Brian Barnhart

Brian Barnhart
Brian Barnhart is the President of Race Operations of IndyCar. Having previously served as director of race operations for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IRL, he is charged with primarily the safety and competition of the racing. Brian's most well-known on-camera role has been giving final instructions to every Indianapolis 500 qualifying attemptee before their run. He was also the president of the league from 2005 to early 2007...
associated family letterman prayers race thoughts
Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with the Dana family and everyone associated with the Rahal Letterman race team.
burden five indy next provides puts teams terms weekends
There are only five weekends after the Indy 500 that we aren't on the track. That puts the burden on the teams in terms of preparation, but it also provides much better storytelling from one week to the next on television.
benefits competition engine minded open preference realized robert short stability term
We all know there are short term benefits to having no engine competition in 2007, from a stability standpoint, ... We think Robert realized that, as well and has been open minded about it. We are contacting all engine manufacturers to solicit their participation, in part because it is Honda's preference to have competition.
commitment dates excited forward length met promoters renew schedule talked terms time
We would like to renew that as well for a multi-year commitment and keep going back there. We've met with all of our promoters and talked dates and length of terms with them and they are very excited about it as well. We look forward to it being a mainstay of their schedule for a long time to come.
definitely difficult easier events looking promoters shows time track work
It's something we're going to take a look at, even for some of the events the remainder of this year, looking at the calendar, working with the promoters and the teams. It's a lot easier to do at the three-day shows. Two-day shows, it's more difficult to give them enough track time to work on it. But the three-day shows we'll definitely put an eyeball on them and see what we can do.
becomes change condense difficult dramatic frame great market run time
It's an important market to us; it's a great racetrack. When you make a change as dramatic as we made to condense the time frame in which we're going to run our events, it becomes a difficult thing from a flexibility standpoint.
decision including looking move tough
It was a tough day in a lot of respects, including the decision to move forward. Looking back on it, I think it was the right decision.
dictate plays second week
That is why they need to look at the big picture. To see how this first week plays out will dictate the combinations for the second week.
based brings commitment earlier efficiency format honda league ourselves policy ready revised serve testing
We have revised our testing policy from earlier in the off-season based on the commitment from Honda to serve as the league's single-engine supplier. This testing format brings more efficiency to the teams, Honda and the league as we ready ourselves for the 2006 season, the league's first featuring its compacted schedule.
basis consistency consistent drop flag frame green heart miami momentum month point primary races reasons schedule scheduling season time
The primary reasons for the compacted schedule are momentum and consistency. Scheduling our races on a consistent basis in a compacted time frame will give us momentum from the drop of the green flag in Miami into the month of May, right through the heart of our season and into the championship point battle.
consistency momentum primary reasons schedule
The primary reasons for the compacted schedule are momentum and consistency.
balanced current extending few forward incredibly level maximum past program provides racing seen series teams value
We have seen an incredibly balanced level of racing the past few years in the IndyCar Series and look forward to even more of that in 2006. Extending our current chassis program with Dallara and Panoz provides our teams maximum value for their investment.
certainly date issues lose markets phoenix return whether
You lose some date flexibility in this compression. Not everything was able to get accomplished and end up where we wanted to be. Whether it's Fontana, Phoenix or Pikes Peak, if those issues could be addressed, those are markets we would certainly look to make a return to.
date lose
You lose some date flexibility in this compression,