Today on "Shakedown," I'm going to share with you what I
learned from my visit to the 2013 Rolex 24 Grand Am
Endurance Race at the 33 degree banked oval and infield
road course that is the Daytona
International Speedway.
The Grand Am Rolex 24 served up great competition and a
fantastic finish in both the Daytona prototype and GT
classes, and some info and insight about what's going on
in sports car racing in North America now, and in 2014 and
2015 when Grand Am and ALMS consolidate.
But to put it all into context, the theme of today's
show is what is the real competition in North American
professional sports car racing?
And I'm not talking about Audi versus Ferrari versus Porsche
or ALMS versus Grand Am, that one's over, or driver versus
driver or team versus team.
No, the veins in competition are deeper and more
profound than that.
What a week it's been on Drive.
Matt Farah drives a race car.
Koenigsegg buttons down more details about his hyper car.
This "Spot 24 Drive" video was previewed with a
snapshot of Eau Rouge.
And Chris Harris goes all prancing horse.
And F2000 racer, Michael Johnston, gets a great profile
via Jalopnik on "Drive." And it was fun for me to do that
interview and Max Seeger shot and edited the hell out of
that video.
And now, I get to finish up the week with "Shakedown" in a
thought provoking show.
Thing if it this way, we've satiated your
emotions with CarProg.
We've brought you to automotive climax with Chris
Harris excitement.
We tugged at your heart with Michael Johnston.
All leading to the ultimate excitement.
And I had to show you these three pictures.
They're all sexual innuendo all over.
Yeah, I know it's big, and, oh, [BLEEP]
forget that one.
And now, in a post coitally automotive moment, you get a
chance to relax and think a bit with me.
Wait a minute, if I remember most my social sexual
gymnastics, the thought at the end of all that was usually,
how do I get the hell out of here?
Hold on, can I start this show again differently?
Can we just--
When I was at the Rolex 24 Grand Am race, I got a real
feel for what's swirling around the racing minds of all
the players, teams, drivers, series officials,
sponsors, and fans.
And I kept checking my priest collar, because all of them
seemed to want to talk, sometimes about things that
should not be admitted.
I watched the action.
Audi coming to win.
Really, everyone coming to accomplish something big.
I particularly got intrigued with Wayne Taylor, his
Corvette DP team, his mentions and
movements over the weekend.
Plus, I read an interview with Scott Pruitt, Grand Am racing
icon and winner of the Rolex 24, on his thoughts on the
Grand Am and ALMS coming together and what sports car
racing should be going forward.
All of it compiled in my data logger and spit out today's
topic, what is the real competition in North American
professional sports car racing?
Because the competition is bigger than brand versus
brand, driver versus driver, team V team.
The battles at Grand Am and ALMS, working together or
trying to sort out are more profound and fundamental to
the question of, what is racing?
And not just sports car racing.
And typical to "Shakedown," I'm going to be asking you for
your opinion on everything I'm about to share.
But before I start in on sports cars, let me address
why I'm not all over the F1 car launches happening
now and next week.
First of all, the tech is kept secret at these launches, so
I'll wait for testing and some performance
data before we discuss.
Second, F1 is over a month away, so we've got time.
And I'd rather deal with racing data versus exciting BS
like, hey, Ferrari just signed a Chinese sponsor.
They did, their first.
Jenson Button will run the red number five and remind
everyone about Nigel Mansell, but hopefully, not Nigel's
McLaren experiences.
And Christian Horner renews with Red Bull until, I don't
know, either the world ends or energy drinks are banned from
public consumption.
And some US and Canadian guys are trying to buy the HRT team
to form Scorpion Racing.
Yeah, sure, I'll watch that team at the New Jersey Grand
Prix, if you get my drift.
Anyway, that earlier black and red F1 car was
the 2013 not Lotus.
And by the way, that's how I'm going to refer to every Lotus
brand of race car in 2013, because none of them are.
But here's the new McLaren.
Now, Ferrari launches today.
We recorded yesterday, so we're both going to make sure
we check it out today.
And I've included the rest of the F1 launch schedule in the
links below.
OK, Daytona, Grand Am, ALMS sports car racing.
What is the real competition in North American professional
sports car racing?
And I'm going to try to explain everything as battles
of two, something versus something else, because that's
kind of the way it really is.
Number one, Grand Am race management, their style,
versus ALMS race management.
The politest way to frame it all is it's about constant
changes and politicking verses advance notice and
consistency.
Now, neither one is perfect, but I'm talking two key areas.
First, what is called balance of performance, getting the
cars competitive with each other, and then, race control,
making the race run smoothly.
I'm going to tread very carefully here because, while
I have a lot of info, I don't have all the info.
Up until Daytona, the merger happy talk was all about
collaboration, and Grand Am and ALMS race management
people had been working together.
They've hired some ALMS people, by NASCAR, to be the
decision makers going forward, and they worked on the Rolex
24 as a team.
But Grand Am balancing performance uses a dyno, and
literally, they blew up two race motors checking race cars
at the Rolex pre-race test.
ALMS does it another way.
But most importantly, they declare the rules, I think,
like 30 days before a race, so the teams know the
adjustments.
And it was declared to me, at Daytona, the quote, the days
of last minute, night before adjustments are over.
Yeah, and then, the Corvette seemed slow.
The BMW is fast.
And enter one Wayne Taylor, Corvette team owner and Grand
Am icon, who after qualifying 12th, went on a whinefest with
race officials, MFed more than a few of them, and basically,
cried and threatening, and God knows what, on behalf of
Chevy, his team, and the sanctity
of racing and whatever.
Chevy showed up with reams of data validating the inequity
of-- you know where I'm going and you know what I mean.
So what happened?
Forget the integrity, Friday morning, the day before the
race, Corvette was given a last minute adjustment.
Oh, and still Taylor whined.
It wasn't enough, according to him.
He finished second, by the way.
And during the race on TV, Wayne Taylor accused Chip
Ganassi of racing unfairly and cheating.
Jesus, does it ever stop?
But the point of this question number one is about real
competition in North American sports car racing.
What is it?
Will the rules and the racing be managed fairly or be run
like professional wrestling with steering wheels?
Next, real competition twofer, technology in the cars or not?
Enter the next Grand Am icon, Scott Pruett and his interview
on Grand Am versus ALMS.
I'll put that article in the links below.
And it includes his thoughts on what race cars should be.
As the Daytona prototype racer and champion, he focused on DP
versus the LMP2 cars, which will be combined into one
class in the 2014 series consolidation.
He thinks LMP2 will be obsoleted, with only two or
three cars entered.
Scott Pruett ops for DP, and its old technology--
and he literally called it that--
because it puts the car, in his mind, in the hands of the
driver verses ABS and traction control.
And I'll tell you that DP racing is often close and
super exciting, so there's something going on, but the
first question to you is do you watch sports car racing
just for the racing or does the technical fascination of
the cars also fascinate your reasons to be interested?
Real competition, number three, pro racers versus
gentleman drivers.
I got it, in racing, there's always been gentleman drivers.
Sponsors are hard to find, someone has to pay the bills
to go racing, I know all that.
But at the end of it all, talent matters.
And I have no interest in watching a trust fund baby
race an AARP aged entrepreneur or a CEO with a racing suit
with a waist band of a number higher than the ambient
temperature of the track surface.
I want to see the pros.
And at the end of the Rolex 24, at the end of that race,
it was awesome, because we cleared the field of all the
gentleman drivers, plugged in the pros, and saw real racing.
Now, If I have to watch racing like the NBA and wait and tune
it only at the end, I'm not sure.
What do you think?
Next, real competition, private teams
versus factory teams.
Is this really about money or the depth
and quality of racing?
As I mentioned on last week "Shakedown," in GT racing,
Audi and Ferrari didn't come to Daytona to F around.
They may have hid behind teams and the customer racing logos,
but that was as factory as it gets.
In the Audi team paddocks, many of the crew members,
those touching the cars, spoke German.
One guy from the Alex Job team says, for every one of us,
they gave us two of them.
There were Audi shipping cases with R8 parts everywhere.
The maintenance of all three cars was all done at the same
time like some precision army.
Dr. Ulrich was there to oversee, and in addition to
the cars, parts, people, and factory Audi drivers, Audi
gave the teams their race strategy computerized
forecasting for the R8's they were running and for the
competition, to figure out where they needed to be at the
race to win.
Ferrari had V max speed, Porsche had the car count
numbers, but Audi had the knowledge.
And as the race wound down, suddenly, magically, they got
around to the front, and they got one, two.
They almost had a full podium sweep, except for a 1/2 gallon
of gas in that third car kind of ran out at the end.
Oh, and by the way, Joanie may love Chachi, Kanye may love
Kim, but Audi and Porsche, they hate each other.
Porsche has build a profitable customer racing business model
that works, and they think Audi is
messing up a good thing.
Not on the racetrack, but in the business of making money
selling race cars.
The VW group dinner table must be the biggest food fight on
the planet.
That's pretty much where the battleground are.
Yes, there would be more controversy when we get to the
tire manufacturer decisions.
Continental Tire is the tire for Grand Am, and they want to
hold on to all of it with the merger.
ALMS GTE is an open tire spec, and will be, because everyone
wants that class to not get ruined.
The TV and media contracts will likely be another big
competition.
In the US, at the end of the Speed TV coverage, the
coverage was so fragmented, cutting away to ads--
I swear to God, here's what I remember.
Either Chip Ganassi won the race or he saved a bundle on
insurance, lost 40 pounds on some diet plan, or was the
star of a redneck reality racing show
coming to Speed in February.
Bottom line, they lost me.
I almost couldn't figure out what was
going on in the racing.
So now, give me your comments on the real competition in
North American professional sports car racing.
Is it technology in the car or who cares about the car tech
as long as the racing is close?
And the gentleman driver thing, gentleman drivers don't
bother me or you, watching them race is like knowing that
I could do it too, or screw this, pros only.
I want to see real talent and B&R guys that can do things I
never could.
How about private teams versus factory teams?
For example, when I watch professional racing, I want to
see professionalism.
So how do I get that with nonprofessional teams?
If I want to watch wankers, I'll go to a LeMons race.
The 2013 Rolex 24 was a great race, and even with the Wayne
Taylors and Scott Pruetts of the Grand Am world, everyone,
including them, has embraced the hope and enthusiasm for
the future of North American sports car racing with this
coming together in 2014, Grand Am and ALMS.
The Rolex paddock was full of all the players from both
sides, and despite old habits and self-inflicted thinking
that's normal within racing, it was generally felt by
everyone that I spoke to-- well, save for one guy--
that Grand Am and ALMS will figure out the issues, those I
mentioned here and all the other ones.
And going forward, this will be better than it is now.
Scott Pruett, in his article, said one thing that was really
on the mark, 2015 won't look like 2014, the first year of
the merger.
The translation, NASCAR is approaching this as a
transition.
Nothing is cast in stone.
2014 rules are set to accept as many current teams, racers,
and race cars as possible to not obsolete equipment,
investments, and throw teams out of racing.
2015 will be adaptive changes, but hopefully it will be done
with advance notice and consistency of decisions.
Not last minute changes in politics.
OK, it's comment time for you, so go get them.
And thanks for sticking around,
listening, and thinking.
Who loves you?
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