Grand-Am and ALMS press conference

I'm just praying that Lime Rock doesn't get left off of the new schedule.

Both series go there now, but with the major events (Daytona, Sebring, Petit, Glen, Indy) and the ISC tracks the calendar will fill up quick.

I'm still not convinced we'll come out ahead in this.

I see fewer cars, fewer races and some changes just to make it more TV friendly. What about those of us who like the flavor of the track?

And Sebring terrifies me!!! They better not mess with Sebring!!

pulled from another web site

Simon Tibbett
Post subject: Re: ALMS-Grand-Am merger?Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 3:40 am

Forum Hot Lapper

Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2004 4:29 pm Posts: 108 Location: GA
Sad day, ALMS > Grand-Am.

Here's a 95% possibility of what is to come:

http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/

Editor-in-Chief's Note (Posted 9/4, 8:15 p.m.): I'll get straight to the point here. I spoke with Don Panoz, the founder of the American Le Mans Series on Monday and he asked me to keep the details of the Grand-Am/ALMS coming together "off the record" until tomorrow's announcement. But since John Dagys has decided to break cover on some of the details tonight (speedtv.com), I can tell you this about the arrangement between Grand-Am and the ALMS.

1. The Panoz Motor Sports Group (ALMS) has been sold to GRAND-AM/NASCAR Holdings LLC. The number? Reportedly around $20 million. It also includes the sale of Road Atlanta and a long-term lease of Sebring International Raceway. A new LLC will be formed going forward for the unified sports car racing entity in the U.S.

2. Jim France (GRAND-AM co-founder and NASCAR Vice Chairman/Executive Vice President) will be the Chairman of the unified series, which does not have an official name as of yet. ALMS founder Don Panoz will be Vice Chairman. And ALMS President and CEO Scott Atherton will be President of the new organization. Both Panoz and Atherton are likely to be on the board of directors.

3. The LMP1 class from the ALMS will no longer be a part of the new series. The ALMS LMP2 class will survive, along with the GRAND-AM's Daytona Prototype class. The DeltaWing will also be a part of this new class as well. The new racing series will equalize those three classes. (Uh, good luck with that.) I'm sorry to report that the Rolex GT class will hang around, but it will come in below the ALMS GT class, which will be retained, intact (thank goodness). A testing program will be undertaken to sort all of these performance adjustments out.

4. There will be a 12-race schedule, with a kick-off being the Daytona 24 Hour followed by the 12 Hours of Sebring, returning major league American sports car racing to its rightful rhythm. The rest of the schedule will be announced tomorrow. Teams will discard points from one of the 12 races. This will allow a team to drop a bad performance, but it will also allow a team to participate at Le Mans if invited.

5. The new road racing entity will kick-off with the 2014 season, as commitments were well in place for 2013 and could not be altered. The two series will operate separately for one more year.

6. There is no official connection to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) after the 2013 season.

So there you have it folks. beginning with the 2014 racing season, major league sports car racing in the United States will be represented by one entity. Right now, I will say this ahead of tomorrow morning's announcement, and that is that I will remain catiously optimistic until I'm given reasons to think otherwise.

Is there an extreme danger that the NASCAR-ization of pro sports car racing will ruin it forever? Absolutely. With NASCAR now in complete control of major league sports car racing in this country the stupidity could rear its ugly head at any moment.

The liklihood of this new racing entity dumbing down what's left of the prototype classes so that they're all on the same footing is high. Go back and look at the times of the LMP2 and DP classes when they ran at the same tracks this summer, and you'll see that it could get very ugly. But that doesn't concern me, at least not yet.

What does concern me and what is already looking to be a bright red flag? That GRAND-Am operatives are insisting that their tube-framed Rolex GT cars have a role. To me that is simply ludicrous and ridiculous. If this new entity screws up the ALMS GT class, which is the best road racing in the world, then I will be the first to bury this endeavor with both hands.

But, and this is a very large B-U-T, these people have a solid year to figure things out and get their proverbial shoo-shiddily-diddily together. Let's hope they do exactly that for everyone concerned. - PMD

Let's speculate on the schedule: Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta - are givens.

Road America, Lime Rock, Mid Ohio - are common to both series and probable to stay.

Laguna Seca and Indy are highly likely.

That's nine. Who gets the final three? I'm sure at least one street circuit will be in there somewhere. What are the remaining races in major markets that are highly successful? Those are your most likely remaining three.

Long Beach, Baltimore, Circuit of the Americas, Sonoma?

I think that Long Beach has a good shot since it is such a media event. Sears Point may be doubtful as it serves the same market as Laguna Seca. What about Montreal? It already has the Nationwide series connection?

Montreal? I would so go to that. What about Mont Tremblant--wishful thinking?

I think that I would put my money down on Montreal, Long Beach, and Belle Isle as the final three. Long Beach because of history and media. Montreal because Grand Am and Nationwide are already there. Belle Isle because it's home to Chevy, Ford, Chrysler and a second street circuit.

In reply to wbjones:

Heeeey, I know Simon. Hes a good dude.

Was that from Simon or was he posting someone else's words? I wouldn't doubt he has talked to Dr. Panoz but probably not on Labor Day.

Anywho, There isn't much more there than what was in the announcement today.

As far as tracks, I am going with VIR, Montreal, and maybe Circuit of the Americas.

I wanna know if the DTM thing is still on the table too.

I'd be surprised if Austin isn't on the schedule. It's too good of a track and with everything new there......

Plus it gives them a race in the central part of the country.

I would like to see Baltimore again. I actually liked that course. As long as Road America, Long Beach, and Mid-Ohio are on the roster, I'm happy.

Also, as for being set up to be TV friendly, what's wrong with that? Isn't that the whole idea? To get more exposure? I would make sure that the more competitive tracks were televised.

Anti-stance wrote: In reply to wbjones: Heeeey, I know Simon. Hes a good dude. Was that from Simon or was he posting someone else's words? I wouldn't doubt he has talked to Dr. Panoz but probably not on Labor Day. Anywho, There isn't much more there than what was in the announcement today.

that was Simon posting on another forum

Anti-stance wrote: Was that from Simon or was he posting someone else's words? I wouldn't doubt he has talked to Dr. Panoz but probably not on Labor Day.

That was an article by Peter De Lorenzo, 'The Autoextremist'. It's a long entry (and has been updated), but certainly worth the read: http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/