TO PENALIZE OR NOT TO PENALIZE, THAT IS THE QUESTION
It?s a classic Catch-22. Have we, as IndyCar fans, followers and professionals, become hyper critical of every call made by Race Control because of outside influences, or has it been sparked solely by a steady stream of officiating errors?
Using the NFL as an example, has their use of Instant Replay, the adoption of a new rule for 2011 where the league reviews every scoring play to confirm (or reverse) the points that were earned, and a general dissection of every aspect of the game by fans and talk radio pundits led to a culture where similar scrutiny has bled over to Indy car racing?
Or, has IndyCar?s Race Control--as a whole or through the actions of select members?managed to create its own army of doubters after a season filled with questionable calls and inconsistencies?
So which one is it? Have we changed as a society or are we just reacting to what?s taken place this year?
If the general outrage at the lack of a drive-through penalty for Dario Franchitti?s Turn 1 gaffe at Motegi is anything to go by, I?d guess that anger stems from two things: The feeling that Franchitti receives preferential treatment, and that the size or severity of the penalties that are given seem to conform to no particular standard.
As one series official explained to SPEED.com, Race Control does use a rather simple, logic-based filter do decide how contact-related offenses are handled, but in the case of Franchitti, many still feel the punishment did not fit the crime.
Dario Franchitti, left, and Brian Barnhart, right, haven't been overly popular this week. (LAT)
?The standard penalty this season for avoidable contact is a drive-through under green conditions or [being] placed at the back of the field under yellow conditions,? the official said. ?We've been pretty consistent with issuing it. For example at Baltimore, [Ryan] Briscoe was penalized for avoidable contact and was told to drop to the back of the field under yellow. He didn't serve his penalty and then the conditions changed to green, so he was instructed to do a drive through.?
Whether you agree or disagree with the policy, or have doubts as to how evenly and consistently this drive-through vs. back-of-the-line process has been applied, it?s good to know that a tangible system exists.
Looking at other aspects of the Franchitti incident, it?s also worth exploring whether there are contributing factors to the frustration aimed in his direction. True, he did accept blame immediately, but for some fans, the Scot?s choice to criticize Helio Castroneves while standing in the Winner?s Circle at Milwaukee, and later, spinning Will Power at Toronto has shifted attitudes towards the three-time champion from ?best of his generation? to ?boy, that guy?s a jerk.?
Would Will Power or Tony Kanaan have generated the same volume of angry e-mails to Robin?s Mailbag if they?d caused the problems at Turn 1 rather than Franchitti? Maybe they would, or maybe they wouldn?t have, but I suspect part of the fans? frustration comes not only the act that was committed, but also the person who committed it.
Justice isn?t blind, and in the case of INDYCAR vs. Franchitti at Motegi, the perception was that he got off with a slap on the wrist. In the case of IndyCar Fans vs. Franchitti, it?s clear that many want to throw the book at him.
Personally, my stance on penalties and how I think they should be applied has been the same for quite some time--long before Brian Barnhart wrote the INDYCAR rule book, and it hasn?t changed since. I work off of six basic tenets:
1. Sports need rules, but the rules are not the sport. Watching two hours of rule enforcement is far more entertaining on a Cops marathon than watching an endless stream of free-throw shooting or pit lane drive-throughs. I?m not a fan of having a thousand rules put in place, but I?m also not fond of a thin rulebook that empowers the head of the officiating crew to play God or create rules on the fly. Write the rules you need to create order, but don?t legislate every possible movement or action.
2. Be impartial.
3. Penalties, big or small, should be biblical. An eye for an eye. If a driver lightly alters the race of a competitor, the offending driver should have his or her race lightly altered. If a driver ruins the race of another driver or drivers, the offending driver should have their race ruined.
4. Send a message, then ease up. If blocking is getting out of control, for example, clamp down and penalize every hint of blocking until drivers get the message. Once they do, back off and let them do their jobs. Repeat the process as necessary.
5. Be consistent.
6. Use the damn rulebook. In the NBA, it?s illegal to make contact with a player who?s in the act of shooting the ball. Period. There?s no middle ground, no consideration of whether the offending player meant to commit the foul, whether the defender was baited into fouling or whether the shooter stepped closer to the defender to increase the likelihood of contact taking place. If the referee sees it happen, there are no provisions for using discretion to prevent them from calling a foul. As I said a moment ago, I?m not big on tons of rules, but if rules are written, follow them.
Franchitti?s mistake at Motegi wasn?t the worst offense of the year?not by a mile?but it in a general sense, it deserved a harsher penalty according to No. 3 from above.
Fans appear to be upset because Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 6 either have or haven?t been used, or have been used in an odd manner. I?d also add in a combination of No. 1 and 6. Unless it?s somewhere I missed, the INDYCAR rule book says nothing of drive-through or end-of-the-line penalties.
Rule 9.2.A seems to give strong guidelines on what should have taken place, knowing that Franchitti?s infraction came during a green flag period.
In general, the Senior Official shall require a penalty to be served under the same Track condition in which the violation was committed. If circumstances do not permit, the Senior Official in his discretion shall determine the timing of the penalty as he deems appropriate.
As I read it, and knowing that circumstances permitted it, serving a penalty?although the rule book does not provide options on what kind of penalties should be handed down?should have taken place under green flag conditions when the mess was cleaned up, rather than under yellow during the cleanup.
Rule 9.3.C states, in basic terms, that contact is not allowed (A Competitor must not initiate or attempt to initiate avoidable contact that results in the interruption of another Competitor?s lap time or Track position) but that?s it.
Using my six-point list, a lot of alarms are being set off on how the Franchitti situation was handled.
While INDYCAR has been somewhat consistent in its application of contact-related penalties, it hasn?t been completely consistent (No. 5: be consistent), those penalties don?t appear to be in the rule book (No. 6: use the rule if it?s there/No. 1: don?t play God or create rules on the fly), and moving a guy from 22nd to 25th is hardly biblical (No. 3).
The Franchitti affair was a storm in a teacup, but solutions are on the way. With Tony Cotman tasked with re-writing the rule book for 2012 and the clear need for a more level-headed approach to doling out penalties, it?s just possible Race Control could slip into the background, which is right where it belongs.
And, if we?re lucky, we can get back to enjoying racing for its blend of sport and artistry, rather than worrying about how effectively each race is administered.
DON?T BLAME ME, BLAME HIM
A fun bit of mistaken identity took place during the Franchitti-inspired ballet spins at Turn 1 on Lap 25.
"What? No, dude, blame the guy on my right!" (LAT)
In a case of ?Don?t blame me!,? Graham Rahal obviously found himself spinning unexpectedly in Turn 1, and with Ryan Briscoe also rotating directly behind him, the natural assumption was that the Team Penske driver was the instigator.
While that was true in technical terms, Rahal was unaware of who actually set the dominoes in motion.
?I looked over at Briscoe and raised my hands, like ?what the hell,?? said Rahal. ?He looks back at me and points behind him like, ?Hey man, it wasn?t me?it was him!? That?s when I saw Dario. I felt kinda bad for putting it on Briscoe?? Rahal said with a laugh.
Sit with a group of non-IndyCar drivers and you?ll quickly find how little they have in common or how much they dislike each other. The fact that IndyCar drivers can generate comedy?even of the intentional variety?in tense situations like what took place at Motegi is a subtle reminder of how good we have it.
Source: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-japan-rewind/
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