IndyCar's new IOB aims to move forward with more after-action clarity

IndyCar’s new Independent Officiating Board (IOB) has tasked Scot Elkins, its new Managing Director of Officiating (MDO), to develop a post-race reporting system that will explain the decision-making process and rulings made within IndyCar Officiating Incorporated’s (IOI) Race Control department.

It’s a break from the norm for the series, which has not been in the habit of explaining the thought processes, or the decisions to act or take no action by Race Control throughout its events. The willingness to create an after-action report for internal circulation and sharing with the public was acknowledged on Saturday during a meeting with IOB members Raj Nair and Ray Evernham and their brand-new MDO, who started the job of running the IOI on Monday.

“Yes, our tenet is it would be public, so I think a culture shift to increase transparency and clarity of how and why we're making decisions is part of the board’s remit to Scot, and Scot's already got some great ideas about how to execute that,” Nair said.

Nair also wants to make the real-time decisions formed in Race Control to be made available as IndyCar races are taking place.

“The board is tasked to come up with, both during the race and post-race, a more clear and transparent communication to everyone as to what are we seeing, why are we calling it that way,” the IOB chairman said. “Some of that can be more near-term, like during the race, and make it clear that we do see the debris there, we believe it's not on the racing line, or we're going to be taking action here, we're going to throw a debris flag, and then post-race, particularly stewards actions, getting into a bit more detail in providing more background as to why we made certain decisions, whether it's a call or a no call.”

Elkins likes the idea of removing the mystery that often surrounds Race Control’s behavior and actions.

“It's been a little bit of an ivory tower in the past, which is not bad,” Elkins said. “But I think part of what the IOI has to do is be more communicative about what's happening and where things are happening, and I think part of our program is that. We're finalizing the priorities at the moment, but I think we'll have some information that we can put out not far from here, that gives us a little bit more direction and lets you guys know what to expect, to be honest, but at the moment we just haven't finalized that completely. Again, I started Monday.”