United SportsCar Racing TV Deal
08-12-2013, 07:12 PM
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Melting Slicks
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United SportsCar Racing TV Deal
Hello All, just got back from Road America Grand Am and ALMS racing and during a Fan Forum, there was NO NEWS on the 2014 racing schedule...
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130810/ALMS/130819998
United SportsCar Racing will face challenges in first year
Organizers hope new rules, new classes will appeal to both competitors, spectators
By: Autoweek Staff on August 10, 2013
Bob Stallings is like most of those in U.S. sports car racing in that he treats his team as a business, but it's also his hobby.
As the sport undergoes its massive change that will lead to a unified group in 2014, Stallings represents virtually everyone on either side of the paddock.
He's nervous and excited.
“There's only going to be one place to go for U.S. sports car racing, and I think it's going to be a better show for the spectators,” he said during a quiet moment at the Road America circuit, site of the Grand-Am Rolex Series/American Le Mans Series doubleheader. “We'll get more eyeballs, which means more television.”
On Friday, IMSA announced a multiyear TV contract with Fox Sports to carry the races of United SportsCar Racing, the combined product of the two sanctioning bodies.
Details of what USCR will look like, how it will race, where it will race, among other things, still have yet to be finalized and/or announced, and that worries many in the paddocks. A meeting of stakeholders was held Friday night at Road America, and there weren't many specifics given, according to sources who attended.
Stallings knows there will be rocky days ahead for the sport.
“My only expectation is that we won't get it right in 2014,” he said. “It will be a little awkward the first two or three races, but by the end of the year we'll start to get things figured out.”
Jon Bennett, who owns and drives for CORE Autosport in ALMS, compared waiting for regulations and a schedule to the first day of high school “with all the uncertainty and anxiety.” Michael Shank, who owns Grand-Am's Michael Shank Racing, wants to make sure sports car racing remains inclusive for anyone who pursues it.
Scott Sharp, who drives for Extreme Speed Motorsports in LMP2, said he's trying to stay above all the unsettledness.
“Whatever it is, we'll roll with it,” he said.
Changes are certainly coming, especially to the top class that will feature Daytona Prototypes racing against the LMP2 cars. (LMP1 will not have a place in the reconfigured series.) At Road America this weekend, LMP2 cars have been about 7 seconds quicker, and the expectation is that the DPs will have to be sped up for next year rather than the LMP2s slowed down.
“They've got to give (the DPs) more downforce, give them better brakes,” said Jeff Braun, an engineer for the Level 5 Motorsports team that fields two LMP2 cars. “Maybe they give them traction control. They've got to close that (speed) gap.”
Putting both cars on Continental tires will be the first step to that endeavor, but competitors don't expect that to be more than a second or two of the difference.
There will be extra costs, too. Stallings and Shank estimated an additional $300,000 to $400,000 for DP equipment the first year, about that much again for operating costs depending on what events are on the schedule. Stallings estimates his total cost will be $4.2 million.
The only races confirmed for 2014 are Daytona and Indianapolis, but it's a lock to see Sebring, Petite LeMans, Detroit, Long Beach and Kansas, too. Expected are between 10-12 races, and with Jim France waving the green flag at Le Mans, there could be a DP class at that event, too.
“The budget is really a function of how many outings we go on,” Bennett said. “Plus or minus 20 percent (change) is my hope.”
The biggest concern is the unknown, and many competitors are getting restless with the lack of concrete information. Greg Pickett, who owns the Muscle Milk team in LMP1, notes that the first test of the 2014 season is three months away. The clock is ticking, and that's not a good thing, he said.
Pickett said the blending of DP and LMP2 “is fraught with trouble,” and he fears NASCAR-inspired USCR will “dumb down” the ALMS that highlights technology.
“They're going to want to take me down to the hangers-on, entry-level car that probably should be in a showroom stock,” he said. “Look, I respect people who come in at the level they can do, but we can't all be professionals. A lot of this is club racing with purses.”
Neither Rob nor Chris Dyson, who also own an LMP1 program, attended the Road America event, so their current thoughts on the unified sport were not available.
Competitors also are concerned about how the DPs and LMP2 cars will race each other since they achieve lap times differently.
The Daytona Prototypes of the Grand-Am Series will be challenged to make up the speed gap with the LMP2 cars of the ALMS in 2014.
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC - The Daytona Prototypes of the Grand-Am Series will be challenged to make up the speed gap with the LMP2 cars of the ALMS in 2014.
The DP cars have better straight-line speed, but the LMP2s are nimble and turn efficiently. They also stop better.
“These (LMP2) cars are going to get killed on the long straightaways because they don't have the horsepower,” Braun said.
USCR is scheduled to take both types of the cars to a wind tunnel this week for a side-by-side comparison.
Shank said the LMP2s need beefed up to absorb contact.
“Most likely we win that battle 80 percent of the time,” he said.
Just 80 percent, he was asked.
“OK, 90 percent,” he said, smiling. “With the different ways these two cars make lap times, it's going to be havoc at the apex. In America, that's what we want.”
Shank also hopes USCR embraces the things about NASCAR that most U.S. race fans enjoy: Close, tight racing with tempers flaring once in a while.
“In America we want to see the crew chiefs fight,” he said. “We've got to play to our strengths. I worry that we'll get away from the bump and run. Races without cautions are a travesty that would have (NASCAR founder) Bill France turning over in his grave.”
Shank said he and other DP team owners must make modifications to their driver lineup as the combined class with be for professionals only. Shank plans to field one car in that category and other in the pro-am division.
Should any teams transition to DP, Bill Riley, whose company makes the cars, said an order can be filled in six weeks “as long as it's a known engine.”
Riley, who was an Indianapolis resident during IndyCar's split, sees the challenges everyone else sees. In terms of finding equivalency between DP and LMP2, he said the “easiest solution” is to have everyone migrate to the same car.
“(Equivalency) is going to be a tough job to do, and I don't know if they can get it right right off the bat,” he said.
Bennett said the challenges are worth fighting for.
“We'll adapt,” he said. “I see 2014 being a season of adjustments and then in 2015 we can really get back to racing.
“At the end of the day, I look at the sanctioning body like the weather: You're all operating under the same set of rules so there's no sense complaining about rain; it will be the same for all of us.”
Said Stallings, "I'm kind of used to the idea that when there are changes like this the answers come late. I'm more philosophical than I was three or four years ago. As a young man, these things really bothered me, but it is what it is. I can't change it. Whatever it is, we'll work it out.”
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130810/ALMS/130819998
United SportsCar Racing will face challenges in first year
Organizers hope new rules, new classes will appeal to both competitors, spectators
By: Autoweek Staff on August 10, 2013
Bob Stallings is like most of those in U.S. sports car racing in that he treats his team as a business, but it's also his hobby.
As the sport undergoes its massive change that will lead to a unified group in 2014, Stallings represents virtually everyone on either side of the paddock.
He's nervous and excited.
“There's only going to be one place to go for U.S. sports car racing, and I think it's going to be a better show for the spectators,” he said during a quiet moment at the Road America circuit, site of the Grand-Am Rolex Series/American Le Mans Series doubleheader. “We'll get more eyeballs, which means more television.”
On Friday, IMSA announced a multiyear TV contract with Fox Sports to carry the races of United SportsCar Racing, the combined product of the two sanctioning bodies.
Details of what USCR will look like, how it will race, where it will race, among other things, still have yet to be finalized and/or announced, and that worries many in the paddocks. A meeting of stakeholders was held Friday night at Road America, and there weren't many specifics given, according to sources who attended.
Stallings knows there will be rocky days ahead for the sport.
“My only expectation is that we won't get it right in 2014,” he said. “It will be a little awkward the first two or three races, but by the end of the year we'll start to get things figured out.”
Jon Bennett, who owns and drives for CORE Autosport in ALMS, compared waiting for regulations and a schedule to the first day of high school “with all the uncertainty and anxiety.” Michael Shank, who owns Grand-Am's Michael Shank Racing, wants to make sure sports car racing remains inclusive for anyone who pursues it.
Scott Sharp, who drives for Extreme Speed Motorsports in LMP2, said he's trying to stay above all the unsettledness.
“Whatever it is, we'll roll with it,” he said.
Changes are certainly coming, especially to the top class that will feature Daytona Prototypes racing against the LMP2 cars. (LMP1 will not have a place in the reconfigured series.) At Road America this weekend, LMP2 cars have been about 7 seconds quicker, and the expectation is that the DPs will have to be sped up for next year rather than the LMP2s slowed down.
“They've got to give (the DPs) more downforce, give them better brakes,” said Jeff Braun, an engineer for the Level 5 Motorsports team that fields two LMP2 cars. “Maybe they give them traction control. They've got to close that (speed) gap.”
Putting both cars on Continental tires will be the first step to that endeavor, but competitors don't expect that to be more than a second or two of the difference.
There will be extra costs, too. Stallings and Shank estimated an additional $300,000 to $400,000 for DP equipment the first year, about that much again for operating costs depending on what events are on the schedule. Stallings estimates his total cost will be $4.2 million.
The only races confirmed for 2014 are Daytona and Indianapolis, but it's a lock to see Sebring, Petite LeMans, Detroit, Long Beach and Kansas, too. Expected are between 10-12 races, and with Jim France waving the green flag at Le Mans, there could be a DP class at that event, too.
“The budget is really a function of how many outings we go on,” Bennett said. “Plus or minus 20 percent (change) is my hope.”
The biggest concern is the unknown, and many competitors are getting restless with the lack of concrete information. Greg Pickett, who owns the Muscle Milk team in LMP1, notes that the first test of the 2014 season is three months away. The clock is ticking, and that's not a good thing, he said.
Pickett said the blending of DP and LMP2 “is fraught with trouble,” and he fears NASCAR-inspired USCR will “dumb down” the ALMS that highlights technology.
“They're going to want to take me down to the hangers-on, entry-level car that probably should be in a showroom stock,” he said. “Look, I respect people who come in at the level they can do, but we can't all be professionals. A lot of this is club racing with purses.”
Neither Rob nor Chris Dyson, who also own an LMP1 program, attended the Road America event, so their current thoughts on the unified sport were not available.
Competitors also are concerned about how the DPs and LMP2 cars will race each other since they achieve lap times differently.
The Daytona Prototypes of the Grand-Am Series will be challenged to make up the speed gap with the LMP2 cars of the ALMS in 2014.
LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC - The Daytona Prototypes of the Grand-Am Series will be challenged to make up the speed gap with the LMP2 cars of the ALMS in 2014.
The DP cars have better straight-line speed, but the LMP2s are nimble and turn efficiently. They also stop better.
“These (LMP2) cars are going to get killed on the long straightaways because they don't have the horsepower,” Braun said.
USCR is scheduled to take both types of the cars to a wind tunnel this week for a side-by-side comparison.
Shank said the LMP2s need beefed up to absorb contact.
“Most likely we win that battle 80 percent of the time,” he said.
Just 80 percent, he was asked.
“OK, 90 percent,” he said, smiling. “With the different ways these two cars make lap times, it's going to be havoc at the apex. In America, that's what we want.”
Shank also hopes USCR embraces the things about NASCAR that most U.S. race fans enjoy: Close, tight racing with tempers flaring once in a while.
“In America we want to see the crew chiefs fight,” he said. “We've got to play to our strengths. I worry that we'll get away from the bump and run. Races without cautions are a travesty that would have (NASCAR founder) Bill France turning over in his grave.”
Shank said he and other DP team owners must make modifications to their driver lineup as the combined class with be for professionals only. Shank plans to field one car in that category and other in the pro-am division.
Should any teams transition to DP, Bill Riley, whose company makes the cars, said an order can be filled in six weeks “as long as it's a known engine.”
Riley, who was an Indianapolis resident during IndyCar's split, sees the challenges everyone else sees. In terms of finding equivalency between DP and LMP2, he said the “easiest solution” is to have everyone migrate to the same car.
“(Equivalency) is going to be a tough job to do, and I don't know if they can get it right right off the bat,” he said.
Bennett said the challenges are worth fighting for.
“We'll adapt,” he said. “I see 2014 being a season of adjustments and then in 2015 we can really get back to racing.
“At the end of the day, I look at the sanctioning body like the weather: You're all operating under the same set of rules so there's no sense complaining about rain; it will be the same for all of us.”
Said Stallings, "I'm kind of used to the idea that when there are changes like this the answers come late. I'm more philosophical than I was three or four years ago. As a young man, these things really bothered me, but it is what it is. I can't change it. Whatever it is, we'll work it out.”
08-12-2013, 07:34 PM
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http://www.ibj.com/ims-mulls-droppin.../article/42890
IMS considers dropping MotoGP event for new sports-car race
The upcoming MotoGP motorcycle race could be the last at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as NASCAR officials lobby instead for a stand-alone race for a newly merged sports-car series.
NASCAR executive Jim France this summer approached Speedway officials about holding its sports-car event currently staged the same weekend as the Brickyard 400 as a stand-alone event, motorsports sources said.
Mark Miles Miles
Losing the MotoGP would be a big blow to the local economy, said Chris Gahl, spokesman for Visit Indy, the city’s tourism arm.
“That event brings in an international and white-collar crowd,” Gahl said, a crowd that spends easily in excess of $10 million.
But hosting a sports-car event could wind up a bigger coup for the city and Speedway than the marginally profitable MotoGP race, given that NASCAR recently rolled the American Le Mans Series into its Grand Am Series to form the United Sports Car Series that will kick off in 2014.
“With the merger, this series is one on the rise. It has really good, close racing, cool cars and heavy involvement from [car] manufacturers,” said Zak Brown, founder of Just Marketing International, a Zionsville-based motorsports marketing firm that represents a number of the world’s biggest motorsports sponsors. “You want to talk about a sought-after demographic—this series will have it.”
High-end manufacturers such as Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Mazda are expected to be involved in the merged series, NASCAR officials said, while the likes of Audi and Aston Martin are considering joining.
No consensus
Speedway and NASCAR officials want more of an endurance format, where sports cars race four to six hours or more at the IMS, but there’s no consensus on how to make that happen. That move would be difficult if the race maintains its customary late-afternoon start on the Friday before the Sunday the Brickyard 400 is run.
Meanwhile, there appear to be opposing camps within the Speedway on whether to keep the motorcycle race.
While officials for Speedway parent Hulman & Co. have previously said the MotoGP event makes money, IMS President Doug Boles recently declined to comment on the event’s financial status.
Speedway officials are not eager to tip their hand on MotoGP’s future beyond this year, because knowing it is going away could put NASCAR in a better bargaining position.
Boles, however, told IBJ he hopes to announce a decision by the time the green flag drops on this year’s race Aug. 18.
Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., has said he’ll evaluate MotoGP’s future shortly after this year’s event concludes. While the IMS has a contract with MotoGP rights-holder Spain-based Dorna Sports through 2014, Speedway officials have a small window to opt out of the contract after this year’s race.
Ticket sales down
Pre-race ticket sales don’t bode well for the event’s future. Attendance has been in decline, and Boles said “ticket sales are down fractionally this year.” But he added that good weather could turn that around.
“We depend more on race day walk-up, or ride-up, traffic for this race than any other event we have,” Boles said. “If the weather is good, people will ride in from up to several hours away for the race.”
All indications are that Miles is ready to end the 6-year-old event. Several local business owners that have dealings with the track and MotoGP race said they’ve been told by Speedway officials to be ready for a change by late August.
Boles, though, is singing a different tune.
“We want to find a way to keep motorcycle racing at the venue,” said Boles, who recently sat down with Dorna officials at their race in Laguna Seca, Calif.
But he also said, “We would love to have [United Sports Car] racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.” Having both MotoGP and sports cars might not be possible.
“If they’re faced with an either/or scenario, it could be a very difficult decision,” said Tim Frost, a Chicago-based motorsports business consultant.
Dorna usually announces its schedule for the upcoming MotoGP season in September or October. NASCAR plans to announce its 2014 United Sports Car Series schedule in October.
jdc-moto-12-0287-2-15col.jpg Attendance at the MotoGP race at Indianapolis has declined from 75,000 in 2008 to about 60,000 last year. (Photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
NASCAR officials declined to comment on the possibility of the Grand Am race's changing dates at the IMS.
“While Indianapolis remains a solid candidate to be part of the inaugural United Sports Car Racing season in 2014, the schedule is a work in progress,” said NASCAR spokesman David Higdon.
MotoGP officials did not return calls seeking comment.
Not adding up
The Grand Am-American Le Mans merger means some tracks currently involved in sports car racing will be left out in the cold, and NASCAR could depart altogether if IMS doesn’t seriously consider moving the event.
This year, the two sports-car series race at 17 tracks. Next year, the merged series will race at 12 tracks.
France told Speedway officials the Grand Am Series is being hindered not only by its Friday time slot, but also because it has a very different audience from the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series run during the Brickyard 400 weekend.
“There is certainly some disconnect in the fan bases,” Frost said. “With NASCAR putting its muscle behind it, I think Grand Am could make a go of it alone in Indy.”
MotoGP came to Indianapolis in 2008. It was championed by then-track President Joie Chitwood. Miles, who was hired in December, recently conceded the margins on the event are perilously low.
In 2008, attendance was well over 75,000 for Sunday’s main event, with the three-day total setting the high-water mark at 170,000, according to MotoGP officials. But attendance has slipped in most subsequent years, with last year’s race at about 60,000 and for the three-day weekend at fewer than 150,000.
One of the big problems with the MotoGP race, Frost said, was the start of a third such U.S. race this year—at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
“What that does is essentially take a big slice out of the money spent by manufacturers like Ducati, Honda and Suzuki in Indianapolis,” Frost said.
Each of the major motorcycle companies spends about $1 million in corporate hospitality and marketing at the U.S. MotoGP events. Before the start of the Austin race, that money was divided between races in Indianapolis and at Laguna Seca.
“Now, that same pot of money is split three ways,” Frost said.
Including a sanctioning fee that runs between $2 million and $3.5 million for the MotoGP race, motorsports business experts said the race costs the IMS $5 million to operate.
With little television revenue included in its MotoGP licensing agreement, IMS officials are forced to try to recoup their investment from ticket, hospitality, parking, concession and other miscellaneous revenue.
The sanctioning fee required by NASCAR for a sports car race would be considerably less. Experts peg it at about $500,000. All in all, Speedway officials could host a United Sports Car race for a little more than $1 million. While they’d likely get no TV money from the deal, Brown thinks the event could turn a tidy profit.
If the Speedway could sell 60,000 tickets for an average price of $50, that would mean $3 million in ticket revenue alone, and probably equate to another $1 million in parking and concession revenue, Frost said.
“Do the math,” Brown said. “You can see this has the potential to be a solid money-maker for the track.”•
IMS considers dropping MotoGP event for new sports-car race
The upcoming MotoGP motorcycle race could be the last at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as NASCAR officials lobby instead for a stand-alone race for a newly merged sports-car series.
NASCAR executive Jim France this summer approached Speedway officials about holding its sports-car event currently staged the same weekend as the Brickyard 400 as a stand-alone event, motorsports sources said.
Mark Miles Miles
Losing the MotoGP would be a big blow to the local economy, said Chris Gahl, spokesman for Visit Indy, the city’s tourism arm.
“That event brings in an international and white-collar crowd,” Gahl said, a crowd that spends easily in excess of $10 million.
But hosting a sports-car event could wind up a bigger coup for the city and Speedway than the marginally profitable MotoGP race, given that NASCAR recently rolled the American Le Mans Series into its Grand Am Series to form the United Sports Car Series that will kick off in 2014.
“With the merger, this series is one on the rise. It has really good, close racing, cool cars and heavy involvement from [car] manufacturers,” said Zak Brown, founder of Just Marketing International, a Zionsville-based motorsports marketing firm that represents a number of the world’s biggest motorsports sponsors. “You want to talk about a sought-after demographic—this series will have it.”
High-end manufacturers such as Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Mazda are expected to be involved in the merged series, NASCAR officials said, while the likes of Audi and Aston Martin are considering joining.
No consensus
Speedway and NASCAR officials want more of an endurance format, where sports cars race four to six hours or more at the IMS, but there’s no consensus on how to make that happen. That move would be difficult if the race maintains its customary late-afternoon start on the Friday before the Sunday the Brickyard 400 is run.
Meanwhile, there appear to be opposing camps within the Speedway on whether to keep the motorcycle race.
While officials for Speedway parent Hulman & Co. have previously said the MotoGP event makes money, IMS President Doug Boles recently declined to comment on the event’s financial status.
Speedway officials are not eager to tip their hand on MotoGP’s future beyond this year, because knowing it is going away could put NASCAR in a better bargaining position.
Boles, however, told IBJ he hopes to announce a decision by the time the green flag drops on this year’s race Aug. 18.
Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., has said he’ll evaluate MotoGP’s future shortly after this year’s event concludes. While the IMS has a contract with MotoGP rights-holder Spain-based Dorna Sports through 2014, Speedway officials have a small window to opt out of the contract after this year’s race.
Ticket sales down
Pre-race ticket sales don’t bode well for the event’s future. Attendance has been in decline, and Boles said “ticket sales are down fractionally this year.” But he added that good weather could turn that around.
“We depend more on race day walk-up, or ride-up, traffic for this race than any other event we have,” Boles said. “If the weather is good, people will ride in from up to several hours away for the race.”
All indications are that Miles is ready to end the 6-year-old event. Several local business owners that have dealings with the track and MotoGP race said they’ve been told by Speedway officials to be ready for a change by late August.
Boles, though, is singing a different tune.
“We want to find a way to keep motorcycle racing at the venue,” said Boles, who recently sat down with Dorna officials at their race in Laguna Seca, Calif.
But he also said, “We would love to have [United Sports Car] racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.” Having both MotoGP and sports cars might not be possible.
“If they’re faced with an either/or scenario, it could be a very difficult decision,” said Tim Frost, a Chicago-based motorsports business consultant.
Dorna usually announces its schedule for the upcoming MotoGP season in September or October. NASCAR plans to announce its 2014 United Sports Car Series schedule in October.
jdc-moto-12-0287-2-15col.jpg Attendance at the MotoGP race at Indianapolis has declined from 75,000 in 2008 to about 60,000 last year. (Photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
NASCAR officials declined to comment on the possibility of the Grand Am race's changing dates at the IMS.
“While Indianapolis remains a solid candidate to be part of the inaugural United Sports Car Racing season in 2014, the schedule is a work in progress,” said NASCAR spokesman David Higdon.
MotoGP officials did not return calls seeking comment.
Not adding up
The Grand Am-American Le Mans merger means some tracks currently involved in sports car racing will be left out in the cold, and NASCAR could depart altogether if IMS doesn’t seriously consider moving the event.
This year, the two sports-car series race at 17 tracks. Next year, the merged series will race at 12 tracks.
France told Speedway officials the Grand Am Series is being hindered not only by its Friday time slot, but also because it has a very different audience from the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide series run during the Brickyard 400 weekend.
“There is certainly some disconnect in the fan bases,” Frost said. “With NASCAR putting its muscle behind it, I think Grand Am could make a go of it alone in Indy.”
MotoGP came to Indianapolis in 2008. It was championed by then-track President Joie Chitwood. Miles, who was hired in December, recently conceded the margins on the event are perilously low.
In 2008, attendance was well over 75,000 for Sunday’s main event, with the three-day total setting the high-water mark at 170,000, according to MotoGP officials. But attendance has slipped in most subsequent years, with last year’s race at about 60,000 and for the three-day weekend at fewer than 150,000.
One of the big problems with the MotoGP race, Frost said, was the start of a third such U.S. race this year—at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
“What that does is essentially take a big slice out of the money spent by manufacturers like Ducati, Honda and Suzuki in Indianapolis,” Frost said.
Each of the major motorcycle companies spends about $1 million in corporate hospitality and marketing at the U.S. MotoGP events. Before the start of the Austin race, that money was divided between races in Indianapolis and at Laguna Seca.
“Now, that same pot of money is split three ways,” Frost said.
Including a sanctioning fee that runs between $2 million and $3.5 million for the MotoGP race, motorsports business experts said the race costs the IMS $5 million to operate.
With little television revenue included in its MotoGP licensing agreement, IMS officials are forced to try to recoup their investment from ticket, hospitality, parking, concession and other miscellaneous revenue.
The sanctioning fee required by NASCAR for a sports car race would be considerably less. Experts peg it at about $500,000. All in all, Speedway officials could host a United Sports Car race for a little more than $1 million. While they’d likely get no TV money from the deal, Brown thinks the event could turn a tidy profit.
If the Speedway could sell 60,000 tickets for an average price of $50, that would mean $3 million in ticket revenue alone, and probably equate to another $1 million in parking and concession revenue, Frost said.
“Do the math,” Brown said. “You can see this has the potential to be a solid money-maker for the track.”•
08-12-2013, 11:54 PM
#3
Safety Car
Shank also hopes USCR embraces the things about NASCAR that most U.S. race fans enjoy: Close, tight racing with tempers flaring once in a while.
“In America we want to see the crew chiefs fight,” he said. “We've got to play to our strengths. I worry that we'll get away from the bump and run. Races without cautions are a travesty that would have (NASCAR founder) Bill France turning over in his grave.”
“In America we want to see the crew chiefs fight,” he said. “We've got to play to our strengths. I worry that we'll get away from the bump and run. Races without cautions are a travesty that would have (NASCAR founder) Bill France turning over in his grave.”
Not one of the most popular American sports car racing series of the past 50 years (USRRC, Can-Am, Camel GT, IMSA GTP) were "collision-based" and trying to manufacture interest with such antics ought to be beneath everyone involved. You'd think that they past 14 years of crappy race attendance and crappy TV viewership would have killed that theory by now.
Sports car racing is not NASCAR racing and the fans don't watch it for the same reasons. Never have, never will.
Moron.
Z//
08-13-2013, 11:49 AM
#4
....yeah, I was hopeful this could be a good thing....but not many words of encouragement in those articles...sigh...
The whole concept of "wanting" crew fights and beefing up cars to "take the abuse"....that just sucks....drive a race car like you are supposed to and building tanks won't be required....
The whole concept of "wanting" crew fights and beefing up cars to "take the abuse"....that just sucks....drive a race car like you are supposed to and building tanks won't be required....
08-13-2013, 01:55 PM
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Cruise-In V Veteran
That's what many American NASCAR fans may want to see, Mr. Shank, but NOT what American sports car racing fans want to see and a primary reason why most ALMS fans wanted nothing to do with Grand-Am all these years - encouraging BS "incidents" to try and get the 12-year-old boys excited. So bring on the "bump-and-run" nonsense and see how that links to the attendance/viewership figures. Oh, and be sure to take that ethos to Le Mans if/when they have a "DP class" there. It'll be real popular there, too (although, why the Le Mans organizers would even invite the practitioners would have to be a real mystery.)
Not one of the most popular American sports car racing series of the past 50 years (USRRC, Can-Am, Camel GT, IMSA GTP) were "collision-based" and trying to manufacture interest with such antics ought to be beneath everyone involved. You'd think that they past 14 years of crappy race attendance and crappy TV viewership would have killed that theory by now.
Sports car racing is not NASCAR racing and the fans don't watch it for the same reasons. Never have, never will.
Moron.
Z//
Not one of the most popular American sports car racing series of the past 50 years (USRRC, Can-Am, Camel GT, IMSA GTP) were "collision-based" and trying to manufacture interest with such antics ought to be beneath everyone involved. You'd think that they past 14 years of crappy race attendance and crappy TV viewership would have killed that theory by now.
Sports car racing is not NASCAR racing and the fans don't watch it for the same reasons. Never have, never will.
Moron.
Z//
08-13-2013, 02:50 PM
#6
Team Owner
That's what many American NASCAR fans may want to see, Mr. Shank, but NOT what American sports car racing fans want to see and a primary reason why most ALMS fans wanted nothing to do with Grand-Am all these years - encouraging BS "incidents" to try and get the 12-year-old boys excited. So bring on the "bump-and-run" nonsense and see how that links to the attendance/viewership figures. Oh, and be sure to take that ethos to Le Mans if/when they have a "DP class" there. It'll be real popular there, too (although, why the Le Mans organizers would even invite the practitioners would have to be a real mystery.)
Not one of the most popular American sports car racing series of the past 50 years (USRRC, Can-Am, Camel GT, IMSA GTP) were "collision-based" and trying to manufacture interest with such antics ought to be beneath everyone involved. You'd think that they past 14 years of crappy race attendance and crappy TV viewership would have killed that theory by now.
Sports car racing is not NASCAR racing and the fans don't watch it for the same reasons. Never have, never will.
Moron.
Z//
Not one of the most popular American sports car racing series of the past 50 years (USRRC, Can-Am, Camel GT, IMSA GTP) were "collision-based" and trying to manufacture interest with such antics ought to be beneath everyone involved. You'd think that they past 14 years of crappy race attendance and crappy TV viewership would have killed that theory by now.
Sports car racing is not NASCAR racing and the fans don't watch it for the same reasons. Never have, never will.
Moron.
Z//
No urge to watch Grand Am especially when I saw SpeedCenter talking up the bump and run finishes in Grand Am.I hope they don't drop a current non street circuit track for IMS.
08-13-2013, 02:57 PM
#7
Safety Car
It's the world we live in... it's all about viewership numbers baby! Almost every show on TV now is fake. Just look at the programming on channels like Discovery, History, TLC, etc. Channels that used to be about learning. Now it's Moonshiners, Amish Mafia, Tickle, fake documentaries on Mega sharks for Shark Week, not to mention the utter bottom of the barrel like Honey Boo Boo.
08-13-2013, 03:01 PM
#8
Team Owner
It's the world we live in... it's all about viewership numbers baby! Almost every show on TV now is fake. Just look at the programming on channels like Discovery, History, TLC, etc. Channels that used to be about learning. Now it's Moonshiners, Amish Mafia, Tickle, fake documentaries on Mega sharks for Shark Week, not to mention the utter bottom of the barrel like Honey Boo Boo.
08-13-2013, 03:15 PM
#9
Safety Car
I'd say it's a reaction to decreased viewership and not the cause. Internet/social media is the cause, the decay in quality programming is the reaction as they become more focused on viewership numbers. I'd wager stupid folks are becoming a larger portion of the viewing audience so TV content is trying to fill those needs.