Chevy team owners trying to oust Randy Bernard

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Originally Posted by anthonyvop

I was just wondering about all of the hate here directed at the person who created and developed the very same series you all claim to be fans of!

It is like loving your iPod/iPhone/iPad but hating Steve Jobs.

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That's easy, Steve Jobs and the grandson were/are A##holes!

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Originally Posted by anthonyvop

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.

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No, i'm not trying to say he has no reposibility, because ultimately he does have reponsibility in how the series is run. You hire people to do a job, you take their recommendations and you act on them. If they give you bad recommendations, you remove them. That is his responsibility in this. But to say its directly his fault that the track broke up, just doesn't make sense to me.

Take Sarahfan's example. If the cook burns the steak, it's the cooks fault. It Sarahfan's responsibility to discipline the cook for doing so.

Gary

Do anyone really expect a bankrupt city to maintain roads to race ready conditions? They are shutting city street lights for goodness sake.

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Originally Posted by garyshell

No, i'm not trying to say he has no reposibility, because ultimately he does have reponsibility in how the series is run. You hire people to do a job, you take their recommendations and you act on them. If they give you bad recommendations, you remove them. That is his responsibility in this. But to say its directly his fault that the track broke up, just doesn't make sense to me.

Take Sarahfan's example. If the cook burns the steak, it's the cooks fault. It Sarahfan's responsibility to discipline the cook for doing so.

Gary

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Roger Penske apparently did. Where are the calls for Roger's head in this fiasco? Isn't this ultimately HIS responsibility?

Gary

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Originally Posted by Blancvino

Do anyone really expect a bankrupt city to maintain roads to race ready conditions? They are shutting city street lights for goodness sake.

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Point well taken. But the city's fiscal situation was known by all well before the race. So it seems that those promoting the race would have gotten involved to make certain that the proper surface was down and that it would be safe. Also, consider Detroit's fiscal issues compared to Spain's. I know one is a city and the other a country. But Spain is in at least as bad a shape economically as Detroit, if not worse. Yet the Spanish Grand Prix went off without a hitch.

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Originally Posted by garyshell

Roger Penske apparently did. Where are the calls for Roger's head in this fiasco? Isn't this ultimately HIS responsibility?

Gary

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I didn't get to see the race or what happened with the surface exactly - I've had to rely on (ALL!) the online stories that are talking more about the red flag, and not about the race itself. But I agree with you. Considering that Penske has been a major force behind this race, he should also share some of the blame. Lots of blame to go around. And it's a real shame that this (and the attempts to fire Bernard) is what is in the news. But hopefully the series, the teams and the promoters will learn from this experience going forward. I doubt they will. But one must hope.

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Originally Posted by garyshell

Roger Penske apparently did. Where are the calls for Roger's head in this fiasco? Isn't this ultimately HIS responsibility?

Gary

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Yes he is responsible as well.

This mess in Detroit is only Randy's fault if you are willing to absolve Roger Penske, Beaux Barfield and all the experts who looked at the layout and said the patches would hold up. Sometimes it is what it is. In the final scheme of things, this little fiasco will be down the road and forgotten about if it is an isolated incident and they have learned from it.....

As for comparing this to the mess of Spain, it is an apples and oranges argument. Spain isn't in the same mess Detroit is, anyone who has been there will tell you that their problems are not so bad they have let the place go. Detroit looks like the Luftwaffe of 1940 was using the place for bombing runs.....and the mess that its financial books are in is systemic and stupidity going back decades.....

CEO Randy Bernard has been a refreshing change for IndyCar.
Not being tied to the IRL, car owners along with no ties to the most recent divisive open wheel racing history, has been a huge help to restoring American Open Wheel Racing.
That said, bring back TG or anybody tied to the AOW past, would be a disaster.

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Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa

As for comparing this to the mess of Spain, it is an apples and oranges argument. Spain isn't in the same mess Detroit is, anyone who has been there will tell you that their problems are not so bad they have let the place go. Detroit looks like the Luftwaffe of 1940 was using the place for bombing runs.....and the mess that its financial books are in is systemic and stupidity going back decades.....

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It is an apples and oranges comparison, (as I said) in that one is a city and one is a country. But the fiscal situation in Spain does have many similarities to Detroit: lack of tax revenues relative to spending, very high, systemic unemployment, very high poverty rate, an over-reliance on borrowed funds to maintain basic services, government corruption, etc. As we're now seeing Spain virtually shut out of international credit markets, the situation will deteriorate unless there is a bailout. My ex-fiance moved to Spain after we broke up. Her mother's family emigrated from Spain decades ago. And there are many areas within the country, that tourists never see, that could easily give Detroit a run for its money. The poverty rate is one of the highest in Europe. There is a sprawling slum, called Cañada Real, on the outskirts of Madrid that has over 30,000 people in it. And that's far from the only slum in Spain. But just like Detroit, which I have had to travel to frequently, there are pockets of prosperity around Spain too.

But my main point was that even in the face of a fiscal nightmare, it was possible to pull off a well organized grand prix. And neither Detroit nor Spain went downhill overnight. So it seems to me that the ICS officials and promoters should have done better due diligence, just as I'm sure the FIA and F1 officials did prior to the Spanish Grand Prix.

And going back to the Bernard situation, who do the owners have waiting in the wings that would NOT have gotten caught up in the Belle Isle mess? He's a perv and weirdo, but he was rather capable. So do the owners actually think that someone like Max Mosley would come work for them? I doubt any capable, competent person in the world of racing would even return their phone calls - even a capable weirdo like Mosley.