Scott Dixon Penalty A Mistake By IndyCar

IndyCar race official Beaux Barfield has explained how human error and a computer glitch led to Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon being wrongly issued a penalty at last weekends Milwaukee IndyFest, after it was initially believed the Kiwi jumped a restart on lap 103. The restart in question was actually aborted moments later, after leader Helio Castroneves went too soon.

The confusion was caused because the timing and replay system at race control was out of sync with the live events by roughly 36 seconds, by which time the actual restart had commenced after the initial aborted attempt the previous lap. Beaux Barfield then made the error of pausing the replay, failing to realize that the pictures in question were out of sync with the live on track events.

“I take responsibility for it being the wrong call, and certainly have my issues with it moving forward, about how we prevent such things happening in the future,” Explained Beaux Barfield. “It was a technical issue, certainly a little bit of human error, but painful nonetheless. Once a penalty is served, I can’t jump back in there and undo it. They were told exactly what happened, the Ganassi team, Chip himself, Mike Hull, Scott Dixon, were very gracious. They appreciated my candor; explaining to them truthfully what happened.”

The mistake thus ruined Scott Dixon’s chances of victory at the Milwaukee IndyFest, after the Kiwi started the race way down in 21st position after a grid penalty due to an engine change. He was in 3rd position when issued the fateful penalty, and subsequently finished the race in 11th position.

“I really don’t know what happened on the restart where we got penalized.” Said Scott Dixon after the race. “I think the one they waved off was the one we got out of line when EJ Viso was trying to restart at 20 mph. I was in first gear and when it went green, I went. It’s a shame for the Target team and that punishment is pretty harsh.”

Scott Dixon is currently 3rd in the Driver’s Championship, with 239 points to his name. After his less-than-successful result at Milwaukee, James Hinchcliffe was able to move ahead of Dixon after finishing the race 3rd overall.

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