INDYCAR Denies Newman/Haas And Ganassi Protests--As Expected

No one should be surprised the three-man tribunal called to hear protests filed after the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 on New Hampshire Motor Speedway's mile oval ruled in favor of the sanctioning body, INDYCAR.  Newman/Haas Racing (for second-placed Oriol Servia) and Target Chip Ganassi Racing for Scott Dixon, third-finisher, contended that their drivers should have been scored first and second, respectively, as there was a brief period of green before yellow flags flew to abort a restart with five laps to go.

INDYCAR went back to the previous laps under green to give the race to Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had been leading until the caution flew for a damp track.  The series' president of competition and operations, who is also chief steward, Brian Barnhart called for green to fly despite rabid protests up and down pit road.  He later admitted his error as he restored Hunter-Reay, Servia and Dixon to the top three spots - even though the latter two had passed RHR during the brief green-flag period.

The three-man panel consisted of New Hampshire promoter Jerry Gappens and two USAC stalwarts, former chairman Rollie Helmling and current CEO Jeff Stoops.  The fact that Barnhart chose two USAC officials - the same group fired by then-INDYCAR CEO Tony George after being unable to count laps at Texas Motor Speedway in the series early days - pretty much guaranteed the result of the kangaroo court.

The protests heard on Tuesday were denied and the following statement came from the panel:

"After hearing the excellent presentations by each of the participants in the protest hearing, and after reviewing and being sympathetic with each of their positions, the Protest Panel was unanimous in its decision," the statement read.  "It is the conclusion that INDYCAR Senior Official Brian Barnhart had the authority under the governing 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook to render the decision that was made.  We also agree that his decision to abort the restart and set up the finishing positions that existed before the attempted restart to be an exercise of reasonable discretion.  The protests as to Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. (dba Target Chip Ganassi Racing) car No. 9 and Newman/Haas LLC car No. 2 are hereby denied."

The IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook does give the Senior Official - meaning Barnhart - open discretion to decide whatever he wants.  At several points in the rulebook, it says the Senior Official has such discretion.  

Still, it was good to see comments from Carl Haas, the owner of Newman/Haas Racing that stated appreciation for the opportunity to mount this protest.  "The IndyCar Series granted us a hearing and has been very cooperative in providing us with requested information, enabling us to adequately present our case," he said.  "We feel that we gave the panel proof that Oriol was the winner of the event when the checkered flag ended the race.  Naturally we are very disappointed in the panel's ruling that five laps of the race be struck from the results, but we appreciated the opportunity to state our position."

Maintaining that high road Servia said, "I am very proud of Newman/Haas Racing and how they proved that the restart procedure was correct and that we were leading when the yellow came out.  The panel resolution doesn't deny that.  Their resolution states that Brian Barnhart has the power - by the rulebook - to make certain decisions at this discretion, and that is what happened."

Michael Andretti, owner of Hunter-Reay's team Andretti Autosport always felt his driver was the winner "and this decision verifies his victory.  This was our team's third win with three different drivers this year and we're the only team to have three winners in the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series.  We can now focus on getting back to victory lane at Sonoma and Baltimore," he said.

And so INDYCAR heads for Northern California this weekend with the same Senior Official, Barnhart, in the seat he's occupied for the past 16 years since USAC got the boot, with the same discretionary powers Barnhart has used at his whim.  It should be interesting to see and hear the reactions of all players - including defending Infineon Raceway race winner Will Power, who gave Barnhart a double digit salute after being taken out in the aborted restart - now that the Senior Official's power remains intact.

© 2011 Anne Proffit