Grand Am And ALMS To Merge According To Speed

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/sportscar-alms-grand-am-finalizing-merger/

 

Love it!! is about time!!!

 

Christmas comes early for sports car fans!

I bet the class structure is almost entirely ALMS, with the addition of GA GT/GT3 specs. DP and LMPC are basically the same speed but DP costs 2-3 times as much to run. nobody likes GTC and since it's a spec series the manufacturers are shut out.

 

The day those NASCAR ****s are running sports car
racing in North America is the day it's all over.

BHW

 

have you ever said anything positive on this board?

sheesh.

 

Now that's not entirely true!

 

yeah I suppose a few guys like it

plus they make for good mobile chicanes.

another question, what will happen to all the feeder series? World Challenge, Conti Tire, IMSA Challenge, Proto Lites, etc etc.....a few of those series will likely be collateral damage.

 

Tell us, what's positive about this?

BHW

 

one series with one set of leadership and one place for manufacturer money to go always wins. this is only a positive; and if it's being run to ACO rules and marketed by the guys who made NASCAR a billion dollar industry, I can't see a downside.

was ALMS/Grand AM split working out well? would letting Panoz and his crew run the show work better than they guys who run racing as a business, not a hobby?

seriously, a merger with ACO rules and GrandAM leadership is the best possible scenario, and that sounds like that's what we're getting.

 

Hopefully something that will bring fans back, but I fear it's a lost cause.

Those series exist for one reason only.

 

Wow, interesting news and I hope it is "good".

Better to have one stable series than two wobbly ones I suppose.

That was actually my first thought; I really enjoy WC and Conti Tire.

Which is?

 

tearing up equipment, duh.

 

= Conti

 

I think it's great ! First thing I would ask of fans is to drop whatever thier favorite choice is and keep the hate going like the CART people have with Indycar , just be damn happy there will be a unified series and theres NO sense in holding onto negative crap ! As for my opinion to what I wish proffessional road racing in the US to be is in the letter I sent.

Mr. France,
I am writing to you about the general state of road racing and my perceptions of what it is today and what I feel would make it stronger in the United States in general.

My background is somewhat varied in racing with time spent with various tire distributors (Gene White Firestone,Lauderdale Auto Marine Service Goodyear,Bobby Johns Firestone as well as others servicing tires for companies such as Toyo,Hoosier and Kuhmo). I have also crewed on cars in competition in SCCA club racing,Trans Am , IMSA events at Daytona Sebring and many other tracks with cars from Firehawk thru GTP and WSC cars as well as ARCA at Daytona .
While I appreciate NASCAR's help with getting Grand Am going I really wonder what the point is at this moment in time. IMSA is still trying to provide a show just as Grand Am is and I just don't see the spectator appreciation at most events of both organasations.I truly believe the only way for road racing to once again become a viable and prominent force in the American entertainment venue is for a way to bring both the current large promoters together would be to go to the long ago single large promoter, the Sports Car Club of America. I believe this is the best way since then both current promoters would not have the stigma of one losing out to the other. And yes I do feel much of what’s going on between the two is a matter of both being financially well off enough to not want to cede to the other.
I really would rather see road racing in general be better positioned as well as saving the France and Panoz families continue what myself as well as a huge number of fans that many are rabid fans of ONLY one or the other see as a financially draining enterprise. Perhaps with some agreement between all three sanctioning bodies could be best to solve this? I would think it would be much more financially rewarding for all the current financiers of Grand Am as well as IMSA to consider these options.
I am sending this only to you as I feel you are in the best position with your staff to work with to properly make something like this potentially move forward, I am not looking to stir the pot between all involved, I just want to try to get the ball rolling.
Thank you very much for any consideration, and if this seems like a worthwhile project I would greatly appreciate you mentioning to Michael Kramer at Grand Am that I brought it to your attention.
Sincerely,
Michael C Donohue

 

agree 100%

 

This is good in some ways, including the addition of the Daytona 24 back into Lemans style racing. That is a big if although, depending on how much Grand Am tries to impose their NASCAR type prototype rules. I really don't care to see Gran Am P-cars race against P1/P2 cars as the ALMS cars are superior in almost every way.


I hope this continues the ALMS high quality type racing and does not turn into a second rate product. I don't go to ALMS races just to see a bunch of cars run around the track. I go to see quality cars run around the track. Grand Am has never offered that so I have only been to 2 Grand Am races(gave them 2 chances). I have gone to between 1 and 3 ALMS races every year since its inception(Sebring, Road America, Road Atlanta and Laguna Seca mainly).


Tom Tanner/Ferrari Expo 2013-Chicago March 2013

 

I want to see the ALMS cars under the Grand-Am organizational umbrella. It would best of both worlds as I am tired of the ALMS's financial difficulties precluding its fans of seeing races live on television.

 

Here's a journaists view :
http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/

 

I think you're mistaken. IMHO this spells the end of ALMS. It wasn't bought to make it better, it was bought to shut it down.

 

You're on it. Panoz/Atherton have been shopping the series for a while with no success - Scott Tucker even came close to buying it. Anyway, Panoz finally got his asking price.
If its done right this could be a good thing so lets hope nobody from the ALMS brass has anything to do with the new series.

The question is how much longer will we see LMP's run & how will the ACO relationship continue. I reckon the ALMS GT's will remain in their current spec & Grand -Am GT will take the place of GTC. With new markets opened up hopefully we'll see factory LMP's return and the current DP's take over the LMP2 category...or something like that The teams and sponsors have known about about this a while and they are on board. It should be a nice transition when things get ironed out in a year or two.

As an aside, I have a question for Jerome as he was a Grand-Am owner. What were the entry fees and what was the prize money like? The ALMS fees are high and the payouts aren't enough to cover the cost of tires for the weekend. The new series needs to make it enticing for owners to stick with it.

 

now maybe casual fans like me will be able to understand what all the class victories are about. was so much overlap between similar cars in the 2 series that i lost all interest. should be as good as when the 2 open wheel series merged

 

I agree ALMS is over, I hope they can keep the spirit of the cars though andthe connection to Le Mans. The Grand Am cars besides being Ugly are so contrived.

But the ability to have the old tracks like Daytona, Watkins glen mixed with Road Atlanta, Mid Ohio, Sebring, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock, is pretty exciting. then get them to support Indy cars...you would have a great weekend of racing. Sports cars on saturday , Indy on sunday. Road racing needs all the help it can get in the USA.

 

It's a good thing. I think Panoz has wanted out for a long time.

 

The entry fees per race varied but essentially sprint races were 6k and the Rolex 24 25k. Prize money to win a short race was around 25k and the Rolex 24 50k. Prize money did NOT come close to covering expenses for fuel, tires, entry fees and such. Sponsorship money helps to defray the cost for some teams however not mine as I was self-funded.
Sportscar racing has never really been a profitable enterprise

 

What will happen with LMP1 in this series? I don't see Grand Am having any Prototypes that are faster than DP's

Other's thoughts?