French Fried
By A.C. Guillermo
As I sit in my condo here in Daytona Beach, anxiously awaiting the Rolex Series “home game” here in a few weeks, I must reflect on that ponderous event over in France known as the 24 Heures du Mans.
Before I do that, let me quickly give kudos to Watkins Glen for an outstanding event. There were at least 150,000 fans there and the racing was fantastic. I know it looked empty on TV, but that was just bad camera angles. While the same DP team usually wins in the Rolex Series, we threw a wrench at all you critics by having a Mazda win the Pontiac class. Hopefully, another hundred pounds of ballast will put that wankel back where it belongs at Mid-Ohio.
So another Le Mans has come and gone. Another boring race. And more names neither I nor David Hobbs could ever hope to pronounce correctly. What is the infatuation with that place? Roger E. is right on target when he tells me it is the most over-rated motorsports event ever.
Godwin correctly put the News-Journal coverage of Le Mans buried (three sentences worth) between women’s softball and the Canadian Curling Championships. With no Daytona Prototypes or Pontiacs in the field, it is hard for me or any other journalist here in Volusia County to get excited about the entry. Not one NASCAR driver either. And this question needs to be asked: who on the ACO staff has a brother-in-law that owns a gravel company?
But let me put on my beret and lets review Le Mans in detail as seen on SPEED television: Peugeots were fast but they spent too much time in the pits. Audi wins. Corvette doesn’t. You can mail your gold jewelry to some company and get a check back in a few days. The end. Yawn.
Le Mans is no Rolex 24. In fact, I’d take an enduro at New Smyrna over that nonsense. And Le Mans is way too complicated, with its four classes. You can have your crepes, baguettes, Pescarolos and Domes, ALMS fans, I will stick with the real sports car racing series.
On to a more important topic…There is an ugly rumor floating around that the Rolex Series will officially become a “NASCAR Series.” Well, let me tell all you ALMS fans before you fire off those “I told you so” emails – I can assure you the Grand-Am Series is just doing fine and remains a completely independent entity that just happens to be headquartered at the International Speedway Corp. in Daytona USA. Besides, Grand-Am doesn’t want to be dragged into any ugly lawsuits, if you know what I mean.
A.C.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
‘There were at least 150,000 fans there and the racing was fantastic. …we threw a wrench at all you critics by having a Mazda win the Pontiac class.’
Thats pretty funny.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Murph,
Tell AC he’s wrong, unless he doesn’t think Jaques, Max, or Ronny, and the like are NASCAR drivers.
M.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
The sad part is, an enduro at New Smyrna would be better than the 24 at Daytona
June 19th, 2008 at 12:34 am
“And Le Mans is way too complicated, with its four classes.”
This guy is clearly writing for an unintelligent clientele. If somebody can’t figure out four classes from one another, I as a fan would rather not have him/her at the races nor be a part of the series at all.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I never realized my old jewelry could be worth SOO much money!!!