Last weekend I saw two of the weirdest race finishes in a while. Well, technically one of them happened on Monday, as once again NASCAR elected not to utilize Goodyear's treaded rain tires for the Watkins Glen Sprint Cup race. The other strange finish was at New Hampshire, with Indy cars trying to race on slicks in the rain ... never a good idea.
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Marcos Ambrose's first Sprint Cup win was hard-fought and well deserved. The popular Australian was ecstatic in victory circle, and was still grinning as he qualified yesterday for Sunday's Michigan 400-miler. And Brad Keselowski turned in another absolutely phenomenal drive against all expectations, finishing a close second with a broken ankle and a sore back.
Unfortunately, these outstanding performances were somewhat overshadowed by some post-race extracurricular activity between Greg Biffle and Boris Said. It had nothing to do with the crash of Biffle's teammate David Ragan, triggered by contact with Said. Rather, a long-standing grudge erupted when Biffle, two laps down, raced Said a bit aggressively. Boris went to Biffle's pit, where Greg allegedly threw a couple of punches through his window and Said erupted from the car and went after him. I was glad to see that Boris remembered that cardinal rule of post-race altercations and kept his helmet on. In any case, Biffle called him during the week and settled matters, which was probably cheaper than hiring security to keep Said from coming to his house.
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The New Hampshire IndyCar series race was interrupted twice by rain, and restarted under very slick conditions in the worst decision by race control I've seen in more than 40 years of involvement in motorsports.
If Brian Barnhart isn't fired over this one, the series' slow march back to respectability will be over.
Fans have been vocal in their almost universal call for his departure. Barnhart compounded his bad decision by going on camera and trying to claim that he got no feedback that the track was not in raceable condition. Drivers, team owners, and even some race officials contradicted this claim before officials were forbidden to talk to the press.
The prevailing theory is that Barnhart wanted to finish the race within the TV window, so made the decision to go back to green without regard to the danger it posed to drivers.
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A second arguably poor decision was to disregard the fact that the lead had changed under the brief green flag, and revert to the previous lap for the race finish.
Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, who spun his tires on the restart and was passed by Oriol Servia and Scott Dixon, was declared the winner.
Both the Newman-Haas and Target Ganassi teams have filed protests of the finishing order, and a hearing is scheduled for Aug. 23.
The rule book seems to be on their side as to how races should be scored and laps counted. However, as SPEED's Marshall Pruett points out, the IndyCar rule book's Rule 1.1C(2) effectively nullifies the rest of the rulebook. It states:
Rule 1.1C(2) states: "Officials shall have the discretion and authority to take any and all actions and make any and all determinations they deem necessary or appropriate during, or in connection with, an Event including without limitation determinations as to whether a Rule violation has occurred and whether a penalty should be imposed."
Basically, this means that Barnhart can do whatever he wants, regardless of anything else that is written in the rulebook. He is also the appeals court, so good luck with getting justice if he makes a mistake.
And mistakes abound in Barnhart's record. IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard needs to listen to the teams, drivers, and fans, and get rid of this walking disaster immediately. And then rewrite the rulebook and institute a process for appeal to a neutral authority when bad decisions are made.
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Locally, the 3/8 mile clay oval at Reno-Fernley Raceway is back in action tonight with a NASCAR double-points event for five racing divisions. Also, the road course at Reno-Fernley is hosting a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Solo event both today and Sunday.
