2010 Petit LeMans ****SPOILERS****

Don't rightly know, but I believe GA is north of $100K and I would imagine ALMS to be three to five times that, at a minimum. Especially if they are the headliners... Now of course the fees are all negotiable depending on if the sanctioning body wants to go there in the first place and what kind of equity the group has with the track.

I remember nearly a decade ago that SCCA T/A and World Challenge was twice what I believe current GA money is.

That's why ALMS has rounds at Sebring, Road Atlanta and Mosport... Perhaps a gift in kind?

Guess you'll need to check Murphy, the Bear's Blog...

 

Sanctioning fees are always negotiable, but that is the starting point, IMO.

When you look at the public financial statements of Dover Raceway and ISC, they count the purse and the sanctioning fee together for the purposes of accounting. $6 Million for each NASCAR event at Dover, for example. Many associate sponsors pay contingency so the team and driver awards can come from that, too. I believe that is the same way in sports car racing.

For Grand Am at VIR, Bosch pays a lions share, I believe. They get to name the race, too.

 

Yep, that is a shame! I too would love to see LMP and GT cars slug it out at VIR. It would be nice to find a sponsor like Bosch with the funding that could bring ALMS to VIR. I don't think anyone in the series would be disappointed with the track, that's for sure! (Uh, hey ALMS, since Oklahoma City fell through, I have a suggestion!)

By the way, they've recently posted a commentary by Mark Scott on dailysportscar.com and he has some VERY glowing things to say about the ALMS.

 

If Jean Todt appearing at the July Daytona NASCAR/GrandAM
event is what they're touting as giving them legitimacy
of any sort that's a real reach.

What Todt witnessed that weekend in the aftermath of
GrandAM docking points, fining the Ganassi team and
restricting their car in qualifying so they were behind the
rest of the pretenders to the championship was the utter
and complete self-destruction of these championship
pretenders inexcusably and almost systematically take
themselves out of the running one by one allowing the
Ganassi team to cruise to victory once again.

That whole week was another in a line of sordid incidents
and embarrassing gaffes created by GrandAM (NE: NASCAR)
in an attempt to tighten the championship a-la how they
manipulate the NASCAR championship all played out in
front of Mr. Todt who doubtlessly saw it for the joke it was.

Todt has appeared around the world at many racing events
in an attempt to mend fences in the post-Mosley era. So,
not so much should be read into his appearance at Daytona.

The ALMS/GrandAM arguement may be beaten to death
but the heart of the matter is that GrandAM is little more
than NASCAR's attempt to monopolize the American racing
scene.

Their attempt at this was flawed from the first press
conference when Edmundson was quoted as saying, "We
don't care about 'traditional' sports car fans" and, "We
want to make the cars irrelevant".

Thus, any air of legitimacy drained away GrandAM from
those two statements forward. These new "fans on
the street" responded by staying away from their events
by the droves.

Conversely, the ALMS alligned with the ACO and Le Mans
have stayed the course and enjoy fields flush with factory
participation throughout each category playing to record
crowds and a respectible audience viewing on television
and the Internet.

Unquestionably, sponsors see this and it may only be
imagined that upon seeing the Rolex signage at PLM,
there was a lot of scurrying around the hallowed, fake
wood-panelled walls in Daytona Beach.

It all comes down to relevance and placement of
branding in front of the market share. The ALMS (while
far from perfect) has it while GrandAM will always be
behind the eightball seeking it due simply to the fact
that they're little more than NASCAR's ugly stepchild.

BHW

 

Provided by a colleague in the UK.

Rolex is the Official Watch and Timekeeper for the brand new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Rolex has been Official Timekeeper for 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2001 and Title Sponsor of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in North America since 1992. In 1965, Rolex added the name Daytona to the dial of its Cosmograph line in tribute to this great race at the International Speedway. The presence of the Rolex brand in automobile racing has grown steadily ever since.

Rolex supports the tradition of auto racing through events that celebrate design, speed and passion including the Goodwood Revival (UK), the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion (USA), the Pebble Beach Tour D’Elegance presented by Rolex (USA), the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance (USA) and The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering (USA).

Rolex affiliation also extends to two key figures in the sport: Sir Jackie Stewart from Scotland, one of the greatest drivers of his generation, and Danish driver Tom Kristensen, record eight-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

Car counts make for good racing, go see a spec miata race for some great racing without the snob apeal, but hard core drivers driving at 11/10th's the entire race. Great racing.

Without field fillers like the Porsche gt3 cup cars, ALMS have less than 20 cars a race
Big deal Audi has world class drivers & cars, like the Corvettes they were in a class of one for most of thier domination & now they are what, in a class of 3? big deal.
Whohoo I came in first & second in the same class of 4! Great rules package they have there. I watch every ALMS race, & if it werent for the antics of Dumas & the Risi guys, its a total, single file BORE.This years petit being a recent exception.

You may not like the cars in Grand Am,( but I bet you would if there was a Ferrari in the field) but if you think the racing isnt great you are mistaken. I look beyond the pretty cars & enjoy the real competition that usually goes down to the last wheel to wheel banging lap.

Like I said before, ALMS, where guys who can't buy a win in Grand am come to race themselves for a championship.