Indycar at Road America in 2010???

[booger]

The ALMS just announce it's nine race schedule and their release states that they would be running with the IRL on their August weekend at Road America. This is the first I've heard about the IRL adding Elkhart. Anybody have any solid info on this. It would be great if they did!

[Lousada]

Link? Are you sure you have not misread it for the other August weekend in Mid-Ohio? The IRL is scheduled for Sonoma 22 August.

[booger]

http://www.planetlemans.com/2009/09/25/alms-announces-2010-race-schedule/

[NickFalzone]

Would be great, but no way this is legit. It's a misprint of some kind or another. IRL folks seemed slightly put out that they even had to schedule a "full" 17 races, and the short answer whenever someone asked about throwing in one more (like Milw) was typically "no ####ing way". The IRL is significantly more likely to drop a race next season than add one IMO.

[booger]

I think it is probably a misprint too. Probably from a rookie pr guy at ALMS. One of my friends who knows people at RA checked and they said they hadn't heard a thing. They're still cleaning up the wrecked cars from the runoffs at RA. But...hope springs eternal! I remember the first CART race there in '82 and they only scheduled that one a few weeks before the event...of course the sport was much more pure then.

[booger]

Ok, just checked both ALMS and IRL websites. RA isn't gonna happen. The IRL is at Infineon on 8/22, the same date as the ALMS is scheduled at RA. That's what happens when some pr moron makes a miscue. So we'll be starved for a decent race at RA for another year...but the runoffs were pretty good though, especially the FF race, all bow to Rubenzer!

[Jag_Warrior]

So we'll be starved for a decent race at RA for another year...

Not unless ALMS cancels. ;)

[grungex]

Not to mention SVRA, VSCDA and BRIC.

[booger]

And driving 100 year old race cars is real racing? I don't think so! Ask the drivers about their rules. Reasonably fast "Touring" is a much better term to those organizations.

[Andy Traxel]

Booger,

While it would be nice to see more "pro" racing at Road America, the track doesn't seem to need it. Between the AMA weekend, the ALMS weekend, June Sprints, the Run-offs, other weekend car club & vintage car & cycle events, their schedule is pretty full.

There's also a fair amount of private weekday activity there. Some of it is individuals or groups running their own cars for fun. Some of it is testing by teams or manufacturers. Production cars as well as race teams.

Based on the improvements they've been making to the track & facilities the last several years, they must be making money at it with the events they have.

I doubt the IRL will run again at RA until the package & promotion improves.

Andy

[grungex]

And driving 100 year old race cars is real racing? I don't think so! Ask the drivers about their rules. Reasonably fast "Touring" is a much better term to those organizations.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you've never attended one of these events...

[Mark in Oshawa]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you've never attended one of these events...

I was going to say the same. Good historics or vintage shows can be entertaining...more so than some of the IRL races I have watched this season.

[Easy Drifter]

Some of the best racing you will ever see is at CASC/SCCA road races. Ditto for oval track racing.
Where the h--l do you thing all the name drivers come from.
I saw Gilles Villeneuve in F Ford as well as Michael Andretti.
Michael at an SCCA Regional at Nelson Ledges.

[garyshell]

And driving 100 year old race cars is real racing? I don't think so! Ask the drivers about their rules. Reasonably fast "Touring" is a much better term to those organizations.


I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you've never attended one of these events...


Gee grungex, how could you ever have guessed that? ;) :D I remember a few years back at a vintage event at MidOhio watching two gull wing Mercedes trading paint with each other. Latter in the paddock I asked one of them about it. He let out a huge laugh, "Oh we're buddies, we have a pact... any body damage to my car he has to fix, any to his I have to fix."

Gary

[Mark in Oshawa]

Gee grungex, how could you ever have guessed that? ;) :D I remember a few years back at a vintage event at MidOhio watching two gull wing Mercedes trading paint with each other. Latter in the paddock I asked one of them about it. He let out a huge laugh, "Oh we're buddies, we have a pact... any body damage to my car he has to fix, any to his I have to fix."

Gary

I have seen racing like that in more Vintage weekends than I care to count. It has a downside though. Director David Cronenberg used to run at Mosport and found his rare mid 60's vintage Ferrari didn't need to be run off at Moss Corner. Nor did his rare Cooper Monaco. The cost of racing and fixing these old cars got very painful and in time, it drove him out of the sport. He loved the cars, and didn't like having to rebuild them when some schmuck in a sports racer special with a small block Chev with a dubious history or some doofus in a vintage Formula Junior car caused him financial stress. Still was fun to watch tho...lol

[booger]

Hey Andy and Easy...: Never said the Sprints and the runoffs were not good racing...in fact, they're easily the best of the year. I was referring to these guys in vintage. Vintage also has an additional danger potential. Take the guys in the vintage F-1 cars for example. They're out there flying like there is no tomorrow and even though they spend megabucks per lap to keep these cars in shape, remember F-1s are designed to last ONE SEASON. Can you say metal fatigue? Not to mention potential wheel and other suspension failure potential. They sure sound good though.

Indycars definitely will not be at RA. I got an email from the site that ran the release and they had some dumb reason about having used a priliminary sked or something. To my knowledge there never was an Indycar date at RA on any sked, old or new. Oh well, it made for some interesting conversation though.

[NickFalzone]

That is kind of interesting if the IRL was close enough to racing at RA that they were on a preliminary schedule. As far as safety of vintage racing, I believe that Dario had a significant back injury a few years ago in a vintage car at Goodwood, I don't recall if it was due to the car or his driving though.

[Will Rogers]

It's everyone's loss if the IRL doesn't race at Road America--it's only the best road racing venue in the US, and the one all the drivers want to run. But the track management is poor in the extremis, so it doesn't take much to quash any league initiatives to get a race on the schedule there.

As for the competitiveness of vintage racing, you see as wide a range of racing quality as you do types of cars. I've been at RA and seen dozens of guys racing Corvettes with way more power than driving skill, ending up in a big mash-up at the start/finish line--cars on top of each other, stacked three-deep-- when the starter doesn't throw the green flag they all expected. You can just as easily see a stylish veteran in a 62 Jag E-Type hitting all the braking points and apexes, showing everyone how it's done as you can see some r$ch dolt in an overpowered Corvette weaving all over, making anyone who's every been behind the wheel of a rented Ford Tempo cringe...

[Andy Traxel]

Will,

What makes you say the management at RA is poor? Because they won't take an open wheel race from an unsponsored series with mediocre promotion at an unprofitable price?

My take is that management at RA has done an excellent job of managing the track given the sad shape of "pro" racing in the US. They must be making money given the upgrades they've made to the paddock & facilities and the changes they've made to portions of the track for safety reasons.

I'm in Milwaukee and the contrast between management at RA and the fiasco at the Mile is vivid. I wish the Mile had somebody as "poor" as RA does to manage it. Then maybe we'd still have a race there.

Andy

[nigelred5]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you've never attended one of these events...

x3. Vintage "racing", and in some events they really do race pretty hard, is great to watch and especially close your eyes for just a little while and think about when all of those cars were fresh out of the shop 30-40 years or more ago...... The sound is AWESOME

[nigelred5]

Will,

What makes you say the management at RA is poor? Because they won't take an open wheel race from an unsponsored series with mediocre promotion at an unprofitable price?

My take is that management at RA has done an excellent job of managing the track given the sad shape of "pro" racing in the US. They must be making money given the upgrades they've made to the paddock & facilities and the changes they've made to portions of the track for safety reasons.

I'm in Milwaukee and the contrast between management at RA and the fiasco at the Mile is vivid. I wish the Mile had somebody as "poor" as RA does to manage it. Then maybe we'd still have a race there.

Andy


There are plenty of road courses in the US without big time professional racing that are doing just fine, and have been for a long time, on track rentals, schools and regional racing. Old and new have figured out what drains the coffers and it's not paying users. I've already spent more money driving karts at NJMSP than I have on race tickets.

It's a crying shame that teh so called premier open wheel series in the US doesn't race at RA, but I don't see that changing any time soon. Open wheel racing is dying a long painful death in North America. If It weren't for Mazda, we'd basically be down to nothing on a professional level.

[garyshell]

x3. Vintage "racing", and in some events they really do race pretty hard, is great to watch and especially close your eyes for just a little while and think about when all of those cars were fresh out of the shop 30-40 years or more ago...... The sound is AWESOME


Yes, especially the class with the old Can-Am cars in it. I think that's group 7. I went to a Can-Am reunion several years ago at Watkins Glen. It was the most wonderful sound since 1969, when I saw them at MidOhio

Gary

[booger]

RA management have done a great job. A great job of alienating the entire village of Elkhart Lake shaking down the restaurants, hotels, bars and virtually every other business for discounts and freebies while doing everything they can to shake every shekel out of the competitors and spectators alike. They've done a great job of alienating spectators by launching ticket prices through the roof for the pitiful array of events that they schedule They're doing a great job of alienating sanctioning bodies (just ask the AMA who probably won't be back next year). They've done a great job of promoting events with virtually no promotion. They've done a great job of pr after giving the hook to the last two professional pr managers and replacing them with a rank amateur. They've done a great job of being arrogant snobs in sponsorship negotiations demanding outlandish sums for sponsorships that return nothing to the sponsors (ask Miller Brewing). Oh yea, they're doing a great job alright, just ask them, they'll tell ya.

[Snapshot]

Alright no IRL at RA it was a mistake. What's this date that shows on the schedule?

August 5-8 New Event - to be announced

Fine track and management, wonderful friendly people all around. booger must have gotten a bad brat sandwich or some warm beer. :)

http://www.roadamerica.com/Races/RaceInformation.asp?id=19

ps Suzuki Superbike Doubleheader is back in June.

[Pat Wiatrowski]

Alright no IRL at RA it was a mistake. What's this date that shows on the schedule?

August 5-8 New Event - to be announced

Fine track and management, wonderful friendly people all around. booger must have gotten a bad brat sandwich or some warm beer. :)

http://www.roadamerica.com/Races/RaceInformation.asp?id=19

ps Suzuki Superbike Doubleheader is back in June.

F2000 (Maybe)