Page 2 of SCCA rule book

Sportscar is a registered trademark............

 

yep, exactly. we won't get to see any of the top level prototypes (except at the WEC race, assuming the keep racing in the US). instead we get tube frame "prototypes" that are only faster than GTE cars due to raw horsepower.

at least GT2/GTE will be kept, but that's only because of MFR money...mark my words, if BMW/Porsche/Corvette/Viper stop writing checks for factory programs, they'll "realign" things to go to GT3 spec cars.

sigh...

 

Just to be different, Ill make the following observation...

As much as the common consensus is against NASCAR and USCRAP (or whatever they called it), at least they are keeping racing alive in the US. Seem to me everyone else has failed to maintain a viable racing series, NASCAR is the only one to survive/thrive. As much as I dislike it, you have to give them props for doing something right.

 

USCR acronym can be rearranged easily to SUCR.....

 

you do have a point there. they have figured out how to make it a viable business.

 

Name is not great, neither is the logo (why they didn't leave the old IMSA alone, who knows). However, it's the racing that counts and the only hard decision they made was to kill P1. They kept all the other classes, going to 5. Crazy. Some more, unpopular decisions to reduce classes would have been better. Perhaps they will do that in the long run. 5 classes with 4 cars each and everyone (almost) is a winner!

 

The ALMS crowds looked great to me over the years at Long Beach and Laguna, but terrible TV package. That is where Nascar kills everyone, because they cater to, I’ll try not to say it;

They cater to Nascar fan, these people actually believe, GM and Ford have a secret racing headquarters in Detroit, where engineers and scientists are working around the clock designing the latest creation for Nascar. I have been to a total of 10 Nascar races (even Riverside 1977), and outside of the guys who actual work on the teams (real race people) the fans will fight you, or want to fight you, over how in the hell can Nascar allow Toyota into the series, how a Camry can keep up with a Chevy, how the amazing technology from GM’s products make into Nascar and visa-versa, how much road racing sucks, how Nascar has the very, very best drivers in the world, because Nascar is the very best race car, world class. I could go on and on.
Nascar rules TV, they attract house wives, their little daughters, and the rest of wwe crowd, and in the Rolex Nascar World Class Prototype, Nascar fan will have the Sprit of America Corvette, the most amazing world prototype in the world, brain fed to the masses, Nascar, and their TV power, did the ALMS,
TV rights rule, money rules, American race engineers continue to be the Lowe’s Hardware Store graduates of the world, the Mecca of race car engineering is North Carolina.

I am so lucky to have seen Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, BMW Ferrari, Mclaren, prototypes turn the wheel in anger;

“Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio”

Sorry for the rant, I thought the ALMS was really something for us here in the US.
I will miss the teams and the factories, just like I still miss CART, which is a burning reminder of great racing, miss management, and one entity, with too much TV power.

 

Wow...I am speechless. Yes, SME has a reputation for being overly expensive, but usually pretty effective.

Unreal.

C.

 

My guess is that a big ego at or near the top of the new organization 'guided' the design process pretty forcefully. I doubt it's the designers' fault entirely.

 

They picked it so they can "Rebrand" in a couple of years when the initial tepid excitement wears off.

 

Maybe they finally found JC a job.