Scott Dixon calls for race director Beaux Barfield to be fired (2nd Update)
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| Dixon and Franchitti (left)have called for Barfield's (right) head, but a review of the calls by IndyCar management shows no inconsistencies in the officiating |
Whatever issues there are in NASCAR, there's plenty in IndyCar, too.
The past two races — at Sonoma and Baltimore — has seen friction between race control and drivers and Scott Dixon was fined $30,000 by IndyCar for saying race director Beaux Barfield should be fired.
It's a pivotal moment for Dixon who sits 49 points behind Helio Castroneves for the series lead.
"It's not my job to fix the issues, but the issues need to be fixed," Franchitti said. "It's been happening all year. It's something that needs to be addressed. It's a shame we're talking about it. We should be talking about the excellent racing."
Dixon hit one of Will Power's crew members at Sonoma. At Baltimore, Dixon crashed and called for Barfield's firing after not getting a requested tow back to the pits.
"And how haven't they been consistent?" Power asked on Tuesday. "I think they have reviewed all of the decisions they've made and there really hasn't been any inconsistencies, so I think race control is doing the right job."
But not everyone wants to weigh in on the subject.
"Man, I'm smarter than that," Marco Andretti said. "I'm not touching that one." RTV6 TV
09/02/13 Scott Dixon called Barfield "a total idiot" who should "be fired." Is IndyCar just going to let that go? That's pretty aggressive stuff.
09/01/13 Chip Ganassi’s IndyCar Series team has had enough of second-year race director Beaux Barfield, and they have made their displeasure known.
The ire is largely based on the past two race weekends, when Scott Dixon has been penalized for hitting a Team Penske tire changer at Sonoma Raceway and then didn’t see a penalty go against Graham Rahal for contact in the Baltimore street race.
Also here, Dixon thought IndyCar had promised to return stranded cars to pit road for repairs, although an IndyCar spokesperson said there was no such promise.
Then there was the issue of Power knocking Dixon into the wall.
The frustration in Dixon built up to the point of release following the Grand Prix of Baltimore.
“[Rahal] should have received a penalty and [Oriol Servia] passed us on a yellow," Dixon said. “So that restart near the end was a complete botch.
“On the [Power] restart, I had an overtake advantage on Power. It must have been in fourth gear, so they can’t complain about wheel spin. Then I got beside him and he ran me straight into the wall."
Dixon called for Barfield “to be fired."
“He was a complete idiot today," he said.
Dixon’s comments come on the heels of Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull saying the officiating is “inconsistent."
“We had this honeymoon period where we thought [the officiating] was going to be improved, you know?" Hull said. “Most of us now are ready for the divorce." AutoWeek