The furor over the finishing-line fiasco at Sunday’s IndyCar race in New Hampshire is not over.
The MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ended in chaos after the race was stopped and then restarted in the rain despite protests from almost every team; several cars crashed on the restart.
Ahead of the crashing and spinning, the second- and third-placed drivers passed the leader before the race was stopped. Race Control decided to revert the finishing order to the lap before the restart, erasing the final five laps.
This gave the win to Andretti Autosports’ Ryan Hunter-Reay, sending Newman-Haas Racing driver Orial Servia and Target-Ganassi driver Scott Dixon back to second and third.
Target-Ganassi and Newman-Haas Racing filed appeals, seeking to get their original finishing positions restored.
The appeals will be reviewed by a specially chosen committee of three: Jerry Gappens, the executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Rollie Helmling, a director of the governor’s Motorsports Initiative for Indiana Economic Development Corp. and former president and CEO of the United States Auto Club; and Jeff Stoops, chairman of the Board for USAC.
IndyCar President of Competition Brian Barnhart has recused himself because he made the initial rulings.
The appeal will be heard by the committee on Aug. 23.
Today SPEED.com has reported that the decision to revert to an earlier running order is not being questioned: only the top there positions will be reviewed.
This is a simple decision with far-reaching implications.
Of the top three finishers, only Scott Dixon, 73 points down, has a reasonable chance to figure in the championship chase; Servia is fourth but 135 points back, and Hunter-Reay eighth, 182 points out of the lead. While not mathematically eliminated, Servia and Hunter-Reay are not likely to close the gap.
However, fifth-place finisher Will Power is second in the points, only 47 points out of first. If the race results had not be revised, he would have finished 15th, effectively eliminating him from the championship hunt.
Many experts speculate that Competition President Brian Barnhart reset the finishing order in order not to drastically affect the championship race.
By limiting the effect of the appeal to only the top three positions, IndyCar keeps the top drivers in contention, which adds excitement to the rest of the season. However, limiting the appeal also avoids the more important issues: Does Brian Barnhart actually have the authority to erase racing laps?
In all likelihood the appeals will be rejected simply because IndyCar does not want to prolong the embarrassment caused by the bungling of Sunday’s race.
IndyCar would rather no one examine several decisions made that day, from re-ordering the field before the restart, to overriding the protests of spotters, teams, and pit techs to restart in the rain, to arbitrarily altering the finishing order in order to keep the championship chase alive.
While nothing might change in the finishing order, something will have to change at IndyCar Race Control, if the series is to be taken seriously as a professional sport.
The MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ended in chaos after the race was stopped and then restarted in the rain despite protests from almost every team; several cars crashed on the restart.
Ahead of the crashing and spinning, the second- and third-placed drivers passed the leader before the race was stopped. Race Control decided to revert the finishing order to the lap before the restart, erasing the final five laps.
This gave the win to Andretti Autosports’ Ryan Hunter-Reay, sending Newman-Haas Racing driver Orial Servia and Target-Ganassi driver Scott Dixon back to second and third.
Target-Ganassi and Newman-Haas Racing filed appeals, seeking to get their original finishing positions restored.
The appeals will be reviewed by a specially chosen committee of three: Jerry Gappens, the executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway; Rollie Helmling, a director of the governor’s Motorsports Initiative for Indiana Economic Development Corp. and former president and CEO of the United States Auto Club; and Jeff Stoops, chairman of the Board for USAC.
IndyCar President of Competition Brian Barnhart has recused himself because he made the initial rulings.
The appeal will be heard by the committee on Aug. 23.
Today SPEED.com has reported that the decision to revert to an earlier running order is not being questioned: only the top there positions will be reviewed.
This is a simple decision with far-reaching implications.
Of the top three finishers, only Scott Dixon, 73 points down, has a reasonable chance to figure in the championship chase; Servia is fourth but 135 points back, and Hunter-Reay eighth, 182 points out of the lead. While not mathematically eliminated, Servia and Hunter-Reay are not likely to close the gap.
However, fifth-place finisher Will Power is second in the points, only 47 points out of first. If the race results had not be revised, he would have finished 15th, effectively eliminating him from the championship hunt.
Many experts speculate that Competition President Brian Barnhart reset the finishing order in order not to drastically affect the championship race.
By limiting the effect of the appeal to only the top three positions, IndyCar keeps the top drivers in contention, which adds excitement to the rest of the season. However, limiting the appeal also avoids the more important issues: Does Brian Barnhart actually have the authority to erase racing laps?
In all likelihood the appeals will be rejected simply because IndyCar does not want to prolong the embarrassment caused by the bungling of Sunday’s race.
IndyCar would rather no one examine several decisions made that day, from re-ordering the field before the restart, to overriding the protests of spotters, teams, and pit techs to restart in the rain, to arbitrarily altering the finishing order in order to keep the championship chase alive.
While nothing might change in the finishing order, something will have to change at IndyCar Race Control, if the series is to be taken seriously as a professional sport.
