Unfortunately your whole NASCAR, Jimmy Johnson plan falls apart when one considers that many NASCAR drivers have competed in DP cars, including Jimmy Johnson, and the stands were not full of NASCAR fans... You see the average Sprint Cup fan doesn't want to see Jimmy or Dale Jr race in another type of race car enough to pay for it, they want to see them racing each other in a Sprint Cup car, be it on an oval or a road course.. That said the expertise that NASCAR brings to it, is the ability to sell and market a race series as a product, a talent Mr France and company gleaned from some very smart folks in sports marketing at Reynolds Tobacco Company back in the day, read "Winston Cup"... What ALMS brings is the panache of the Le Mans car, but sadly there are very few of them. What would be great is if we can have that Panache at DP cost along with the participation... How they can get that is above my pay grade.. Going to the ALMS race at VIR this weekend, and the one thing I want to see above all else is the P1 cars..... now if we could only have a field full of them!!!lol
Both Grand-AM and ALMS have set up fan feedback pages, asking for ideas. I think ALMS fans are the most vocal so far and I'd guess that's because they're more worried. Lots of good ideas on both. ALMS site: Your Ideas for 2014: Let’s Hear ‘Em Grand-Am site: Fan Take: What Would You Like To See From GRAND-AM/ALMS Merger?
Aye a wonderful article indeed and VIR is everything and more that it describes...a place that Paul Newman once described as "Heaven on earth" and for any motorhead worth his weight in grease, it is. The thoughts of seeing the Le Man's prototypes blasting up through the climbing esses has given me something to look forward to since they first announced it. Short of me driving in anger at VIR, this should be exactly what Mr Newman described!! ...bet he'll be watching too! PS:Thanks for the link Steve!!
Discussions are still being kept secret re how all the Grand-Am and ALMS classes will line up after the merger. However, unless it's just wishful thinking on the part of Don Panoz, there may be a hint in a recent interview that the intent is to equalize ALMS P2 and Grand-Am DP...somehow. In a pre-Petit Le Mans interview Panoz was asked about the likelihood of seeing more Deltawings in races next year.
No ALMS at Mid-Ohio SUCKS:mad5: To me this is just the beginning of many disappointments that will be brought on by the so-called "merger". I say bring up the Australian V8 Supercars to Mid-Ohio :drool
..............:eek6: coming to Austin,Texas?:arf::drool My God there's still hope that Hippie Austin can turn itself around, good Lord willin and the creeks don't rise.:lol: Jason
ISCAR = International Sports Car Auto Racing Though that's supposedly just a placeholder name, it's not a good start, IMHO. 2014 Class Structure Being Finalized (speedtv.com) And so begins the BOP dumbing down of ALMS ...
Why is this a bad thing...........been doing it for years in every class of racing except for spec series. Look at the number of cars that have to be de-tuned to be able to run in the different classes.
If they can pull this off and somehow retain the best from both series this could be very good for us the fans!! Let's give them time and see what the end formula is, there is some very smart guys working on this after all....
Those working on this merger have asked for fan input on the name. Strike that, not quite right, makes it sound like they have a name and want to know what we think... Apparently they still need a name for the series. Give them a name and explain it (by 31 Dec), and you might win some prizes. Name The Future
An excellent (IMHO) article on the merger. The "Coverage" section is interesting with a couple points I hadn't considered, plus he intimates Speed will be covering some of the races live again next year. Also, this is part 1, part 2 will cover potential classes and races. I'll be watching for it. Of course with 2013 fast approaching and given the big wigs already promised to announce some of the class and rule structures right around the end of the year, general speculation like this will soon lead to more pointed criticism and analyses. Looking forward to that stuff as well. :yesnod: On The Merger of Grand-Am and ALMS (toomuchracing.com)
The timing is right, done well this could be a win win for racers and fans alike....now how do we incorporate the Australian V8 Supercars too?!!
I don't know the origin but according to this Wikipedia entry [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Motor_Sports_Association"]this Wikipedia entry[/ame] (and we all know how trustworthy Wikipedia is :rolleyes5: ) Bill France wanted to follow his NASCAR start with something similar for road racing but for IMSA he was mostly the source of $$$$ and Bishop was in charge. Of course it doesn't matter how much someone like Bishop might have wanted to start up a new series, unless someone with money to burn likes the idea it's never going to happen.