IMSA 2021

Racin is racin as far as I'm concerned. Great race.

 

If it's truly racing, then yes it's racing.

However, when you "level the playing field" by BoPing, it's no longer "racing", it's merely putting on a show.........(for the sponsors' benefit)

 

Remember the first year NASCAR took over? Late in the race one of the Porsches ran wide in 3, ran through the grass, didn’t contact anything and just got back on track and kept going. Full course yellow came out even before the car was back on track, bunched everyone up and cost Wayne Taylor the win.

Same race last lap, Magnus Audi ran wide in the kink, Level 5 Ferrari passed on the inside for the win, but got a penalty for contact that didn’t happen. Lost the win, but got it back on appeal.

Same season, next race, NASCAR penalized the wrong car three times in a row, even with the team manager showing the officials that there were no signs of contact on their car, and later reviewing the video with them and pointing to a different car number on the one that actually was involved.

Yes, perhaps IMSA was good about the cautions and the penalties at some point. In the NASCAR era, not so much.

 

Last couple years I think things had gotten better. Not sure why it changed at Daytona.

 

'Called - "How to Keep Many Cars Running and On the Same Lap for 24 Hours in One Easy Lesson" by NASCAR/IMSA.....foreward by Sponsors Want Exposure...... Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I was there in 2018 when there were 4 cautions for the entire race.

 

If I may...

Recalling the first Sebring event under the new stewardship, nearly half the race was run
under full course caution as they were throwing yellows for the least little things such as a
harmless spin.

It was as if they were trying to make a mockery of sports car racing while reminding everyone
who's in charge, practically crippling the race itself with all their nonsense so they may claim
a melancholy close finish, a-la NASCAR.

Now, the cautions are used to keep the racing artificially close. Daytonner didn't like it back
in the day when a team would routinely win the 24 hours by 60 or 70 laps - almost akin to how
aghast they were at Indy when Fittipaldi drank orange juice instead of milk in victory lane
which fueled the CART/IRL split.

To NASCAR officialdom, its not racing unless the competitors are nose to tail, door to door
in a dust-up crossing the finish line to create those magic headlines they so desperately crave.
No more 60 lap margins from first to second, so they "manage" the field with an abundance of
cautions, which certainly disrupts the flow of events. But, at the checkered flag, viola, they've
got their close finish.

Of course, we like to see close finishes but not at the expense of real racing on the track. F-1
and the ACO have addressed this with the addition of "Virtual Safety Car" zones which seems
to work just fine, no reason what so ever that IMSA may not do that as well. But, will they?

BHW

 

A friend of mine used to volunteer as a corner worker. He told me he was at the turn 5 kink for the first Rolex under the new regime, and when they saw a minor off at the horseshoe he says he said to the guys with him:

“Now I guess we’ll see who’s running race control, IMSA or NASCAR.”

(Full course yellow comes out immediately)

“Yep. NASCAR.”

He’s ‘retired’ from working the races now. Says he got sick of the BS.

 

Say what you will as to how in happened, but today at Mid-Ohio, three different makes took the podium positions in DPi, and SEVEN different makes took the first seven positions in GTD!

 

Yeah....ain't BoPing exciting..... Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

And best of all Taylor and Derani didn't take each other out.

Progress.

BHW

 

GTD was a great battle. Shame about the late incident for Wright Motorsports though. It was weird not having GTLM there. I feel like we can basically swap P2 and P3 at this point, but I did miss GTLM.

There was a great crowd and perfect weather. I will post a few photos soon.

 

Just a teaser. I post photos on Instagram pretty frequently if anyone is interested.

Image Unavailable, Please Login _7505401 by Alex Eichmiller, on Flickr

 

Derani had several opportunities to crash himself and others out (especially in the first few corners) and did not, I was proud of him.

 

Yes, there were a few "hold your breath" moments there near the end when Derani made a run
at Taylor.

Fortunately, things turned out okay this time.

BHW

 

What is everyone's opinion on LMP3 in WeatherTech? At first I was expecting an LMPC like crash fest but have been pleasantly surprised. If it wasn't for the LM24 connection, I think I would say drop P2 for P3.

Image Unavailable, Please Login _7500375 by Alex Eichmiller, on Flickr