Bernard under the gun to make decision on new car by June
"The goal is to have a Request for Proposal (RFP) go out to the chassis manufacturers in about two weeks and give them a month to respond with a written and oral proposal to the advisory committee. I am hoping that sometime in the middle of May we will sit down with each of them and then take a couple of weeks to digest all the information. There may also be other team owners and interested parties that will want to have input, but we will want a decision from the advisory committee in very early June. I do not want to be the ultimate decider. I do not want anyone to think that it was insider type of deal."
As to why he chose Gen. William Looney to lead the committee, Bernard's response was, "He is highly respected. One his commands was modernizing the US Air Force aircraft. Think about that, that is what we are trying to do, modernizing our car. Speed, safety, technology, there are so many similarities, that is why I chose him.
"We need a new car but can the owners afford a new car. Do we really need a new car at this point, except maybe it is a perception that we do. As I said we have some momentum right now. We have 24 cars here and I am told we will have 28 cars at Kansas. 40 to 45 cars are expected at Indy. Can you imagine if we come out with this new car and then a few weeks later a few teams have to drop out because they cannot afford it, that would be a major negative impact for us. The committee will have to look at that. They may come back and say we have to wait until 2013"