ALMS & Grand-Am to Merge, Hooray Options

[carr914]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/spo...alizing-merger/

Too much division to come to an end - I'm glad to see it before one went under.

I wondered what was happening when I read that the Circuit of the Americas was negotiating for the US FIA Race that typically has been held at Sebring (& Petit). The fact that a P1 Car wasn't even in the picture at the end of todays race in Baltimore tells the story that small fields & competition in Sports Cars had deluted the landscape

T.C.

[Zimms]

I agree. I don't think there is enough sponsorship to keep 2 series going. ALMS has a sorry P1 field, but the GT racing is great. I hope this does not get screwed up in the merger. I like the factory GTE cars.

We will see. The official announcement is Wednesday.

[carr914]

What I would like to see;

A True Prototype Class ( Doubtful though as the FIA will kill it)

Daytona Prototypes ( Up the Power)

The GT Class as it exists in ALMS

A GTC Class ( The Grand-Am Class plus the ALMS GTCs)

The Alternative Fuel Class that Grand-Am is bringing in.


The downsides are that this Merger is not supposed to happen til 2014. That is when the New FIA LeMans Rules go into effect.

And that means Racing could really Suck in 2013 - who is going to Invest $$ when it could change a year later?

[Rleog]

So what do you think after reading this:

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

[damesandhotrods]

I don’t see any way this can be good. Getting closer to NASCAR and Murdoch is just playing poker with the devil. The ALMS rules are worked out with the ACO, the second that you alter the ALMS rules you are no longer eligible for Le Mans, which brings you back to being just Grand Am. I don’t see much of a future for an American centric endurance series based on Daytona and Sebring.

And why isn’t P-1 a prototype class?

[VaccaRabite]

I'd love to see sports car racing televised again. I know you can find it online, but it's silly not to have it televised.

[carr914]

So what do you think after reading this:

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

Good Article!

[ThePaintedMan]

This whole thing is a (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stromberg.gif) sandwich. I heard about rumors of this from a couple friends I have who work for the ALMS about 2 weeks ago. In addition, they also said that it would not be a "merger." That also explains why Scott Atherton said he had not heard of such a deal taking place, because there was none. NASCAR is buying out the ALMS, which means its also buying out the nature and character of its racing. Say goodbye to the access to paddock, the pre-race gridwalks, the technology, and I believe, even the great racing. I know in my heart that it was eventually going to happen, just like it has throughout sportscar racing history. But it doesn't mean I have to like it.

[seanery]

I'd love to see sports car racing televised again. I know you can find it online, but it's silly not to have it televised.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)
ALMS is on ABC, I watched the Baltimore race yesterday. Grand Am is on Speed...

[ellisor3]

With NASCAR attendance and interest sinking, I see the ALMS and Grand-Am merger/takeover as potentially a positive, IF they continue to do the things that make it popular. What makes it popular is that the fans have access and direct connection to the teams, prices are reasonable and you have lots of choices of races. NASCAR used to be the grass roots of American Racing, Grand Am and ALMS now hold that title becasue of the access the fans have to the product. Don't screw with that.

I could see the new series replace either the truck tour or Nationwide series.

This could mean more TV coverage, and a more stable product. The negatives are that smaller teams will have a very hard time competing because more money will flow into one series.

I am not sure what they are going to do with P1, will be strange to see P1 and DP on the same track.

[carr914]

I'd love to see sports car racing televised again. I know you can find it online, but it's silly not to have it televised.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)
ALMS is on ABC, I watched the Baltimore race yesterday. Grand Am is on Speed...

But the ALMS is not Live - that was taped & shown the Day After

[carr914]

I hate to see the Technology of Prototypes go away, but here in America there was No Manufacturer Involvement & Tiny Fields.

In P1;
Mazda is on the Dyson on the Car, but in name only. It's a Lola Chassis (now Bankrupt) ans an AER Motor
Muscle Milk is a Acura/Honda that was designed years ago

P2
Scott Tuckers Ill-Gotten Gains Level5 Team poured into another pair of Acura/Honda

PC - all Spec Racers - Oreca Chassis/Chevy Motors

if it wasn't for the Superb GT Racing, ALMS would have died after the 07 Season when you had Audi, Peugeot, Porsche, Acura, Mazda & Independants in Prototypes

[Rleog]

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

According to this article, Grand-Am (NASCAR) buys ALMS and Panoz's tracks (Atlanta and Sebring), effective 2014. For 2013, if there is an ALMS season, it will likely have no P1 class: Lola is bankrupt and Dyson can barely get enough parts to finish this season. Muscle Milk, with one year remaining on their contract with the Wirth chassis/Honda engined HPD, probably won't run without competition. As TC said above, the glue holding ALMS together after Sebring, for the past several years, has been the GT class.

There'll be much said Wednesday at the Daytona press conference, and a lot a speculation about what's left unsaid.

[ellisor3]

I hate to see the Technology of Prototypes go away, but here in America there was No Manufacturer Involvement & Tiny Fields.

In P1;
Mazda is on the Dyson on the Car, but in name only. It's a Lola Chassis (now Bankrupt) ans an AER Motor
Muscle Milk is a Acura/Honda that was designed years ago

P2
Scott Tuckers Ill-Gotten Gains Level5 Team poured into another pair of Acura/Honda

PC - all Spec Racers - Oreca Chassis/Chevy Motors

if it wasn't for the Superb GT Racing, ALMS would have died after the 07 Season when you had Audi, Peugeot, Porsche, Acura, Mazda & Independants in Prototypes

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

It is inevitable that some classes will go away, but reducing the classes hopefully will bring additional team money from Europe to this series. Right now there are too many classes between ALMS and Grand Am to get the manufactures involved in American Racing, they have only one such series in Europe to focus on. I hope they will leave the GTC or something similar to allow smaller teams to stay in the sport. The ALMS was a faux series from exactly the points TC made anyway. Will be interesting to see how the new GX class will fit into this series.

[stuttgart46]

It's like sitting on pins and needles waiting to see how this is going to unfold. Let's hope for the best, like seeing a P1 going around Daytona for instance and less like seeing a DP at Sebring. Just my $.02

[damesandhotrods]

European teams are not going to come to US to race. Peugeot and the rest of the teams are not selling anything in the US. Audi has won enough races here they don’t need to spend the money to race here; Le Mans is the jewel anyways. ALMS tanked because Porsche wouldn’t fill the grids with customer chassis. Porsche will not race against Audi. There was no one to pick up the slack which lead to small grids. Group C worked because everyone could buy a 962, WSC worked because everyone could buy 911GT1s.

[carr914]

European teams are not going to come to US to race. Peugeot and the rest of the teams are not selling anything in the US. Audi has won enough races here they don’t need to spend the money to race here; Le Mans is the jewel anyways. ALMS tanked because Porsche wouldn’t fill the grids with customer chassis. Porsche will not race against Audi. There was no one to pick up the slack which lead to small grids. Group C worked because everyone could buy a 962, WSC worked because everyone could buy 911GT1s.

A few Flaws in your argument;

Peugeot quit racing before this Racing Season even started

Audi has been on abbreviated schedule for a couple of years

Porsche does fill the Grids in ALMS. Flying Lizards, Team Falken, the Entire GTC Field, plus the Patron GT3 Cup Support Race Series. Back when the RS Spyder was around, they were available to Customer Teams, but were hugely expensive as the Teams had to pay for the Cars, Technical Staff, etc, that only the Deepest Pockets could afford ( Penske, Dyson, Muscle Milk & 2 Euro Teams).

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the Economy wasn't in the Dumper (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pain30.gif)

[Rleog]

"Porsche will not race against Audi"

Porsche will be back at Le Mans, in P1, in 2014. It's likely Audi and Toyota will be there.

[carr914]

"Porsche will not race against Audi"

Porsche will be back at Le Mans, in P1, in 2014. It's likely Audi and Toyota will be there.

And Possibly Bentley

[Britain Smith]

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

-Britain