FUMES

August 29, 2012

9/1, 3:00 p.m. Editor-in-Chief's Note: John Dagys of Speedtv.com first reported early Saturday afternoon that the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am series will merge beginning with the 2014 season. After speaking with one of the manufacturer representatives who had directly participated in the discussions, I can confirm that this is indeed true. The announcement will come next Wednesday in Daytona Beach. After years and years of writing about this very idea, I am thrilled for the players involved for having the cojones to finally get this done. It will be great for the participating manufacturers, it will be great for enthusiasts who love road racing, and it is fantastic for the overall health of the sport itself. Kudos to all involved for making it happen. More to come in this week's "Fumes." - PMD

IndyCar teeters, despite excellent racing on the track.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 8/27, 11:00 a.m.) Detroit. As I reminded my readers in a "Fumes" column a couple of months ago (June 6, 2012), Indycar is once again teetering on the brink of open dissension, or at least shaky ground, as animosity between the team owners and the series leader has boiled to the surface.  Thanks to Robin Miller's consistently laser-sharp reporting, it is apparent that a few IndyCar owners want IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard out, suggesting that his lack of fundamental knowledge of the sport has finally caught up with him and that it's time for a change. Now I happen to think Randy Bernard has done a superb job given the circumstances and the mountain of crap he inherited, but could he stand to have a right-hand guy with deep connections to the sport? Yes, of course. And with the addition of that person I think Randy should be given every opportunity to finish the job he signed up to do.

I say Indycar is "teetering" because despite Bernard's measurable progress in improving IndyCar's balance sheet and solidifying the schedule (except for the China fiasco), the sport itself is still barely registering on the national media radar screen. And that's a shame because the current caliber of racing is as good as we've seen in the sport. After years and years of hand-wringing and fits and starts, however, Indy car racing is still all about the Indianapolis 500 and not much else. For a major league sports endeavor with an enduring legacy built around the world's greatest race, that's almost impossible to comprehend. And for what is supposed to be one of the pillars of major league racing in this country, it is simply ridiculous.

But let's examine this situation again, including excerpts from that earlier column:

On the one side are the owners, who will remind everyone every second of every day that if it weren't for them there wouldn't even be an IndyCar Series. And when you look at it from their perspective, it's hard to argue with them. After all, when it comes right down to it they're the ones spending considerable piles of money trying to make it all run like a business, while chasing down sponsors 24-7. They are, at the end of the day, some of the most deeply committed enthusiasts for the sport of Indy car racing imaginable, and given everything it takes to muster the effort it takes to compete in the series, I would never question their love of the sport. But loving the sport and doing what's good for the long-term future of the sport are two distinctly different things. The owners have never really been good at doing what's good for the overall health of the sport type of thing, at least they're not consistent about it at any rate. Their individual concerns usually take precedence.

And it's also no secret that IndyCar owners have massive egos that know almost no bounds. They are used to running their individual fiefdoms without question or second guessing from anyone, and if they get push-back they're not happy. We've seen this throughout recent Indy car racing history, by the way, the best example being when the car owners were running things by egomaniacal committee during the CART years and we saw a revolving door of CEOs come and go as the owners fiddled and fumbled their way to irrelevance.

On the other side we have the governing body of IndyCar. Long a joke because of mismanagement and flat-out boneheaded decision making, IndyCar took the radical and unexpected step of hiring Bernard, who made his bones by turning the Professional Bull Riding championship into a viable and surprisingly successful enterprise. Bernard is a genius promoter but he knew jack shit about IndyCar or the sport of open-wheel racing in America. He listened, studied and learned, all while trying to stabilize the series' financial situation, hammer out a viable schedule, get contracts with individual race promoters finalized, and grow the visibility - and the sponsorship support - of the series. A tall order for anyone.

The fact that I believe Bernard has done a superb job given the circumstances matters not one iota to the team owners. There are clearly those in the IndyCar owner ranks who think they could do better than Bernard, and when IndyCar allowed Honda to make changes to their engines over GM's repeated objections, protests and appeals, the long knives came out for Bernard. And when the new Dallara chassis came in costing more than what was originally promised - with an expensive a la carte parts list to boot - that didn't help either. And by taking the discord public through twitter and his in-person oration to the media, Bernard didn't make things any better, according to some disgruntled owners.

But as I said in June, it's a moot point at this juncture, because the ugly reality for IndyCar is that except for the visibility and TV ratings of the Indianapolis 500, they are nowhere. As in almost nonexistent on the national sports media radar screens. And that is simply unconscionable and unacceptable. What can be done to "fix" Indy car racing in this country? Let's revisit my recommendations:

1. Racing series do not run by consensus or group hugs, they can only function with a leader who has unquestioned dictatorial powers. NASCAR would never have gotten off of the ground if Big Bill France didn't take control of his fledgling sport by the scruff of the neck and run the owners off who didn't comply with his way of thinking. The moment that IndyCar owners take control of IndyCar and start appointing their "acceptable" leader/flavor-of-the-month is the moment that the series implodes. Randy Bernard lashing out and using his bully pulpit to clarify his position to the media is fine with me, because if he is the unquestioned leader of IndyCar, that's the way it should be. And if the owners don't like it that's fine too. IndyCar must have an unquestioned leader with whom the buck stops. And if IndyCar owners don't like it or fundamentally endorse the efficacy of it in the interest of the long-term health of the sport, then they can always find something else to do.

2. Spec racing is an unmitigated disaster. I said this before and I'll probably repeat it a few dozen times before the year is out as well. When IndyCar endorsed Dallara for the "new" car there were positives involved, namely familiarity with the manufacturer and noted safety improvements. After that, not so much. IndyCar had a chance to open the floodgates to innovation and creative thinking and they just couldn't muster the energy to get it done. And when the new car came in some $200,000 more than expected - after insisting that the decision to go with Dallara was a way to rein-in costs - well, no wonder the owners were less than enthused. But the real problem with the Dallara decision was that it closed the door to alternative approaches in power and the visual diversity that would come with multiple chassis manufacturers and a fuel-efficiency formula that would encourage "blue sky" thinking. As long as IndyCar continues to operate in the Fear of the Unknown mode instead of the embracing the possibilities of The Future we will continue to see IndyCar lost in a swirling maelstrom of predictability and sameness that will ensure waning interest.

3. More engine manufacturer participation. The addition of Chevrolet to IndyCar was great for all concerned with the sport, but it isn't enough. IndyCar needs at least four competitive engines on the grid (and no, Lotus doesn't count). It's yet another major bullet point on Randy Bernard's list of things to do but it has to happen if IndyCar is going to thrive over the long haul. Where is VW? Audi? Kia? Hyundai? Nissan? Mercedes-Benz? Porsche? And before you say no way, I'd rather say, why not?

It's no secret that we've reached a crisis point yet again in the sport of Indy car racing, and I sense an abject refusal by the players involved to acknowledge it. For the owners, if IndyCar would just listen to them and do exactly what they want when they want it, then it will all be good. And for IndyCar management itself there seems to be a deep abiding faith that if they just stay the course and make incremental improvements things will come good eventually.

And how have those two schools of thought worked out for the sport of Indy car racing so far? Not very well, actually. IndyCar has one race of prestige and importance, the Indianapolis 500. After that, they got nothin'. Oh sure there are little pockets of interest and minimal success at some of the other venues, but overall IndyCar is damn-near invisible. And that's a flat-out disgrace.

The powers that be at IndyCar, its owners and the participating engine manufacturers have a very clearcut decision to make: They either get on the same page and do what's best for the future of the sport, or they continue flailing away at windmills - and each other - until there's no sport left.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for the world of motorsports this week.

(If you want to read more about how Indycar got to this point, read Gordon Kirby's excellent background piece here.)

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Photo by Dave Friedman, Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives and Wieck Media)
Riverside, California, November 26, 1967. Dan Gurney drives his No. 48 All American Racers Eagle-Weslake Ford to victory in the Rex Mays 300 USAC Indy car race at the rough-and-tumble Riverside International Raceway. Acknowledged as one of his all-time favorite races, Gurney prevailed over a star-studded field with names like Jim Clark, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, John Surtees, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, George Follmer, Gordon Johncock, Lloyd Ruby and many other front-line names back in the day. Clark gave Gurney a run early, but Dan would dominate that day with Bobby Unser (No. 6 Robert Wilke Eagle-Ford) finishing second and Mario Andretti (No. 1 Dean Racing Enterprises Hawk II-Ford) third. Check out the diversity of the entries and engines and all of the action here.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

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