Sporty Addition For Lime Rock
October 17, 2003
By SHAWN COURCHESNE, Courant Staff Writer

Lime Rock Park continues to make major changes to its 2004 racing schedule
with the addition of the American LeMans Series on Independence Day weekend.

The new race on July 5 will be announced today in Braselton, Ga.,
headquarters of the American LeMans Series, which also sanctions the 12 Hours
of Sebring in Sebring, Fla., the Atlanta Grand Prix and Grand Prix Americas
in Miami.

Last Saturday, Lime Rock track general manager Michael Johnson announced that
the Busch North Series will become part of the Lime Rock Grand Prix on
Memorial Day weekend. Busch North has run in October at the track for the
last 11 years.

"The American LeMans Series is the premier sports car series in the world,
boasting the top manufacturers, teams, drivers and racing events," Lime Rock
president Skip Barber said. "Lime Rock's addition of an ALMS race returns the
track to its sports car roots. ... This event underscores the reason why our
1.54-mile road course is so special."

The addition of the ALMS to Lime Rock will mark the return of the exotic
prototype racers, which have not competed at the course since 2001.

Through the 1980s and '90s, the prototypes were the star attraction at Lime
Rock's Memorial Day Grand Prix weekends.

But the demise of sports car racing in the United States in the late '90s,
coupled with the splintering of sanctioning bodies drained the life out of
Lime Rock's prototype event. In 2001, the division put 10 cars on the track
under sanctioning by the Grand American Road Racing Series. In 2002, the
Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series took over the feature billing
for Grand Prix weekend.

What the ALMS offers that Grand American couldn't is a relationship with the
most famous of all sports car events, the 24 Hours of LeMans, which has been
run in France since 1923.

The ALMS was founded in 1999 by sports car racing enthusiast Don Panoz. This
year's schedule featured nine events. The season closes this weekend at Road
Atlanta in Braselton with the the Petit LeMans. Many of the same drivers who
compete in the 24 Hours of LeMans compete at each ALMS event.

The ALMS will bring four lead divisions to Lime Rock. The 900 Prototypes rank
with Formula One cars as among the most sophisticated and technologically
advanced racing vehicles in the world. Also competing will be the 675
Prototypes, a less powerful version of the exotic machines, the Grand Touring
Sport division, which features Corvettes, Vipers, Ferraris and Saleens, and
the Grand Touring division, which includes production-based Porsches and
Ferraris.

"When you think of classic road racing venues in North America, Lime Rock
Park certainly belongs on that list," said Scott Atherton, president and CEO
of the American LeMans Series. "Many of our fans have asked us when we would
race at Lime Rock, and we're now very happy to be working with Michael
Johnson and his staff to bring the American LeMans Series there next year."

The 2-hour, 45-minute ALMS event will be broadcast on Speed Channel.
Practice, qualifying and support series events will be run July 2-3. A car
show and holiday activities will be held at the track on July 4, a Sunday.

It is unclear what division will share the Lime Rock Grand Prix spotlight
with the Busch North Series in May. Nothing has been finalized with the Trans-
Am Series concerning the return of the division in 2004.

The BNS ended its season at Lime Rock last week. Last year, the event was
postponed twice because of rain The BNS event is scheduled to run on Saturday
of Memorial Day weekend.

"Ending the championship on a late date in the year with the potential
inclement weather just proved to be too difficult to keep long-term here,"
Johnson said. "Last year we endured two complete rainouts and nearly a third
rainout and last year the championship was on the line. It's simply just too
tough on the series, on the drivers and the teams and of course the track to
be in that position.

"The benefit of moving it to the Memorial Day weekend enables us to not only
build [that weekend] but also puts us in a position where perhaps we can have
television next year for the event. The other benefit is that we have a
second chance on the same weekend. If it rains we can simply run it again on
Monday and get the show in."