ALMS to shrink

[marcus]

there is talk about that the ALMS will shrink for next year with the exclusion of Suzuka and Motegi that were looking likely for 2001..apparently Panoz is planning to have 2 races either side of the Le man pre qualifying weekend to allow american teams to return home after le man..in stead of heading for japan..so the only races for the asia pacific ring are to be held at Sepang in malaysia and Adelaide in Australia in 2001..but these races could appear on the 2002 calender once the little details have been worked out.

[gomick]

cant wait for adelaide 2000, just hope that mark noske gets plenty of testing time in the panoz.

[jvilleneuve2000]

Next year the american le man series will be all of the american rounds, the Nurburgring 1000km and Jarama (spain). Then there will be the Silvestone 500km, Adelaide, sepang, and possibly Suzuka that will not count towards alms points. Silvestone will attract a big grid because of the number of teams that are based in Europe. But i am not sure about the Asian races. Wouldnt it a been better for Don Panoz to just have one Le man Sereies that went all over the world????, it would be a bit less confusing.

[gomick]

i agree mr villeneuve, why have an american, european and asian championship....donny panoz aint that big, and one whole championship is better than 3 championships, when the winner of each championship wont get the recognition that the overall winner would get. it would also mean more stats for myself to do, which is a lot of hassle.....gomick@revcounter.com

[gomick]

i agree mr villeneuve, why have an american, european and asian championship....donny panoz aint that big, and one whole championship is better than 3 championships, when the winner of each championship wont get the recognition that the overall winner would get. it would also mean more stats for myself to do, which is a lot of hassle.....gomick@revcounter.com

[Truckosaurus]

I remember reading that the reason for keeping a seperate American, European and Asian championship was because if they were merged into a 'World Le Mans Series' then it would be forced under the control of the FIA and Panoz and the ACO would have less say it what happened...

[jc_nl]

How can they be forced under control of the FIA if they don't want to. I mean is there a law against holding a world serries with out the aproval of the FIA??

[marcus]

I believe there just might be some kind of claus in a contract somewhere saying that..FIA does stand for federation of intenational autosport so therefore they hold the right to have control over most racing series..even last week after a crash at a touring car race in Australia the FIA have asked and always have asked for an explaination from the Oz governing body as to what happened and how this could have been prevented.

I would love to see the ALMS become a world series but once the FIA get hold of it they would drum it down a bit just in case in hurt F1..but i believe you will find they have controlling interests in just about every series in the world.

[angst]

But surely this would be contrary to EU regs. Isn't that the reason the FIA sold the rights for F1 to Bernie, to avoid the legal arguments that were brewing there. I would have thought that the FIA would be in pretty serious trouble if they were using their position to deter people from running World Championships, as their sole remit should be to ensure that the sport is run in a professional and safe manner - and NOTHING else. I think it goes to show how nervous they are of other racing series...as any sort of competition to the pretty poor state they have got F1 into - but that's moving off the point somewhat.
Have to agree, a world championship would be much better, the likes of BMW and Audi would obviously get much more coverage for their efforts (and therein lies the problem, probably).

[Heeltoe6]

Getting back to the idea of scheduling, ALMS really should drop the Charlotte date, and depedning on attendance, the TMS and LVMS date. Charlotte probably drew all of 500 fans and featured that lovely tyre chicane. Not a world class track imho. And I think you could justify having it if the draw was good, but it isn't. And after the fiasco there, it's wait and see on tms and lvms. TMS should draw better for the simple fact Gossage can promote the he11 out of anythuing, and vegas should get a boost from being such an enterrainmnet center. But if the races draw as bad as cms, why bother having them> ALMS has really gotta pressure Road America and Mid Ohio to drop garra and to pick up ALMS. With ALMS tv ratings and attendance numbers, I can't think it would be that difficult, where, unlike LRP and the ISC tracks garra runs at, MO and RA don't have any financial ties to garra, to my knowledge

[KC]

I agree that the smaller oval tracks are not working quite as well as planned. Panoz wanted to give them a try because of the amenities. The oval tracks with interior road courses have better garages for the teams, media support and fan accomodations than most of the road courses do. Road America and Mid-Ohio are definitely two that should be included on the ALMS schedule. But the small ovals, this does not include Daytona, have too much transisiton from the apron to the banking and it is just too hard on the cars and drivers.

Panoz is still trying to setup a three way series, one in America, one in Europe, and one in Australia/Asia. They would each have their own season with their own points schedules and all get automatic qualifying for LeMans for winning efforts. They would also share certain events. The Adelaide event, Laguna Seca, Silverstone, and possibly Sebring would all be world points events and all count toward early qualification for LeMans. That way the American, European, and Australasian series could all compete with the same rules packages and still battle for World Championship honors at LeMans.

There is also rumors that the 1000 Kms of Nurburgring, a 12 Hour of Malaysia, and an enduro at a another European track will be added as world competition events.

[Chris S]

I will be working corners (marshalling) at the Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-2-3) ALMS race at TMS (along with, in my personal opinion, the much more interesting Speedvision World Challenge races). Also included in the schedule are Trans Am (should be a great race, with several of the TA team headquartered in Dallas), and the Global GT (yawn). The days look to be very long, with Saturday having cars on track from 8:30 a.m. until 9:45 p.m. Would be happy to give opinions on the track and how well it suits the ALMS cars. Also, will see if I can borrow a digital camera so I can post a couple of photos here on the page. Can you do this on this BB? The only thing missing at this event is the fact that the Dyson cars (now running in Grand Am) will not be there. They raced at Minneapolis several years ago, and literally shook the ground as they roared by. The Panozes (granted, it was the enclosed ones), Porsches and Vipers were quiet by comparison. Of course, the TA cars definitely make up for this -- nothing rattles the ground like an old fashioned carburated American V8. Just gotta love the ground pounders!

[BMWRacerITS]

I was able to be instructed by Johnny O'Connell down at Road Atlanta a few months ago. His take on Charlotte was that the track was fairly "Micky Mouse" to quote him exactly. (If you've never met him, he is quite a guy, easily one of the best racing personalities I have ever met!)

Having raced the road course at Charlotte, I will agree with him. But it was nice to have such a world class race only an hour down the road.

I also had the chance to work at Charlotte (Lowes) Motor Speedway in the Sales and Marketing Dept. as in intern this summer, so I have a pretty good explanation for the small turnout at the race as follows:

Living here in NC, I can tell you that there was absolutely NO! advertisement for the race. I only found out about it from some folks in the local BMW CCA and PCA. It turns out that Panoz structured the event by simply purchasing a track rental, thus the track had no budget to do any advertising and would not benefit from it if they had, because they didn't recieve any of the ticket sales. The blame for the low turnout and lack of advertisement lies solely with Panoz's organization.

I do believe that with the proper marketing, the event could experience good turnout. Just a couple hours down the road, the Petit LeMans always draws very large crowds. Though smaller, Charlotte is becoming the "Atlanta" of NC and should be able to draw similiar crowds from a simliar demographic base.

Thanks for the bandwidth on my first post here!

------------------
Auto racing, bullfighting, and rock climbing are the only real sports...
all others are games.
-Ernest Hemingway

[marcus]

welcome aboard BMW racer..thanks for your inside info on the charlotte event..seems a bit strange to me but it would explain a few things about the attendance.

again welcome aboard and we hope you join in the chat and I look forward to hearing about your own racing exploits in the future (Ive just read your post in the racers forum ..my that all sounds like a barrel of fun )

[Chris S]

BMWracerITS -- I heard the same thing; Panoz did absolutely no advertising and the track had no financial reason to do any advertising. The contract made with the track was the same as if the race was an SCCA club race or PCA event. Certainly not what you would expect from a Pro series.

A friend who drives a Saleen in WC-GT has an uncle who lives in suburban Charlotte. The uncle found out about the race when our friend called him from the track to let him know he was in town. A club racing friend who lives near Charlotte told me there was no television, radio or print about the event anywhere in the area. As an SCCA club racer and corner worker, I must admit my impression of Mr. Panoz has never been great (read the interview he gave in Racer magazine a couple of years ago) and this did nothing to improve my feelings about him.

I don't live in an ALMS/TA market, so I can't really say if this has improved. Does anyone on this board live in such a market? Has the Panoz-Sanchez Group gotten better with time?

[marcus]

well I can tell you that here in Oz there has been a fair bit of advertising for the Adelaide race on new years..and I expect a heap more as the date moves closer.

[Heeltoe6]

So the question is, did Panoz make the same deal(rent the track) with the other SMI rovals(TMS and LVMS). Let's hope not.

[KC]

While it is true that Panoz only rented the circuit I was under the impression that was the only way he could get a deal there. The owners did not want to deal with any aspect of the race other than supply the circuit.

Chris S, glad to hear from another racing fan from the midwest of the US. How did you get a job marshalling at TMS next month? I want to make the race but may not have the finances to do so.

The best way to publish pics ont he forum are to have them posted at a site like Photopoint and link to them. If you have not been to Photopoint, there are hundreeds of galleries on racing there including 5 of my own. Check it out.

[Chris S]

KC, the flag chief for Texas Region is an ex-Nebraskan and a good friend. For anyone interested in working the event, the Texas Region web site has an application form. I have had difficulty accessing their site directly from the web but you can find it through the "region locator" at http://www.scca.org.

Two of us are attending from Nebraska; we are renting a nice big comfortable Lincoln and driving the approx. 5.5 hours to Wichita (almost exactly half way to Dallas) where we are picking up another couple who are also working the event. My husband, Frank, and I own 6 cars, but they are all Mustangs (including our American Sedan race car), CJ7s or our 13 passenger Ford Club Wagon (our race car tow vehicle). Our Wichita friends own 3 VWs. Thus, a rental car!

I notice you are from Tulsa; do you ever go to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit for the SCCA club events? Frank and I are beginning our big "end of season" push -- Aug. 26-27 at Hallett, then turn around and drive to Dallas 3 days later. We end with 8 days at Mid-Ohio for the Runoffs (hate the 16 hour drive, but what a week of racing). Usually we spend Labor Day weekend at Heartland Park in Topeka, but our race car is not running (all engine builders must die!), so we opted for corner working in Dallas.

Thanks for the tip on the Photopoint web site. Will check it out. Also, if you are interested, Frank and I have two unused guest passes for the TMS race . . .

Sorry for the off-topic post folks!

[KC]

I know a few guys who race at Hallett and I have attended the local racing club events as well as the recent US F3 race held there. The problem with Hallet and SCCA events is that they allow no spectators. Everyone present must be attached to a racing team as they carry no insurance for spectators. I know people who have been turned away because they do not have team passes to enter the track.

Let me know and see if I can meet up with you guys out there. Its a nice but rough little track. I know the US F3 guys said it was the most technically difficult track they would race on in their whole season. Take care.

[Chris S]

One of the Spec Racer Ford guys out of our race shop will be racing at Hallett that weekend. Also, one of our former crew chiefs will be there with an AS Firebird he now shares with a guy from Kansas City. If you are interested in attending, we will add your name to the crew lists for either Mike Wold-Steele (ungodly bright yellow/green #66 SRF) or Jim Wheeler/Ted Johnson (purplish blue & white AS Pontiac). Just let Betty Martin (the registrar) know you are a friend of Chris & Frank Safranek from Omaha. Betty is a good friend and the treasurer of Midwest Division Executive Committee, of which I am Chairman. Are you an SCCA member? If not, I think you might need to purchase a temporary membership when you sign in, but I am not sure.

Frank will be working corner but I will be in timing -- just come to the southern-most door on the west side of the tower (bottom level) and ask for Chris. Would love to meet up with you -- and you can stay for the dinner/beer party if you come over on Saturday. The bar-b-ques at Hallett are wonderful and are free for all competitors, crew members and workers. We can introduce you to a bunch of the Midwest crazies. Just listen for a really loud "Whoomah" anywhere in the paddock (or look for a "Whoomah" sticker on any race car) and introduce yourself.

Hope to see you August 26. Let us know about the tics for Dallas as we have to put in our guests' names by August 24.

[Liz]

Back to ALMS ...

I have to say the advertising for the Mosport series was outstanding and if the transportation had been equally outstanding I would have been there. (I will be there next year if I have to bribe somebody to drive me!) I have also heard that Panoz is angling with Rahal to get a CART race and an ALMS race together one weekend at Road Atlanta. Now I would call that the perfect dream weekend! Personally I don't care for ovals and would not want to see the ALMS cars wasted on an oval track. Although the noise would be wonderful.

[BMWRacerITS]

Liz, I agree that the ovals w/ infield road courses are boring for ALMS.

But, I think if they were properly promoted, they could do wonders for increasing the popularity of sports car racing in America. Especially because these tracks are mostly located in the middle of NASCAR country.

Now Panoz just needs to do a little more work promoting the dang things.

[Crash Test]

Originally posted by marcus
well I can tell you that here in Oz there has been a fair bit of advertising for the Adelaide race on new years..and I expect a heap more as the date moves closer.

We haven't gotten any up here in Brisbane, do you folk ever get any Indy ads? They've started to flood us this last week...

Actually if you see one with a cake in it, i had a piece of it at the race last year

[marcus]

Nope havent seen any ads for indy as yet Crash test...as for Adelaide i meant in the racing mags and on channel tens coverage of ALMS events..as for the general public as yet I havent seen a real lot but Im sure as the time gets closer you will see a bit..

I guess when I get up to surfers 2 weeks before the race I will be bombarded with ads for it.