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ROBIN MILLER'S STRAIGHT FROM THE GEARBOX Tuesday, July 5, 2005
While watching Monday's American LeMans race at Lime Rock, a few obvious things came to mind:
1). ALMS needs more cars and fans. 2). So does Champ Car. 3.) They would be good for each other. 4.) Especially on July 4th.
As it stands today, Champ Car officials are working on running as many as a half dozen doubleheaders with ALMS in 2006.
The crazy thing is that they've only been partners twice -- in 2002 and 2003 at Miami.
But everything about this pairing makes sense.
First off, ALMS needs more fans, more exposure and more races than the 12 they've got scheduled in 2005.
Some of the ALMS shows I've watched on television, like at Road Atlanta and Mid-Ohio, have decent crowds considering there are two sports cars series to chose from. That's why a weekend with Champ Car, ALMS, the Formula Atlantic series and the vintage Formula One cars could be such a winner.
There are plenty of road racing fans in this country, some dormant because of the open wheel split and others maybe not willing to drive long distances just to see one main event.
Giving those folks a diverse and packed program at a reasonable price just might bring back the crowds who used to pack Elkhart Lake, Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca for the heydays of Can-Am and CART.
Obviously, with only four prototypes, ALMS could use a few more heavy hitters for its top class but Rob Dyson's two-car effort gave the Audis a good run Monday until being besieged by mechanical problems. The draw is that, unlike Grand Am, those four cars are full-blown technical marvels that look and sound like sports cars should.
The second tier (LMP2) is soon to sport Porsche and Honda so that's another plus because you know both will have name drivers in their cars.
And who's to say that, given the opportunity, Paul Tracy or Sebastien Bourdais or Jimmy Vasser wouldn't do double duty on these weekends?
Champ Car, which honestly needs about four more full-timers, might be able to cultivate some new teams out of the ALMS paddock in time and it could also be a chance for a talented sports car racer to catch the eye of a Champ Car owner.
With no races in Florida at the moment, Champ Car could open its season at Sebring with the 12-Hour enduro that always draws more than 150,000. Another natural match would be Long Beach, where ALMS would get a couple days of excellent exposure for its sponsors and Champ Car would provide its loyal fans more bang for the buck.
More importantly, they could team up and fill voids in their schedules.
NASCAR always runs Daytona on Saturday of the July 4th weekend, while the Indy Racing League usually goes on Sunday so Monday would have been a perfect time for Champ Car to be on television (not at Lime Rock naturally but someplace).
ALMS currently stops at former CART strongholds like Road America and Laguna Seca, which have been dropped from Champ Car's schedule due to dwindling attendance. But if properly promoted and packed with ALMS, they could be resurrected.
Plus, ALMS joining Champ Car at Cleveland would also be a hit.
The glory days of road racing may be over but there's no reason that better days aren't around the corner if ALMS and Champ Car can pull off this partnership.
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9260
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