murphythebear.com

Damn, the Bear hates this. No sooner does he post a poop than his phone starts ringing and the emails roll in.

Well, it’s not all bad if a poop brings the denizens of the paddock out of the wordwork, is it?

Murphy said that there was an “if” associated with each of the prototypes that had indicated they’d be at Road America.

The Three “ifs”

First was “due diligence.” Corsa Motorsports said it was “evaluating an opportunity,” that it “would miss the next two races (Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio), but would participate “in the remainder of the season.” That “remainder” would have started at Road America. With this one, there’s good news and bad news. The bad? There will be no Corsa prototype at Road America, and a Ferrari is similarly unlikely. The good, is that Corsa has completed its “due diligence” and a new car will be delivered “in a month.” So, perhaps Petit?

Next, Murphy wrote that the participation of one team would be related to “the cost of salad oil.” The “semi-official” word – just communicated to Braselton today – is that a test of the Eco Racing Radical led the team to conclude that “running a four hour race” at Road America was beyond its capabilities. So they’re going to race at Silverstone (1,000 K), then at Petit Le Mans (1,000 miles). Huh?

Third, at team would have to change its “modus operandi,” which, in a word is “announce, but don’t show up.” (They drove them all a bit nuts in Europe with that one, didn’t they?) Anybody see Cytosport listed on the Road America entry? Murphy was going to say “case closed,” but then he heard that a team-related source said “Cytosport will be at Road America.” We’ll see, won’t we?

Fourteen Races? 

Murphy’s heard that the maximum number of races in a season that is considered acceptable is fourteen. With eleven now, that means the ALMS could add three. They’d like to be orderly about it, the Bear hears, and add no more than one each season. But if an opportunity presents itself….

Cold Water on one Airbase

Related to all that, there’s the quiz, based on a fantastically detailed rumor. (Do people actually make that stuff up? It seems so.) Willow Grove, Paul Newman, the Russian oil company, and corn weren’t exactly ruled out, but a well placed friend of the Bear’s offered the opinion that Thunderbolt still seems more likely for something near Philly – which is an area the series would love to be. Perhaps some of those details apply to an event at the New Jersey track?

Airports seem to be in Vogue

So, that’s why some think that two races could be added in 2009. Perhaps one might be that near-Philly thing? The other is said to be on an airport near a lake, and just might be a combined weekend, The IRL team partner promoter was at Mid-Ohio to meet with ALMS cheeses; was it about the lake place or their other one?

Whatever, it seems that the addition of a pre-Le Mans event is particularly attractive.

Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives

Another visitor at Mid-Ohio was the one-time team manager of Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives. What that’s about is anybody’s guess.

Resurfacing

A much-mentioned team is finally near an agreement that will deliver the funding needed to field a prototype in 2009. What will it be? Not Porsche, not Lola, not Zytek. Something else. Play with that one.

OK, the Bear is caught up. He needs a nap now.

Tags: 2009 Schedule, Corsa, Cytosport, ECO Racing, Thunderbolt

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 pm and is filed under Paddock Poop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.