Stairway To Heaven Begins With Background In ChampCar
IMSA/ALMS 2011 Race Director Beaux Barfield, left, with IMSA/ALMS 2011 Clerk of the Course, Paul Walter looking on.Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
Stairway To Heaven Begins With Background In ChampCar
In American professional exotic automobile racing, the path to on-track race management begins with an extensive history associated with ChampCar.
Announced this week were the appointments of two long time alums of ChampCar to top series race control and management - Beaux Barfield to IZOD IndyCar Series open-wheel racing and Paul Walter moving up to replace Beaux at the IMSA helm for American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón class-based sports car racing.
Last year, we had the pleasure of meeting both men at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in the race control center on the North side of the Start/Finish line when the ALMS showed up for its annual six-hour race. The tour of the IMSA operation and staff was very eye-opening and left us with these insights after interviewing Beaux Barfield for a feature posting. Read Beaux Barfield interview here (9-21-2011): http://motorsportsunplugged.com/f1/?p=801
Beaux Barfield in the Race Control tower with the Mazda Raceway Laguna Raceway front straight behind him. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)
This excerpted and edited from YouTube (Edmund Jenks) -
Beaux Barfield & The ALMS/IMSA Race Control Team At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
September 17, 2011 - Video and Description by Edmund Jenks
If the IZOD IndyCar Series needed to update its approach to Race Control, they could not do any better than to adopt the approach used by Beaux Barfield and the ALMS/IMSA Race Control team.
The 2012 season with its introduction of the new Dallara (renamed the DW12 in honor of Dan Wheldon upon untimely his passing) requires a Race Control template that can deal with technology dynamics that will present themselves on the track.
Continued on the next page
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