IMSA: Open letter to fans from Scott Atherton and Ed Bennett

Valuable lessons learned indeed..

IMSA - IMSA: Open letter to fans from Scott Atherton and Ed Bennett

BHW

 

That letter would have to be far less condescending.

BHW

 

Despite my feelings about NASCAR and the way they conduct their business, I too was
optimistic going into the 2014 TUSCC season, albeit cautiously.

The optimism was soon eroded at the 24 Hours of Daytona where heavy handed penalties
were handed out for non-contact incidents, particularly at the end when the Ferrari was
punished and denied victory only for the win to be reinstated hours later. What a no-class
move and, really, WTF?

Then, of course, the debacle at Sebring. After that, all bets were off and for the first time
in my life, none of it seemed to matter any more. The 900lb gorilla on the block had
won.

NASCAR's approach is total control over all aspects of a race. This is easier to do on ovals
with a single class of spec cars going roundy-round than winding road courses with four classes
of variously equipped cars.

This paranoid need to control is born out of their obsession with having cars finish nose to
tail at the checkered flag so they may emphatically state "The closest finish in history..." or
anything which adds to their melancholy narrative which reads well in the Monday morning
papers.

As we know, sports car racing is a different animal. Putting 50+ cars of various classes
out on a track is hard (if not impossible at times) to control no matter how many "race directors"
there are locked in a private box high above the track.

We may be able to point to the mid-70s when during the height of the GTX era, Porsche 935s were
winning the 24 Hours of Daytona by 50 or 60 laps which must have driven the hierarchy at Daytonner
straight up their fake wood paneled walls.

In their minds, if a race doesn't end with a nail biting photo finish, it's not a race. Therefore,
they invented all of these absurd rules such as "Lucky Dog" (AKA: "Free Pass") to spare themselves
the embarrassment of having a particular car win by multiple laps because we
all know that is simply not done.

The GTX era was significant though as there would be a couple dozen 935s along with BMW 320ls,
all of which had an equal chance of winning. The races became all out sprints in a
"Win or blow up trying" approach. Many did blow up and usually the last one standing won
by a decisive margin.

Likewise, NASCAR could not stand the fact that sports cars were easily faster than Cup cars at
tracks like Watkins Glen or Sears Point, so they developed the idea to make sure Cup would
not be shown up by lowly GT cars by running on different track configurations where no
direct lap time comparisons could be made.

The invention of the DP class put paid to that. A class of utterly ugly cars built with (by modern
prototype standards) ancient technology all for a new class of "Man on the Street" fans which
could not come close to Cup speeds.

Sports car racing aficionados weren't impressed prompting Roger Edmundson to state "We don't
care about 'traditional' sports car fans" and "We want to make the cars irrelevant" which set the
scene for the next decade and a half.

Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet now. Things have gone so far off the rails that it almost
defies belief. The American sports car racing scene has seen down times before of course, after
1972 when the FIA withdrew its sanction at Daytona and Sebring, the "fuel crisis" of 1974, the
Andy Evans era, somehow sports car racing survived.

Now though, with NASCAR/ISC's virtual monopoly (which they have openly stated is their intended
goal) of many of the traditional venues, there may be no coming back, at least not easily.

BHW

 

That is correct. And, the Interscope car chugged to a stop just yards from the finish
line with a blown engine. When the checkered flag appeared, Field (I think it was) brought
the car back to life and coasted the 935 down the banking across the finish line to take
the win.

IIRC, in 1978, the Brumos Porsche entered 935 driven by Rolf Stommelen, Tonie Hezemanns and
Peter Gregg won by some 60 laps.

In those days, a team could blow an engine, replace it with a new one right on the pit lane and
still go on to a decent finish. Not sure what year it was they put the kibosh on that (probably 1980).

BHW

 

Hmmmm, okay if the Internets says so.

Brumos only won by 30 laps in 1978.

BHW

 

No, never.

This coming from the body which proclaimed Scott Pruett to be the most "America's most
accomplished sports car driver".

What I remember of the Brumos victory in 1978, was they brought the car in with about an
hour to go, parked it in the pits and washed it (taking their sweet time doing it) so it looked
good for the cameras at the checkered flag.

So, at the checkered flag, there was the #99 winning Porsche looking shiny and brand new
with the rest of the field looking very second hand a best.

BHW