NASCAR could learn a lot from IndyCar's transparency

4re Nut · Sep 1, 2011

Found this link on IndyCar.com; surprisingly I don't see it on NASCAR.com.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/09/nascar_could_learn_a_lot_from.html

Out-of-the-box thinking becomes critical when you are desperate to get out of the box you are in.

That's where the IZOD IndyCar Series is these days. And to the credit of the chief of the series, Randy Bernard, he's been launching ideas from his box for quite a while.

That box isn't a pretty place these days. The race just concluded at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., drew a tepid 0.3 TV rating. That comes to about 431,000 pairs of eyeballs tuning in to the Versus broadcast.

That's about a third of what NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series draws on ESPN. IndyCar does better for the select few races that are broadcast by ABC, but it's still a tall glass of weak tea for such a storied series.

Bernard has been struggling to change that. Some ideas -- like the $5 million challenge to any non-Indy driver who can win the season finale at Las Vegas -- seem to be flopping. Others are right on the money.

Double-file restarts have been a major improvement -- despite the fact that the drivers hate them.

And starting this weekend with the race at Baltimore, fans can get a glimpse into the Bat Cave -- the super secret place known as Race Control where race directors and stewards make the calls about when to throw the caution flag or whether to penalize a driver.

Race Control in NASCAR, as well as IndyCar, normally operates like the wizard from the Wizard of Oz, issuing pronouncements from behind a big curtain.

That curtain is being tossed aside and burned. Fans can now download an app from Verizon that provides video and audio from Race Control. So fans can listen in as race officials decide whether that divebomb move in Turn 3 that wrecked two other cars deserves a penalty.

It's only available on mobile phone and only some phones so far. It's not available for iPhones. But it's a great step forward in the "transparency" that IndyCar has promised.

In fact, it's such a great idea that NASCAR needs to follow suit.

Imagine being able to listen in as NASCAR officials pretend to see some debris on the track so they can bring out the yellow flag and get Dale Earnhardt Jr. back on the lead lap.

Or how about being a fly on the wall when NASCAR officials arbitrarily hand out pit-road speeding penalties.

OK, I'm kidding. But plenty of NASCAR fans are convinced that's what goes on in the NASCAR control booth. A camera with audio, accessible by smart phone, would go a long way toward finally burying the sport's biggest conspiracy theory.

The IndyCar Race Control app not coincidentally comes shortly after a controversial call by Race Director Brian Barnhart to end the race at New Hampshire after a bad decision to attempt a restart on a wet track.

Had the app been up and running at New Hampshire, it would have been far easier for fans to judge how and why Barnhart did what he did -- and maybe they wouldn't have needed to start a Facebook page dedicated to firing him.

Imagine if such an app existed back in 2008 when the call was made in the NASCAR control booth to penalize Regan Smith for dropping below the yellow line at Talladega and give the win to Tony Stewart.

Or when Brian Vickers wrecked Jimmie Johnson and Earnhardt at Talladega to win his first career Cup race.

Or when Kevin Harvick passed Mark Martin on the last lap of the Daytona 500 while chaos was erupting behind them and NASCAR declined to bring out the caution flag.

Of course, if fans knew exactly how such decisions were made, what would everyone complain about on Monday?
Click to expand...

BartonWorkman · Sep 2, 2011

The writer isn't far off the mark with regard to NASCAR's
veil of screcy. It's hardly a veil though, more like an iron
safe.

NASCAR's race control is done high above the tracks behind
locked doors and goes far beyond throwing convenient, arbitrary
cautions for "phantom debris" or handing out penalties for
speeding in the pit lane.

As for Indy Car's decision to do this, not sure what's really
to be gained as many of their problems seem to stem from
race control's indecisions as seen at the debacle at Louden.

Many inside Indy Car's ranks have given up on the series
but the country simply must have a healthy open wheeled
series but perhaps going after NASCAR's achillie's heel
may not be their best tact.

BHW

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NASCAR could learn a lot from IndyCar's transparency

4re Nut F1 World Champ

BartonWorkman F1 Veteran

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NASCAR could learn a lot from IndyCar's transparency

4re Nut F1 World Champ

BartonWorkman F1 Veteran

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