Two and a half weeks after the IZOD IndyCar Series’ team owners elected Gil de Ferran as their representative, the Indy Racing League today announced six appointments to the ICONIC committee charged with recommending a future chassis/engine platform to the IRL and its chief executive officer, Randy Bernard.
Joining De Ferran on the committee are IRL president of competition Brian Barnhart, former Formula One team principal Tony Purnell, Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, former F1 team chairman Neil Ressler, former IRL vice president of competition Tony Cotman, and Speedway Engine Development co-founder Rick Long. The group will be mediated by retired four-star Air Force Gen. William R. Looney III.
“I feel that this advisory committee best represents a group of experts that encompass the key areas of car development, and I’m confident that they will do their best to come up with an objective recommendation on the future car that is in the best interest of the sport,” said Bernard in a league press release.
“Their goal is to keep in mind key attributes like safety, competition, industry relevance, and cost-containment while evaluating avenues for the future chassis and engine. This is one of the most important decisions the Indy Racing League will make this decade, so I want to be sure we do our due diligence before committing to any future direction.”
Barnhart, De Ferran, Gossage, Cotman and Long have been relatively well-known entities to IRL/open-wheel fans, and we’ve also had time to get to know Gen. Looney a bit since he was announced to be the chairman of ICONIC — so let’s focus in on the other two members of this group.
Both Tony Purnell and Neil Ressler used to work with Jaguar’s former F1 squad (which is now Red Bull Racing after the energy drink giant bought the team from Ford Motor Company in 2004). Purnell founded Pi Research after he served as a wind tunnel software creator for chassis constructor Lola. From this, he created Pi Research to market the software and grew it large and successful enough to the point of Ford buying the company in 1999 and putting it in their Premiere Performance Division alongside Cosworth (which is co-owned by current IndyCar team owner Kevin Kalkhoven) and Jaguar Racing. Three years later, Purnell got the call to be Jaguar’s principal and served in that capacity until shortly after Red Bull bought the team.
He later returned to racing as a technical consultant for the FIA governing body in 2006, but left the organization this past January.
Ressler also has plenty of ties to Ford’s blue oval. He started with the company in 1967 as a senior research scientist, then went through multiple capacities (such as being principal design engineer in the Suspension and Steering Division and director of quality and product systems) before becoming a vice-president in 1994. After being in charge of core product development, Ressler moved to the position of head of advanced vehicle technology. In 2000, he became the chairman of Jaguar Racing and stayed there for one year before being replaced by Bobby Rahal.
All in all, it’s a pretty “stacked” group and each of them have their own bit of power. It’ll be interesting to see if all of these personalities can put their egos aside and come up with a consensus that gives the League its best opportunity to make a positive impact with the new car, whether it comes out as planned in 2012 or is held off for a bit.
