On Monday the IndyCar Series fined Hélio Castroneves US$60,000 and put him on probation for the rest of the year after he ignored a black flag in the closing laps of the July 25 round at Edmonton, and heaped invective on a couple of IRL officials immediately after the race. Castroneves was black-flagged while leading following the race’s final restart. Chief steward Brian Barnhart said the Brazilian had weaved to block team-mate Will Power and violated IndyCar’s one-move-only rule.
“This rule is unique to Indycar racing,” said Barnhart. “It was put in place to protect our competitors, officials and fans, prevent unnecessary damage to these cars and allow for more passing opportunities. Bad things happen when these cars touch and there have been serious incidents with major consequences on temporary circuits throughout Indycar history. With the new wheel interlocking prevention technology that is coming in our 2012 formula we will be revaluating the rule in the future.”
But many people saw it as just good, hard racing. Castroneves squeezed Power at the apex of the first turn but gave the Australian room to race and enjoyed a better line into the next sequence of corners, while Power took a tight line and lost momentum and a place to Scott Dixon. Compared to the aggressive moves we’ve seen from Michael Schumacher in Formula 1, Castroneves’ manoeuvres in Edmonton were fair and sportsmanlike.
Things began to go wrong for the emotional Castroneves when he refused to pull in for the black flag. He was penalised 20 seconds and placed at the end of the lead lap in 10th. After clambering out of his car Hélio allowed his feelings to overflow, scuffling with two officials in the pitlane and declaring on TV that IndyCar should talk to his lawyers.
“This sport is so close and competitive that emotions are always on display,” said IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard (below). “However, that does not justify the post-race conduct of Hélio toward series officials. This is a very serious matter and we weighed all the options, including suspension. But we felt suspension would hurt the fans more than anyone else. Fans have paid money to watch the best drivers in the world and many bought their tickets for upcoming events with the expectation of watching Hélio. He is a great ambassador for this sport and we know his actions after the Edmonton race are not indicative of his normal behaviour.”
Castroneves issued his own statement: “I want to thank Randy Bernard for taking the time to meet with me in Indianapolis today. I regret what occurred following the race in Edmonton and I apologise for my behaviour as I let my emotions get the better of me. Although my disappointment with being black-flagged while leading the race with a few laps to go will probably remain with me, I understand and accept the league’s decision to penalise me for my reaction. I am ready to move forward and I’m hoping to add to Team Penske’s success at Mid-Ohio.”
Over the past 20 years as F1 has moved too far in one direction, IndyCar has moved too far in the other. As first Ayrton Senna and then Schumacher rewrote the code of conduct in F1 which became a much harder sport, IndyCar tried to put on as nice a face as possible as the CART/IRL war dragged the sport down. It was the antithesis of what once made USAC and then CART a tough, unique form of racing.
I remember Bobby Unser raging at Gordon Johncock after a wheel-banging episode at Milwaukee in 1981. Unser was the archetypal hard man of Indycar racing and he called Johncock every name in the book to both Gordie’s face and the media. But Johncock was an equally hard man and he just smirked at Bobby. It was great theatre and helped sell plenty of tickets, and that kind of controversy is part of what today’s Indycar desperately needs rather than Castroneves being reduced to a foot-shuffling, naughty college boy.
Instead of following the old USAC way, contemporary Indycar racing has gone down the path of the SCCA, which was renowned for its gentlemanly rules of conduct rather than the rough and tumble manners of USAC and NASCAR. In fact, all forms of American road racing have been infected by the SCCA’s amateurish ways, so that every young European racer who comes to the US has a tough time adapting to our more gentlemanly rules, while any young American going to Europe has an equally difficult time adjusting to the harsher cut and thrust of the racing.
But the fact remains that in a country where NASCAR’s ‘Have at it boys’ philosophy sets the standard and dominates the market, IndyCar is becoming an increasingly irrelevant form of motor racing.
I now understand the “RULE” . The majority of the viewing fans and those in attendance did not and at the time niether did I and so IRL looked bad.
The fine and probation I would hope is for Helio’s behaviour after the infraction and I agree that it has no place in any sport except WWF.
Physically accosting an official is very different from having a go at another driver. Perhaps I missed something along the way, but I cannot recall any of the “warriors” of old going after an official.
Helio should have been given a one (at least) race suspension and a much higher fine.
Gordo.
Helio’s post race actions were indeed out of line and he should be called to task fior that. We all appreciate his passion and emotion, but he did overdo it.
As to the “clear rule” it sounds like Brian Barnhart is being coached by Emily Post…..it supposed to be smart racing, not subjetive rules. We’ve all seen that move at many races (mostly CART) with no such repercussions.
Citing the behavior of Senna and Schumacher as evidence that Castroneves’ reactions were mild is seriously misguided, in my view. Schumacher has repeatedly shown he will stop at nothing to prevent a faster rival from passing and has grossly endangered spectators, officials, teams, and competitors while so doing. Is that what we want in Indycar racing, or any other series for that matter? I think not.
There is the odd suggestion that Schumacher switch to NASCAR. An excellent suggestion, that one – were he to catch the inevitable nudges into the fence he’d have his jaw broken promptly upon return to the pits.
The description of the incident is wrong. Hélio took the inside line and Power was cutting in from out wide. Hélio was at the apex first which prevented Power taking full advantage of his better line for the exit.
Barnhart explained that Hélio should have taken the outside line for the corner as he was leading on the approach. His use of the inside line was deemed in contravention of Indycar’s blocking rules.
Nonetheless that doesn’t detract from the points raised in the article. I saw the move on Youtube twice without knowing where the transgression was – racing such as that is standard practice right up the European ladder and was commonplace in CART.
As for Indycar becoming irrelevant, in my opinion the IRL always has been but my interest in the series was piqued after reading comparisons between the F1 bore in Bahrain and the opening Indycar round in Sau Paulo. I saw the race in Toronto and was unoffended (disappointed for Justin though) so I’ll probably watch Mid Ohio.
Regarding the blocking rule, I’ll reserve judgement as I haven’t enough experience of it. I do however agree that Castroneves’ outburst hurt no one and I thought it was pretty entertaining, certainly something which could generate real interest.
One more giant leap down the road to the ultimate end of the sport of motor racing.
The rule as I understand it isn’t a “one move” rule – which in itself is fairly contrived – but rather states that a driver may not deviate from the racing line to defend his position, and it’s only purpose is to absolve officials of the responsibility of making difficult or unpopular decisions, to punish or not to punish, when a driver crosses the line.
This particular episode is one of the more pathetic that I can recall and has, for me, driven the final nail in the whole sad, pathetic IRL debacle. To be stripped of a win for clean and fair RACING, exactly the kind of driving that we should be holding up as an example of how it should be done, is breathtaking.
I do not condone Castroneves’ actions post race, but can certainly understand his ire, and while an apology to the individual officials is warranted, I find his public mea culpa not only galling but also a prime example of the PR stage managing that is chocking the life out of our sport.
What isn’t mentioned is that the rule in place for only this one race was that overtaking was to be via the inside lane. Helio was given the blocking penalty because he took the inside lane and was not in the act of passing.
Ridiculous? Of course. Who ever heard of such stupidity?
Equally stupid was that Power was not given a penalty for doing exactly the same thing to Helio on the first lap. Replays of both actions look exactly the same. It is this inconsistency that has most IRL fans upset.
Helio should have punched the guy who grabbed him after the race. Much like AJ. “Lay your hands on me and you’ll regret it.”
Yet another reason the IRL and all the Georges’ incantations will never succeed in this country.
What utter BS.
When a rule can’t be understood by the fans, and is arbitrarily administered where there has been no accident or contact or damage, how does that rule benefit racing? In Edmonton, Mr. Barnhart decided who won the race, not the racers. Perhaps we should look more closely at the qualifications and agendas of those who wield that much power.
The IRL irrelevant? You betcha!
N.- I don’t think anyone but Barnhart understands the rule, and he isn’t telling.
It really was the worst thing that could have happened to the ICS, at the worst time, and it got worse when Helio blew his top.
The next race had better be a cracker.
Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher set standards only for sociopathic dirty driving and causing Bernie Ecclestone to cream his underwear.
The rule may or may not be advantageous, but it was made clear to everyone at the drivers’ meeting. Castroneves knew exactly what he was doing, trying to “finesse” the rules and not be penalized and it was his sense of entitlement, not justice, that was offended by the ruling. Castroneves doesn’t like that Will Power is consistently the faster driver and what he did was an act of calculated desperation. Too bad he has to abide by the rules like everyone else.
The rule was broken several times but enforced only once. It seems to me that Helio had to abide by the rules unlike everyone else.
This rule was pretty hard to figure out as the cars were racing around.
It has taken some considerable time to understand. Here in the US, one writer has put it this way: “the fans are not buying tickets to watch the officials in action.” There has to be a better way to get the result the IRL needs.
Castroneves was certainly out of line. However, the IRL’s decision was a major test for anyone with a sense of what motorsport should be. You could take Castroneves’ defence as a text book example of how to be aggressive yet sportsmanship. That ruling tarnishes IRL racing much more that Castroneves’ reaction.
Armando
Puebla, México
Interesting comments, Gordon, but kind of in a fishbowl. USAC never wanted road races or an international driver line-up. American racing was different and special way back when, but then CART devalued it to the point where the people running it at the time thought they could ignore the Indy 500 and get away with it. (You talk about drivers from the US and Europe; most of today’s racers aren’t from either one!) The IRL has been a pretty good racing series through most of the past decade, and I have been a big supporter. Now, with all the sports car tracks and the Politically Correct rule book, I find myself tuning out. Oh well, now that it has gone the CART route, bankruptcy is sure to follow anyway…
I just recieved the October issue of Motorsport, and to my amazement found Bobby Rahal’s comments on this so-called blocking. He also goes on to make something of an assumtion that it is a Brazilian thing to do, this blocking, and that the Brazilian drivers have perfected this down to a fine art. I’m sorry, but I just can’t take this guy, let alone American open-wheel racing, seriously anymore. What a load of rubbish!