Thought I'd put up a few pictures from Sebring. Kinda hard to get motivated with so many disgruntled race fans Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
That one MOMO girl was as tall as me Here's a few more while I see if I got a pic of her tame enough to post. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
she could be my amazon any day I gotta say usually the grid girls are "meh", even in SoCal, but for some reason the "talent" at Sebring was very high quality. if only the same could be said for the PC drivers
From deep in the bowels of the fake wood wall paneled offices in Daytonner that reek of the smell of disused Winston cigarettes dating back to the 70s... - If you can't beat them, buy them out. - Buy the sanctioning body in order to keep the name alive and bring credibility to the series but move their offices to Speedway Boulevard in Daytonner and pull their strings whenever a melancholy, close finish is deemed necessary. - When you buy them out, tarnish their blue ribband event and reduce it to a laughing stock in order to diminish their 64 year old brand. - Penalize their former top teams when they're ahead of our teams on the track and hand victories to our old teams. - Let simmer over the course of a full racing season and see a revolt of the top teams and viola, GrandAM wins. BHW
that wasn't somewhat clear to you 18 months ago? I had hoped for the best, but let's be real...they bought 2 events (Sebring and Petit) and GTLM, screw everything else.
I didn't hear about that! The usual command was to wait for permission to respond, usually meant not until the FCY was out and an IMSA truck on site, help them out if need be. I and another worker managed to lay hands on a DP that'd pulled off and pushed it behind a barrier, preventing another FCY... but the number they had was painful, and the amount of time they ate up during each FCY was ridiculous. Fans in our area weren't very impressed with the race, and the marshalls don't travel that far and spend their money to hold yellow flags for hours, but for my first 12hr it was the fans that made the event hugely fun. Some fixed us burgers before Thursday night practice (but we had to wait until our day/night was done to have our beers) and then breakfast Saturday morning!
A few more....... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
To be honest, I wanted to take a step back and see what happened before passing judgement. As late as the holiday season, I was feeling rather optimistic that things would work out and sports car racing would be fine. But, after the 24 Hours and now the Sebring debacle, I now know the error of my ways and see that they have no intention of creating a world class sports car racing body, only an underling series to their roundy-round game. What a sad state of affairs. BHW
Now that you mention it I have noticed a slightly different fan base appearing at the recent sports car races Image Unavailable, Please Login
read between the lines (or some of the actual lines) bad news. I'm a big fan of this team. http://www.pickettracingteam.com/News/news.html?ar=MMPR%20to%20skip%20Long%20Beach%20and%20Laguna%20Seca
Between Level 5, Turner and now Pickett it isn't looking good is it? Add in the rumors about AJR and another team owner supposedly looking for a way out and it begins to look truly awful. Oh - and that's way out as in the team would be for sale in a heartbeat if there were any buyers.
A little subtle digging has revealed some very interesting tidbits the past couple of days with regard to the "merger" and IMSA's role in it. First of all, IMSA was absorbed into the "merger" to give the USCC series credibility but at the same time, the staff was dismissed, the offices in Braselton closed and everything was moved to Speedway Boulevard in Daytonner. It was reported that the full time IMSA safety team was summarily let go prior to last year's Petite Le Mans and replaced with an inexperienced safety crew, hand picked by the ISC. These are mostly people with zip codes in Daytonner and Charlotte and whether they knew/know anything about racing or not doesn't seem to really matter. Then, for Sebring this year, the SCCA and full time Sebring corner marshals have likewise been elbowed out of the way in favor of "Friends of the ISC" marshals. The marshaling at Daytona and Sebring, of course, has come under great scrutiny but be aware that the course marshals have no call in whether an incident warrants a local yellow or full course caution, that is in the hands of one Mr. Paul Walter who is the race director. So, unsurprisingly, NASCAR is putting people into important positions of power in the USCC that have little to no racing experience and the results thus far have been the debacles at Daytona and Sebring. Just wait til they get to the street course at Long Beach, they should have a caution field day out there. Likewise, not surprisingly, former ALMS teams are seeing the writing on the walls and withdrawing their participation from future races. Instead of charging the fake wood paneled walled offices in Daytonner with pitch forks and lit torches, they're getting a free pass (pun intended) to run wild with their "Manufactured drama" antics such as "competition yellows" and "phantom debris" cautions. BHW
Everyone I worked with at the ALMS/IMSA venues lost their positions and the few that are left are scattered amongst several teams. The former direct phone number to one of my 'people' at old the Braselton office is the is now the number for Deltawing. Yeah, the IMSA name was just a tool used for credibility.
Mmhmmm... It's a low down dirty shame. Just as they've done to the AMA, NASCAR will make a joke out of American sports car racing. I'm thinking right about now, some may even be nostalgic for the Andy Evans days. Ha! BHW
here's what's interesting to me: when John Bishop founded IMSA, his business partner/investor was....Bill France Sr. it's sad to see that the France family has not only lost the vision of sports car racing as it should be, they lost the vision that their patriarch had. oh, and I still want to know where Action Express gets their funding, anyone know? that's a NASCAR team masquerading as a sports car team (Gary Nelson, Elton Sawyer, ECR engines, shop in metro Charlotte, owned by a France family "made man"). ZERO sponsorship other than a big Chevy emblem. hmmm.
I wonder when the non-compete clause ends. That would be great if someone who had a stake in the racing industry would found a North American race series that would welcome the European based LeMans racing philosophy, rule enforcement, car types & technology. Where's the Delorean parked?... I'd like to go back in time since 'the future' sucks.
you mean like an American LeMans Series? novel idea only people with the cash, experience and desire to do so are already tightly aligned with NASCAR (think Penske, Ganassi, Hendrick, etc) so I don't see that happening unless the next Dr Panoz comes along.
