[quottrethew]

I know all you GearHeads read the Times religiously, but I thought I would post here anyway. Very interesting stuff about their new leader and how the Vegas Speedway may not have been a proper place for an Indy Car race. I see lawsuits in the future when the time is right. I am only copying the 1st page.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/sp...y%20car&st=cse
A Driver’s Death Raises Questions About IndyCar’s Leader
By KEN BELSON and JERRY GARRETT

Published: October 22, 2011

In the wake of Dan Wheldon’s death at a race in Las Vegas last Sunday, IndyCar officials have been all but silent. No formal statements, beyond an expression of regret and a pledge to investigate themselves. Certainly no news conferences to answer questions about the propriety of the race, which was held at a fast track not truly built to stage such an event.
Randy Bernard, the IndyCar chief executive, has come under criticism for his handling of the aftermath of the fatal crash.
The IndyCar officials, after canceling their suddenly pointless championship banquet, left Las Vegas, trailing bitterness and finger-pointing.
“This wasn’t even our event,” said Jeff Motley, a communications director for Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which leased its track to IndyCar for the fatal race. “But they’ve left us to be the only ones to answer for this. There is such a thing as Crisis Management 101. And they flunked it.”
IndyCar racing, in truth, had been in some degree of crisis for more than a decade — attendance at races had slid, television ratings had fallen and a stream of drivers and fans had abandoned the sport for the more prosperous Nascar circuit.
Randy Bernard, a former chief executive of the Professional Bull Riders, was signed up as the C.E.O. last year to end the larger crisis. And the Las Vegas event — complete with glitzy promotions and a race featuring a multimillion-dollar bonus for Wheldon if he could pull off the feat of winning after willingly starting in last position — was going to be Bernard’s masterstroke.
Bernard’s unfamiliarity with racing had been seen as an asset of sorts by those who hired him. He was unburdened by the infighting and litany of strategic and marketing mistakes that had plagued the sport. Having turned bull riding into an international success, Bernard spent his first year and a half atop IndyCar using his prodigious work ethic and showmanship to try to revive a sport whose heyday went out with the Nixon Era.
While he knew little about racing when he arrived, Bernard understood that fans love danger, speed and a spectacle, his formula for success at the Professional Bull Riders. Instead of seeing cowboys be tossed and gored by bucking bulls, fans would come out to watch drivers hit speeds of 220 miles per hour, one snap decision from peril.
Despite some grumbling by IndyCar followers, many people at IndyCar embraced their new leader. In his short tenure, Bernard had signed big-ticket sponsors, added a popular street race and new car designs, and stanched the slide in attendance and television ratings. Eager to shake things up, Bernard worked his Rolodex relentlessly, regularly held predawn conference calls and fired off e-mails while others were asleep.
“Racing, for all the talk of how advanced it is, is pretty stale,” said Bobby Rahal, the three-time series champion, who co-owns a racing team and is president of the Road Racing Drivers Club, which mentors young drivers. “Randy has brought a different look because he hasn’t been in the sport. He thinks outside the motor racing box.”
Las Vegas, then, was Bernard’s different look. IndyCar had not raced there in years, but Bernard had struck gold in Vegas with the bull riders, holding an annual extravaganza in the city. To better manage things, Bernard leased the track and promoted the race on his own. He somehow persuaded local officials and businessmen to allow him to have the Vegas strip shut down so the racers could drive their cars past the throngs of tourists at the hotels and casinos.
He also persuaded Wheldon, the Indy 500 champion who had driven just a few times this year, to race for a $5 million bonus that would be split with a fan. Several drivers complained that the prize was more than the pool for the rest of the field. Yet Bernard was so confident the event would be a success, he staked his job on it, saying he would resign if the event did not do better than last year’s finale.
When the dust settled, Wheldon, a beloved driver and a handsome, articulate face of the sport, was dead. He was buried Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla., and IndyCar will hold a public memorial service Sunday in Indianapolis. IndyCar has pledged to investigate what one historian called the biggest crash in the sport’s 100-year existence. Reforms may follow, though they are unlikely to include a wholesale reinvention of the sport.

[HomePageOEMfreeSOFTWARE]

Has the idiot resigned yet?