Brian Barnhart is set to be removed from his position officiating Izod IndyCar Series races.
According to a report from SPEED.com, Barnhart has been offered to stay within IndyCar but his new position wouldn't be involved with race control.
SPEED can report that Barnhart will be offered to stay on the payroll as president of operations but will no longer have anything to do with the officiating or managing of IZOD IndyCar Series races.
INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard was unavailable for comment but indicated a few weeks ago that some major changes were forthcoming.
In addition to removing Barnhart as chief steward and director of racing, Bernard is also replacing Terry Angstadt with Mark Koretzky, who served as director of business development for IndyCar in 2011.
IndyCar has had an uneven recent history when it comes to race control decisions from the disbursement of blocking penalties to the starting of the Baltimore Grand Prix when there was still a safety vehicle exiting the track in turn one as the field came barreling after the green flag.
And of course, there's the whole episode at New Hampshire that led to Will Power's double middle-fingered salute towards the race control box. That New Hampshire race had been restarted with the track damp from rain, and when many drivers hit the gas pedal, they lost control of their cars.
After his tirade, Power had this to say about Barnhart:
"[Barnhart] makes such bad calls all the time," he said. "They cannot have this guy running the show because that was a decision to put many drivers in danger. It's no condition to race in; shame on him."
In October, Al Unser Jr. was suspended indefinitely from his position in IndyCar Race Control for his third alcohol related arrest.
Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia
