ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – INDYCAR president of competition and operations Derrick Walker addressed a few new-for-2014 items relating to officiating Verizon IndyCar Series races and race protocols before the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
A three-steward system comprised of the race director, driver steward and an INDCYAR official or independent steward will be used to adjudicate competitor on-track sporting infractions when warranted.
For the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Race Director Beaux Barfield, INDYCAR vice president of competition Brian Barnhart and Johnny Unser, Mazda Road to Indy driver coach, are the stewards. The senior steward, as directed by Walker before each race, will determine any penalties.
“It’s really about equipment and procedures and really trying to improve our consistency and our ability to make the right call," Walker said. "I had the really fortunate ability when I joined INDYCAR to visit a lot of race organizations and different events and they were kind of enough for me to look at what they did and how they did.
"Everybody has the same problem. You don’t have enough eyes and just making the right calls is a risk factor. At the end, I took the best of the best and some of it could apply to what we do and some didn’t. We’re moving forward, cautiously, with a new system that really starts with equipment. We spent a considerable amount of money on screens and adding camera positions and a replay systems that will let us zoom in in details. It’s up and running here and it runs fantastic.
"As for the actual officiating, last year we had one person, who would have an on-or-off again love affair with the media. Beaux was the story for the weekend. He got a lot of calls that were blamed on him, and some were and some weren’t. What we had to do was get more people involved in the process. We’ll have three stewards, that we’ll nominate for each race. And we’ll work in fresh faces as we go along and gain some independence and stewards who are not officials with INDYCAR, It will add some impartiality there and I think is what the teams and drivers really want.”
Looking ahead to 2015, Walker said Verizon IndyCar Series competitors will have the ability to nominate driver and independent stewards. Before selection, all stewards will be drilled on sporting rules and regulations and have no affiliation with any of the competitors.
Also new in the Verizon IndyCar Series rulebook:
Restarts: Single-file restarts will be in place on all street and road courses. Double-file restarts will take place on all ovals except Indianapolis. An acceleration line on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg street circuit is located near pit in.
Pits closed during full-course cautions: Any driver entering pit lane when declared to be closed may avoid penalty by continuing through without stopping.
Pit lane exit light: INDYCAR has added a pit lane exit light. If another car on the racetrack is approaching the pit lane exit, the four blue lights on the tower will flash to warn drivers leaving the pit lane. The system was tested at the Open Test on March 17-18 at Barber Motorsports Park.
