Green-white-checkered, is there a more contrived way to add “entertainment” to the end of a race? Maybe, guaranteeing the top 35 in points a starting position in a filed of 43, even if there are 9 or 10 cars faster then the slowest car in the top 35.

The only idea that topped the two rules listed above was the 25 and 8 for Indy, which its inventor admitted; looking back it was not the best idea.

Any sport needs to have a strong entertainment factor to attracted spectators, but to a purist, when entertainment drives the series rules we start to ask, is this a sport or just another form of manufactured entertainment?

My problem with the NASCAR system of a green-white-checkered is it was developed to have a race finish under green, no matter the number of extra laps which changes the distance of an event, as the event is under way which is not driven by safety.

The difference of an event changing distance for safety would be stopping an event before the full distance due to weather or an uncontrollable event. The most common is stopping an event due to rain. In that case, most series require an event to run a minimum of half distance for the event to be counted. 

Brian Barnhart, the Indy Racing League president of competition objection to the NASCAR green-white-checkered is in line with my view, “The Indy 500 is the Indy 500, not the Indy 510. How would you feel telling the guy whose engine blew or gearbox failed on mile 512 the oh, by the way, you were leading at the end of 500 but not at the end of 515?”

The idea of sending cars to the pits on a red flag condition has been circulating. The approval of this process may not be in the hands of the drivers or governing body, but the TV partners. A red flag would extend the overall time of a race. The IndyCar series doesn’t currently have the leverage of NASCAR to extent the broadcast time of an event.

The most recent drive behind the desire for a green flag finished were the caution ending races at Milwaukee and Texas, both oval races.

By nature, an oval event has a combination of high speeds and zero runoff, which creates long debris fields and full course cautions. Most road or street courses have runoff and safe zones with track distances that average over two miles. That combination allows the safety team to move cars out of danger for shorter total lap caution periods.

Road and street races also frequently employ local yellows, which place only a portion of a track under caution, allowing the race to continue on the rest of the track. This system has been perfected in Formula One, with cranes placed at high contact corners allowing cars to be quickly lifted out of harms way without impeding the remainder of the field.

Unlike the IndyCar series, if a driver stalls on track at a Formula One race, the car cannot be restarted. This makes the crane system a more viable alternative.

The IRL has added two street races for 2008 and more road and street courses will be added in 2009, and a couple lower attended oval events may not return. This will reduce the potential of events finishing under caution for the reasons previously listed.

Before the desire for 100% green flag finishes is pushed through, the IndyCar series should look to it’s future of a 50-50 ovals and road course schedule and conduct a real world test. The series is in the first half of a six-race stint with three events on ovals (Iowa, Richmond, Nashville) and three on road or street courses (Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Edmonton).

A study of these six races should give the IRL a general idea of how the future races may finishes. With nine races completed, drivers have a feel for their new competition, reducing the rookie mistakes common at the start of each season.

The desire for a perfect finish to every race can add to the feeling of contrived entertainment that may sacrifice of the credibility of the sport.

Either a red flag or green-white-checkered system will put restarts on cold tires. This can create either an entertaining finish, or more accidents. This was the case during the start and restart of the most recent IndyCar race at Richmond.

In my opinion the green-white-checkered or tossing the red flag so a race can finish under green equals a “do over” during a back yard football game. Others believe it makes for a more interesting end to a race, so we agree to disagree.