The AMA held a press conference in the media center today where AMA Roadrace director Ron Barrick made a statement about the use of a pace car in today's 65th running of the Daytona 200. He then took questions from the press.

This is our transcript of the press conference:

(Ron Barrick) Well, as you all know, we did use the pace car this afternoon, which we never like to do. That means something fairly serious has happened on track, that maybe didn't quite dictate a red flag in the mind of the race control people, but was certainly more serious than just a waving yellow. Waving yellows typically are just a warning to riders that something's occurred that could be near or on the edge of the track, but not really racing line type of stuff. So riders tend not to slow down for that, they just become more aware that there's something going on there. So in order to control the field, race control called for the pace car on lap 54 or 55, I believe, and we immediately put the lights on and started slowly moving, and within a few seconds, race control notified us that the race leader was in the west horseshoe. Normally, at race pace, that's about 19 or 20 seconds, depending on where they are in the west horseshoe exactly, until they get to the point where the pace car is. So that should have been plenty of time to be able to pick up the leader. In any case, we had a rider off the track, coming off NASCAR 4, and the bike was seen careening into the interior wall, on the pit lane entrance area, Apparently that bike had collided with another bike. We didn't see where the rider was, so race control, thinking that perhaps the rider is perhaps knocked out, on track, whatever, they wanted to get the field under control as quickly as possible. So we didn't - we assumed we were going to be able to pick up the leader right then and there, but in any case wanted to get out on track and start controlling the bikes at that stage. So that's basically what happened. We were just trying to control things for safety, not knowing exactly what the status of that rider was. Any questions?

Q You drive the pace car, correct?

A Yes, that's correct, Evan.

Q Was anybody else with you in the pace car at the time?

A No, there wasn't.

Q As race director, why do you drive the pace car? Why don't you have someone else do that?

A I guess because I've got the most experience at doing that, and know the procedures without having to think about them.

Q Do you feel that you're in a position where you can make sound decisions on calling the race, when you're driving the pace car?

A [pause] That's a good question, I guess. Certainly it's a stressful situation. You're concerned about everything that's going on. Yeah. There's definitely a lot to think about all at once. Yeah. But I think I'm still able to think about all the different scenarios that could occur.

Q In the riders' meeting Wednesday, you said there would be a spotter in the car that would direct riders whether to pass the car or not. Was there a reason why there wasn't a spotter in the car today?

A Just basically we were short on personnel.

Q Ron, why'd you pull out in front of the wrong rider, and why wasn't that situation alleviated?

A As I said before, race control wanted to get the field under control as quickly as we could.

Q And is there no mechanism for, then, changing it? Because effectively, it meant that Duhamel and Bostrom were a lap down.

A Well, they weren't actually a lap down. All those bikes were still on the lead lap.

Q Were you in communication while you were out there?

A With race control.

Q And did they tell you that you weren't in front of the lead rider?

A Yeah, I was aware of that at that stage.

Q And you didn't want to wave everyone past to set the field straight?

A Well, I also knew that the riders that I did have behind me were the fourth and fifth place riders, which meant that the first three riders were well back behind me, and it would have meant - not knowing exactly how many riders were in between, but I knew they were well back, and it would have probably meant bringing nearly the entire field past the pace car. And of course, when they do that, then they're going to want to run at speed, catching back up, so then you are no longer controlling them with speed.

Q I can't remember last year if we had a pace car session in practice or not, but I know in the past that's been kind of a regular thing. Was this the first year we didn't have a pace car session in practice?

A No, it's not. We haven't held pace car practices for over three or four years.

Q When was the last appearance of the pace car in the Daytona 200 under green conditions?

A Hmmm. Good question.

Q Was it the Pontiac situation?

A Yeah. That was probably the last time that I can recall, yes.

Q What means are used to ensure that no passing is done when the pace car is out?

A The electronic scoring, with multiple loops around the track. We can see if riders have changed position between certain segments of the track.

Q Have the results been protested?

A Yamaha did file a protest, and we're reviewing that. We've reviewed some video footage, and we will be responding to their protest.

Q And what is the protest? Is it on the results, or is it on the release from the pace car?

A There were three points, and I don't want to get into that until we've had a chance to respond to them.

Q People listening to radio traffic said there was some talk of red-flagging the race to re-set the field. Is that true?

A Not from race control. Someone may have said something about that, but that, I didn't think, was a great option, because re-starts are fairly intense, hazardous times of the race.

Q Some of the people nearby Hayes seem to think that he may have anticipated the start beyond what was acceptable. Could you run us through when they can actually start to compete once the pace car has pulled off?

A There's some cones out there that are set up, and when the riders reach that point, then they're able to resume racing and pass other riders. We did - that was something in question. We have looked at video. I think we looked at about nine different tapes, and basically, we had one tape that did show them in that area, but it was really inconclusive, because you didn't have depth of field to see where they were in relationship to the cone.

Q There's a scoring loop at the exit of the infield. There's a scoring loop in the middle of the chicane, where I assume you were talking about they can resume racing. So based on transponder hits at those two locations, can you tell whether someone changed position from the exit of the infield to where racing should have resumed?

A The loop at the exit of the infield is beyond where they're allowed to resume racing, so that wouldn't have given us the information we needed.

Q What is the actual spot? Where are these cones?

A They're on the left side of the track as you bend through the last right turn coming out of the infield, onto the back straight. Out onto the back straight, from the infield.

Q I'm not quite clear. Is the pace car policy that the pace car will form the group with the leader of the race the first car behind the pace car? Is that the proper procedure?

A Yeah, that's the standard procedure. But, like I say, the race control directed that the car to come out, and said that the leader was in the west horseshoe within a few seconds after that. So it was presumed we would be able to pick him up, as well as be able to quickly bring the field under control.

Q How did race control identify the leader of the race to you? By number? By bike color?

A Just as race leader.

Q I think that one thing, too, that is important to remember, is the urgency that race control was trying to give him to, if I understand it correctly, getting you before the field as quickly as possible, because of the downed rider that may have led to you coming out prior to finding the leader.

A Well, that's right. Basically, if there's no rush and they're not too concerned about things, but they know that the riders aren't going to be able to go at speed through a certain area, they will say we can hold and wait for the leader. For example, if the leader had just gone by, we could have theoretically waited an entire lap for him to come back around to pick him up. But in this circumstance, they called for the pace car to go, and within a few seconds after that, informed me that the race leader was in the west horseshoe.

Q How do riders in the back of the pack know when the pace car has pulled off the track?

A When the pace car is done pacing the field around, the lights are turned off as it enters the infield, and then the flag stations on the infield drop their flags, so that the riders know that they're no longer - that that'll be the last lap that is going to be controlled, and then when the pace car pulls off and they reach the point they can resume racing, that they're on again.

Q What's the threshold between pace car and red flag? Is that your call?

A No, because in that scenario I'm not seeing what race control is seeing, and have the information that race control has, so it's strictly a call that's made up in race control.

Q Overall, how would you describe how this situation was handled today, as far as controlling the race?

A Well, I think ultimately, the results will show that the riders finished in the same order that they were in before the pace car came out. Obviously the riders in first, second and third were able to close up the gaps on each other a little bit while the pace car was out, and in essence, at that stage, Eric Bostrom and Miguel Duhamel were obviously well behind the first three at that stage.

Q But how would you describe the operation of your staff?

A Well, I would say that they're obviously questionable as to where the race leader really was at the time that they called for the pace car. That's something that I don't know what happened there, because I'm fairly certain that the real race leader was not in the west horseshoe at that point.

Q Two of the riders we talked to, Miguel and Eric, were quite upset about how this turned out. Especially Miguel, because he crashed and he thought he could have won the race. What would you say to those two, who clearly don't think that they were treated properly by this pace car procedure?

A Yeah, I think that, you know, in this situation, that he had an opportunity to race to the finish with the driver that he was with, Eric, and he wasn't able to overtake him. So it certainly would be in question as to whether he could have overtaken the other three riders that were in front of him.

Q No, that's not true. He let Eric by, because he's not in the championship. Miguel and Eric were not racing. If he had been in the proper spot, he felt he could have raced for the podium, but because of where he was, he effectively had to make up almost an entire lap to get to the same spot. And that's what he was upset about.

A Yeah. And I can understand that he wouldn't have been happy with the situation, because yeah, he felt that the pace car was a free ticket to get back in the race again after being 30-some seconds back, I think, from the leader, when the pace car came out. But - I have no knowledge of whether he did or didn't let Eric by. I didn't see that personally. I had my hands full with other things, and of course I was then parked on the back straight again, so I couldn't see any gesture or anything that happened on the last lap, to know one way or the other. The bottom line is, they finished in the same order at the end as they were in before the pace car came out.

Q What will you do differently next year?

A Well, I think we have to have a good review of all the pace car procedures, and perhaps maybe we'll have to consider not even involving cars on the track any more, and just go back to the system that we use at all races, which is a red flag. In this same circumstance at another track, I think race control would have called for a red flag, not a waving yellow.