FormerFF
21st April 2013, 04:08
This was my first visit to a Grand Am race. I'd never mustered up the energy to go see them in Birmingham, but since they were at Road Atlanta, I went on up. I saw most of the Continental Tire race, which most of the participants seem to have mistaken for a demolition derby. Not surprisingly, it ended under yellow.
For some reason, I suspect TV scheduling, the Rolex series race didn't start until two and a half hours after the end of the Continental Tire race. I used that time to walk around the paddock and look at the Grand Am cars. From what I'd seen on TV, the Daytona Prototype cars looked overly large, slab sided, and kind of blocky, and the GT cars looked like street cars with small add on fender flares and more spoilers. In person in the paddock, the DPs looked large, slab sided, and blocky, and the GT cars looked like lowered street cars with add on fender flares, and more spoilers. That's not surprising considering they are mostly prepped to GT3 standards.
There were 13 DPs, 12 GTs, and 3 GTX cars, which is an experimental catch-all class. They're also fairly slow, five seconds or so per lap slower than the GT class. Once the race got started, the DPs divided themselves into three groups: Those in front, those who were in the second pace, and two cars that probably deserved to be black flagged for being so far off of the pace. The GT battle was a group of four or five cars, with another gaggle not too far off of the pace, and a couple of stragglers. On this day, the Ganassi car had half a second on the field, which pretty well removed the suspense from that race. The GT race was better, and wasn't really decided until 20 minutes or so from the end when the Brumos car pitted.
Speaking of Brumos, I understand that their season is done. That's rather sad, as they've held a streak of being in every Grand Am race so far, and will diminish a somewhat sparse GT field.
Attendance was probably fairly good for a standalone Grand Am race, with a crowd maybe a third of the size of the one that shows up for the Petit LeMans. I had run a 5K footrace in the morning, and so I bought a parking pass to bring my car in to the infield. I was able to park pretty much at any turn, which would never happen at the PLM. I don't usually bother to get a parking pass for that race since I wouldn't get there early enough to find a parking space. The atmosphere was somewhat lacking. There are no manufacturer displays, and both paddocks seemed a little empty. The track announcer that Grand Am used was terrible, first saying that the race was going to be 3 hours and 40 minutes,and then saying something about today's race at "Road America". MRN handled the race broadcast, and they did a decent job, though they're still a little NASCAR besotted. One of them kept referring to one DP car being right on another's rear bumper, a part that no prototype carries.
Still, it was an enjoyable afternoon, but I can see how it is that Grand Am doesn't have much of a fanbase. There's just nothing there that inspires passion.
For some reason, I suspect TV scheduling, the Rolex series race didn't start until two and a half hours after the end of the Continental Tire race. I used that time to walk around the paddock and look at the Grand Am cars. From what I'd seen on TV, the Daytona Prototype cars looked overly large, slab sided, and kind of blocky, and the GT cars looked like street cars with small add on fender flares and more spoilers. In person in the paddock, the DPs looked large, slab sided, and blocky, and the GT cars looked like lowered street cars with add on fender flares, and more spoilers. That's not surprising considering they are mostly prepped to GT3 standards.
There were 13 DPs, 12 GTs, and 3 GTX cars, which is an experimental catch-all class. They're also fairly slow, five seconds or so per lap slower than the GT class. Once the race got started, the DPs divided themselves into three groups: Those in front, those who were in the second pace, and two cars that probably deserved to be black flagged for being so far off of the pace. The GT battle was a group of four or five cars, with another gaggle not too far off of the pace, and a couple of stragglers. On this day, the Ganassi car had half a second on the field, which pretty well removed the suspense from that race. The GT race was better, and wasn't really decided until 20 minutes or so from the end when the Brumos car pitted.
Speaking of Brumos, I understand that their season is done. That's rather sad, as they've held a streak of being in every Grand Am race so far, and will diminish a somewhat sparse GT field.
Attendance was probably fairly good for a standalone Grand Am race, with a crowd maybe a third of the size of the one that shows up for the Petit LeMans. I had run a 5K footrace in the morning, and so I bought a parking pass to bring my car in to the infield. I was able to park pretty much at any turn, which would never happen at the PLM. I don't usually bother to get a parking pass for that race since I wouldn't get there early enough to find a parking space. The atmosphere was somewhat lacking. There are no manufacturer displays, and both paddocks seemed a little empty. The track announcer that Grand Am used was terrible, first saying that the race was going to be 3 hours and 40 minutes,and then saying something about today's race at "Road America". MRN handled the race broadcast, and they did a decent job, though they're still a little NASCAR besotted. One of them kept referring to one DP car being right on another's rear bumper, a part that no prototype carries.
Still, it was an enjoyable afternoon, but I can see how it is that Grand Am doesn't have much of a fanbase. There's just nothing there that inspires passion.