ALMS dead?

[Deschodt]

3 cars in P1, 3 in P2, 11 in GT2... And already 2 out after a handful of laps... Wow, there are more cars in speed gt or even at my local autocross.... Not a good sign!

[trekkor]

Is it on TV now?


KT

[David]

Thanks, I didn't realize it was on. It's on ABC.

It does look pretty sad though

[dd74]

Dead? No. But it's too bad ALMS doesn't have anything close to the notoriety of NASCAR. Some of the ALMS cars are much closer to what we drive every day than NASCAR machines.

[pwd72s]

Missed it...the sun is shining in the Willamette Valley of Oregon today, so I spent the morn & most of the afternoon committing herbicide. Undoubtedly more productive than watching an ALMS race.

Now? Off to watch live streaming of a women's pool tournament...some of these ladies can play a bit.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by dd74

Dead? No. But it's too bad ALMS doesn't have anything close to the notoriety of NASCAR. Some of the ALMS cars are much closer to what we drive every day than NASCAR machines.

Oh, I agree, it's been my favorite series with F1 and WRC for years, with incredible access to the pits - I was chatting with Pat Long this friday, and last year I was touching the porsche Spyder and chatting with Romain Dumas...

But how long can they keep going with 17 cars ? And that is 3+3+11 when you add up different classes... Would you watch a series featuring 3 cars? That's essentially what this is right now if you break them down by class... The 3rd P1 car is 2 seconds a lap slower than the others but is guaranteed of podium all year, how lame is that?

Last 2 years corvette raced themselves in GT1, it was nice to see and hear them, but that was pretty lame too ! If I were Scott Atherton, I would literally beg Audi and Porsche (and Peugeot but that'd be harder) to come back, offer them money, break the bond with the ACO (Le Mans) rules, whatever it takes to get the prototypes back and /or reduce costs for GT2s... If you think about it, the guarantee spot for the 24h of lemans makes no sense for whoever's left.. Acura is not going, Audi was gonna be accepted anyway, they should do whatever the manufacturers want to keep them "in"... If you were Acura, would you return next year ? To fight against themselves, corvette style ? I wouldn't !

I hate seing this series go down the tubes, but it's circling the drain! I remember when it was the feature sunday race and saturday was SpeedGT etc...now it's second fiddle to the crapwagons series (man are those IRL cars fugly). This recession bites !

[sammyg2]

They have historically hurt their best competitors by giving unfair advantages to newcomers.
They practically sold the series to pontiac a few years ago, only to be abandoned by them after they took away some of the advantages. Then they hung the carrot on a stick for Ferrari, and then Acura.

They have screwed their best teams and then act surprised after they leave.
it's their own self-destructive fault.

[Embraer]

too bad. it's a great series, with interesting cars. you can actually walk around the paddock and talk to the drivers and such. doesn't have the ridiculous arrogance of the crappy openwheel racing.

my dad was a USAC/Indy Car timing official in the 80's and 90's...i'll never forgot how pretentious everybody in that series acted....as if they were on the level of Formula 1.

I've been going to ALMS races for the last few years, and it was refreshing. I went to the 24 hours of le mans in 2006 when it rained all night, and i'll be going again this june.

[Whtnkls911]

This week AMLS sent out a memo to the IMSA GT3 Cup series racers inviting them to join AMLS racing. In the past AMLS has kept the Cup cars away, I guess now with the lack of participants everyones welcome.

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Whtnkls911

This week AMLS sent out a memo to the IMSA GT3 Cup series racers inviting them to join AMLS racing. In the past AMLS has kept the Cup cars away, I guess now with the lack of participants everyones welcome.

Including NASCAR?

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by dd74

Including NASCAR?

No...the NASCAR boys are too fast...

[Buckterrier]

I totally enjoy the ALMS series There is no other series that can put 7-8 differentt mfg on the track, (GT2), at the same time. I didn't realize only 11 GT2 cars were on, that does stink. I heard Porsche is working on a P1 car for 2010. Any truth to that?
Will be going to Lime Rock again this year along with being at Sebring and possibly going to Mid-Ohio. Let's hope things turn around for them.
Anyone know why Andretti/Green left?

[Weaver]

"why did andretti green leave?"
We were not picked up by Honda Performance Development ( HPD ) for the 09 season for the P1 project. We would have been forced to find a sponsor to run as a customer team in P2. HPD moved xm radio to the DeFerren team, so we were without a sponsor in a very,very expensive series that is extremly hard to find sponsorship for in the first place. The three owners really enjoyed the series, but from a busniess stand point, it just didn't make sense.

It was fun, and I'm glad I did it, the cars are cool. Alot cooler that the last time I worked in sportscars in the early '90s. But I also understand not being able to see the return in a huge investment.

The car is in the corner of the shop and is for sale. Contact me with offers!

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by Weaver

"why did andretti green leave?"
We were not picked up by Honda Performance Development ( HPD ) for the 09 season for the P1 project. We would have been forced to find a sponsor to run as a customer team in P2. HPD moved xm radio to the DeFerren team, so we were without a sponsor in a very,very expensive series that is extremly hard to find sponsorship for in the first place. The three owners really enjoyed the series, but from a busniess stand point, it just didn't make sense.

It was fun, and I'm glad I did it, the cars are cool. Alot cooler that the last time I worked in sportscars in the early '90s. But I also understand not being able to see the return in a huge investment.

The car is in the corner of the shop and is for sale. Contact me with offers!

Thanks for the reply Weaver. Geez, I'd have thought Honda would have preferred to stay with a 'name' like Andretti vs. De Ferren although he is also a very good racer.
Maybe we'll see the car at the next Barrett-Jackson auction?

Let's hope for better times.