By the time we get to St. Pete for the season opener Bernard will be a fleeting memory and we’ll be talking and writing about Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon, Dario, Marco, T.K., Pagenaud, Hinch, Josef and the Rahal boys. As it should be.

In the meantime, some of us will seek professional help and try to remove those negative thoughts and get some happy therapy. Ganassi recently told a mutual friend that I hated him but that’s not true.

I’m just envious and someday I pray that maybe I can be as positive as Chip.

THE FINAL WORD

Other than the weekly mailbag, this will be the last lengthy space dedicated to Bernard’s assassination.

One theory as to Bernard’s departure is that he wanted out because of the lack of support from the board of directors at Hulman & Company and all the backstabbing from the IndyCar paddock. It wasn’t worth two more years of grief so he gladly bowed out.

Or that he kept saying he only had two years remaining on his contract and he couldn’t wait so it was a good time to make a change.

Bull****. He never, ever mentioned (publicly or privately) that he wanted to leave early and if you knew anything about Bernard you knew he wasn’t a quitter – regardless of how miserable this job made him at times.

But here’s a little more insight on what happened.

The Firestone/Bridgestone story. When Firestone initially announced it was getting out of Indy car racing early in 2011 before changing its mind, Bernard began looking for a replacement and evidently found a willing partner in Continental. He wouldn’t say how much the deal was for but did state it would be “the biggest thing ever” financially for IndyCar if it happened.

Because of confidentiality and let’s call it gamesmanship, Firestone and most of the paddock were in the dark about the fate of tires after 2014. Speyer said last September that he heard something had been signed with another tire company and he stressed that Firestone wanted to continue through 2020.

When the drivers and owners began voicing their concerns about losing Firestone, I suggested to Bernard that maybe he should simply stay with a loyal, proven brand and not make a war out of this.

He basically said nothing had been signed with anyone and he was pretty good at negotiating ($200 million in sponsorships for the PBR), which to me meant that Continental was being used as leverage for a better deal with Firestone (which doubled its price for each entry in 2012). He also correctly pointed out it was his job to improve the bottom line of Hulman & Company and do what’s best for the series long term.

As Marshall Pruett wrote last week, Firestone, some drivers and owners decided to by-pass Bernard and took their complaints and fears to Belskus, who obviously didn’t share that sense of urgency with IndyCar’s CEO.

The Dallara parts’ controversy raged all summer but, before he flew out of Indianapolis, Bernard said an agreement had been worked out on Sept. 1 that would give all the teams either a $30,000 rebate on parts or a 10-20 percent discount for 2013 (or both) but that it hadn’t been made public as yet.

One owner claimed the Firestone mystery sealed Bernard’s fate while others point to the price of parts. Either way, considering all the good things he’d done, it certainly seems like Bernard was owed the professional courtesy of being told his position was in jeopardy unless he addressed those issues.

But, according to Bernard, nothing was said about any red flags at the Sept. 20 board meeting when he presented the schedule/budget and Belskus never indicated to him there was a pressing problem.

Of course, maybe that’s the way it was planned. You know there is a grassy knoll at IMS.

Robin Miller brings 40 years of experience to his role as SPEED.com's senior open-wheel reporter, and serves as a frequent contributor to SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED