Interesting note about the red light. Brittany was upset about it and when she went to see Alan just after the final, he told her to forget it happened and put it behind her. He said "We will go to Pomona, qualify #1 and win the race. If we do that, we win the Championship no matter what anybody else does." He wanted her to focus on the upcoming task, not the past mistake. AJ is a guy who motivates by praise and encouragement not by threats and disparagement.
When Alan agreed to go to work for JFR he told John point blank: "Brittany is my driver and you will not ever talk to her about driving or talk to her at all on Sunday." Brittany told that story again at the banquet.
I spoke to a CC one time after his Championship driver had made a mistake and said "Boy, your driver is sick about that." His response was "He should be, he screwed up and let the whole team down and I told him exactly that."
There is a Crew Chief that has had much success Nitro Racing who would constantly berate the driver. If the reaction time was .075 he was trying to give it away, if it was .025 he was trying to red light. If he pedaled the car he shouldn't have because "it was going to make it" if it shook and he didn't pedal it he should have because "He could have saved that run." If the car moved 6 inches left or right he was driving it out of the grove. And the CC let the driver know about it after every run.
If the driver was .050 reaction, never wiggled, went straight down the grove and won the race. The CC wouldn't say a single word of praise, but he would usually find something to complain about, the burnout was too long, or he backed up too fast or something. But the driver even after winning, would never hear the words "Nice Job."
You can certainly win with both approaches, but I know which environment I would rather be living in.
As always, just my opinion.
Alan
