Q: So, we are five races (three IMSA, two WSC) into the new “golden era” of sports car racing, and where are we at? Anything surprising? Maybe it’s just because of all the pre-season hype, but the Penske Porsche 963 is not meeting my expectations. Cadillac and Ferrari are doing pretty much what I thought, while Acura is performing above expectations while Toyota continues to be the WRC team to beat.
I am also surprised that, with big factory money involved, there haven’t been more drivers with IndyCar or F1 experience recruited for the teams. Bourdais, who was already at Cadillac, and Giovinazzi at Ferrari are the only names that come to mind. I would have thought we would see some equivalent of the famous Mercedes junior team that featured a just-emerging Michael Schumacher.
And this being sports car racing, when do we next see the dreaded BoP be enforced? WRC seems to me to be more BoP-prone, and unless Toyota sandbags at Spa, wouldn’t they be likely to be slowed down at Le Mans, where a neck-and-neck battle with Ferrari would be a cash cow for the organizers? Dunno about IMSA. On the one hand, three different winners in three races. On the other, had the WTR Acura not been crashed out of Sebring and succumbed to a driver mistake at Long Beach, it would be leaving everyone else in the distance. On pace, Acura appears to have a significant gap over Cadillac as opposed to near-parity last season.
Also, I would really like to know more about the GT classes. Is it correct that in 2024 IMSA and WRC will run according to the same GT3 rules? Second, if the major Pro GT teams and manufacturers have moved up to GTP and Hypercars, and the GT ranks will be left to privateer teams, what is the point of having Am classes? And third, are there any homologation requirements anymore? Back in the day, when production-based cars actually needed to be production based, this used to be a big deal. What would keep Aston Martin from entering a Valkyrie, for example, as a GT?
Al in Boston
MP: Porsche was there to take full advantage of Acura’s issues at Long Beach, so while it might not have won on pure pace if MSR, WTR, and CGR were running problem-free, the 963s struck — just as AXR and Cadillac did at Sebring — when adversity entered the room. The Porsche is overly complex and takes considerable time to find the right setup. BMW is the biggest surprise, having gone from nowhere at Daytona to being highly competitive — not quite ready to win, but not miles away — two months later at Long Beach.
Hard to compare a new GTP formula with three races of data to DPi, which had six years of BoP evolution by the end of its run.
The ACO doesn’t need to mess with BoP manipulations to attract a big audience to watch Ferrari’s return. It will happen on its own.
Yes, the WEC will follow IMSA two years after we went to an all-GT3 GT formula. We run Michelins; they’ve chosen Goodyear, which will be a major headache for any GTD Pro or GTD entrants who want to race at Le Mans. Amateur drivers are an integral part of the sport; that’s why AM classes exist.
Aston Martin could develop the Valkyrie as a GT car, but if it wanted it to race in any ACO/WEC/ELMS/AsLMS- or IMSA-sanctioned series, it would need to build it to GT3 regulations, and there’s no way it would fit the strict rulebook, even if there were no homologation production requirements.
Q: What constitutes a turn at a road or street course? For instance, why is Turn 7 at Long Beach considered a turn, but the “turn” just past the start/finish line is not? It can’t be just the angle of the turn because there’s more of a turn on Shoreline Drive than at Turn 7. I’ve noticed similar things like that at other tracks too and have been wondering what the explanation is.
Mike Brockmeier
MP: The basic answer is “whatever each track decides it wants to name as a corner.” There’s no national or global standard for such things, so if a track wants to call something a corner, it can. The long bend on Shoreline Drive is just that, a really long bend. I’ve never heard a driver refer to it as a corner, so I’ll go with the real experts on this one.
Q: I recently had a thought about doubleheaders: IndyCar and MotoGP at Laguna Seca, the Indianapolis road course or COTA. I was completely shocked to subsequently see an article about a possible linkup between F1 and MotoGP. However, after thinking about it a bit further, perhaps SuperBikes (now MotoAmerica) might be a better fit for IndyCar; money being what it is. Could this be a workable plan? Or, how about a tripleheader including IMSA or Trans Am?
Back in the day, a number of NASCAR teams brought in “ringers” for road course races. In more recent times it seems that the regulars have really upped their skill levels. Have “ringers” become extinct? The same appeared to be true for the Bristol dirt event as well.
Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA
MP: I love your line of thinking. Only issue here is it’s hard to get series that are accustomed to being headliners on their own to link up for a double or tripleheader. Long Beach is a perfect example, where IMSA takes Saturday for its race and does, technically, serve as the headliner on that day, but it gets second-tier treatment at the event with a cramped and crappy paddock — think of the space like jamming a size 12 foot into a size 6 shoe for three days in a row. IMSA runs really early and really late on Friday, which wears out its pit crews, and then they’re back to run early on Saturday, race in the afternoon, pack up, and must be gone Saturday night so the track can use the space for Sunday parking and whatnot.
So, as much as I’d like to see more IndyCar+IMSA weekends, or IndyCar+MotoAmerica, you know Roger Penske won’t let his series be the opening band that people want to rush off the stage so the sports cars or bikes they love most get top billing.
KELLY CRANDALL: The ringers are extinct because, with the number of road courses on the schedule, drivers can’t afford to sit those races out. They would be giving up championship points, and that is inconceivable. And they absolutely have gotten better through the years because of how many races they are running. Back in the day, when there were only one or two road course races on the schedule, smaller teams could put a road ace into their car to help them with points. The same could be said about dirt — there just aren’t a lot of options for a ringer to get in a car because drivers running for points aren’t going to get out of theirs.
Q: I’d love to know the attendance at the Bristol dirt race and whether it was more or less than they had at the last spring pavement race there. From what I could tell the attendance Sunday night was spotty at best.
That leads me to my question: what in the world do they spend to turn that place into a dirt track and back to pavement again? I’m thinking that’s probably a closely held secret, but it seems to me that they must be taking a financial bath on the event, since attendance is what it is. I say if they want to run dirt tracks, go to a permanent one like Eldora or Knoxville or any number of others.
Greg in Brown County
KC: I don’t know what the attendance for Bristol dirt was. Those numbers are not released, and I haven’t seen an estimation from any reputable source. However, the attendance for the spring Bristol race has been abysmal for years, and I think between that and the weather, it led to NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports putting dirt on the track in the first place. I don’t know of the drop has been because of the weather or because NASCAR races in the Southeast a lot during the spring or what the cause is, but the numbers just aren’t there for the spring race.
Turning the place into a dirt track is pretty simple by their standards since they are using the same dirt they’ve had since the 2000s when they covered it in dirt for World of Outlaws. It’s been stored on property ever since. It’s been three years now and no one seems to know for sure if this race is going to continue in the future — Marcus Smith didn’t give an answer one way or another during the week of the race. Drivers are split on wanting the race on the schedule, and to your point of going to a purpose-built racetrack, that honestly hasn’t been something anyone has mentioned.
Q: I keep seeing second-generation racer Hailie Deegan’s name being thrown around in reference to driver marketing, such as:
- Hailie Deegan hasn’t felt welcomed in NASCAR and repeatedly calls out drivers for a lack of personality; Several offer their opinions
- Hailie Deegan notices lack of personality among current NASCAR drivers
Given the successful marketing career of Danica Patrick beginning in 2005 or so, do you think Deegan has a point?
Dan Schwartz, Atlanta, GA
KC: Hailie Deegan is tremendous at marketing and social media. She has a great personality for it, and she’s using it to her advantage, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. Everyone has a different approach. Hailie has the support of those she is working with to be herself and use social media as she does. To her point about personalities, there are a lot of drivers that just do it differently and are more reserved (which can translate to being vanilla) as to not put themselves in a position for any blowback through social media or in an interview.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, April 18, 2018
Q: I can’t agree more with you more regarding the IMS Hall of Fame changing its policy to allow drivers outside of the 500 to be inducted. In my opinion it takes away the prestige of the HOF, and is preventing more deserving individuals from being inducted — particularly those who drove in a time when you had to earn your spot to drive at Indy. My hope was that Johnny Boyd would be inducted for all that he did during his career, and afterwards as a great ambassador of the race. My question for you is, outside of Art Pollard, who you’ve stated you would put in the HOF, who would be your top three nominees?
Brett, Indianapolis
ROBIN MILLER: Jim Hurtubise, Mike Mosley and Bill Finley.