Crisis of leadership, quality of product

By DAVID GREEN

Turns out finances are not, despite the crippled economics sector, the biggest problem facing motor sport these days. It's leadership -- or, at least, the public perception of it -- and the quality of the product that is being provided to fans.

This is not strictly a condemnation of Brian France, but the fact that I feel compelled to insert that disclaimer says much about the subject of this post. Whether his policies are right or wrong, whether all the criticism he's taken is valid or not, the fact is that his qualifications and his judgment are suspect.

And that's only the cherry on top of the sundae, when the larger racing world is included in the picture. Tony George has stepped down as leader of the Indy Racing League and Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Max Mosley-Bernie Ecclestone-Formula One Teams Association squabble gets uglier by the hour, it seems.

Thank goodness for the NHRA.

France was probably doomed from the start. He's hardly an eloquent or charismatic fellow; not that there's anything wrong with that, even for a person in a leadership position, but it has compounded his problems as he has been faced with slumping attendance and television ratings, going back a couple of years before the economic collapse, and he has taken all of the heat in the controversy over the COT.

Then there's the "third-generation rot" syndrome, as described by "Ice Cream" Joe Gruebel of Latrobe, Pa., quoted in a Pittsburgh Business Times article in September 2004: "You know what the old rule is. The first generation starts a business. The second generation runs it. And the third generation ruins it."

Add to that the general state of discontent evident among many NASCAR fans with cookie-cutter tracks, ticket prices, quality of television coverage, and so forth and so on, and you've got -- well, let's just say "an unenviable situation" for BF.

Ditto for TG, grandson of Indianapolis Motor Speedway savior Tony Hulman, who rescued the Speedway from ruin after four years of inactivity during World War II. George, named president of IMS in 1990, brought NASCAR to the famous track for the first Brickyard 400 in 1994 returned F1 to America on a new road course that incorporated a good bit of the history IMS oval in 2000.

He also spearheaded the effort to develop the SAFER barrier, first used at Indy in 2002 and now standard equipment at all tracks where the IRL and NASCAR compete.

But he was reviled by many for his formation of the breakaway IRL, which began operation in 1996 and which triggered a divisive feud in U.S. open-wheel racing that ended only last year.

And this week, he was effectively ousted from his positions of leadership in the two racing enterprises owned by the Hulman-George family, and from the Hulman & Co. (think Clabber Girl) corporation as well.

The biggest mess is in F1, where Mosley, fourth-term president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), has been embroiled in controversy for some time. It was only last year that auto clubs the world over, including the American Automobile Association, were calling for Mosley to step down after a lurid sex scandal.

Mosley's heavy-handed manipulation of rules and his obsession with controlling costs and making F1 a leader in development of alternative, green technology was rejected by the majority of teams, including glamour outfits Ferrari and McLaren, and also by the European auto manufacturers, who called for Mosley to step down.

And so he would, Mosley promised, in an attempt to get the rebel teams to commit to the FIA-sanctioned series. But after they agreed, Mosley childishly railed at being described as a dictator by Ferrari and Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) chairman Luca di Montezemolo and threatened to run for a fifth term in October.

At this point, a separate championship, a'la Indy Racing League 1996, for the grand prix series remains a very real possibility in 2010.

It would be one thing if the racing action were enough to hold our interest and dissuade us from paying attention to the soap opera aspect of the sport. Sadly, that's not the case.

All three major series -- F1, IRL and NASCAR -- are all in a dither about how to improve the quality of racing, how to increase overtaking and on-track fighting for position. The IRL announced yesterday aero changes on its cars intended to help.

Whether the racing is any worse than normal is open to debate for anyone with historical perspective. For those who live in and only for the moment, yeah -- it's not very entertaining.

What to do about that? How to fix the racing, or at least modify the fans' perception of its quality?

Let's take that up on Saturday, OK?