December 21, 2011

Thoughts, words and musings from the 2011 racing season.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 11/29, 12:00 p.m.) Detroit. We've come to an end of another tumultuous year in motorsport, one that saw triumph and tragedy in equal measure, and one that saw the continuing swirl of conflict, controversy, territorial infighting, and flat-out boneheaded decision making continue to stymie the sport from moving forward. Amidst all of this was some spectacular racing, thank goodness. And thus it was ever so too. When racers are allowed to race and the politicians stand down, great and memorable racing usually ensues. Following are a few of my highlighted thoughts from this past season...

I believe that the next five years in motorsport will determine the future health of this sport one way or the other going forward. We must see seismic shifts in terms of applications of technological relevance in this sport if we hope to see it continue, because standing in place, or recycling the status quo, will ultimately kill the sport altogether. - "Change or die for racing." (1/19/2011)

Can we get racing back to the forefront of developing advanced automotive technologies? Yes, I believe we can, but it will take a tremendous amount of vision and real guts by some seriously committed people who also have the power to affect real change. I believe we need to press the “reset” button in racing and start over. By that I mean we need to establish new challenges that will inspire a new level of ingenuity and creativity and foster a whole new dimension of innovation. - "For Love of the Game." (1/26)

... the last thing I want for racing is for it to turn into an exercise in nostalgia for a generation that keeps dying off each and every year. Make no mistake, I love and support vintage racing but we can't have the entire sport turn in that direction, it just wouldn't work. But I'm afraid that if we don't change racing now, which means combining the manufacturers' interest in relevance with new thinking in how to reach this new generation of consumers coming up, then that's exactly what will happen and the very survivability of the sport itself will be at risk. - "From relevance to... survivability." (2/2)

NASCAR reached its peak several years ago now. The powers that be leading NASCAR can't continue to operate under the assumption that things will get better, because that's a fool's errand. I watched the Detroit Three operate under those assumptions for 25 years and two of those car companies ended up in bankruptcy. Not getting out in front of the problem is not dealing with the problem. NASCAR has reached the point where a serious reduction of the schedule is crucial to their long-term survival. - "Can NASCAR learn to exist in a world of reduced expectations?" (2/9)

As an observer and enthusiast of the sport I always wanted to see Jeff in IndyCars or in an F1, and that brief test he did at Indianapolis where he swapped rides with Juan Pablo Montoya just fueled my wish for that to happen. But alas that was not to be as Gordon, lured by the money in NASCAR, went on to a brilliant career in what is now the dominant form of motorsport here in the U.S. No matter what happens this season (and wouldn't it be some story if Gordon is the one who finally stops his protege's championship streak?), Jeff Gordon will go down in history as one of the greatest racers of all time. - "For one brief shining moment at least, Jeff Gordon is back." (3/2)

The Road Racing Drivers Club dinner honoring Roger Penske was a glittering gathering, with a who's who of racing and the racing industry turning out in droves for the event. Large format pictures from throughout Roger's career as both a driver and team owner ringed the walls of the ballroom and were available for bids, and a video/photo montage of Roger's career ran in a continuous loop on large screens. The highlight of the evening was Roger himself getting up on stage and being interviewed in conversational style by host Bobby Rahal, who was master of ceremonies for the evening. The most fun anecdotes of Roger's career were only briefly touched upon, which was too bad, because you could sense everyone in the room wanted to hear more of those stories. But it was good to see Roger step back for a moment - just for a moment, because he's always thinking about his next race - and bask in the accolades of his contemporaries who hold him in such high regard and who have such tremendous respect for him. The evening was a fine tribute to a man who, without question, has been the single most influential force in American racing throughout his career. - "News, notes, and thoughts from Long Beach." (4/20)

The High-Octane Truth about major league road racing here in the U.S. is that it is splintered and broken, and unless cooler heads prevail and the principal players get together to save it, redirect it, and position it for the future, I'm afraid we're going to see it continue to dwindle in importance and popularity. And it just doesn't have to be that way. - "A Desperate Need: One great road racing series in the U.S." (5/4)

I mean it when I say that I would like to see only two basic rule requirements in order to enter a car in the Indianapolis 500. 1. The car must fit into a dimensional "box" or envelope for size, and 2. All safety issues must be addressed and met. That's it. Everything else would be free with one key proviso: You have to travel the 500 miles on 50 gallons of ethanol - total - or its energy equivalent, or less. You put those simple rules in place and slowly but surely lessen the fuel allowed for the race over a sequence of years, and I can assure you that technical innovation will become paramount again at The Speedway. - "Can Indy survive another 100 years?" (5/11)

That the Indianapolis 500 has survived for 100 years through the turmoil and tumult of World Wars, the warring political strife between open-wheel factions that almost brought the sport to its knees, and the harsh economic realities of the global economy that's dominating the world today is a minor miracle. But I'm glad it has. Because the anticipation, the drama, the gut-wrenching emotions and the collective experience of the Indianapolis 500 make it not just the greatest single motor race in the world, but one of the greatest single sporting events in the world as well. - "There's simply nothing else like it." (5/25)

When you see the unabashed fervor for the Corvettes at Le Mans for yourself it puts everything in perspective. It's genuine and heartfelt, and when I first witnessed it I must say I was taken aback and it immediately made me very proud. And it should make every American road racing enthusiast - no matter what your personal favorite brand of car is - very proud too. Corvette Racing is embarking on yet another quest for greatness at this year's edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It drives them, it consumes them, and yes, ultimately it will define them. And believe me, they wouldn't have it any other way. - "The Enduring Quest." (6/8)

Anyone who watched the NASCAR road races over the weekend had to be struck by the stark contrast between the high-quality and high-excitment racing on the natural-terrain road courses vs. the typical NASCAR racing product on the homogenized and sanitized "modern" speedways that have cropped-up over the years. There is simply no comparison. NASCAR could help itself in a big way by embracing more road races. It's right for the drivers and teams, it's exciting for the fans and it's great for the sport itself. - "NASCAR + Road Racing? More, Please." (6/29)

Maybe it's the fact that the Road America is so inexorably linked with the town of Elkhart Lake. Maybe it's because the lazy cadence of summer blends so seamlessly with a time long since past in the bucolic setting that time seems to stand still, even if it's only for a weekend. Maybe it's the feeling that this place allows us to experience a slice of Americana that seems to be slipping away with each passing year, and that if we drink it in and savor it once more the inevitable march of time will somehow be kept at bay just a little longer. Maybe it's all of that. And more. - "A mid-summer's dream." (7/20)

So let's imagine for a moment that you're a team owner ensconced idyllically somewhere in the Twilight Zone, and you could have your choice of any driver from throughout history - in their prime - and you had five laps to go in your choice of some of the biggest races in the world. Who would the guy - or girl - be behind the wheel of your car? Remember, it's for all the marbles - for the win. This isn't about who gives good sponsor, or who is the most acceptable to the TV commentators. It's one car. One race. For the win. I'm sure you'll have fun composing your lists, but I'll give you a glimpse of mine as a thought starter. And forgive me if I jump around to racing genres, there's no hard and fast road map for any of this. - "Five laps to go for the win: Who's your guy?" (8/10)

Brilliant, mercurial, driven, obsessed and committed to his quest of being the champion of champions, Senna the man comes alive on the big screen in this film in a totally unexpected and disarming way. You understand his passion. You feel his unbridled love for "pure driving" as he so eloquently puts it. You see him as a national hero. And you begin to get a glimpse of the emotionally charged man who may have been the greatest to ever sit behind the wheel of a racing car. Do yourself a favor and make every effort to see "Senna." It's an extraordinarily riveting portrait of a complex man and a most extraordinary talent. - " 'Senna' is a must see." (8/17)

To say they put on a show is an understatement, as the ALMS positively lit-up "America's National Park of Speed" with four intense hours of the finest road racing you could ever imagine or hope to see. Despite lacking the factory Audi and Peugeot LMP1 prototype teams - which now only appear at Sebring and Road Atlanta annually - the ALMS reasserted its mission by delivering some fantastic racing all its own. - "The way it should be." (8/24)

There really is nothing else like the sport of motor racing. One moment you can be jovially celebrating life with family, friends and fellow drivers and looking forward to the start of a race. And the next moment, you can be dead. Yet not one of these drivers signs up for the finality of death. Yes, it's lurking around the corner in every test, practice and qualifying session and certainly at every race weekend, but these drivers live life to the fullest and want no part of that end. They live to race but when you get to know them they drink in life at every opportunity, so when tragedy happens, it's always an unexpected shock. And it happens just enough to remind everyone that this is indeed the cruelest sport. - "The cruelest sport." (10/19)

A reborn United States Road Racing Championship would establish a major league presence for road racing in this country while providing viable sponsorship, TV and media opportunities that heretofore were unavailable, or were scaled back to the point of being inconsequential. The USRRC would fundamentally transform the sport of major league road racing in the U.S., something unthinkable or impossible to contemplate in the current environment. But does it have a chance of happening? Really? - "Why a unified, major league U.S. Road Racing Championship is desperately needed by 2014. And why it's probably not going to happen." (10/26)

It may have been the race of Tony Stewart's life. Check that, it was the race of Tony Stewart's life. Cocky and confident all week after getting smoking hot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, Stewart told everyone he was coming to Homestead Miami Speedway to take the win and the Sprint Cup Championship trophy - his third - in that order. And he did exactly that, and in spectacular fashion as well. - "The 'wheelman' comes through." (11/23)

And so, another year of motorsport has come to a close, and the perennial questions, concerns and hand-wringing that have vexed racing will continue on in 2012.

As in, will NASCAR ever see the light and shorten their confounding, death march of a schedule? And add a road race to the Chase while they're at it?

Can James Stewart become a factor on four wheels?

Will Danica be more than a mid-pack regular in NASCAR?

Will the warring factions in Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series - and the manufacturers who help fuel their agendas - lay down their arms and come up with a unified road racing championship in the U.S. that matters?

Will Randy Bernard be able to right IndyCar and make the transition to the new car and multiple engine manufacturers become a winning formula?

Is Sebastian Vettel one of the greatest of all time or is he a byproduct of the modern era where the car/team of-the-moment means everything? (For the record I think The Kid is displaying the kind of talent that transcends any era of F1.)

Will we ever see a F1 race in Austin, Texas?

Will the international motorsport powers that be really cut the legs out from under Don Panoz and the ALMS to run a race in Bahrain for the money instead of at Petit Le Mans?

Will an American manufacturer ever rise to the occasion and contend for the overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

Stay tuned.

We will update this space and particularly The Line over the next few weeks with any breaking motorsport news of importance.

That's the High-Octane Motorsport Truth for now.

 

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Indianapolis, Indiana, 1966. Jackie Stewart (L), and Lola's Eric Broadley (R) talk with Graham Hill before his first practice run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his Ford-powered Lola. The Indianapolis Star called the 1966 Indy 500 "the most fantastic, confused and incredible 500." And it may have been. This was the "500" marked by a 16-car crash at the start when Billy Foster's car struck the rear of Gordon Johncock's machine setting off a violent chain reaction crash that eliminated 11 cars, including those of A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Don Branson and Cale Yarborough. Foyt suffered minor injuries (a cut finger and a bruised knee) when he climbed out of his car and scaled a fence on the main straightaway to get away from the scene. The race was red-flagged for the second time in three years, and was re-started after a one hour and 23 minute delay. Graham Hill was declared the winner in a shocking result, as no one saw Hill pass anyone on the track during the entire race. Despite vehement protests by Colin Chapman (Jim Clark's car owner) and sponsor Andy Granatelli that Hill had been incorrectly scored with an extra lap, the unofficial results stood. Hill won $156,297 for his victory, Jim Clark finished second after battling an ill-handling car the entire race and Jim McElreath was third. Watch a video of that year's race here.

 

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

 

 

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

 

By the way, if you'd like to subscribe to the Autoline After Hours podcasts, click on the following links:

Subscribe via iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=311421319

Subscribe via RSS:

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/podcasts/feeds/afterhours-audio.xml

Thoughts, words and musings from the 2011 racing season.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 11/29, 12:00 p.m.) Detroit. We've come to an end of another tumultuous year in motorsport, one that saw triumph and tragedy in equal measure, and one that saw the continuing swirl of conflict, controversy, territorial infighting, and flat-out boneheaded decision making continue to stymie the sport from moving forward. Amidst all of this was some spectacular racing, thank goodness. And thus it was ever so too. When racers are allowed to race and the politicians stand down, great and memorable racing usually ensues. Following are a few of my highlighted thoughts from this past season...

I believe that the next five years in motorsport will determine the future health of this sport one way or the other going forward. We must see seismic shifts in terms of applications of technological relevance in this sport if we hope to see it continue, because standing in place, or recycling the status quo, will ultimately kill the sport altogether. - "Change or die for racing." (1/19/2011)

Can we get racing back to the forefront of developing advanced automotive technologies? Yes, I believe we can, but it will take a tremendous amount of vision and real guts by some seriously committed people who also have the power to affect real change. I believe we need to press the “reset” button in racing and start over. By that I mean we need to establish new challenges that will inspire a new level of ingenuity and creativity and foster a whole new dimension of innovation. - "For Love of the Game." (1/26)

... the last thing I want for racing is for it to turn into an exercise in nostalgia for a generation that keeps dying off each and every year. Make no mistake, I love and support vintage racing but we can't have the entire sport turn in that direction, it just wouldn't work. But I'm afraid that if we don't change racing now, which means combining the manufacturers' interest in relevance with new thinking in how to reach this new generation of consumers coming up, then that's exactly what will happen and the very survivability of the sport itself will be at risk. - "From relevance to... survivability." (2/2)

NASCAR reached its peak several years ago now. The powers that be leading NASCAR can't continue to operate under the assumption that things will get better, because that's a fool's errand. I watched the Detroit Three operate under those assumptions for 25 years and two of those car companies ended up in bankruptcy. Not getting out in front of the problem is not dealing with the problem. NASCAR has reached the point where a serious reduction of the schedule is crucial to their long-term survival. - "Can NASCAR learn to exist in a world of reduced expectations?" (2/9)

As an observer and enthusiast of the sport I always wanted to see Jeff in IndyCars or in an F1, and that brief test he did at Indianapolis where he swapped rides with Juan Pablo Montoya just fueled my wish for that to happen. But alas that was not to be as Gordon, lured by the money in NASCAR, went on to a brilliant career in what is now the dominant form of motorsport here in the U.S. No matter what happens this season (and wouldn't it be some story if Gordon is the one who finally stops his protege's championship streak?), Jeff Gordon will go down in history as one of the greatest racers of all time. - "For one brief shining moment at least, Jeff Gordon is back." (3/2)

The Road Racing Drivers Club dinner honoring Roger Penske was a glittering gathering, with a who's who of racing and the racing industry turning out in droves for the event. Large format pictures from throughout Roger's career as both a driver and team owner ringed the walls of the ballroom and were available for bids, and a video/photo montage of Roger's career ran in a continuous loop on large screens. The highlight of the evening was Roger himself getting up on stage and being interviewed in conversational style by host Bobby Rahal, who was master of ceremonies for the evening. The most fun anecdotes of Roger's career were only briefly touched upon, which was too bad, because you could sense everyone in the room wanted to hear more of those stories. But it was good to see Roger step back for a moment - just for a moment, because he's always thinking about his next race - and bask in the accolades of his contemporaries who hold him in such high regard and who have such tremendous respect for him. The evening was a fine tribute to a man who, without question, has been the single most influential force in American racing throughout his career. - "News, notes, and thoughts from Long Beach." (4/20)

The High-Octane Truth about major league road racing here in the U.S. is that it is splintered and broken, and unless cooler heads prevail and the principal players get together to save it, redirect it, and position it for the future, I'm afraid we're going to see it continue to dwindle in importance and popularity. And it just doesn't have to be that way. - "A Desperate Need: One great road racing series in the U.S." (5/4)

I mean it when I say that I would like to see only two basic rule requirements in order to enter a car in the Indianapolis 500. 1. The car must fit into a dimensional "box" or envelope for size, and 2. All safety issues must be addressed and met. That's it. Everything else would be free with one key proviso: You have to travel the 500 miles on 50 gallons of ethanol - total - or its energy equivalent, or less. You put those simple rules in place and slowly but surely lessen the fuel allowed for the race over a sequence of years, and I can assure you that technical innovation will become paramount again at The Speedway. - "Can Indy survive another 100 years?" (5/11)

That the Indianapolis 500 has survived for 100 years through the turmoil and tumult of World Wars, the warring political strife between open-wheel factions that almost brought the sport to its knees, and the harsh economic realities of the global economy that's dominating the world today is a minor miracle. But I'm glad it has. Because the anticipation, the drama, the gut-wrenching emotions and the collective experience of the Indianapolis 500 make it not just the greatest single motor race in the world, but one of the greatest single sporting events in the world as well. - "There's simply nothing else like it." (5/25)

When you see the unabashed fervor for the Corvettes at Le Mans for yourself it puts everything in perspective. It's genuine and heartfelt, and when I first witnessed it I must say I was taken aback and it immediately made me very proud. And it should make every American road racing enthusiast - no matter what your personal favorite brand of car is - very proud too. Corvette Racing is embarking on yet another quest for greatness at this year's edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It drives them, it consumes them, and yes, ultimately it will define them. And believe me, they wouldn't have it any other way. - "The Enduring Quest." (6/8)

Anyone who watched the NASCAR road races over the weekend had to be struck by the stark contrast between the high-quality and high-excitment racing on the natural-terrain road courses vs. the typical NASCAR racing product on the homogenized and sanitized "modern" speedways that have cropped-up over the years. There is simply no comparison. NASCAR could help itself in a big way by embracing more road races. It's right for the drivers and teams, it's exciting for the fans and it's great for the sport itself. - "NASCAR + Road Racing? More, Please." (6/29)

Maybe it's the fact that the Road America is so inexorably linked with the town of Elkhart Lake. Maybe it's because the lazy cadence of summer blends so seamlessly with a time long since past in the bucolic setting that time seems to stand still, even if it's only for a weekend. Maybe it's the feeling that this place allows us to experience a slice of Americana that seems to be slipping away with each passing year, and that if we drink it in and savor it once more the inevitable march of time will somehow be kept at bay just a little longer. Maybe it's all of that. And more. - "A mid-summer's dream." (7/20)

So let's imagine for a moment that you're a team owner ensconced idyllically somewhere in the Twilight Zone, and you could have your choice of any driver from throughout history - in their prime - and you had five laps to go in your choice of some of the biggest races in the world. Who would the guy - or girl - be behind the wheel of your car? Remember, it's for all the marbles - for the win. This isn't about who gives good sponsor, or who is the most acceptable to the TV commentators. It's one car. One race. For the win. I'm sure you'll have fun composing your lists, but I'll give you a glimpse of mine as a thought starter. And forgive me if I jump around to racing genres, there's no hard and fast road map for any of this. - "Five laps to go for the win: Who's your guy?" (8/10)

Brilliant, mercurial, driven, obsessed and committed to his quest of being the champion of champions, Senna the man comes alive on the big screen in this film in a totally unexpected and disarming way. You understand his passion. You feel his unbridled love for "pure driving" as he so eloquently puts it. You see him as a national hero. And you begin to get a glimpse of the emotionally charged man who may have been the greatest to ever sit behind the wheel of a racing car. Do yourself a favor and make every effort to see "Senna." It's an extraordinarily riveting portrait of a complex man and a most extraordinary talent. - " 'Senna' is a must see." (8/17)

To say they put on a show is an understatement, as the ALMS positively lit-up "America's National Park of Speed" with four intense hours of the finest road racing you could ever imagine or hope to see. Despite lacking the factory Audi and Peugeot LMP1 prototype teams - which now only appear at Sebring and Road Atlanta annually - the ALMS reasserted its mission by delivering some fantastic racing all its own. - "The way it should be." (8/24)

There really is nothing else like the sport of motor racing. One moment you can be jovially celebrating life with family, friends and fellow drivers and looking forward to the start of a race. And the next moment, you can be dead. Yet not one of these drivers signs up for the finality of death. Yes, it's lurking around the corner in every test, practice and qualifying session and certainly at every race weekend, but these drivers live life to the fullest and want no part of that end. They live to race but when you get to know them they drink in life at every opportunity, so when tragedy happens, it's always an unexpected shock. And it happens just enough to remind everyone that this is indeed the cruelest sport. - "The cruelest sport." (10/19)

A reborn United States Road Racing Championship would establish a major league presence for road racing in this country while providing viable sponsorship, TV and media opportunities that heretofore were unavailable, or were scaled back to the point of being inconsequential. The USRRC would fundamentally transform the sport of major league road racing in the U.S., something unthinkable or impossible to contemplate in the current environment. But does it have a chance of happening? Really? - "Why a unified, major league U.S. Road Racing Championship is desperately needed by 2014. And why it's probably not going to happen." (10/26)

It may have been the race of Tony Stewart's life. Check that, it was the race of Tony Stewart's life. Cocky and confident all week after getting smoking hot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, Stewart told everyone he was coming to Homestead Miami Speedway to take the win and the Sprint Cup Championship trophy - his third - in that order. And he did exactly that, and in spectacular fashion as well. - "The 'wheelman' comes through." (11/23)

And so, another year of motorsport has come to a close, and the perennial questions, concerns and hand-wringing that have vexed racing will continue on in 2012.

As in, will NASCAR ever see the light and shorten their confounding, death march of a schedule? And add a road race to the Chase while they're at it?

Can James Stewart become a factor on four wheels?

Will Danica be more than a mid-pack regular in NASCAR?

Will the warring factions in Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series - and the manufacturers who help fuel their agendas - lay down their arms and come up with a unified road racing championship in the U.S. that matters?

Will Randy Bernard be able to right IndyCar and make the transition to the new car and multiple engine manufacturers become a winning formula?

Is Sebastian Vettel one of the greatest of all time or is he a byproduct of the modern era where the car/team of-the-moment means everything? (For the record I think The Kid is displaying the kind of talent that transcends any era of F1.)

Will we ever see a F1 race in Austin, Texas?

Will the international motorsport powers that be really cut the legs out from under Don Panoz and the ALMS to run a race in Bahrain for the money instead of at Petit Le Mans?

Will an American manufacturer ever rise to the occasion and contend for the overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

Stay tuned.

We will update this space and particularly The Line over the next few weeks with any breaking motorsport news of importance.

That's the High-Octane Motorsport Truth for now.

 

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Daytona Beach, Florida, 1956. Kids get set to race in model 1956 Thunderbirds during NASCAR's Daytona Beach Speed Week.

 

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

 

 

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

 

By the way, if you'd like to subscribe to the Autoline After Hours podcasts, click on the following links:

Subscribe via iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=311421319

Subscribe via RSS:

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/podcasts/feeds/afterhours-audio.xml

Why a unified, major league U.S. Road Racing Championship is desperately needed by 2014. And why it's probably not going to happen.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 10/23, 5:00 p.m.) Detroit. Those of you who have followed this column over the years know that one of my biggest pet peeves (among many) about the racing business here in the U.S. is the continued fractured state of major league road racing. On one side we have the Grand-Am series, owned and operated under the auspices of NASCAR and led by Jim France. On the other we have the American Le Mans Series, founded by Don Panoz and led by Scott Atherton.

Simply put, the Grand-Am series was formed as a stopgap measure to prevent Don Panoz from controlling major league road racing here in the U.S. Beyond that there wasn't any noble ideal attached to this endeavor, it was just the France family - which controls the Daytona International Speedway and NASCAR - moving to protect the one major league road race asset they controlled - the Daytona 24 Hours - by forming a road racing series around it. (Much in the same vein as Tony George once did by forming the Indy Racing League through his control over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500.)

The only problem with this strategy was that the Daytona 24 Hours had devolved into a minor league event, propped up by the France family but not commanding the international status that it once did. There were many factors involved in the degradation of this event over the years, of course, but the France family didn't do themselves any favors by creating a series that featured its own "Daytona Prototype" class of semi-prototype racers, a class of racing machines that doesn't fit under any established international racing classification.

This approach was hardly unexpected, however, as it was consistent with the way that the France family approaches all of its racing, which goes something like this: 1. We know what's best for everyone involved, especially when it adheres closely to our interests. 2. It's better when we control things (see No. 1). And 3. We don't necessarily need international certification or acceptance because here in the U.S. NASCAR is the straw that stirs the drink for all of American racing, and if we want to go road racing we'll do it under our rules, with our cars, at our tracks (mostly) and we will do it at a cadence that works best for us.

But the results have been decidedly mixed, to put it charitably. Like the Indianapolis 500 and the IRL, the Grand-Am series has one race - the Daytona 24 Hours - of note. The rest? A makeshift schedule of races that are so poorly attended that they could be legitimately classified as "non-spectator" events for insurance purposes, with negligible interest from the media to boot.

It didn't help matters much that the Grand-Am prototype ranks were and are primarily made up of amateur teams that choose not to compete in the ALMS for whatever the reason - you can zero in on cost as the overriding issue, for starters - and also, Chip Ganassi's team. Ganassi consistently lures a primary sponsorship from an engine manufacturer (most recently BMW) interested in running - and winning - the Daytona 24 Hours and he usually delivers the win, while getting a deal that allows his team to run the rest of the series. The rest of the DP teams make do with limited sponsorships, while having access to substantial subsidies from Grand-Am itself in order to keep running.

As for the GT class in Grand-Am, success hinges upon whichever manufacturer is doling out enough money at any given time, while the Grand-Am Cup events are - surprisingly enough - the best thing Grand-Am has going, with deep fields and ultra-competitive racing.

Let's leave Grand-Am for a moment and talk about the American Le Mans Series, which exists solely because of the vision, considerable financial wherewithal and pure love for sports car racing that one man - Don Panoz - has brought to the table. Panoz, whose love for the 24 hours of Le Mans and everything associated with it is well-documented, legitimized his series by becoming a sanctioned partner of the ACO and the 24 Hours of Le Mans itself. If, as an American sports car team, you aspire to compete in the world's greatest sports car race - the 24 Hours of Le Mans - there's only one way to do it. And that is to win in the American Le Mans Series first.

Strictly adhering to established international racing classifications, the ALMS specializes in (or, at least it used to) the dazzling Le Mans prototype racers such as those entered by the Audi and Peugeot factory teams, and factory-supported GT racers from BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari and Porsche. A high-cost series, the ALMS enjoys its status as the only sports car racing series here in North America with direct, formal ties to the international racing community.

The ALMS affiliation has worked out exceedingly well for Dan Panoz - at least up until last year - with full fields and tremendous races at classic North American tracks such as Sebring, Road America, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Mosport and the Long Beach street racing extravaganza.

But Panoz' strict adherence to Le Mans has begun to take a turn for the dicey. After working for years at legitimizing the ALMS in the international racing community and spending untold millions out of his own pocket on the series, the French-controlled international racing body (FIA) has moved to establish a new road racing endurance championship that supersedes any national or regional series around the globe. This move has immediately neutered the entire ALMS schedule except for two events, the 12 Hours of Sebring (the premier sports car race here in the U.S.) and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Meaning that, unless a manufacturer such as Audi or Peugeot commits to run the entire ALMS series, the fastest prototype racers can only be seen at two ALMS events all season.

Even though the two premier stops on the ALMS schedule - Sebring and Road Atlanta - are indeed spectacular events, the reality for the series is that the prototype class without the regular participation of the top factory teams is sparsely attended, to put it mildly. And even though the ALMS had some of the best pure races in its history this past season, the fact that the top factory prototype teams weren't there for the most part was a glaring negative. (The ALMS GT class racing, on the other hand, has simply been the best road racing this country has ever seen. Yes, even better than the hallowed glory days of the original Trans-Am series.)

So after this admittedly brief primer on these two road racing series, where are they going? Better yet, where is major league road racing in this country going?

Unfortunately it's clear to me after recent developments that the Grand-Am series and the American Le Mans Series are more entrenched than ever in their respective camps.

Grand-Am, knowing full well that its schedule - except for Daytona, Watkins Glen, Road America and perhaps Montreal - is too close to being a running joke, is courting international sports car interests for 2012 and beyond in an attempt at adding legitimacy to its endeavors. Grand-Am believes that by luring some European manufacturers and their road racing teams it will provide exactly the magic elixir it needs to bury the American Le Mans Series once and for all. An unrealistic goal sure to be followed by a bitterly disappointing result, no doubt. But see points 1., 2. and 3. (above) to remind yourself why it will happen anyway.

And the American Le Mans Series, despite being burned by the maneuvering of the FIA to establish a global endurance road racing championship, is hell bent on staying the course by keeping its ties to the 24 Hours of Le Mans solid and active, while tweaking its rules and races to lure more entries.

So this isn't just a standoff, folks. No, it's racing's version of the 100 Year War. Only road racing in this country - and the fans who support it ever so enthusiastically - can't afford even one more season of discord. Why? There are a long list of reasons, but I'll give you a few of the most pressing:

1. Forget the quality of the media coverage of the racing itself and instead zero in on the coverage offered by the traditional "stick and ball" media for both series. Let's call it for what it is, which is borderline nonexistent and abysmal. If I'm a sponsor or a manufacturer I would find this to be totally unacceptable, no matter how much I loved the sport.

2. I can also assure you that in a corporate environment moving toward the globalization of marketing strategies, advertising, media budgets and even creative executions, two road racing series existing in their own little vacuums in a market that's still crucially important in the global arena add up to none. In other words, the fact that there's no single right "buy" for road racing here makes it easy for sponsors and media players to just keep walking on to something else.

3. Manufacturers are devouring new technologies and adding them to their production offerings at a prodigious rate. Direct fuel-injection, turbocharging and other technologies revolving around fuel-efficiency with power are now the basic price of admission in order to compete at virtually every price point in the market. And right now, a manufacturer trying to advertise these technologies has few options. NASCAR can be dismissed by road racing enthusiasts as a branding exercise, but it's still the biggest media play in motorsports in the U.S. Period. Road racing isn't even close. It's barely even on the radar screen, as a matter of fact.

The three above points alone add up to a giant bowl of Not Good all by themselves, but there's more. When you're just barely on the radar screen with the "stick and ball" media and to corporate America's media buyers as these two road racing series are, then there's no rhyme or reason to the support given to them either. Which means if there isn't a reason for being involved with either one of these series as a major sponsor or manufacturer other than "we feel like it" then the strategic, transformative investments so crucial to the long-term health of the sport itself are never established, and thus the series can never grow.

What can be done about this situation, realistically?

When you have two warring factions that would prefer that the other side just go away and die because it would make life easier, well, any form of conciliation or discussion is hard to come by. Damn near impossible, really. And right now I'm feeling that the two road racing factions couldn't be further apart.

But sometimes ideas have to be put on the table and be allowed to percolate in order to ignite discussion or consideration. And that time is now.

Let's consider the two series racing calendars for the 2012 season (below).

2012 American Le Mans Series

March – 12 Hours of Sebring

April – Long Beach

May – Monterey

June – 24 Hours of Le Mans

July – Lime Rock

July – Mosport

August – Mid-Ohio

August – Road America

September – Baltimore

October – Road Atlanta

(A total of 10 races including Le Mans)

 

2012 Grand-Am Series

January – Daytona 24 Hour

March – Miami

April – Alabama

May – Virginia

May – Lime Rock

June - Detroit

June – Watkins Glen

June – Road America

July – New Jersey

August – Montreal

September – Mid-Ohio

(A total of 11 races)

The two schedules have high points. For Grand-Am the premier event on its 11-race schedule is the  Daytona 24 Hours, obviously, with Watkins Glen being the first of the "next best" events. Other highlight stops include Road America, Montreal, Mid-Ohio and possibly the new event in Detroit.

For the ALMS it is the 12 Hours of Sebring, America's oldest and most prestigious endurance race, and Petit Le Mans, with highlight stops at Long Beach, Monterey, Mosport, Mid-Ohio, Road America and the new event in Baltimore. And of course the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at least for the teams that qualify. The ALMS schedule consists of nine events, plus the French endurance classic.

Now let's imagine for a moment that a ray of enlightenment reached Jim France and Scott Atherton simultaneously - kind of like the one that hit John Belushi in the church in The Blues Brothers when he realized that he needed to get the band back together - and together they decided to merge their schedule into one, unified, major league, U.S. Road Racing Championship.

Here's what it might look like:

Proposed 2014 United States Road Racing Championship

January – Daytona: The advantages of a new USRRC are apparent right away. The Daytona 24 Hours opens the season with an impressive array of top line cars in a shoot-out that regains its international stature.

March – Sebring: The natural flow that marked U.S. road racing for decades is restored. Daytona in late January, Sebring in March. The way it should be. The road racing world again turns to the U.S. for the second major endurance race on the calendar.

April – Alabama: The heart of the reborn USRRC schedule begins at Barber Motorsports Park.

April – Long Beach: It's a street circuit, it's a happening, it draws tremendous crowds and the USRRC needs to be there.

May – Monterey: Roll-on up the California coast to Laguna Seca (Mazda Raceway) where the unified, new-look, USRRC finally finds its footing with road racing fans in Northern California.

June – Detroit: The Belle Isle venue is not my favorite, but if GM's buying and Roger Penske is organizing, then the USRRC will be there.

June - Le Mans*: Accommodations will have to be made, but the qualifying USRRC teams selected for participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be occupied "over there" for the better part of two weeks. A very, very good thing.

June – Watkins Glen: The Glen deserves to be a stop on the unified USRRC calendar, because it's one of the pillars of road racing in the U.S.

July – Mosport: Canada's greatest track with some of road racing's most ardent fans. A natural fit.

July – Montreal: The fervor for road racing in Canada is well-documented, which is why the USRRC needs to make a second appearance north of the border.

August - Mid-Ohio: The first of a Midwest swing of road races, with the central Ohio circuit - the site of many classic battles in Trans-Am - hosting America's new unified road racing championship.

August – Road America: "America's National Park of Speed," the premier road racing circuit in the United States would be a "must see" stop on the USRRC schedule.

September – Baltimore: This new street circuit event, which met surprising initial success, would be an essential stop on the USRRC calendar.

October – Road Atlanta: Petit Le Mans would be the annual crescendo and culmination of the USRRC season.

*Optional Participation. 14 events total, 13 excluding Le Mans.

Yes, of course there are options and choices. The new track in Austin, for instance, could easily be a stop for the USRRC. And this calendar is only roughed-in with track visits during which months needing to be nailed down, but you can see right away that this new schedule makes tremendous sense on so many levels.

And what about the cars? If I were USRRC czar I would have three classes: Prototype, GT Experimental (GTX) and GT. The prototype class would accommodate all forms of prototypes currently running or on the drawing board, but there would be no sub-classes. For instance, if you want to run a DeltaWing car against the bigger machines, then you'll win because of power-to-weight ratio, handling, aerodynamics and fuel-efficiency. GTX would be an unlimited class left to the manufacturers desires. Somewhat production-based and part run-what-you-brung, cars would have to retain production shapes (more or less) but everything else would be open to interpretation. Wide open. And finally, GT would adhere to the current and future ALMS GT specifications. (The current Grand-Am Cup would compete on the same weekend in their own race.)

First of all, the advantages are clear. With unified marketing, sponsorship and promotional opportunities presented for consideration in one package, media buyers and corporate sponsors could focus their interest on one series. I can't stress enough how this would be positively received. The same can be said for the obvious TV network opportunities. A unified series with more significant financial support would naturally make a better content fit for networks trolling for live programming. A new, unified road racing championship would open the flood gates of consideration for TV network partners, the kind that heretofore hasn't been available to major league road racing in this country. At least not to the depth and breadth that has been desired by the players involved at any rate.

And what about the advantages to the participating manufacturers involved? Let me stress that the global push for more efficiencies at every level by these companies is real and a daily overriding concern. This extends to the motorsport budgets as well, in some cases even more so because they're so visible. Let's say a manufacturer is involved in NASCAR and the NHRA but lacks a cohesive position in road racing, having to spread its motorsports budget over several series. To participate in one major league road racing series would make a lot of sense and be a huge advantage for planning and budget efficiencies.

So there we are. A reborn United States Road Racing Championship would establish a major league presence for road racing in this country while providing viable sponsorship, TV and media opportunities that heretofore were unavailable, or were scaled back to the point of being inconsequential. The USRRC would fundamentally transform the sport of major league road racing in the U.S., something unthinkable or impossible to contemplate in the current environment.

But does it have a chance of happening? Really?

As long as Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series stay ensconced in their respective silos, moving forward together is unlikely to happen under any scenario. And that is the unfortunate reality. There is too much pride (and ego) involved for it to be any other way. One side is convinced that they're right and the other side is wrong, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

There is one way that things could change, however, and that is if the interested manufacturers banded together and said "enough" to the practice of doling out money in random fashion to the ALMS and Grand-Am series in favor of pooling their resources and interest in a new USRRC. How could this happen? If the manufacturers summoned Grand-Am and ALMS interests to a "summit" meeting and informed them that 2013 was the last year either one of them would be getting technical and financial support, and that beginning in 2014 they would be backing a new USRRC, then things would change - unequivocally and emphatically.

But just how realistic is that?

Well, as you read this GM is preparing to unveil their new Grand-Am DP contender at the SEMA show next week in Las Vegas. This car features a chassis configured for the new Grand-Am DP rules, but it also features extensively revised and dramatically swoopy bodywork (with the assistance of Pratt&Miller Engineering) that's much more racy looking, which admittedly has been something long overdue in the DP ranks. But, and this is a very large but, these new cars will also wear the "Corvette" name, which, as you might imagine, is causing more than a little stir within GM Racing and in other parts of the corporation.

Injecting serious money into the Grand-Am series while calling the racers Corvettes is a direct affront to their hugely successful production-based Corvette Racing Team, an organization that has won the GT class in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans six times in twelve years. What this will do to the reputation of the production-based Corvette C6.R ALMS GT racers - machines that have legitimacy around the world due to their tremendous record in international racing - is anyone's guess.

Oh, and by the way and for the record, isn't this the same GM that ridiculed Ford for calling their Nationwide entries "Mustangs" saying they would never do that? That they would never run "Camaros" in Nationwide because they wouldn't be "real" Camaros? And yet now they're going to hang the Corvette name on DP racers that have zero connection to the Corvette? Sounds a bit disingenuous to me. Oh hell, let's call it for what it really is: Bush League Bullshit.

I am quite certain of one thing after all of this, however, and that is this is a classic case of a manufacturer playing on both sides of the playground. Not only is this move nonsensical and a giant insult to Corvette Racing, it's exactly this kind of attitude that will keep American road racing in a permanent state of chaos for years to come. When manufacturers can only play favorites and compete in arenas that they deem politically expedient - or where they've stacked the deck to be certain they'll win - instead of stepping back and looking at the "Big Picture" and doing what's best for the long-term health of the sport, then any idea of a unified road racing series in this country will remain a pipe dream.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week in motorsports.

 

 

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
New Smyrna Beach Airport Races, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, 1957. Marvin Panch driving a "Battlebird" Thunderbird (No. 98). Next to him? None other than Carroll Shelby driving a 4.9-liter Ferrari.  Ford decided to create four specially-prepared Thunderbird racers that became known as the “Battlebirds.” The cars were prepared by Peter DePaolo Engineering, a Long Beach, Calif., the firm named after its owner who had raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well as on classic board tracks in the 1920s.  The cars started out as ’57 Thunderbirds with the base C-code V-8 and all were painted Colonial White, but they were heavily modified. Famed sheet metal benders Dwight “Whitey” Clayton and Dick Troutman hand-formed the aluminum hoods, doors, trunks, firewalls, headrests and belly pans. Though four cars were built at the same time, each Battlebird was unique with different modifications. According to Old Cars Weekly, "the car Panch drove had a 312-cid Thunderbird Special V-8 with extensive modifications, a Jaguar four-speed transmission and Halibrand quick-change rear end. The frame cross members were removed and replaced with a tube. Some areas of the frame were boxed to compensate for the strength lost by removing the heavy cross member. The bodies were lightened by drilling large holes everywhere, except on the exteriors. The outer skins of the doors, hood and deck lid were fashioned from aluminum, as were the vent doors, bezels and splash pans behind the grilles. The firewalls were cut out and replaced with aluminum panels. The tonneau covers were formed from aluminum and small windscreens were made out of Plexiglas. Streamlined headrests were added behind the driver compartments. When completed, the car raced in classes for experimental and modified sports cars." Panch qualified the car at 77.419 mph and drove it to a second-place finish just behind Shelby’s Ferrari. The car was also scheduled to compete at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, but the Automobile Manufacturer’s Association’s ban on factory involvement in racing kicked in before that happened, and Ford pulled the plug on all factory-backed competition.

 

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

 

 

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