Thread: Chevy team owners trying to oust Randy Bernard

Originally Posted by FIAT1

Hmm, and I thought that my posts are pretty clear. Sorry dude I can't help you any better.Good day!

As were mine. See ya

Some posters here seem to have been living in a universe parallel to this one. ; )

Randy Bernard has slowly but surely taken this series and put it back on the rails to respectability. He had the sense to make changes when it was clear Tony George's fair haired boy Barnhart couldn't manage the actual racing, and he got all the owners on the same page to get a new car on track. He is trying to manage engines, which isn't easy, which I guess has him in hot water. This will pass if the owners of the series (Mari Hulman and the sisters) realize that changing horses is a bad idea. This series is really starting to trend upward in the eyes of the race fans, and now we require patience and small changes.

People, look to NASCAR this year and notice the griping and complaining about the racing. People want to see good racing, and Indycar has provided that. This year's Indy 500 was about as good as any I have seen in a long time. The TV package looks better, the car looks decent, races well, and they are getting a handle on stability with promotors and track owners. IF the Hulman-George clan can't see all this, then they deserve to be holding the bag. Randy hasn't been perfect, but he knows bull ****e after being around them in the rodeo world. This tempest in a teapot shall pass. The owners are often rich guys with no sense of the big picture. Which is why all successful series are run by benign dictators....Randy needs to be given the authority to be tougher, and he must BE tougher.

Originally Posted by anthonyvop

I can argue the "best talent on the grid in years" part for a long time. The racing has been good and I can see how some people were excited about the Indy 500. But don't forget to add in stagnant attendance # (except Brazil because of Barricello) low TV ratings and allegations of favoritism towards one manufacturer. Not to mention costs much higher than expected, a delay in different aero kits and the whole Lotus isssue.

When was the grid in aggregate better? I don't think this field is head and shoulders above any other - but I'd say it is the best field of aggregate talent since the early 1990's for sure (and this is most certainly qualify as "in years"...). I will go so far as to say that there is a good chance we will look back o this field over the next 2-3 years as one of the best ever in 20 years - but only time and future results will determine the validity of that supposition.

Attendance and tv have been cruddy for years - and I suspect that regardless of what anybody does those are facts that will remain for years to come ...

The other stuff you cite sounds like auto-racing to me. These are always price over-runs. There is always some sort of rules controversy. If there weren't these thing the sport would be as boring as watching cars drive in circles all day

The more I think about it, without all the BS the whole lot of us wouldn't be here talking about Indycar at all.

This series is far from perfect ... And frankly Randy's experiment with the 5 outside racers free tickets etc at Vegas las year was a complete and utter flop on par with any and all the blunders in aowr history

But for a poster to compare tony to Steve jobs might be the silliest comment ever written

Originally Posted by SarahFan

But for a poster to compare tony to Steve jobs might be the silliest comment ever written

I wouldn't even compare him to the likes of Steve Ballmer, much less Steve Jobs.

But like I asked, who would these village idiots replace Bernard with? Jargon Joe Heitzler, Andy Evans, Andrew Craig? How about Flavio Briatore? I hear he's not all that busy these days? Maybe they could get Bernie Madoff to run it from his jail cell.

At least at the plant level, I've had a hand in firing more than a few incompetent managers over the years. But one thing I learned early on, even when dealing with the biggest goof ball in the world, before you fire him, you better have SOME idea of who you're going to replace him with. As smart as these owners are *supposed* to be about business, do they not realize this basic and fundamental concept???

So for anyone here who wants to see Bernard gone, would you please offer up a name for a replacement?

IndyCar Series CEO Randy Bernard says he has team owners' support | Detroit Free Press | freep.com


This is new, hmm, no Penske? Well ,you be the judge.

Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa

Randy Bernard has slowly but surely taken this series and put it back on the rails to respectability.

Do you feel the same way after the fiasco that was Detroit?

A lot of people today were saying that you can't blame RB for what happened today. I guess the old adage, "the Buck Stops Here" doesn't apply in this type of leadership

Originally Posted by anthonyvop

Do you feel the same way after the fiasco that was Detroit?

A lot of people today were saying that you can't blame RB for what happened today. I guess the old adage, "the Buck Stops Here" doesn't apply in this type of leadership

what part of this fiasco did Randy have direct control of?

The track conditiion, nope. The tv switch, nope.


Gary

Originally Posted by garyshell

what part of this fiasco did Randy have direct control of?

The track conditiion, nope. The tv switch, nope.


Gary

Of course he had control of the track conditions. Wasn't there a inspection? If there was then he failed. If there wasn't then he failed.

Originally Posted by anthonyvop

Of course he had control of the track conditions. Wasn't there a inspection? If there was then he failed. If there wasn't then he failed.

So Randy is supposed to be doing these inspections himself? Of course we both know that is not the case. Now, given that, if he is told by the folks who did the inspection that things looked ok, he's not supposed to take their word for it? Yes the buck may stop with him, but it was still not something under his direct control.

Wasn't there an ALMS race there the day before? Did the track break up then? If not, what expectation would Randy have that it would today. Look this was a really bad outcome today, I agree. I just don't see how it falls on Randy's head.

Gary

Anthony has a point...

I own a couple restaurants.... And even if I'm on vacation and one my cooks over cooks a steak ultimately thats my responsibility

Originally Posted by garyshell

So Randy is supposed to be doing these inspections himself? Of course we both know that is not the case. Now, given that, if he is told by the folks who did the inspection that things looked ok, he's not supposed to take their word for it? Yes the buck may stop with him, but it was still not something under his direct control.

Wasn't there an ALMS race there the day before? Did the track break up then? If not, what expectation would Randy have that it would today. Look this was a really bad outcome today, I agree. I just don't see how it falls on Randy's head.

Gary

Are you telling me because he is COO Randy has no responsibility of how the series is actually run?

He is the boss. If the people who he hired FAILED in the track inspection then he FAILED as a Chief Operating Officer. The Business world is littered with the carcasses of former business leaders who failed to lead.

BTW It was Grand-Am not ALMS and I have heard from some people that yes, parts of the track were coming up on Saturday.

Ultimately, the buck stops at Randy - if they did not properly check out the course ahead of time that would be his fault for not insisting it be right and once the situation became bad he should have "lead" to some sort of solution (which he may have done behind the scenes). Basically this is a perfect example of the old adage "PPPPPPP" - proper prior planning prevents pi** poor performance.... and Randy is responsible for proper prior planning...

The real problem here is the series continues to deal from a potion of weakness and as such does not have the power to tell promoters, teams, etc. to "do it right or get lost"... I am fine with racing in Detroit on a less than ideal race course for the sake of Chevy etc. It is not ok for that course to then fall apart (much like the rest of the infrastructure of this country). The promoters should have known better....

But, I agree, Randy has to accept responsibility and deal with this fiasco - not pass the buck......

Originally Posted by SarahFan

Anthony has a point...

I own a couple restaurants.... And even if I'm on vacation and one my cooks over cooks a steak ultimately thats my responsibility

In that example, you are the responsible one but it is not your fault, there is a difference there, it becomes your fault if you don't take actions and it keeps happening again, again, and again.

Responsibility is greater/trumps fault

Interesting reading from passionate people I must say.

The basics of this post was to deal with the owners trying to get rid of Randy. They have no power to do so and only a few have the ear of "The Family".

I think Randy was smart blasting it on twitter and keeping the series in the media's attention. Even the bad track problems at Detroit will keep the media's interest a few more days. Media coverage is good and controversy sells TV time.

I agree with RM, he needs a trusted racing veteran owner to help him. But my advise is to Randy is to watch your back when making that selection. What is Mo Nunn doing these days?

Originally Posted by SarahFan

Responsibility is greater/trumps fault

Most certainly, but Anthony's point was that it was his fault, I'm saying that thee is a difference between being the responsible one and the one at fault, you fire the one at fault, not the responsible one, you fire the responsible one only when he or she is uncapable of taking corrective actions.

In this case, obviously, you can't fire the one at fault because promoters don't work for the racing leagues, getting rid of the race might not be a solution either, lets be honest, promoters and tracks are not fighting to stage Indy races, but I do want to see him taking every possible measure to avoid something like this if they use this track next year.

His job is not easy, he can't choose and pick, this is not F1 where Ecclestone has to choose between tracks he wants, tracks that are willing to pay him a lot of money, tracks that will improve the F1 brand, and tracks of governments willing to do everything and anything to stage a race, in Indy you try to do the best you can with what you have.

Without splitting too many hairs ..

Responsibility always encompasses fault

The other way around not so much