Brian Barnhart Quotes (32 Quotes)


    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.

    People are saying she's gotta win, ... But rookies don't win at this level.

    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.

    We're creating a number of opportunities both for American and international drivers. That's all we've ever said from day one. There aren't any guarantees. All we can do is provide that opportunity.

    Based on that alone I feel a whole lot better about our ability to get at least 33 (cars) in the month of May, better than I've felt the past two or three years.


    I don't think we're going to change the technical specifications dramatically. Change costs money. Continuity and stability is one of the best things we can provide. Based on that, I don't think we're going to change the specs dramatically.

    The idea for this act originated from an act I did while traveling with the circus group Electric Blue Monkey Theater. We traveled all over the U.S. in a bus that ran on vegetable oil.

    This is the first time of the weekend that we had all 20 cars on the track at the same time. Ed had his problem in Turn two initially. The yellow lights were turned on immediately. There were a lot of cars and a lot of traffic.

    The key is we are going to have a very open-minded relationship with Honda over the next several years to take a different approach on how the series is grown,

    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.

    I guess I don't really have a number in mind. What I'm looking forward is a lot of excitement, a lot of buzz about the event. ... I think we're looking for a good show and a lot of people to watch it here on Sunday.

    I'm confident that we will be back in this market in 2007. We want to keep an open mind and an open dialogue and do what we can to get back in this market in 2007. -- there are hurdles to overcome.

    Paul was an extremely competent and capable driver. Look at Paul's background and history No one had worked harder to get to this level than Paul did. He ran our Triple-A series for a couple of years, won a race at Milwaukee, finished second in the points 2004. He got an opportunity to go test, and he had thousands of miles in our cars.

    Regardless of the number of participants we have on May 30, and I'm confident it will be 33, we will have again for at least the second year in a row, one of the deepest and most competitive fields in the history of the Indianapolis 500 with more cars, more teams and more drivers capable of winning than this place has had in past history.

    There have been an enormous number of people given an opportunity that if the IRL did not exist would never have had that shot, ... If you stop to think about what we've been able to accomplish, it's incredibly rare in today's society that an individual has been able to create something that he believes in and has challenged the establishment, and which in a period of time has not only survived but has become the establishment.

    At this point in time, we don't have any manufacturers who have accepted the challenge of taking on Honda.

    I understand that Buddy and Danica are two of our most popular drivers. I'm sure people want to see them, but they need to have respect for the race team due to the circumstances that happened Sunday morning.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    I do wish people would step back and look at it with a little bit more of a perspective and be a little more fair of a situation,

    Our entry blank says 33, and if we get to that number and nobody gets bumped like last year, so be it,

    Very much so because this year should have been the second year of a car-engine formula, and instead we are using the same car and had to do more of an update kit because we did 75 percent road course preparation. With the engine change from 3.5 liters to 3.0, it's made it more difficult as well from an equipment standpoint to increase the number of participants.

    The economy plays into that and the cost of racing plays into that, and we are doing everything we can to control spiraling costs.

    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.

    After the drivers' meeting and talking with all of the participants, we felt it was the best decision to move forward.

    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.

    We couldn't be happier with Honda's announcement today. They have been a true partner with the IndyCar Series since joining the league in 2003 and I look forward to teaming up with Honda in continuing the league's growth both on and off the race track.

    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.

    If there is no competition in 2007, there are some short term benefits to that as well,

    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.

    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.


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