Chevy team owners trying to oust Randy Bernard

[Mark in Oshawa]

Jag, the Spanish Grand Prix came off because they spent the money on the GP because Bernie demands it. In the case of Detroit, there is no money, not even enough to misappropriate. No, other than the track coming up, the facility was going to work as well as it could considering, and it was the people who told Roger and Randy that ya, the track was ready. They could be called incompetant, but I wouldn't be that harsh. Not every mistake means someone should be canned. Embarassing as this is, in the end, it was a mistake. They almost made it through the whole weekend and got caught halfway through the race. Had Friday not been a total washout, the track would have been coming up in Saturday's Grand Am race....or Indycar practice. It would have been fixed over night and nothing would have been thought about. Lesson learned, it wont happen again, life moves on.

For people to be calling for Randy's head over this is retarded, but I never underestimate Indycar owners for killing their own sport. They are really good at it.....

[anthonyvop]

For people to be calling for Randy's head over this is retarded, but I never underestimate Indycar owners for killing their own sport. They are really good at it.....

Retarded? Really?

[Mark in Oshawa]

Retarded? Really?

Really. You want to go all PC and say I used the wrong word? Or are you objecting to me calling a bunch of millionaire car owners idiots for trying to fire the one guy trying to do what is best for the sport rather than what works for them on a team level?

The best racing series are always run by a benign dictator who isn't always so benign if he needs an iron first. I wish Bernard had that iron fist...because a twit like John Barnes needs a slap up side the head. He had no problem with the rules with Chevy was destroying the Honda's, and when the engine rules were adjusted, Honda wins two races and all the sudden everything is all wrong? This is so much like the whining we used to see in NASCAR every February when one make's team would sandbag through Speedweeks and then pull out a killer car with a rules revision......

[anthonyvop]

Really. You want to go all PC and say I used the wrong word? Or are you objecting to me calling a bunch of millionaire car owners idiots for trying to fire the one guy trying to do what is best for the sport rather than what works for them on a team level?

The best racing series are always run by a benign dictator who isn't always so benign if he needs an iron first. I wish Bernard had that iron fist...because a twit like John Barnes needs a slap up side the head. He had no problem with the rules with Chevy was destroying the Honda's, and when the engine rules were adjusted, Honda wins two races and all the sudden everything is all wrong? This is so much like the whining we used to see in NASCAR every February when one make's team would sandbag through Speedweeks and then pull out a killer car with a rules revision......

So if you disagree with some of Randy Bernard's decisions you are "retarded"

Those very same decisions that have given the series a new car way over budget combined with stagnant attendance and TV ratings?

BTW I am being generous by calling it stagnant.

[Jag_Warrior]

Really. You want to go all PC and say I used the wrong word? Or are you objecting to me calling a bunch of millionaire car owners idiots for trying to fire the one guy trying to do what is best for the sport rather than what works for them on a team level?

So if you disagree with some of Randy Bernard's decisions you are "retarded"

Mark can answer for himself, but as I read his question, that's not at all what he said. It's not about disagreeing with Bernard, it's about wanting him fired. And considering that there is probably no one available who would be more capable than Bernard, yes, that is retarded.

No one is claiming that every decision that Bernard has made is flawless. But as I keep asking, who would these geniuses replace him with???

[anthonyvop]

Mark can answer for himself, but as I read his question, that's not at all what he said. It's not about disagreeing with Bernard, it's about wanting him fired. And considering that there is probably no one available who would be more capable than Bernard, yes, that is retarded.

No one is claiming that every decision that Bernard has made is flawless. But as I keep asking, who would these geniuses replace him with???

Considering they got RB from rodeo I think there would be an extremely long list of those qualified.

[Jag_Warrior]

Considering they got RB from rodeo I think there would be an extremely long list of those qualified.

Possibly. But remember what I said: "there is probably no one available who would be more capable than Bernard..."

The various open wheel formula car series in the U.S. have been switching out Presidents and CEO's for 20 years or better. And yet, things have only gotten worse. So, it doesn't seem that the Presidents/CEO's have been the root cause of the problem. Hiring even the best turn-around artist in the world, and then tasking him with turning chicken #### into chicken salad is a fantasy mission. I think the series has made some progress since Bernard has been at the helm. But he doesn't control the family's purse strings (as Tony George did). So he is somewhat limited in what he can accomplish. But no, he hasn't always gotten it right. Has he done a better job than Tony? Other than Bozo the Clown, I doubt anyone could do any worse.

But if these all knowing owners want him gone, and the family is dumb enough to fall for it (which is entirely possible), then he'll be gone. And I figure that in 3-5 years, we'll be back here, still talking about the same issues we're talking about now... that we were talking about five years ago and five years before that. So whoever is CEO at that point... we'll probably need to see him fired too. Let's just keep doing what has never worked. I'm sure at some point it will work out.

[anthonyvop]

Possibly. But remember what I said: "there is probably no one available who would be more capable than Bernard..."

Technically Bernard wasn't available either. He was under the employ of the Rodeo series. There are plenty of people out there who would be as qualified if not better than Randy.

[Jag_Warrior]

Then they should hire one of them. As a matter of fact, if a better, more qualified candidate was available before they hired Bernard, then why didn't they hire that person? Just because someone is available, or willing to take a new offer, that doesn't mean that they'd come work for this organization.

Here's all that I'm saying: struggling organizations that switch out the President/CEO position every couple of years, thinking that THAT will be the missing, magic bullet, very seldom succeed, in my experience.

A few weeks ago, you mentioned the issues some sponsors allegedly had over Barnes' Twitter statement. Well, instability in the executive suite is a sure sign of organizational instability. IMO, to make Bernard (or any other CEO) the scapegoat for all that ails the ICS would confirm to prospective sponsors that this racing body doesn't have a clue and isn't worth the risk.

[bugeyedgomer]

Teams being penalized for shoddy equipment

the teams are being fined and losing points because when they do the post race tech inspections they are finding that some cars fuel bladders are holding up to or a little more then .5 of a gal more then the spec's that the rules state. AJ was fined for being .5 over and Pagenaud's teams was fined for being .05 over. Indycar KNOWS the defects are with the tanks and NOT the teams cheating. They admitted that the manufacturer has told them that the bladders are 'stretching' due to over pressure upon multi re-fueling's. There is no warranty being offered for this defect and in fact the series will not be replacing them until 2013 at best. So here we have a situation where even if the teams under fill a tank during race events and even as in Toronto the teams fined never ran more laps then a normal tank could hold in fuel - Indycar STILL fined them! Does indycar need the money that badly?

There is nothing the teams can do about this situation as there is NO replacement bladder available to a different spec then the one that came with the car. All they can do is order the same spec and replace it more often then normal and 'hope' they are within the spec's when tested.

The teams are now being required to put displacement balls in the tank and verify capacity themselves, because there is a disparity between all of the bladders.