THE MODERATOR: Our final guest this afternoon is Indy Racing League
president and chief operating officer, Brian Barnhart. Brian, thanks for taking
some time out of your schedule to join us this afternoon
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BRIAN BARNHART: Thanks for having me, Tim.
THE MODERATOR: It seems like the St. Petersburg community has very
enthusiastically embraced the Honda Grand Prix. Looks like it has the makings of
a very successful weekend.
BRIAN BARNHART: We're very excited about it. The first non-oval event in the
10-year history of the Indy Racing League has generated an awful lot of
excitement and buzz around the event weekend. There's going to be a great
atmosphere through the streets and the one airport runway down there at St.
Pete, the atmosphere of the marina with the yachts off to the side and the whole
ambience of the weekend is going to be very exciting and we're very much looking
forward to it
THE MODERATOR: The qualifying procedure developed for this race and the other
road course races later this season at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen
International are very unique, the first time anything like this has ever been
done. Can you walk us through you the details of how the IndyCar Series cars
will qualify?
BRIAN BARNHART: We tried to come up with a scenario that places an emphasis on
each session having meaning towards the next session and each day having meaning
towards the next day so that you're not just running around and practicing on
Friday without any meaning or repercussions to your performance.