Laguna Seca going, going and gone!?

[Dov]

From thereporter.com:

"I'd love to see Champ Car racing in San Jose. It's a great cause," said Ed Nicholls, spokesman for Laguna-Seca. "Ideally, the San Jose race would be in the spring and our race would be in the fall. That way, they could complement each other and raise fan interest for both races."

The schedule is far less than ideal for the Monterey permanent road course. Laguna-Seca had been holding its traditional date for the Champ Car World Series weekend, Sept. 9-11, waiting for a finalized schedule to be released from Indianapolis. Raceway officials were red with anger when they saw the schedule, which still has a couple of openings.

"We thought we had a date with Champ Car," Nicholls said, with an edge in his voice. "They didn't put us on their calendar and then they quit returning phone calls and e-mails. When pressed, they said they were still working with us, but they only put confirmed events on their schedule."

[macdaddy]

They only put confirmed events on their schedule? San Jose had been listed for weeks before anything was confirmed! Soeul was on the website's schedule until two weeks before racedate!

Losing Laguna will be sad, but not at all unexpected. I just hope that no bridges are being burned. I can foresee Laguna hosting a competing series in 2006.

[Kicking-back]

It's sad that once again we hear stories from a circuit that Champ Car isn't returning communications.

It's a crying shame if one of the USA's top circuits isn't hosting top-level single-seater racing.

[Snrub]

Unfortunatey as Macdaddy has sort of suggested, a certain competing series seems keen to occupy certain tracks with the goal of hurting CC or being able to say that they went there.

[Jordi]

We shouldn't lose our bases. We already lost the majority of ovals because they were mostly ISC's property...

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Snrub

Unfortunatey as Macdaddy has sort of suggested, a certain competing series seems keen to occupy certain tracks with the goal of hurting CC or being able to say that they went there.

Doesn't the ALMS race there already

[JohnSSC]

So it looks more and more like we are going to be treated to the "best business model in racing" appearing at venues with "optimal revenue streams" rather than competing at the best tracks in the world.

The technical challenges and oftentimes visual feasts that were produced at venues like RA, Mid-Ohio and Laguna are left by the wayside so the "show" can stop in at San Jose or Edmonton (no offense to anyone from either of those cities!).

Even a cash-driven enterprise such as F1 has realized that there is value to having events at places like Silverstone, Spa, Monza, etc while expanding to new markets. CC is (seemingly) abandoning their traditional tracks for what? I would posit that the permanent road courses allowed for the development of true fan interest in the sport.

Now it seems the focus is on providing "entertainment" and enhancing revenue.

I think I will be seeing more sprint car races this summer than I have in the last few years - at least these folks want to go out and race.

[evo]

To be fair, the course in Edmonton should put on a great motor-race (think Cleveland). But I agree. I'm certainly going to miss Road America and Laguna. I already miss Mid-ohio. I want this to be what it was before, one of the best RACING series in the world. Not a high-price, high-tech, high-speed street parade.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

So it looks more and more like we are going to be treated to the "best business model in racing" appearing at venues with "optimal revenue streams" rather than competing at the best tracks in the world.

The technical challenges and oftentimes visual feasts that were produced at venues like RA, Mid-Ohio and Laguna are left by the wayside so the "show" can stop in at San Jose or Edmonton (no offense to anyone from either of those cities!).

Even a cash-driven enterprise such as F1 has realized that there is value to having events at places like Silverstone, Spa, Monza, etc while expanding to new markets. CC is (seemingly) abandoning their traditional tracks for what? I would posit that the permanent road courses allowed for the development of true fan interest in the sport.

Now it seems the focus is on providing "entertainment" and enhancing revenue.

I think I will be seeing more sprint car races this summer than I have in the last few years - at least these folks want to go out and race.

I would agree mostly with what you say, as I would like to retain the classic tracks as well. But we may be in a new era of changing business models. The same debate has been raging in Australia since the late 90's and the growth of V8 Supercars. One example I remember is that of the switch from mallala(which is in the sticks 1 hour north of Adelaide) to urban Adelaide(Clipsal 500). I remember T. Cochrane saying that the last race at mallala they wrote $50,000 worth of corporate sponsor deals, however for the first urban Adelaide race they wrote $5,000,000 worth of sponsor deals. In addition, I would guess the attendance at the urban Adelaide races is probably 6-7 times that of the old Mallala V8 races, maybe more(tell me if I'm wrong).

So I think it's probably the same with the San Jose race. I'm sure that race will attract far more dollars and spectators than Laguna Seca. As a business person I would probably move towards areas where I could attract that kind of business. So I guess the question is with the permanent venues and what they need to do to attract the business to make it a sustainable concern. I remember for instance what a hole Road Atlanta was, but after they spruced the place up and made it more spectator, competitor and sponsor friendly it was shocking how much the attendance soared.

[macdaddy]

Let's not discount Road America just yet...

[Jordi]

We surely need Road America. Champ Cars must have the best racetrack in America in the schedule.

[gttouring]

well KK's pockets are deep, but who knows if they are this deep, MAZDA should pony up as they have a lot of Ford money involved so let's um ... make laguna more fan friendly- it is in a great spot, and easy to get to, and well couldn't be better, not having this track is like leaving fillet mignon at the table for anyone to take from you...
and Road America?! if i could i would pony up 10 million to make it the best fan facility and improve the circuit all around. more spectator perches and see what it would take to get FIA approval.
after all in today world no one would ever make a corkscrew or the drop in BAthurst to conrod straight the way it is, but they gained FIA approval some how.
so never mind the train tracks near the kink or the space in Canada Corner

[D.R.T.]

It is sad to see Laguna will not be on the schedule. This event should have been pushed untill the last available minute. There have been so many great times at Laguna and I think that Champ Car should not always focus on the short term $$$$ making events. Lets have some long term goals there aswell.

Lets hold out hope and pray that Road America can pop up in the schedule. As losing to icons of the series in 1 season would not be a healthy move in my opinion.

[fazzaz]

August 6/7, which I believe would have been the traditional Champ Car date at Road America, has been released to another event.

[paul-collins]

Fazzaz, Laguna Seca had reserved Sept 9-11 for Champcars.

http://www.laguna-seca.com/Events/

[Snrub]

As posted in another thread RM says in a SpeedTV article that RA may yet be on the 2005 schedule. Perhaps that means there's some hope for Laguna.

While ALMS is certainly competition for CC, I think the conventional wizdom is that the IRL is direct competition. Speed World challange and Star Mazda, among others race at Laguna too.

[f1manoz]

I'm going against the grain here, but although Laguna is a great race-track, in that it's scenic and a driving challenge, in my mind it has rarely put on a classic race. There have been 'moments' during races, but frankly I draw a blank on an absolute cracking race...

[luke]

Yes, San Jose may be exciting and challenging.

Don't knock it till you've tried it.

[jjspierx]

Originally Posted by f1manoz

I'm going against the grain here, but although Laguna is a great race-track, in that it's scenic and a driving challenge, in my mind it has rarely put on a classic race. There have been 'moments' during races, but frankly I draw a blank on an absolute cracking race...

Gotta agree actually. I still want to see Laguna Seca on the schedule, cause it IS a great and historic track, but it is hardly an ideal track for Champcar. Champcar really can't stretch their legs there. Its basically a rythym section course, except the occasional pass can be made in T2, and a rare move going into the cork screw for extremely ballsy drivers.

[Snrub]

I don't think it would take a lot to make turn 1 a good passing corner.

[jjspierx]

Originally Posted by Snrub

I don't think it would take a lot to make turn 1 a good passing corner.

T1 isn't really a corner, I assume you are meaning T2, which is the sharp double apex left hander at the bottom of the hill after the S/F line.

Its a tough corner to pass, because, T1 bends as it crests the hill, and it limits the line that the champcars can come into T2 at because they are going so fast through T1. Slower cars, like Star Mazda, Formula Dodge, etc... don't have the problem, because they have a few seconds to change their line and setup a pass under braking into T2. The Champcars are pretty much braking as soon as they straighten the car out of the T1 bend.

[Cowboy]

This news just sucks.

[Snrub]

Yes I ment turn 2. Would it really be so hard to straighten out the entry to 2 and make it a bit wider?

[jjspierx]

Originally Posted by Snrub

Yes I ment turn 2. Would it really be so hard to straighten out the entry to 2 and make it a bit wider?

I dunno, there is a lot of run off, I would think they could if they wanted to spend the money. It would definitely make a difference.

[JohnSSC]

If I may follow-on what I posted originally.

First, I understand that accessing revenue streams keeps the Series alive. No revenue, no racing. That goes for the teams as well as the Series, be it USAC, CART, OWRS or IRL.

Each series though (imho) needs to have a "core" set of venues on which the avid fan can rely on seeing his/her favorites race at season in and season out. Add to those core venues are the "peripheral" venues. These could be somewhat interchangeable and would typically be the street races that have come and gone over the years (i.e. Houston, etc.). They add some short term revenue and excitement but are transient: Houston this year, Edmonton the next, San Jose after that.

This is NOT to say that San Jose will be a "bad" race simply because Laguna may not happen now. For all I or anyone knows it may be the most exciting ever. Or the most boring. (I have a low opinion of street races these days - including Monaco, but I digress)

The bottom line is that to me, a Series that is essentially transient in nature cannot build a loyal, permanent fan base if the basic Marketing Principle is Providing a Spectacle. The whole rationale behind street racing was to take the essence of what we saw at the permanent courses and bring them to folks who might not go ordinarily. You expose them to "the product" and hopefully, they follow via TV and drop by at one of the permanent venues. Now it seems that OWRS seems to be focusing on becoming a Ringling Brothers (No Kneifel Jokes here!) sort of thing: traveling from town-to-town with no real permanent home. While the accountants may love it, I am not necessarily convinced that this trend is a Good Thing.