I have a solution for IMSA's problems.

"The Transporter" (transporter)
03/16/2014 at 01:22 • Filed to: None

There are many reasons for the poor racing at the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring and the earlier 24 Hours of Daytona. Part of it has to do with the massive car count at tracks that were never intended to handle that many cars. The high car counts have lead to overly long caution periods because of the number of cars and number of classes that have to be cycled through. These car and class numbers have also lead to an increase in the number of caution periods, which means that this year's 12 Hours of Sebring was more like 6 hours of actual racing.

The solution appears to be simple to me: with the number of cars and the number of classes racing, TUSC could divide it's classes (and car count) in half and spread the classes over two races each race weekend. The prototype class will be split between P2 and DP, with P2 being paired with PC and GTLM and DP being paired with GTD. This would keep the car count roughly even between the two races.

Initially, the split would serve to spread the racing at each track over the course of the entire weekend instead of just Saturday. However, at certain races such as the Grand Prix of Long Beach, there won't be enough room for both groups, so one group could visit a track that had been previously dropped by TUSC, such as Lime Rock Park.

It would be impractical to hold two 12 hour races at Sebring each year and impossible to hold two 24 hour races at Daytona, so one group would be chosen to race at each. Because the group containing P2, PC, and GTLM have traditionally raced at Sebring, they could continue to do so. Arrangements could be made to put Sebring back on the WEC schedule with the P1 class being opened up for that race and, maybe later on, all races with this group. Likewise, the group containing DP and GTD have raced at the track which gives the two classes their name, so they could race at Daytona.

The group containing (notionally) P1, P2, PC, and GTLM would need a GT development class. A one-make spec class would be desirable for such a class and Porsche 911s are commonly used for such development classes. It could be called GT Challenge.

Because they won't be racing on the same tracks at the same time or using similar cars, each of these groups would need a name to differentiate them from one another. Since the group containing P1, P2, PC, GTLM, and the new GTC class would be using mainly ACO rules for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this group could be called the American Le Mans Series. Meanwhile, the group containing DP and GTD have a more traditional connection to NASCAR. There was a NASCAR touring series in the late '60s and early '70s called the Grand American series that raced American muscle cars around short track ovals. This intellectual property could be re-used and given to the remaining group. It would be called the Grand American Road Racing series or Grand Am for short.

Finally, because these two series are so fundamentally different, NASCAR should spin one of these series off as a completely independent entity. IMSA could be separated from NASCAR to run ALMS as an independent series while NASCAR retains control of Grand Am.

I think that should satisfy everyone's complaints.

DISCUSSION (37)

LappingLuke > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 01:26

I say just get rid of half the pro-am teams. Amateurs seem to be causing enough problems. It's a pro series keep the kiddies out...

Racing Archivist > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 01:28

They tried that remember it was called ALMS.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 01:46

More like 6 hours of racing? Nope, it was exactly 6 hours and a few minutes of racing... :/

RWS > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 07:46

I started reading this, and was thinking, hmm split grids, no i dont like this idea. Then i got where you were going with it. Nice ha.

on a serious note, just give a driver breifing before the race saying dont rejoin unless the corner worker says its safe. simple. that would have avoided malucellis ridiculous accident, and the PC crash later in the race (who was involved i forget)

dataPOG > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 09:08

I see what you did...

Give it time, I think everybody knew this year was going to be a shitstorm they had to work through.

Edit - if you really think the grids should be separate, then run split races with PC and GTD. Any team without pro drivers has to run in that race and at enduro events, they run a fourth or half the distance. Except the 6 hours at The Glen, there, they run 5 hours. That would work out to 6 hours at Daytona and Sebring, 500k at Petite. Of course the incident involving the Risi car would still happen, as they are in GTLM aren't they?

theloudmouth > Racing Archivist
03/16/2014 at 09:16

I think you missed the tongue-in-cheek nature of the post.....

Dirty987S > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 09:45

HUH?! That'd be stupid. The people that run the event just need to pull their heads out there rear-ends and expedite the safety processes. The ADAC 24hrs has 200+ cars on the track for their race and once the field is spread it's far more massive and they get things done with a purpose.

BJ > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 09:53

Interesting idea, but sounds complicated and expensive to operate. Maybe they should simply limit the field size for certain races, but then, how would you decide who gets to run?

Atl_boiler > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 10:19

What you did there, I see, and appreciate. I wasn't able to invest much time in watching yesterday and I'm kind of glad I didn't, based on the reports.

John The Race Fan > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 10:29

I could not disagree more.

The high car count is a positive, and certainly not the cause of so may cautions.
The problem is overzealous officials throwing a full-course yellow when it isn't warranted, leading to nearly half the race run under caution.

A car stalled and is off the racing line does NOT warrant a full-course caution.
A car stalled on an escape road 150 feet off the track does NOT warrant a full-course caution.
A full brake rotor n the circuit is debatable. That's a danger that could warrant a full-course caution, but I also believe the debris could have been removed with a local yellow only.

What destroyed Sebring or me was the last FCY. Besides being unwarranted, it handed the win to Ganassi and the 01 team, who had been running mid-pack all race. Sure, they made the right strategy call and took advantage of the GTD cars between them and the HPD and AEX cars. The GTD cars should not have been a factor either, especially with the length of the caution!

Part of the appeal of multi-class racing is the number of cars with different speeds. That adds to the excitement for fans and the challenge for drivers and teams. Splitting the classes up and having them run separately would take away so much that it would lose most of the appeal, to me at least. I have a lot of friends who feel the same way.

Bottom line: Quit officiating sports car racing like it's NASCAR on an oval. They aren't the same, so you can't officiate them the same.

Meemperor > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 11:08

IMO, get rid of GTD . Let the Pro-Am's have their own series.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > John The Race Fan
03/16/2014 at 11:47

I like how everyone blames NASCAR for the officiating when IMSA is not under NASCAR control.

2FastYSoSerious > jvirgs drives a Subaru
03/16/2014 at 12:00

I think you read that last sentence wrong.

John The Race Fan > jvirgs drives a Subaru
03/16/2014 at 12:10

I don't blame NASCAR for the officiating.
I blame IMSA.

The officiating is horrible, much like the officiating in NASCAR.
They are on equivalent planes of suck.

John The Race Fan > 2FastYSoSerious
03/16/2014 at 12:11

I think you are correct.
Thank you for paying attention. :)

ThatsRacing > Racing Archivist
03/16/2014 at 12:18

They tried that remember, it was called sarcasm.

JDIGGS > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 12:54

ALMS was excellent compared to this bullshit.

The reality is at many tracks there are only a few more cars. The problem has nothing to do with cars or racing, it has to do WITH IMSA PUTTING OUT HUGE CAUTIONS FOR NON WRECKED CARS THAT SHOULD BE CLEARED IN 5 MINS, IT"S CYCLING THE PITS EVERY CAUTION.

TRACK IS CLEAR = Should be racing

JDIGGS > JDIGGS
03/16/2014 at 12:56

IMSA also throws out huge cautions at the end to manipulate the finish. It' negates watching the entire race.

ALMS was doing everything right besides attracting LMP1 racers (think 10's of millions to be competitive). Nascar bought it to ruin it. They haven't taken it seriously at all IMO. There maybe a lot of boots working hard on the ground to make this series good but we know the generals message is still pro nascar and anti sports car.

LastScene86 > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 13:20

I like the cut of your jib

Voodoo-u > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 14:19

I think everyone should just quit bitching. It's going to take a few seasons to work shit out. If running a racing series were easy everyone would do it.

CombatSquash > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 14:25

We have always been so concerned with team budgets. The result ... everyone and their mom is out there racing at the same time because Jim Whogivesadamn loves racing and made money selling time shares so he is in. Let the budgets go up a bit, let the best teams prevail, and take some cars off the grid.

ChristophrMoore > John The Race Fan
03/16/2014 at 14:34

John absolutely has some great points here. If I may I'd like to expand upon the throwing of full course yellows when there really is no need. While I do feel the IMSA officiating needs some work. The real problem is that the corner workers are no longer allowed onto a hot track. This is because the insurance companies have been pressuring the tracks and governing bodies with higher premiums, because of the risk of lawsuits from track workers getting hurt or killed.

When the corner workers are not allowed to push a stalled car from off the racing line, or in a run off area to a safe position, the officials must call in the safety team. Now if Sebring (at 3.8 miles in length) is anything like Road America (at 4 miles in length), Sebring will have 2 safety teams. Not one at every corner. So the safety team will be deployed from another part of the track. Now the officials have to throw the full course caution to allow the safety team to travel to the stalled car.

I feel this is one of the main problems TUSCC has currently. Doubt that IMSA or the tracks in NA have the power to talk their insurance companies into letting our beloved corner workers perform the jobs they have done for 50+ years... It's a new day, and a new solution must be sought. So when a full course caution is called it does not end up being 20-30 minutes in length, for something trivial.

Circuit length exacerbates this issue. IMSA needs to evaluate different ways of handling full course yellow conditions on the longer tracks. Again, it's a new day... Lets come up with new ideas to keep our racers racing, and not plodding for 3 hours of a 12 hour race.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 15:20

I will support any major series that brings a race back to Lime Rock.

JCCharles > John The Race Fan
03/16/2014 at 15:32

Ok, the red corvette convertible did least the most laps. While some cautions were seemingly unnecessary (possibly for a burning couch, maybe?), a fully involved Viper burning to the ground and a t-boned Prototype were definitely valid, though very long, full course yellows. I'd rather IMSA err on the side of caution with so many cars on track. I'm glad the race wasn't a complete runaway as when Audi raced last year (or was it the year before?).

Frostback > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 17:13

I spent the entire day at Sebring yesterday and had a blast. The GT class and the racing was fun to watch, and the safety car periods gave time to enjoy classic cars in the area and to enjoy the atmosphere. Im sure it was boring to watch on TV for many people, and Im sure the drivers hated it.

I witnessed the Ferrari 458 crash at Turn 1 with drama that ensued directly after 2 other safety cars. It seemed they were on top of getting the race going again. I believe the SRT fire was a long wait though.

HellPhish89 > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 17:17

tell IMSA to stop fucking with cars they said they wouldnt.

SNAFU_rider > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 18:20

So after two races you want to scrap everything and go back to what it was last year. You're forgetting that they are indeed splitting classes further on in the season but because Daytona and Sebring are marquis tracks and apart of the NAEC they pretty much have to include all the classes or else the teams would be whining about that. It's a no-win situation right now. Give them a year and then let's talk.

John The Race Fan > JCCharles
03/16/2014 at 18:42

Motorsport is an inherently dangerous activity for everyone involved, save for the fan watching on TV in the comfort of their home. Every individual that attends a motorsports event as a fan, crewperson, driver, official, sponsor rep or media bears some of that risk. The last thing anyone wants is people getting hurt or killed at a race.

Here are my ideas on how to prevent the bullshit we saw at Sebring:

1. If a car is stopped and is off the racing line, the team wants to get the car back to the pits and/or garage for repair work. This is doubly true in endurance races. That's the reason nearly all circuits have escape roads.
Using the last caution at Sebring as an example, the #31 DP lost power and headed for an escape road, as drivers are taught to do early in their career. There should be no reason that escape road couldn't be used to retrieve the car and get it back to the pits in a safe manner, not putting track workers, crew members or the driver at risk.

2. If there is significant debris on track (A complete brake rotor is pretty significant), keep a local yellow displayed and race control informs the teams that there is debris in X location. The drivers know that there will be workers in that area removing the debris. They already need to slow up under the local yellow and they aren't allowed to overtake. Keep the local yellow out to allow track workers to safely remove the debris, and remove the local yellow condition when the track workers deem the area safe for green flag racing.

3. There will be incidents that warrant a full-course caution. Accidents involving multiple cars, large debris fields or requiring emergency personnel (fire or medical) all warrant a FCY in most cases. Sure, a car on fire can pull off near a fire station and get the fire out with only a local yellow in some cases. This is one area where erring on the side of caution is the smarter and safer option.
However TUSCC's procedures for pitting and resetting the field and wave-arounds and everything else makes for safety car periods that are far, far too long.
I admit that I'm not as clear as the procedures TUSCC has for a Safety Car period, but they need to be reviewed, and soon.

I get that a full course caution is going to take some time, if for no other reason than the incident that brought about the caution will take time to clean up or resolve. The cleanup, in most situations, is the easy part. It's all the organizational stuff that happens with race control that takes up so much time.

Drivers and teams hate lapping for a half hour or more under yellow. They aren't racing, and that's what they are paid to do (or they enjoy doing, in the case of gentleman drivers).
Fans hate it because they aren't racing. If we wanted to watch a 60mph parade, we can sit on the side of the freeway.
Track workers hate it because flagmen's arms get tired and they get bored and lose focus on their task at hand.
Sponsors hate it because they don't get their brand whizzing by at speed, which is what they want. TV time during a pit stop is OK, but they want their car on TV going flat out.

After rereading the original post, I understand it was satirical in nature. I even chuckled when the light bulb came on.
But TUSCC has a serious problem, and the luster of a united sports car series in North America is being tarnished. Nobody likes dull racing, and that's what TUSCC is becoming.

Thank goodness there is a WEC event at CotA. I might actually get to see racing!

Joel > John The Race Fan
03/16/2014 at 19:02

I understand the need for the final caution. Earlier in the race a Porsche used that same section of run off to get back into the race. In a case that a car is left their, that same manouver would not have been possible, and the escaping driver would've needed to go into the grass.

IMSA needs to look back at the race, and ask themselves if a 30 minute caution for a stalled car was really needed. Even the caution to end Daytona was a bit pre-mature.

I made a comment last night that any car that stalls/breaks down in the final should be pulled off the racing line into the first available opening. I remember last night their was a caution for I believe the 63 Ferrari stopping on the back stretch. A truck came, hooked up the car, pulled it down the back straight, and pulled it into the first turn off just before the final turn.

theturdfurguson222 > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 19:17

No, the problem is the officiating. They run it like NASCAR instead of like sports car racing. It's as simple as that. And the proof is in the pudding with the extended caution to let the Ganassi team swoop in front and take off with a 10 second lead on the restart to win.

Joel > The Transporter
03/16/2014 at 19:38

By dropping the Prototype Challenge class, the overall field would go down to I believe 54. Still a significant amount of cars, but drops a class that I feel is taking up race space. If I wanted to see a series where all the cars were equal, I would stick to watching something like the Ferrari Challenge.

This is year 1 of a merger that I have not been a fan of. USCC needs to get their house in order, if they want to keep their fans interested, or grow here in the states. I watched 7+ hours of the race using my laptop connected to my TV. I had the race feed/commentary displayed on the TV, and the live feed from the #4 Corvette on the laptop. I loved it! No constant commercials or useless BS. But, I love sports car racing. I've been to Sebring twice, and watched the race from several turns around the track. How can they expect to get fans interested in a series when one of its big races is only shown on the TV for the first three hours, when the final hours are when things get good. It's like Nascar showing the first 3/4 of the Daytona 500, and going to a lm internet feed for the final 1/4.

The classes(other than PC) I feel are in good running order. Though the DP's did have a slight advantage to the P2 cars. This is not something I feel can be fixed race to race. Mid season IMSA needs to adjust BOP, and review those changes at the end of the year. If they make these changes constantly they'll never get an idea if certain cars are getting an advantage at some tracks. GTLM was the race to watch, even though a no-call during the race could have made for totally different ending.

I really want to enjoy this series, but there are a lot of things that need to be fixed. Mainly the safety car/yellow flag debacle. Two big races have come and gone, and both times there have been questions as to whether a full course yellow at the end was really necessary.

Fred Smith > The Transporter
03/17/2014 at 03:25

"This sounds dumb"

"This is the dumbest thing I've ever read"

"Okay this is just Grand-Am and the ALMS now"

"OHHHHHHHHHHHH! I see what you did there."

- Me, over the course of reading this excellent post

quattrofl > The Transporter
03/17/2014 at 11:15

Kinja'd!!!

I want MOAR pics like this

scotty p > The Transporter
03/18/2014 at 15:57

perfectly written. some comic relief was needed in this not so funny mess in which we find ourselves

pisswizard69 > theturdfurguson222
03/18/2014 at 19:27

yeah, that isnt what happened. Ganassi had that race in the bag because they pitted, correctly, as soon as their window opened. ESM threw the race away by their own strategy failure.

Metalheart > The Transporter
03/19/2014 at 02:13

In the late 80s and early 90s, IMSA used to have separate races for prototypes and GTs. Except for Daytona and Sebring, they ran their own races. I say let 'em run together in the endurance races and keep 'em separate for the sprints.

kniga > The Transporter
03/20/2014 at 00:15

The prototype class will be split between P2 and DP, with P2 being paired with PC and GTLM and DP being paired with GTD. This would keep the car count roughly even between the two races.

You can't be serious. What's the point of the whole ALMS/Grand AM merger, if the respective classes continued racing separately?

I'll give you a better solution. If people think that there are too many cars, get rid of the PC class. That's like 10 cars. It doesn't add much to the racing. It was introduced as a grid filler class in ALMS years ago. With the big grid right now, TUSCC does not need this class any more.