field for 34 circuits.

Mansell drove brilliantly and led the race heading back to a restart with 16 laps to go. His inexperience with oval track racing and restarts reared its ugly head, though, as Arie Luyendyk and Fittipaldi whipped past him, with Fittipaldi eventually taking the lead and pulling away to win in just under three seconds.

Fittipaldi, who almost went a lap down in turn 4 early, drove a patient race and was in front for the final 16 laps, which were the only laps he had led all day. He was fast when he needed it most.

Watching the race on YouTube recently, I was amazed at how fierce the racing was through the entire field. A total of 24 cars were running at the finish, and I believe the top eight finishers were on the frontstretch when Fittipaldi took the checkered flag.

Quite simply, this race was absolutely stacked. It included multiple 500 winners, multiple F1 world champions, past and future CART series champions and a slate of drivers who competed in the race more than 10 times. Without a doubt that field is on the short list of one of the deepest fields the race has ever assembled.

Arguably, CART was the premiere racing series in the world at the time. If you won a race around that time, you had to beat many of the best drivers on the planet.

For me it would be the last 500 I would see in person for seven years, as I moved away from Indy early the next year and started a family, then put the race on the shelf along with many others when the split happened in 1996.

I'm glad I came back, and I think that the series and the particularly the Indy 500 are making a comeback as well. Can it ever return to those glory days? Probably not, but it's something to reach for. And if you ever want to show someone what open wheel racing looks like when it is at its best, this is a good place to start.