A few months ago the F�d�ration Internationale de l?Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l?Ouest (ACO) announced a partnership that would turn the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup sports car racing series into the FIA World Endurance Championship, beginning in 2012.
This is a definite upgrade.
The FIA runs Formula 1, the World Rally Championship, the World Touring Car Championship and many other series. It has decades upon decades of history and milestones, experience, partnerships and power.
Having the FIA take over the series that shares specs, sexy prototypes and two races a year with the nine-race American Le Mans Series (ALMS) provides huge opportunity. It's the best (and only) way "Le Mans" -style sports car racing can grow to become an F1-modeled, international multi-million dollar motorsports entertainment division.
But wait. On this continent NASCAR is the king in the motorsports entertainment industry. Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series racing sells more tickets, attracts more media coverage and launders more manufacturer and sponsorship dollars than every other series in America combined.
And wouldn't you know it. NASCAR's even got a road racing division, the Grand-Am series, featuring Daytona Prototypes (a certain, famous Florida family's take on what a sports car racing prototype should be) and full race GTs plus classes for modified production cars.
Grand Am was started in 2000, either as a really cool, nepotistic 35th birthday present for fledgling racer J.C. France, son of NASCAR's Jim France, or as a serious business venture to use the equity and lessons learned from NASCAR to creating a low-tech "rubbin's racing" road racing series.
Or perhaps it was a return volley after the ALMS was formed in 1999 by Georgia businessman Don Panoz to bring the ACO -sanctioned, hi-tech European Le Mans cars and stars here to America, after IMSA and then the Professional Sports Car Racing Series went away.
That part of history doesn't matter now. It's been over 10 years and yes, we have two different sports car series that are completely incompatible. Both are trying to appeal to the same audience but with different cars, engines, rules and especially philosophies about the racing itself.
Sound familiar? It should. "The Split" just about killed open wheel racing in America.
Sports car racing as an asset, i.e. two different series offering marketable motorsports entertainment, is a distant third behind NASCAR and IndyCar here in the good old U.S. of A. NASCAR has a monopoly and a proven, self sustaining ladder system including local series and ARCA. IndyCar is poised to thrive again after the key competition for its necessary resources -- a competitive series -- finally went the way of all things.
Sports car racing though, as long as its split into two different series, has those same problems open wheel did after it went through that expensive, bad-for-the-kids nasty divorce.
Fact: While two competitive series can somewhat share an audience or a fan base, because the racing discipline is the similar, its much harder to share manufacturer support, sponsorship and available media exposure.
As a matter of fact, in this still lousy economy, it's almost impossible.
With the FIA's takeover of Le Mans sports car endurance racing the ALMS can definitely benefit -- if it can survive long enough. It will be able to market its racing as a laboratory for innovation and the development of new technologies on a world stage; with advances in propulsion, safety, energy storage and more the byproduct of competition at the highest level. And don't forget the allure, the luxury, the hospitality excesses attached to a real, FIA world championship series featuring brands like Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari and Porsche.
Grand Am is ready though. For 2012 the featured Daytona Prototypes are being redesigned to allow for more styling cues; to allow manufacturers to make them look more closely related to their street production vehicles --like Fords, Chevys, BMWs and Porches.
Hot damn.
Grand Am wants their road racing series to remain exactly as it was conceived; with bang- and almost bulletproof cars powered by reliable, proven engines and drivetrains and rules that pretty much take creativity and innovation completely out of the equation.
They believe the drivers are the stars and the cars are just necessary equipment to generate support and revenue from manufacturers. And to keep the manufacturers happy and interested, Grand Am is attempting to make the race cars look more like production vehicles.
Best of luck with that one. No one, absolutely no one, thinks trying to make a Ford powered Daytona Prototype feature 'the look and feel' of a Mustang is going to put one more butt in the grandstands.
So, for your sports car racing in America entertainment, and interest, I see three different scenarios for what lies ahead:
The first is the most likely, the Status Quo. Grand Am will continue on with a 12 or so race schedule, same with the ALMS, and the Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans events will be the only ones that anyone really pays attention to. Both series will try to soldier on with a handful of prototypes at other events and American sports car racing will fall further and further behind NASCAR, IndyCar and even NHRA drag racing.
The second scenario is bye-bye to the ALMS completely and everyone surrenders to the power of NASCAR. The two FIA WEC events in North America become as valued and rare as the F1 races in Canada and Austin, while the Grand Am Rolex series slugs along, either racing alone or with NASCAR or IndyCar at select venues.
Finally, and filed under the When Pigs Fly category, there's the shiny object merger scenario, where the new Grand American Le Mans Series abandons the Daytona Prototypes and runs a 16-or-so North American series featuring FIA WEC-spec rules and classes. The Rolex 24, Sebring and Petit Le Mans would also be part of the new, expanded FIA WEC schedule which could also include events in Canada and Mexico.
Of course, it?s all wishful thinking. But why not?
A merger eliminates the inefficiencies of a shared fan base and compromised TV, manufacturer and sponsorship participation. One American series using FIA rules and regs makes all sports car racing 'apples to apples' and it also makes it a lot easier for carmakers to commit due to economy of scale.
But that's just my take. What's yours?
Read more of Bill Tybur at his website: https://fmfl.net
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