Hulman & Company CEO Mark Miles, the ultimate boss of INDYCAR, came out firing on Wednesday when he said critical comments by stakeholders in the Verizon IndyCar Series after last Saturday’s MAVTV 500 were “damaging to the sport.” Miles also indicated the 2016 schedule will likely go beyond Labor Day Weekend in order to fit more events onto the schedule and to have a seven-month schedule instead of this year’s five-month schedule that was shortened after the cancellation of the season-opening race at Brasilia, Brazil.
Miles made those comments during an hour-long teleconference on Wednesday. Shortly after the conclusion of the teleconference, INDYCAR officials took swift action against defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion Will Power of Team Penske. Power was fined $25,000 and placed on probation for the remainder of the 2015 season for violating Rule 9.3.1 (Improper Conduct) and Rule 9.3.1.8 (Improper Conduct; using improper, profane, or disparaging language or gestures in reference to any Official).
Power pushed a Medical official who tended to him following a crash in last Saturday’s thrilling race at Auto Club Speedway. When the doctor tried to help Power after the crash, the driver gave him a two-handed push to the chest.
After returning to pit lane, Power criticized the aerodynamic package that INDYCAR allowed for the race and said, “Someone is going to die.” Team Penske president Tim Cindric also criticized it as “pack racing.”
“It was absolutely compelling and riveting racing so there is one common denominator to that,” Miles said. “Our people believe it was tighter than we had in mind.
“What I didn’t love was our members – some of our stakeholders, representatives of teams and certain drivers – went too far with their public statements. They weren’t so much opinions about the setup but potentially damaging about the sport, about the series. Comments can be damaging to the sport as a whole and our approach as a series has been too lax. I expect to see a change in that going forward. I think we need to be more forceful to ensure no one individual is damaging the whole for a group. On the other hand stakeholders need to voice their concerns and have it taken into consideration.
“As a sanctioning body we have to step up a little bit and take that approach moving forward.
“We're not going to be levying sanctions based on comments that were made last weekend, but I do think they provide an important reason that I do need to have a number conversations and will have them, and I think we will have them with some individuals and we'll have them with team owners and drivers generally,” Miles said. “Any sport, when it doles out penalties, especially not competitive penalties but this sort of thing, has to think about their style. When I got involved in tennis, I went to see then Commissioner of the PGA Tour, Dean Beaman, to talk about this and get some advice, his advice was ‘they're yours’ and you may need to show tough love, but the point isn't to show it publicly. The point is to build the culture that you want. And I think ‑ you all are racing guys but also sports fans, you would note, you don't read a lot from golf about when they may have occasion to sanction, punish, penalize golfers. You better believe it happens. In tennis we were somewhere in between. We ended up publishing that a lot because if a tennis player took a racquet and broke it over the head of a chair umpire, it was hard to be private about it.
"All I'm trying to do today is make it clear I'm not pleased with some of that, I'm not naming any names, and I've said it's incumbent upon us to be a responsible, responsive, intelligent sanctioning body. But we will ‑ I will change this culture to some extent going forward by being more activist and whether we're pounding our chests about that or not, you can be sure it's going to happen if it needs to."
Also, race-winning team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry was fined $10,000 ($5,000 suspended) for violating Rule 7.10.1.2 (Pit Safety Violation; leaving pit with equipment attached to the car - fuel hose). Additionally, a crewmember for the team was placed on probation for three races for violating Rule 7.10.1.2 (Pit Safety Violation; leaving pit with equipment attached to car - fuel hose).
Verizon IndyCar Series driver Tristan Vautier was fined $10,000 and placed on probation for the remainder of the 2015 season for violating Rule 7.10.1.8 (Pit Safety Violation; contact with personnel).
There were other penalties announced from last Saturday’s race but Miles was most upset with the “damaging” comments made about the series.
“The way I think of the Fontana race had two sides,” Miles said. “It was compelling, adrenalin filled. It was hard to look away. At times, it was hard to watch. It was so exciting. During the race it went from fifth to third on Twitter and NASCAR drivers were making positive comments. The TV audience was up 83 percent and the most-watched NBC Sports Network race since 2011.
“There were drivers that were very concerned about it and it is something we have listened to. Different drivers had different perspectives on it but making changes to the aero at that point was not the right course of action. There were two primary reasons the racing was so tight. One was we went too far with the downforce we provided for them and the temperature was cooler than we expected.
“This is an inherently dangerous sport. We have to be the kind of sanctioning body the drivers feel comfortable to and make the right decision. We do care about safety and fundamentally about growing this sport. Happily, it was safe at Fontana and provided a compelling race.”
Among the other highlights, Miles admitted he is in discussion with Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin to return that historic road course to the schedule and is concerned with saving The Milwaukee Mile - a facility that has failed to generate support from ticket buyers. The same could be said for Auto Club Speedway, which drew an embarrassing crowd last Saturday, but is likely to move back to a night race in September.
“We would like to be at Road America and it’s important we talk to Milwaukee about that,” Miles said. “Sometimes, proximity with venues can be a good thing if both promoters work together. There is a target on the board and the question is if we can hit it. We are hopeful we can figure that out for next year.
“With respect to next year’s schedule the length of the schedule is a fundamental issue and we’ve been saying that for some time. It was never the goal to have a five-month schedule. The idea was not shorter or less it was to slide the schedule earlier in the year to have a more ideal and beneficial television period. The model we are pursuing is seven months with up to 20 events. From a television audience perspective the post-Labor Day period for us will be a challenge.
“Clearly, though, and we’ve been saying this for some time when we end the season next year will be very directly related to when we start it. We will not have a five-month season next year. We’re going to have some good options for next year. We have a new anchor race in Boston on Labor Day Weekend and at this point it won’t be the season finale.”
From a positive standpoint, Miles gave a balanced assessment of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season.
“From a fan’s perspective I think we are hitting more than we are missing,” Miles said of the season so far. “The racing has been even more competitive and compelling than the very high standards set last year and in previous years. We have eight winners in 11 events with historic events at Indianapolis and last weekend at Fontana. Attendance is a tale of two situations. It’s either been flat or up a little or up a lot at half of the events. St. Petersburg and Long Beach were at historic recent highs and the Indianapolis 500 was up a bit. Then there is the other half that was affected by weather, most of it rain at NOLA, the Angie’s List Grand Prix, Detroit and Toronto. And then there was temperature last week at Fontana. We had meaningful growth on television last year but it looks like we are going to be flat this year.
“We have a lot of season yet to go but from a fan perspective we have had some positive growth.”
Miles said the introduction of Aero Kits has had some “positives and some challenges.” It has opened up some technical innovation and to distinguish the look between Chevrolet and Honda. It also increased performance with a number of track records this season.
“It’s a contribution to the quality of racing,” Miles said. “But there have been some issues.”
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