IBJNews

Reports of owner discord circulate around IndyCar CEO Bernard

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

The excitement over a strong Indianapolis 500 didn't last very long for IndyCar.

A Wednesday report on Speed.com detailed an alleged revolt by several team owners to oust IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard. Rumors of discord had been present at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week, threatening to overshadow the biggest race of the year.

The report claims IndyCar founder Tony George and a handful of team owners are behind a charge to have Bernard fired. Also listed were team owners John Barnes, Kevin Kalkhoven, Michael Andretti and his father, Mario.

Michael Andretti immediately denounced the report on Twitter, calling it "sensationalism" and saying there "is no lynch mob!"

Before Sunday's race, Bernard tried to defuse any controversy and it seemed to work as the race was generally regarded as one of the best in history.

Only the focus now is not on the race, the decent television ratings or the need to build some momentum for the series. Instead, it went back to business as usual as the owners seemed to pick up right where they were before the race.

Bernard confirmed the mounting speculation in his own tweet Tuesday night, admitting "it is true that an owner is calling others trying to get me fired. I have had several owners confirm this."

Team owners have been upset over several issues, most consistently the escalating costs to field IndyCar's new car this season. The price tag is much higher than what Bernard quoted, and money has been a sore spot since before the season began.

But the angst has escalated of late, particularly among the Chevrolet team owners. Chevy lost a pair of appeals protesting a component of rival Honda's turbocharger, and the anger spread to other manufacturers after IndyCar levied fines throughout the garage that reached $300,000 for 19 infractions among 13 different teams.

"I've been involved now in racing for 28 months, and what I've seen is this unbelievable amount of passion to win, desire to win, not only from drivers but mainly from team owners," Bernard said last weekend. "When a call is not made in their direction, of course they're going to be upset."

Roger Penske, team owner for the drivers who won the first four races of the season, was initially not speaking to Bernard after the Honda rulings. But he met with Bernard at Indy, and insisted to The Associated Press he's supportive of the series, the CEO and not a part of any plot to have Bernard ousted.

Andretti, meanwhile, has been one of the most supportive owners in IndyCar this season. Besides his three full-time entries, he fielded two more cars in the Indy 500 to help get to the full 33-car field. He also fields entries in the Mazda Road to Indy developmental series.

And he's stepped up as a promoter this year to take over the races in Milwaukee and Baltimore, which were both in danger of vanishing. He took over Milwaukee when IndyCar needed a 16th race to complete its schedule, and stepped in at Baltimore last month.

Still, the discord is nothing new for open-wheel racing, where infighting and power struggles have long plagued the series.

Bernard inherited it all when he was hired to replace George, who was ousted by his family after years of mounting costs. In just over two years, Bernard has brought renewed enthusiasm to IndyCar, reduced debt, increased attendance and television ratings, introduced a new car and brought in multiple engine manufacturers.

There's also some parity in IndyCar, despite the early dominance by Penske drivers.

The Indy 500, which had a record 34 lead changes, featured big finishes for small teams. Among them was Oriol Servia, who gave Dreyer & Reinbold its best Indy result ever with a fourth-place finish. It was the team's first race with a Chevrolet engine since it ditched Lotus in early May.

Justin Wilson was seventh for Dale Coyne Racing, and Alex Tagliani was 12th for Bryan Herta Autosport, which sat out of last month's race at Brazil to regroup and defect from Lotus to Honda.

IndyCar's next race is Sunday, the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. It's the first major race in Detroit since 2008.

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Owner DENY Aero-kits in 2013
    The IMS needs to force those rascal owners to make and buy aero kits in 2013!

    Who's running this thing anyway? Randy, make them pay for it....make them built aerokits!!!
  • Burl is so funny
    Rule Book? Rule Book? that is what started this latest drahmer. The rule book is whatever the series comes up with at the moment. Them dastardly owners would be happy with a rule book.
  • Well said, Chief.
    IMS must be France-like in control of the sport. It is about the Indy 500. IMS owns it. Runs it. Lives it. Loves it. Mr. Penske, you are invited to participate. Here is the rule book. Here are the edicts. No? Thank you for your service. It has been grand. Mr. Chip? What's that? No? Thank you. We shall replace the target cars with the automobiles and driver's offered to us by, for example, Mr. Brown from a different town. He has one million dollars in sponsorship and Oriol Sevia and Townsend Bell eager to pilot his Dad's Root Beer-Sponsored cars.
  • Decent TV ratings?
    4.3 fast overnights were up 7.7% over last years 4.0. Finals aren't in yet.

    The only way this series will EVER get on it's feet is for the Hulmans to OWN, lock stock and barrel all the cars/engines/owners/teams. Yes, run it as a business....the owners work for IMS. THEN you will have total control.

    Otherwise, the Hulman family is neither strong enough or savy enough to weather these storms. Frankly, IMHO IMS shouldn't budge one iota and tell 'em if they don't like it they can go pound sand. Taht'll teach 'em !!! Go get 'em Randy!
  • Not about the owners
    The "owners" must realize the Indy 500 and the Series is not abotu them. Any of them. If they took their toys to go play somewhere else, there are plenty of people who would show up to replace them. They may not have as deep pockets or even as sophisticated an operation, but Ganassty and Pimpski could go away tomorrow and only a small handful of hardcores would care. Whoever came in with a new team would put cars on the track and the races would run.

    Andretti and Foyt hav always stepped up when they were needed. They too could go away and the results would be the same. New owners to replace them. But at least they have contributed more for the overall good then many of the other spoiled brats. And I am not saying they are golden.

    Ganassty and Pimpski, the sport will be better off when they finally do go away.

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. liek the rest of America

  2. These quaint,obsessed musings by the stalkers are certainly entertaining, but I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, all the yelping below has to do with Zak Brown.

  3. It's evident that Moffett was pushing the right buttons and corporate America is now trying to squash him. He just wanted to withdraw the free pilot services provided to the company by the pilots to try and put some pressure on a company that has not been interested in negotiating a contract in over 5 years. The company does not provide a contract because not having one has saved them a bundle of money. Shame on any Republic pilots not standing behind their union leader just because things are getting tough, can you not see such strategic moves by the company as putting the last union president in a corporate position and into THEIR pocket. Do you really believe the last union president is so appalled at the attempts by Moffett, do you not remember his oppositions to the company? We stood behind him. It has been proven over and over again for thousands of years without fail, a man cannot serve two masters. Anyone that believes people vote contrary to their paycheck and livelihood deserve to be taken advantage of, the recent statements by the former union president are laughable as he denounces the current union president from his new corporate position. Have you ever seen a drafted sports player score points for his previous team, it cannot be done, he is not on the pilots side anymore, he gets his money a different way now than you and I do, and he should not be allowed to remain on the seniority list. A drafted player brings strength, credibility, tactical knowledge, and a strategic advantage to his NEW team, he would not be drafted or paid were it otherwise. We are all forced to choose only one side to play for and support, not doing so has many references in life such as insider trading and shaving points, all illegal for good reason. This basic fact is why corporate moguls, scientist, and engineers all sign non-discloser agreements and non-compete clauses, as protection in case they are lured into switching sides as our former union president has done. No NFL coach ever drafted a player so that both teams could benefit and better understand each other, they are recruited to win the game against that former team, period. Likewise the company does not recruit the former union president by accident or mutual understanding, its strategy. Don't confuse playing the game with good sportsman-like conduct in support of common business and prosperity goals, with the requirement to only play for one side. Good men we all love and favor fall subject to this manipulation, often without their knowledge, and it is not a betrayal of their friendship to oppose them when they switch sides. If we did not love and trust them, they would not have been chosen and lured to the other side in the first place. The deception by the drafted player is not made at a conscious level, it's just human nature and it's all about money and power which corrupts our ability to be objective and loyal to two masters. This is why our court system created the defense attorney, and why our military created counter intelligence. Its strategy and its propaganda, and it works, and that's why the "powers to be" manipulate the chess pieces by sometimes changing their colors. Some players know they are being manipulated when their color is changed, but it brings them more money and power so they do not care. The rest have good intentions but do not even realize they are being manipulated. This tactic is also known by another name, Divide and Conquer. In battle sending an imperfect message with an imperfect team is obviously not ideal, but it's still being sent by YOUR team, your union leader, a leader that has common goals and common rewards with you, they are the best, because we have elected them to do a job for us. If you are not backing Moffett but believing the spin by those that have recently switched sides, you are taking food out of your own mouth. Showing unity and backing an imperfect situation still results in taking just as much ground, it's about unity and bargaining power. It's not necessary to wait around for that perfect attack because it will never come, the company will spin and attempt to destroy anyone that gets in their way. Ultimately it's not about any specific attack anyway, ASAP or whatever it makes no difference, it is and always has been only about power. If this company cared about safety it would not build pairings with 8 hour overnights, come on, are you that naive? Besides, do you really think Hoffa cares, no, he got a call from corporate America and was squeezed into denouncing Moffett. If he didn't they would spin the safety card against him and the Teamsters National with implication for truckers, future contracts, insurance rates etc...saying something like the Teamsters use safety as a bargaining chip, blah blah blah... Do you really think any pilot is going to do something unsafe for the contract, absolutely not, the only ones threatening safety here is the company with reduced rest, fatigue, and poverty. Do you not find it odd that Hoffa and the Teamsters are opposing a Teamster president publicly? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and work with one of their own? Why did they not sit down and help him strategize, correct any mistakes, and charge ahead? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and leverage a contract for all those pilots that have been paying Teamster dues, isn't that why we have all been paying Teamster dues in the first place? I sure haven't been paying dues so that the Teamsters National could come along and write this kind of an article undercutting our union leader and our unity. Whose side is the Teamsters National really on, it's obviously not the Republic pilots side.

  4. No matter what Moffatt does the company is going to spin it like he is the terrorist and brainwash people like you into believing it, wake up, back your players that are trying to change things for you and your livelihood. Where has Hoffa been for the last 6 years, except collecting our dues. Seriously, do you really think an FO going for upgrade, signed off by a checkairman ready for the upgrade, who then fails, is not even capable of returning as a First Officer.

  5. whoa!

ADVERTISEMENT