Hulman & Company CEO Mark Miles fully understands the dramatically mixed reviews from last Saturday’s MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway. They ranged from “the best Verizon IndyCar Series race ever” to “too much of a ‘Pack Race’ and way too dangerous.”
As the man who ultimately runs INDYCAR Miles believes he needs to take action to help redirect the message, listen to the stakeholders’ concerns but also reprimand those who make comments that could potentially damage the sport.
“It's a serious subject, so I hope this attempt at humor is not misguided, but I have a very good, very colorful friend that's pretty well known in Indiana who wrote a book that is entitled, ‘It Takes a Mighty Thin Pancake that Ain't Got Two Sides,’” Miles said. “The way I think about it, the Fontana race definitely had two sides. It was compelling, it was adrenaline‑filled, it was hard to look away, at times it was hard to watch. It was so exciting.
“We noted during the race it got up from fifth to trending third on Twitter, and NASCAR drivers were making their comments, including things like, ‘If you're not watching Indy cars race on NBC Sports Network, you're missing it.’ I think it was said the TV rating, the audience nearly doubled, it was up 83 percent, and it was the most watched NBC Sports Network race since 2011. Some of that, without a doubt in my mind, was about the excitement generated by the racing; some of it was probably that it wasn't at night. It was in an earlier day part from California.
“Obviously there were drivers that were very concerned about it. That is something we listened to. It's something that Derrick (Walker, INDYCAR President of Competition) and his team listened to. When they heard about it on Friday, I think, in Fontana, they did talk to other drivers, and their judgment at the time was that we ought to go on with it. And different drivers had different perspectives on it, but making a change in the aero set‑up at that point was not the best course of action.”
Miles understand that different tracks on the schedule create different circumstances and a race car setup may not be an exact science. There is no right or wrong setup, but a whole lot of gray area that the engineers and chief mechanics have to determine.
“Our folks believe that there are two primary reasons that the racing was so tight,” Miles said. “One was that we probably did go a step too far with the downforce that we allowed or provided for in the aero spec, and the other was that it ended up being much cooler race than expected and obviously temperature has something to do with it.
“So I guess I would say it is a two‑sided coin. This is an inherently dangerous sport. You've seen Ed Carpenter and others talk about it recently. We've got to be the kind of sanctioning body that the drivers feel comfortable coming to and believe that smart people listen and make the best judgments possible. Not all the drivers have the same point of view about anything. I think we have demonstrated that we do care about safety, and fundamentally also about growing this sport and attracting more fans. All those things are in the mix. I think we were probably closer than we had in mind in Fontana. Happily, it was safe, and it certainly provided a very compelling race.”
Miles was not happy with some of the comments that were made by “stakeholders” and that includes drivers, crewmembers, team management and others. Although he isn’t going to sanction anyone for what he believed were “damaging comments” he believes the series will take a stricter stance in the future.
“What I didn't love about it was ‑‑ it's one thing for our fans and audience and all that and people that care about us to weigh in and have opinions and that's great,” Miles said. “If they don't, then we really are in trouble as a sport. What I didn't love was our members, I think of them as members, some of our stakeholders, by whom I mean representatives of teams and certain drivers, I thought, really going too far with their public statements.
“One way to look at it is that at a moment when people were exhausted from the stimulation of watching that race, even during it, comments started to be made that weren't so much just opinions about the set‑up, but were really very, I thought, potentially damaging to the sport, to the Series. I don't view the Series as Hulman and Company, Inc. I view this Series as the drivers, the teams, and us, and our investors and stakeholders, by which I mean broadcasters and sponsors, and comments can be damaging to the interest of the whole, and I personally think our sport has been probably too lax in that regard.
“So I expect to see a change in our attitude about that going forward. I don't think it makes sense to go from off to on, from one day to the next without any warnings, but I do think we need to be more forceful in ensuring that no one individual or individuals are really damaging the value for the group. On the other hand, it's incumbent on us to be a place where stakeholders can feel like they can express their views and they are heard and they are absolutely taken into consideration. Again, most of them understand that their view doesn't necessarily mean that it's a universal view and sometimes timing of a discussion affects outcomes.
“That was one take‑away for the weekend from me, that I think as a sanctioning body we got to step up a little bit where it makes sense, and I think you can look for us to take that approach going forward.
“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.”
Miles also indicated there may be a return to Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule and the season’s final race will probably be later in the year, past the Labor Day weekend. That is dependent on when the season starts but he vowed there would be a seven-month schedule in 2016.