of Thanks & Good Bye ALMS

Thank you thank you thank you. ALMS came along exactly when I needed a new racing series to believe in. I have been to several ALMS races at Road America & Mid-Ohio. The "For The fans" open paddocks and starting grids at Road America are worth the price of admission. The combined ALMS/Grand-Am weekend at Road America was spectacular this year. If the USCC (Is it USCC or USCR?) continues to play nice with the ACO & the FIA's World Championship, driving the technology forward, this is going to be a great series. We are so close to a single inclusive set of rules. This is great.

Suggestions:
1 - continue to keep the big sanctioning bodies talking and playing nice.
2 - @USCC The entire schedule needs to increase the length of the races. The 2:45 format on some of these tracks is not worthy of endurance sports cars. Follow the lead of the World Endurance Championship with 6 hour minimum races.
3 - @USCC re-instate the eligibility of the LMP1 class for your crown jewels. Nothing wrong with inviting the P1 teams from across the pond, even if they win.
4 - @theFans can we stop the sniping at each other? This is a truly merged series now. ALMS & Grand-Am found a way to keep most of the classes and stay in the good graces of the ACO. Why are we fighting about 2 series that no longer exist?

of the 2014 USCR Schedule

Take a look at the 2013 ALMS & Grand-Am schedules. Look at the duplicate tracks and the marquee events. Most of the 2014 USCR season is already set.
Daytona 24
Sebring 12
Laguna Seca
(Le Mans break)
Lime Rock
Watkins Glen
Road America
Circuit of The Americas
Petit Le Mans/Road Atlanta

That is 8 of the rumored 10 to 12 races. My must haves include 3 more great US Road Courses:
Mid-Ohio
Alabama
VIR

These are beautiful circuits that would be a shame to leave off of the new series' schedule. This only leaves room for 1 more event. So many more have been rumored to be sure things for various reasons: Long Beach, Belle Isle, Kansas...
If it was up to me I'd include the much maligned Indianapolis road course. It is not that bad. It is much better than the hallowed Daytona road course. I would make the race a 10 or 12 hour enduro and hype it as its own event. Adding Grand-Am as a support race for NASCAR will not draw fans. USCR would be better off tying it to IndyCar's proposed second race at The Brickyard, or bring those new (2015) North American DTMs to Indy. I see some sort of Labor Day Weekend road course extravaganza.
The entire schedule needs to increase the length of the races. The 2:45 format on some of these tracks is not worthy of endurance sports cars. Follow the lead of the World Endurance Championship with a 6 hour minimum and leave the street races behind.

A Christmas List

Charles Dressing gives us his Christmas list at ALMS.com.  It got me thinking of my Christmas list:

1 - confirmation that the new ALMS/GrandAm merger will embrace the technologies that make Le Mans prototypes so much fun.
2 - IndyCar to start opening up their rules as was the original plan with the new 2012 cars.
3 - SCX Slot car - 2007 Laguna Seca corvette Jake #3.  I have the #4 but the yellow nosed #3 is next to impossible to find.
4 - Wheels & axles for my collection of 1:32 Corvette bodies.
5 - an interesting web article or commentary that includes F1, Sports Cars, and slot cars.

Thanks Chuck! I can cross #5 off my list!

BMW Z4 to ALMS

These are pretty cars and I welcome them to the ALMS in 2013!  Just look at a Z4 next to the M3.  Which would you want to drive in?

ALMS Story

of Aston Martin & TRG

Aston Martin and TRG are bringing Aston Martin Racing back to the US with programs from ALMS, GrandAm, and a single make series!  This is great news for 2013 and 2014!

ALMS Story

of Le Mans 2011, Twitter & Speed TV

This might prove helpful.

https://twitter.com/#!/24hoursoflemans

Spotters Guide:
http://www.spotterguides.com/le-mans-2011-guide
http://photos.speedtv.com/gallery/Le_Mans_2011_Spotters_Guide/

Speed TV Resources:
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-resource-guide/

Big week at Speed TV.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-coverage-highlights-diverse-lineup-on-speed-in-june/

of The Audi R18 & Sebring Testing

Ooh she is mean looking. I have nothing more to say.

ALMS: Sebring

That was fun. I loved the TV/web package. Congratulations to Oreca Matmut for the P1 win. Rahal & BMW you should be proud. Nice clean race.

Sebring gave me the excuse to run hundreds of laps with my slot cars from light into dark. Great fun.

UPDATE: I was disappointed in the ABC Sports TV recap. At 90 minutes it just didn't deliver on offering the stories behind a 12 hour race and the actual race coverage was too choppy. If I hadn't watched several hours on Saturday I would have been completely lost. The live web coverage was done very well though.

of Pine, Plastic, & Far Flung Places

This summer's travels took us west to Bear's Lodge and east of Wooster.

One week after our trip west to South Dakota and Wyoming we made a spur of the moment decision to head to Mid-Ohio for the ALMS race.

I should have known that the intersection of US HWY 30 and I-69 might not have been the best place to stop for sleep at 1:30am with my 3 boys. I was getting tired & I promised myself that I'd stop at the next truck stop or McDonald's for a nice well lit parking lot to sleep in for an hour or so before we drove on. When I got to the first Fort Wayne exit and it featured a truck stop and a McDonald's I gave thanks to St Christopher and pulled off the road. I'm not sure what I saw what transacting in the McD's parking lot across from the TWO gentlemans clubs, but I was positive that it would not look good to have a story in the news about me, Brandy's, & a car load of kids. It turns out that Good Chris would have to carry me a bit farther down the road. He did. We slept for a few hours in a clean Ohio rest area.

Partially rested we spent the day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course watching IndyCar qualifying and the ALMS race. Fabulous track! It is a beautiful facility. I took something like 2400 pictures, turned a bright hue of red, and we had a BLAST. I would definitely return.

Our 8th annual pinewood derby and summer picnic was held. There were 12 kids entries, 6 adults, 4 entires for Formula Unlimited, and 1 flame juggler. Brats, sunshine, little pine race cars, I don't think it could have been a better day. Oh but it could get better. The after-party included pizza, a Hannah Montana dance off, & Slots of Fun.



Speaking of slot cars, I finished my Speed Racer Mach 5 as an SCXd car. It has probably been 6 years since my boys gave me that snap together model as a gift. After a combination of procrastination and planning she has finally taken to the track.
SCI
SCX WorldWide

What a great summer.

I'm back!

I'm getting back on the web log horse and this weekend is as good a time as any with Sebring in the news. I'm spending the unexpectedly snowy spring Saturday working on my slot car track (the Ravensring), a few slot car repaints, and watching the 12 Hour race.

The race season started a few weeks ago with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Fun race but the DPs are not LMPs. I'm going to make an effort this season to get back into IndyCar now that Tony has been removed from office and 2011 is around the corner but they somehow snuck the season opener in past me last weekend.

My comments on ALMS Sebring to follow darn it looks like it will be difficult to beat the Pugs.

of ALMS & Indianapolis

In the past two months the Hulman-George family ousted Tony from 1st being CEO of IMS and then IRL. Mom allowed Tony to stay on the various boards but like all good children he is to be seen and not heard.

Things are changing on Georgetown Road and they might be looking for a sports car race. Now, the American Le Mans Series web site is running a poll. "Would you like to see the Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?" Well, Duh! YES! Please head over to the ALMS and vote yes.

I know it would be too much to ask the ACO to allow a 24° of Indianapolis but a 12° enduro there would be spectacular.

ALMS Going to France?

There are rumors flying everywhere since Robin Miller repeated a rumor he heard from "a team principle" that Grand Am and in turn the France Family is looking to eat up the American Le Mans Series.

It would be nice to see sports car racing come together. ALMS car counts are down. LMP1&2 are sorely lacking. Eight cars across the two prototype class causes me to question if I want to buy tickets for this season's Road America race. GT1 has been on life support for the previous 2 seasons and died this year at Long Beach. The ALMS in Utah brought up GT3ish cars from the Challenge series to fill the grid.

Still, Le Mans style racing is the best thing going. The GT2 grid is growing. The fan experience is second to none. Where else can any fan with a general admission ticket walk the pre-race grid among the drivers and their cars? There is hope of Audi coming back with the R15 in 2009 and 2010. Porsche's prototype plans remain to be seen, and we have heard rumors of a Ferrari LMP1. It is true that this is a down year for the ALMS, but the ACO is successfully running the LMS in Europe and kicking off a new Asian Le Mans Series. When FOTA threatened to walk away from F1, we saw F1 team leaders and manufacturers talking to the ACO about running sports cars under ACO rules. Something must be attractive about this form of sports car racing. I had high hopes for 2010.

If a merger is to happen in sports car racing I'd like to see Daytona adopt the ACO's rules rather than ALMS going away. If the ALMS is eaten up by the NASCAR machine this isn't a merger or a coming together at all. It is both sides digging in.

If the France Family gobbles up the American Le Mans Series it is a sad day for the fans. It was fun while it lasted.

I'll be watching this closely.