One thing Randy Bernard touched on at Infineon Raceway was that they would do a 100 percent re-evaluation of the rulebook at year's end. What's on the table?
I can't comment on what he said there, as I was in Europe. But every year, there's an evaluation process of the rulebook, of the rules, of clarity of interpretation of the rules, how they're written. Everyone wants things black and white but that's impossible.
I'd say it's no different than any other year; there will be a thorough evaluation of the rulebook. If there are specific things Randy wants to go after, that's fine. That's his prerogative. I just think we need to sift through it. We've already started on the process, and every year if you think you want to change things, you make notes for the end of the year. There's a lot of people who want to see the rulebook written a little differently. And that's fine.
What were your reactions, or ones you heard, following the premiere of the race control camera in the Verizon IndyCar Mobile app?
I've seen the camera in there, and I don't even look at the camera because I'm working. I'm aware it's there; I don't know if there's sound. I wouldn't agree with that, if there was. But I can understand why it's there. It's fine if it provides a perspective of what's going on in race control. What it adds, I have no idea.
Fairly or unfairly, it seems like race control has been in the crosshairs far more than you would like this year. Why do you think this year has been more, if not challenging, then abnormal?
I don't know. Some years it's in the crosshairs, and as I've said before, some media outlets' dislike for the leader makes it difficult. That doesn't help. When you have this many cars, all the same equipment, with good drivers, racing becomes difficult. Everybody's entitled to their opinions. But when you look back on it, Brian [Barnhart]'s done a damn good job with what's happened. Ninety percent of the people have absolutely no clue what goes on in race control and how much goes on at one time.
There's good and bad years, and I think there's years where they're in the forefront. And there are others where you never hear from them. It seems at the moment that everybody's a critic and has some comment whenever they get out of the car. But that's how it is, and it's part of our job. Get it out and move on.
One of the things Brian told me was, “If you worry about the reaction or what people write or say, that it influences the ability to do your job.” Do you think that's accurate?
I'd say that's reasonable and pretty accurate. When you go up to race control, everyone's just a car number. And you need to confidently apply the rules as written in the rulebook. If you treat it like that, and understand that you're dealing with any car, it's not tough to do your job. Once you start worrying about what people think, or what they think if they get penalized, you won't ever be efficient.
We're not up here to penalize people. We're up here to run an efficient race. But when people do deserve penalties, you need to put the hammer down and do it, and not worry about what they'll do or say. Let's be honest, when anybody gets penalized, they ain't gonna be happy. If you do get happy for being penalized, you shouldn't be racing. It's pretty simple.
There's no winner for anyone who gets penalized. We're all humans. But from my own professional point of view, I deal with them as car numbers, I don't care who it is when they're replaying an incident. Either there's someone at fault or someone isn't. I really don't care who's driving the car.