Indiana Open Wheel - Derrick Walker to Resign from Indycar

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjones752 (Post 420952)

Don't think you can blame that on Derrick, Dad; the aero kits were a hangover from Randy Bernard's tenure. Anyway, even taxi cabs can get airborne when they get knocked out of their normal attitude and present a big flat underbelly to the airstream.
Robin Miller's article in Racer is a good read; sounds like Derrick is being hamstrung by an Indycar president who won't give him the freedom or budget to do the things he wants to do, much like what happened to Davey Hamilton...

I think is what jj is referring to: http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints...isoned-chalice

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Walker and the poisoned chalice
Thursday, 30 July 2015
By Robin Miller

The first time Derrick Walker told me he was thinking about resigning from his job as president of competition and operations for IndyCar, seven or eight weeks ago at lunch, I said he was just having a bad day and it would pass because he cared too much to walk away.

Well, as you learned today, he is leaving IndyCar after three more races and there’s no doubt plenty of rejoicing in the paddock at Mid-Ohio since he’d become Public Enemy #1 during the past few months.

As Walker’s "campaign manager" before he was hired in May of 2013, I feel some relief for him since it’s been obvious he wasn’t very happy, some sadness because I know how hard he worked, some anguish because of the criticism he’s taken and I also feel some remorse for not standing up for my friend of 40 years.

Following the Pole Day fiasco and some of Race Control’s bewildering calls, I chimed in and agreed with drivers, mechanics and owners that Derrick had “lost his mind” a few times this season.

I also defended him but not nearly loud enough and while I wasn’t calling for tar and feathers or a hangman’s noose, it seemed easier to go along with the mob mentality. I even told my NBCSN colleague Jon Beekhuis that I was afraid DW had lost his ability to reason and use common sense in Race Control. But I also debated/argued with Derrick about rules, penalties, fines, TGBB, Beaux Barfield and everything IndyCar over lunch almost once a week for the past three years.

The eye of the storm and turning points in his tenure were Race Control and aero kits.

• Derrick Walker on the positives and negatives of the last two years at IndyCar

From Day 1, Walker wasn’t a fan of Barfield, who’d been hired by Randy Bernard to replace Brian Barnhart as chief steward in 2012. Derrick didn’t like the way Beaux officiated and Barfield didn’t appreciate being second-guessed, and so he quit at the end of 2014. DW’s off-season plan was to hire two or three ex-Indy car drivers to become the full-time race stewards in 2015 but was told there was no budget for that and to use people already in the IndyCar office.

That’s certainly not how one of the most important functions of IndyCar should be handled but he piece-mealed together a lineup that consisted of a lawyer, a solid team player from the feeder series, Barnhart and Johnny Unser. The inconsistencies of blocking penalties and the poor rolling starts were products of guys who had never driven a race car (except Unser), but it was the non-call on Graham Rahal at Fontana that sent everybody into orbit.

When Rahal pulled out of the pits with his fuel hose still attached, no penalty was called. When it fell out on the track, the yellow flag was thrown (but still no penalty) and Graham was able to join the back of pack. As fast as he was and as hard as he drove, winning would not have been out of the question that day even with a penalty…but not getting one made it a lot easier.

After the incident, Walker went into the NBCSN booth to try and explain the unexplainable and that’s when he said he saw for the first time the NBCSN shot of the hose still attached to Rahal’s car as it left the pits. I asked him later how Race Control could have missed it and he said the stewards had their backs to the NBCSN feed and were looking at their own monitors that didn’t have that shot.

And I think he was telling the truth because that was such an obvious, easy call. But he didn’t throw Race Control under the bus publicly, he just took his bashing.

Walker inherited the aero kits and they’ve proven to be more divisive and expensive than anyone could have imagined.

But what happened in May really began turning people against Walker. Following Ed Carpenter’s flip on the morning of Pole Day (the third one of the week for Chevy-powered cars), the panic button was pounded. I still don’t know if it was Mark Miles, IMS lawyers, General Motors execs, Walker or all of them but it was decided to change the qualifying rules.

Nobody pinpointed the problem but everyone involved (except Honda and its teams) agreed something needed to be done to be proactive. The word was that IndyCar, IMS and GM teams had a private meeting, then Honda got the word and talk of a boycott by the Honda teams was discussed since its cars weren’t flying, before deciding to go along with the game plan. The party line that going back to race day boost and racing your cars in the aero package they qualified in was done for the safety of the fans.

It looked like The Speedrome instead of The Speedway and the press conference with Miles and Walker didn’t shed much light on what really went down. I tried to get hold of DW a couple times so he could give his explanation but he went quiet and was likely under a gag order.

Thankfully, of course, the Indy 500 was another classic, no cars flew through the air and everyone was happy – except Honda. Derrick still hasn’t told me what happened on Pole Day so he’s a good soldier to the end of a dark day in IMS history. [However, he gives some new insights here.]

Even after one of the most scintillating races in IndyCar history at Fontana, Walker came under fire from Team Penske because the aero package made things too dangerous. Like it was his fault the temperature dropped 10 degrees, there was a cloud cover and Firestone’s tires gave great grip for 30 laps instead of 15 in these conditions. And, by the way, most of the other drivers and teams said it was wild but exciting and a great race.

I don’t think IndyCar has done Derrick any favors in terms of getting out in front of the stories, be it Pole Day or the controversies at Fontana. It doesn’t seem like many people had his back, whereas NASCAR delivers the message before it can be interpreted.

But, in general, racing people are carnivores who eat their own. They’re always ******** about something, always unhappy, always thinking the worst and always wanting somebody to blame. We’re coming off three of the best oval-track shows in recent memory but IndyCar is making more headlines about freedom of speech than kick-ass races.

Walker made mistakes, for sure, and probably did too much micro-managing and maybe wasn’t cost conscious enough for some of the owners. But he also helped out some teams and people that have since turned on him. He was working on a plan for 2018 and beyond but that’s been scuttled (although you will be able to read it in full here on RACER.com in mid-August). He always made driver and track safety paramount and he’s the main reason Road America will be back in 2016 and the schedule is going to expand.

Not sure who Miles will get – I know he likes Mike Hull – but he’s not going to find anybody that worked any harder or cared any more about IndyCar than Derrick. It’s been DW’s life for 40 years and I hope he returns as a car owner in 2016 so he can start second-guessing his replacement.