SCCA Trans-Am Series

[jjvincent]

I'd agree that TA is not a pro series any more. pretty much no series in the US is Pro. The definition of Pro is that you get paid prize money from the sanctioning money, thus pro. So, getting paid peanuts meets the letter of the law but just barely. TA is not where you go to develop your craft to get that call from Penske to go win the Indy 500. TA is like every other series out there that is just to go out and try to have fun. It's no different than NASA, BMWCCA, AER, Chumpcar, LeMons, PCAClub and the whole slew of others out there. Honestly, GTLM and a few DPi's are the only Pro's out there and that's because they got a backer that's not dad, a trust fund or a business writeoff. All TA does is just harps back on the past for recognition.

This is why TA really needs to watch it because taking the one class with consistent entries could easily be ruined by making it go faster all for the sake of just running just a bit quicker. If you want to make TA2 look much faster, then run them with Spec Miata. Other than that, nobody can tell the difference if they are a few seconds a lap faster. It doesn't improve the show or fun factor.

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

TA is not where you go to develop your craft to get that call from Penske to go win the Indy 500.

It never was anything like that. If it was ever a stepping stone to anything it was sportscars or NASCAR - the latter very rarely and only by people who ended up being road course ringers.

[jjvincent]

Originally Posted by FormulaFox

It never was anything like that. If it was ever a stepping stone to anything it was sportscars or NASCAR - the latter very rarely and only by people who ended up being road course ringers.

Actually TA was where you ended up getting paid to drive because of your talent. As of today, not the case and pretty much like 98% of Pro racing. It's that TA used to be on a high rung but has slid to a level of all of the other series' that suck the drivers and money out of Pro racing.

[fieldodreams79]

Results from Homestead:
TA2 RACE - 4/15/2018
http://gotransam.com/event-results/S...nge/10816/5027

TA TA3 TA4 RACE - 4/15/2018
http://gotransam.com/event-results/S...nge/10816/5026

TA West Coast this weekend in Fontana:
http://gotransam.com/events/Auto-Club-Speedway/10826

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

Actually TA was where you ended up getting paid to drive because of your talent.

Which is why I said "if it ever was." It was indeed rare for the series to be used as a stepping stone, and on those rare occasions Indy was never the goal. It's kind of debatable how many people saw it as a stepping stone or a professional destination since it's driver lineup(behind the frontrunning pros) in the 80s and 90s changed more often than they do in current day IndyCar, but it was definitely wasn't the major purpose of the championship.

[skycafe]

Isn't the Horse Dead by Now??? (I am not referring to the TransAm series in its present iteration)

[jjvincent]

Originally Posted by skycafe

Isn't the Horse Dead by Now??? (I am not referring to the TransAm series in its present iteration)

I just checked, it's still twitching. I might have to take it to Iceland because they eat horse and they will make sure it's dead before they make it into something tasty to eat.

[skycafe]

If anyone has recipes, now would be the time.

TransAm will never be what it was nearly 50 years ago. The current iteration is a sort of club/semi-pro series, struggling for traction in a world of sportscar series. Keep it simple so you are not penalizing the current competitors with endless upgrades that will have the effect of washing competitors out. Instead, have large fields of noisy cars that look kinda sorta what the public owns. Have the loud cars squirm around for traction.

Make sure hot dogs and beer are available from trackside vendors. Make it fun to go watch. Keep it simple.

[jjvincent]

Originally Posted by skycafe

If anyone has recipes, now would be the time.

Make sure hot dogs and beer are available from trackside vendors. Make it fun to go watch. Keep it simple.

In Iceland they have meat soup. So it's either Puffin or Horse. For hot dogs, I think they make them with the bazillion sheep they have all over the country. Nothing to write home about but they think they are the greatest. It's like the Germans and their Currywurst. It's OK but nothing that I gotta have. If I want good food, I just park myself in Italy and call it a day.

Honestly, a brat, corn on the cob and a beer at Road America beats everything. Simple and gets to the point. Start the day with an egger and you can pretty much skip lunch.

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by skycafe

TransAm will never be what it was nearly 50 years ago.

Or, more importantly, 20 years ago when it was at it's most popular in terms of eyeballs on product.

Keep it simple so you are not penalizing the current competitors with endless upgrades that will have the effect of washing competitors out. Instead, have large fields of noisy cars that look kinda sorta what the public owns. Have the loud cars squirm around for traction.

That's the entire idea behind this "TA1.5" concept. Even though the TA1 cars are relatively simple, they're still quite complex and expensive by comparison. Though it's actually more a LACK of upgrades that's the real problem right now - the engines, which are mostly previous-generation NASCAR engines, are starting to get harder to source parts for, and repairing chassis is a lot more labor-intensive due to them being of some VERY old and overbuilt designs.

It would probably be possible to upgrade the current crop of TA1 cars in a way that could bring their costs down with no change in performance, but it'd almost certainly be easier and still cheaper to just make upgrade kits for TA2 cars to achieve the same goal.

[jjvincent]

Originally Posted by FormulaFox

Or, more importantly, 20 years ago when it was at it's most popular in terms of eyeballs on product.

You must be young, because TA was not at a peak 20 years ago. They were great in the early 70's and then fell off a cliff. Then they had some success in the late 70's when teams were jumping from IMSA to TA. Sort of like when Peter Gregg was ticked at IMSA and went to run TA because of the rules (which we call BOP today) and then he'd go back to IMSA when he had it with TA (sound familiar).

80's saw a resurgence of TA because Can Am finally bit the dust and SCCA Pro had to make it work so they just copied the GTO rules and called it a day. Then Audi screwed that all up and then it just reverted to no tech thus finally gave up the ghost in the early 90's. After that, it just ran on life support and survived like all racing did with the dot.com boom. After that bubble burst, it tanked.

In the last 20 years it became a multi class series because TA1 was on a crash course with the inevitable (which was death). As for today, it's a 2-3 car TA1 class with a few field fillers. TA2 is healthy with the rest being a bunch of one offs. As usual, let's take the one bright spot (TA2) and ruin it. As we all know, the rich teams don't mind spending more money, as for the rest, they park the cars and sell them on ragingjunk. I the end. TA can be like IMSA and PWC where they are celebrating their record number of entrants for a specific class yet the overall never goes up. Case in pint, PWC at VIR. Just hanging around 100 entrants no matter what the rules are.

In the end, TA has been off of everyone's radar since the mid 90's. All they do is relive the old days. it is pretty funny that the best race team of all time reverted back to a tumor chassis. Never seen that coming......

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

in the late 70's when teams were jumping from IMSA to TA. Sort of like when Peter Gregg was ticked at IMSA and went to run TA because of the rules (which we call BOP today) and then he'd go back to IMSA when he had it with TA (sound familiar).

Then Audi screwed that all up

Gregg ran the 934 in TransAm because IMSA did not want the 934. Gregg simultaneously ran the BMW CSL program in IMSA. Jo Hoppen was able to convince IMSA that the 934 would fit nicely into their program, which happened in 1977. TA was left in the dust.

Don't speak ill of Audi, that Quattro had a sound for the ages.

[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

You must be young, because TA was not at a peak 20 years ago.

In the mid 90s, AKA, 20 years ago, Trans Am had it's highest TV viewership and close to(if not the) highest at-track attendance levels in it's history. That is all I was referring to when I say it peaked. After GM and Ford both pulled out, it indeed went downhill VERY fast thanks in no small part to some poor management decisions culminating in the death knell when it was sold to Paul Gentilozzi.

As usual, let's take the one bright spot (TA2) and ruin it.

And once again, we come back around to the notion that "TA1.5" will somehow "ruin" TA2 even though that assertion makes ZERO SENSE with the idea that's being laid out.

Allow me to say this one more time as clearly as can be said... The TA1.5 idea is NOT meant to replace TA2. TA2 teams can still run their cars as they are in the TA2 class if they do not wish to upgrade. If the idea does not gain traction then TA1 can be done away with completely and unmodified TA2s could be elevated to headline status.

The entire idea is meant as an effort to cut costs while preserving what makes Trans Am unique, and to so in a manner that not only has a built-in fallback if it fails, but has that fallback running alongside the new idea so that said fallback won't be wiped out.

To say this idea would "ruin" TA2 is like saying the Ginetta G57 ruined LMP3 - I don't think you'll find many people asserting this to be the case.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by jjvincent

In the end, TA has been off of everyone's radar since the mid 90's. All they do is relive the old days. it is pretty funny that the best race team of all time reverted back to a tumor chassis. Never seen that coming......

I think Autocorrect got you, and you meant 'tuber' chassis. The 'best race team of all time' is Dyson?

[TeamBurtin]

Originally Posted by Rcz

Heh like clockwork.

Never heard of Spring Mountain. Cool Portland get a race though.

Indeed, we are back there again next weekend, July 29th! Check out our Camaro about to leave on the hauler from Atlanta this weekend...

[NaBUru38]

Thread bump!


https://racer.com/2019/05/27/bruised...rock-trans-am/


https://racer.com/2019/05/29/trans-a...ck-park-recap/

[joeb]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Thread bump!


https://racer.com/2019/05/27/bruised...rock-trans-am/


https://racer.com/2019/05/29/trans-a...ck-park-recap/

Good to see Chris Dyson enjoying himself racing in a variety of series. It is cool to see the TA cars in person (i've seen them as a support race in recent years), but don't know that I would make an effort to go see them.

[skycafe]

Memorial Day Weekend is traditional start of racing season in New England, so a draw because of that. Lime Rock has IMSA later in summer and thrre really are not a lot of other series that could fit in Lime Rock.

They have an SCCA regional listed as a large event on the track website, along with IMSA and then historics. Grab the family, pack a picnic hamper, and head off for a day of watching and hearing race cars. It is a New England 'thing.'

[broadrun96]

It's a good show although TA1 while loud and crazy fast are not too durable and rarely a close contest, at least at Road Atlanta. It seemed about half the cars broke down or dropped out and all but a few were WELL off the pace. I think Ernie Francis Jr and Dyson lapped almost everyone last spring. But worth it at Road Atlanta because they brought SVRA and Historic TransAm with "historic" drivers as well.

[NaBUru38]

Detroit qualifying: https://racer.com/2019/05/31/buffoma...2-pole-winner/

[Firehawk505]

Hey, folks. New poster. Just noticed this thread here. Guessing it's better to revive this than start a new thread, especially because there have been some good posts on this one.

I used to watch this series a lot back in the 80's, when it almost seemed to be a sprint clone of GTO/GTU. I also like to read about the heyday of the series, up until the fuel crisis, as I understand it. Some great cars over the years, in some disparate categories.

I've watched the series again in recent years. There are some exciting cars, for sure, but it does seem very budget minded. And that's OK! Many series are. As a kid, I was fascinated whenever I saw coverage of IMSA Firehawk.

But I really feel like the TAs and GTs just don't look good together in the same race. Part of me just wants to see a TA/TA2 race followed by a GT race. Which leads me into my next concern. There are, I believe, 3 GT categories as it stands right now. Problem is, two of them, at least last year, had miserable car counts (I haven't watched the series this year). I'd love to see the GT side reworked to have broader rules that acommodate all three current classes, bringing them into one class.

A lesser part of me also misses that Audi of the late 80's. I believe the current progeny of that is the A6 (correct me). I'd love to see an A6 done up by one of the companies doing up all the TA cars. I actually think it could look really good. I don't know.

Anyhow, I'm not seeing an intro area. I apologize if it's there and I'm overlooking it. It's 1am. I shouldn't be posting. Take care.

[broadrun96]

The GTs appear to be not much cheaper than TA2 cars to buy and run so many would opt for the bigger races.

But I do agree the GT/GTX/SGT running with TA cars is kinda pathetic and silly. But then some of the TA cars get lapped just about as fast as GTs do. But new GTs made by teams are a rare thing, usually involves a tube framed car with body on it. The ECUs and other bits aren't easy to modify and the manufacturers aren't keen to let everyone in them, see the preference for TCR or GT3/4 for the majority of pro GT cars

[Firehawk505]

https://gotransam.com/events/2023-Tr...onship/cat/534

'23 season starts on the weekend of 2/23-26. I'll be intrigued by Detroit, as I've always loved right angles, but it could also be too boring. I liked Belle Isle.

[joeb]

That is a long season, February to November!

Chris Dyson won the championship again this past season, the question for next year is if he can make it 3 in a row?

[broadrun96]

Long season with LOTS of off time and main series and West Coast division. Road Atlanta in March with SVRA