Paul Page: "First of all, fairness is something that is arbitrated by a rule anyway. To suggest that the [lead] driver has that privilege, well it's whatever the rule says it is. We've been operating under the tradition that he does have that privilege. But, IndyCar in a large degree, responded to television who has said time and time again, 'Look. When you have a bunch of cars intervening between say, first and second, you destroy the essence of the entertainment value of your show, except for the absolute purist and maybe you should reconsider that.' Which is what they did."

"Actually, this conversation has been going on at least fifteen years. Finally they [IndyCar] decided, yes, that's true. Now, they carried it one step further than we expected. We [television] were talking primarily with regard to ovals and the fact that the tradition had been established elsewhere that does permit it; most notably, NASCAR."

"But they decided to go it the whole way and try it on both ovals and road courses, and their object is to serve the fan by saying, 'There they are in order...' Does it effect the outcome of a race? I don't think there's any question that it effected the outcome of the race at Detroit. But, all it is, is operating under a different standard."

"If you're going to be searching for fairness, then I can start citing rules right and left that aren't inherently fair, but that's the way things are."

SpeedCenter: "Do you think the fans are confused when the cars lineup [for a restart] in a mismatched order?"

Paul Page: "Confused may not be the best word. I think the problem is that it's very difficult, even for a knowledgeable fan sometimes, especially on a fast oval, that's why we discussed this as an oval issue, to pick out -- okay, there's first-second-third-fourth -- if they all have separations involved. And if again, you go back to the fairness issue, what's fair about that as well? So, I think they just decided that it'd make for better racing if those people [the leaders] were all in contact with one another."

SpeedCenter: "So, it's probably just the fact that the hardcore fans just need to get used to it."

Paul Page: "Exactly that. They just need to make an adjustment to it. It's very difficult the first time you run into this as a race fan. I remember when the first changes occurred at Indy."

"First, for me, it was like my God, how can they do that? It's the worst possible thing ever. But, then you realize that periodically, all of those things change."

Paul Page: "No. I was in all the meetings that affected this. And I have been in meetings year after year. Actually, this particular meeting discussed several issues that are similar, and I don't think they [IndyCar] even give Formula 1 a thought. It certainly does distinguish it a little bit more, but I don't think they ever consider what Formula 1 is doing."

"I think they consider themselves so totally different than F1, in that we are a limited technology series. We're not a globally oriented series. We're a driver performance oriented series. We're a rules equity oriented series. All of those four items right there make you distinctly different from Formula 1."

"I think that if IndyCar ever looks at Formula 1 they look at it with an eye to say, 'We don't want to be like that.' And I think that a lot of people would like the opposite."

SpeedCenter: "The hardcore fans that we deal with on The Net are looking at both series all the time, so there's an automatic comparison. IndyCar's yellow flags and tow-trucks, versus F1 and the car-removal cranes. With 24 yellow laps at Detroit, the F1 fans look at this as idle-time. It does seem to be affecting hardcore fans and we see them turning away from IndyCar and back to F1."

Paul Page: "I have watched over the past ten years a group of primarily F1 fans turn toward IndyCar. That probably pinnacled at the time that Nigel Mansell came over. Now I think there is some drift back. I'm not sure why it occurred."

"Jim [Jim DeFord] and I have had the conversation before, that I try to view every series within its own spotlight. I actually started life as a Formula 1 fan. I grew up in Stuttgart, Germany. I watched the great Mercedes cars testing."

"When it was first suggested that I go to an Indy car race, it was suggested that I go to the 1960 Indy 500. I told my family that I had no interest in watching cars turn left for an hour. [sic] So, obviously I have changed."

"But, I have found over the years that it's particularly unhealthy, and just for you [as a fan], personally, mentally, to try to run a comparison series-to-series. You have to look at the beauty in each."

"It's like looking at a beautiful woman. Because if one is a blonde or one is a brunette, is one any less beautiful?"

Paul Page: "I think a lot of people are frustrated with the rhetoric. Whether that can be blamed on the IRL, or whether that can be blamed on IndyCar, or whether that can be blamed on the fight, I don't know. But, it also depends on where in the cycle you're favoring a particular series comes in."

"Interestingly enough, I thought I'd be more interested in F1 than I am. I mean, I am obviously interested in all racing. There are very few series that I can't sit here and hold a conversation with you on. I thought especially with Jacques going over there I'd be far more interested, but to tell you the truth, because of the Ferrari/Williams thing I am actually less interested in Formula 1 because I don't see the depth of competition that I normally enjoy with them."

SpeedCenter: "As compared to the depth of competition we see in IndyCar?"

Paul Page: "Yeah, but at the same time we're seeing [in F1] some fairly reasonable depth, though you don't tell that by looking at the first-place results. You really have to look down through the field a little bit."

"If I swing on that all the time myself, yeah, there'll be years in which I absolutely have to up at 4:50 in the morning to make sure that I can see my Formula 1 race. This year has not been one of those for me. I have not had a compelling desire to go watch the race."

"I don't know if I can give you a quantitative reason why. I'm pretty sure it's because I only really see two teams with the guys who can produce."

SpeedCenter: "One of the major problems for the F1 fan is the fact that the races are shown live on ESPN2 and then shown on ESPN on Sunday; Monday; Tuesday evenings. Maybe that might shift fans back to IndyCar?"

Paul Page: "The F1 fan does have a major problem here in the United States. Formula 1 has no particular regard for them. They don't have a race here. Even when they had races here they didn't much care, and when they had races here I did it [commentate] for them so I know exactly.... you know... I call 'Ecclestone', 'Bernie,' and he responds, so it's not like I don't have a key understanding of that, but I don't think they particularly care."

"Chris? Chris McClure did all the Detroit events."

Paul Page to Chris McClure: "Did you ever feel that they really cared about being there?"

Chris McClure: "F1? The Circus? God no!" [laughter]

Paul Page: "It was just something they had to do. They didn't want to come to North America, good God. But, I think we're going to see F1 back in Vegas, when they get going. I'm not so sure that's a great location for them."

Paul Page: "We do use cranes at some places. We've actually asked that of Wally [Dallenbach]. In fact, I think I've commented on it on the air. There are some places where the cranes are efficient and some places in which they are not. If you want to use Detroit as an example. I forget which combination it is but there was one corner that did have a crane on it."

"That's why the rollover bars are designed the way they are this year. Which answers another question is why didn't any of the cars at Indy have the rollbar mounted cameras? Because those are all '95 cars and they are designed to be picked up by the rollbar so you can't put a camera up there."

"Then there's the added problem of the tire barriers. And if you have to put people out on the track anyway, and the whole objective is to get the car rolling again, you might as well have the safety truck there and a yellow flag for safety."

"In Formula one you're done. You're just out of there."

"A better objective is that if you can keep that guy at all competitive, go ahead and do it. And their concept is, let's slow the race for a couple of laps. Make sure everything's 100%, and then go back racing. And if we can't keep the competitor in the run, let's accomplish that [remove the car from the track]."

"Part of it is when you're dealing with Formula 1, you're dealing with a real purity of the sport. I've sat and listened to probably one of the most exiting conversations I have ever witnessed. It was at Michigan International out in the farmhouse that Penske has out behind the track, which is a great place and if only those walls could talk."

"There's wonderful conversations that have occurred there, but this particular one was between Teddy Maher and Les Richter. So, here's NASCAR and Formula 1 hitting head-to-head, and it was just marvelous. And what you had to suddenly realize was there are two entirely different philosophies taking an approach to this and you're not going to bridge those philosophies. Nor, when I think about it, do you want to."

"Now if you want total purism in racing -- one that is a totally unlimited formula -- where I can get any kind of an advantage on anybody and nobody's going to take it away, then you want Formula 1. Absolutely. No question about it."

Paul Page: "There's a couple of factors that effect that. The first answer is we try and do it more on road courses and we've been mostly on ovals. And the engine doesn't essentially change all that much on an oval. I really enjoy hearing the gearing and so, we're getting to the time of the year when yes, we will be doing more of that. We're also getting a series of courses in which that is more conducive."

"For example, at Long Beach, there are five overhead interruptions of the RF-signal that prevent you from having good lock, and also remembering that audio goes before video when you tear those signals. So, you tend not to want to do it there. You also tend to try and comment to cover some of those [RF-signal] failures."

"So, I think we'll see it more. Part of it too is getting Danny [Sullivan] trained into the pacing, because he has a desire to comment on the things he sees and he has things he wants to say. He has to learn how to restrain some of those. But, I think it's usually about this time of year that we start paying more attention to that because we start hitting the circuits where that is really crucial."

"I personally prefer to do it. It almost seems to be about the time I tell the director, 'Let's go for a lap or two,' we'll go half a lap and something will happen or the guys will call in with something and we have to cut in."

SpeedCenter: "With the EDS scoring that we do see on TV, why aren't there any fast lap updates?"

Paul Page: "Simply because the software that interfaces our graphics hasn't been built yet."

SpeedCenter: "Is that coming in the future?"

"I was asking that question just this morning. And supposedly we're going to get it soon, but we don't have it yet. It's something that we all wanted. It's obvious. Often when you see that kind of thing it's not because we don't want to do it, it's because you just haven't had time to pull somebody down. We really only have access to the software in a limited form and this year we have the added problem of having to figure out software for yet another a series and nobody's set a standard on this stuff, and we have to make it talk to our graphics equipment."

SpeedCenter: "What do you really think of the IRL and do you think it will survive?"

Paul Page: "No comment! [loud laughter] No...I can give you the real answer on that. I think you have to assume that there are two series with two entirely different philosophies. I work for a network that is committed to both of those series so, it would be inappropriate to get too deep into what one personally believes about either one, but I think that if someone is looking for all that to come back together, then I don't think that's a reasonable expectation."

Coming soon! Paul Page talks with ABC Director about new video technology. Exclusively at SpeedCenter.