With the recent announcement that the qualifying rules for the Inianapolis 500 have changed, a press conference was held to clarify the new changes.
BRIAN BARNHART - President and chief operating officer, Indy Racing League: "Qualifying for the
Indianapolis 500 has evolved throughout the years, beginning with 1911 when the starting order was determined by the date when the entries were received for the event, and has continued to evolve throughout the years, and that continues up to the 89th running this May. In addition to the excitement and drama of going for the pole, determining the starting order, and of course the drama of bumping, there is a new format in place this year that we think is going to add to the excitement and drama for the qualifying format for this year's race, and that is that we are only going to take 11 cars -the 11 fastest qualifiers on each day - for the first three days. Pole Day will determine positions one through 11, second-day will determine positions 12 through 22, and the third day will determine positions 23 through 33. The fourth day will bump the slowest car regardless of the day it qualified. So what we are really trying to attempt to do (is) to increase the drama and excitement for the fans - and give them what they
want - and that's bumping on each day of qualifying. So once we have 11 cars that accept times on Pole Day, we'll begin a bumping process on Pole Day. At the end of Pole Day, there will be only 11 cars in the field. So you'll have the continued excitement and drama of going for the pole and the front row on Pole Day, but you'll also have the opportunity for bumping on Pole Day. So we're very excited about the format. We think it carries over a lot of
the same traditions that exist. It also has some evolutions and twists. The cars will be allowed - in the past they were allowed three attempts to qualify, provided neither of the first attempts were run to completion. Now
they have three attempts per day, even if they run an attempt to completion.
If the first run takes the checkered flag, that car can come back either by being withdrawn by the entrant or by being bumped out of the fastest 11. That same car-engine combination can come back and run later in the day, up
to three times a day. So theoretically, car No. 7 has three attempts on Pole Day, three attempts the second day, three attempts the third day and three attempts the fourth day. Obviously, that's 12 theoretical attempts per
chassis out there. We're very excited; our thought process behind that is we're extending the life of the equipment, making more equipment available to the teams to participate. Instead of putting the pressure on a team that
has only one chassis and a couple of engines, now they've got three attempts on that chassis per day, even if they take the checkered flag, (then) get bumped out later, they can come back and try again. We think it's going to
give the fans what they want, and that's some bumping on each of the four days of qualifying, returns us to our traditional four days of qualifying that we've had. In many ways it keeps the traditions alive but also it
changes and adds some new twists and new challenges to the guys that sitting up here with me."
