I’ll be back!
It seems there’s a consensus forming about the recent IMSA divorce. No one believes the former COO’s going to sit at home twiddling his thumbs for long. There’s buzz tying the divorcee to le Rat and a soon-to-be-launched World Championship. Some say to look for NA WC rounds in 2010 (would Montreal and Indy or Road America work?) and a NA series in 2011, with someone familiar at the helm.
To be or not to be
The Bear heard Wednesday that a much anticipated entry won’t compete at Miller. He wrote it up, then spent a restless night wondering if he should include it today. He spent Thursday trying to get a clear denial or a confirmation. Neither happened. In the end, Paddock Poop is a rumor rag, and this is a rather big rumor. If true, blame a rich dilettante Frog Club’s homologation (or the absence of same) and the failure of a few sycophants to grow a pair when they need to. If the rumor of the entry’s demise is premature, then take this as an idea of the kind of stuff that flies around the series these days. Perhaps there was some truth and the locals found the courage to get out of lock-step with the French. Even the ‘traditional print’ media isn’t always a help; USA Today implies the Ginetta-Zytek 09HS won’t use the electrics in the race at Miller, after implying in an earlier paragraph of the same story it will. The Bear’s often purposely obscure, but McPaper is generally thought to be “hard news.”
The inability to get sponsorship for a hybrid prototype is troubling, isn’t it? If anything illustrates the problems of endurance racing – racing in general, actually – that does. In order to race again this season, Corsa will have to find that funding, as will Primetime, which made this race even though up against it, and will spend the Le Mans “break” looking for the cash to continue.
A mogul, lighter fuel, and Grand Am
If it were only the hybrid that would be enough, but… Murphy was told that a certain Houston butane mogul wanted to enter something powered with lighter fuel, but the ACO told the Don they didn’t have time to evaluate an equivalency rule. So, there’s our mogul, over in Grand Am…
Not happy
The West Virginia coal-country Italian-who-made-it-big is unhappy with that same Frog club for admitting a Grand Am team to its hallowed June event. Frogs have always been suckers for a pretty face, of course, and when it was Bardot, Murphy understood. Instead, some unshaven latter-day Dr. Kildare…
Long Beach heat
The former COO took a lot of heat for the Long Beach Highcroft penalty. It was a lose-lose situation, for sure, and the kind of thing Murphy anticipated had he been asked a year ago (he wasn’t) he would have had one answer for whether the COO should become the Race Director. “Are you nuts? If you botch it, are you going to fire yourself?” Wait…
Audi
Don’t count on an Audi return for 2010. That’s thought to need a USA partner, and the partner now appears to be in no position to help.
Off to see the Wizard
So, what’s the boss doing? The Bear hears he’ll not be in the Utah high desert. One event weekend between mid-April and mid-July, and the chief isn’t on hand? The Emerald City, visiting the Wizard, perhaps? If so, what’s he asking for? And who’s the Wizard? The Peninsula is a favorite place.
No proto
Throw dirt on the Don’s prototype project. Its demise is confirmed by the departure for ‘Merry old England’ of its draftsman project manager.
Good news
Just to make sure he covers the good news, too, Murphy hears another Challenge Porsche’s signed up for the back of the ALMS grid – you probably know that by now. Peugeot is hinting it might enter Petit Le Mans, and if so, Audi will follow, but again, you probably already know that.
Honestly, other than spouting press releases, the Bear doesn’t hear many good news rumors to pass along these days. There were plenty over the past two seasons; they’ve just dried up, for now, anyway.
It’s not easy being green
So if the ALMS is the green series, it has to be aware that most of the fuel burned for its events is not on the track, but by its fans getting there and back. A friend of the Bear’s suggests a Prius Corral might be fitting in these times. The (possible) homologation woes aside, there’s whether even now the Zytek hybrid is ready to race in a hybrid mode (Murphy’s heard ‘Sparky’ never actually successfully ran that way).
If you’re going to be green (and you’re not a frog), you should have a hybrid racing entry. Murphy thinks the addition of a Prius class is the ticket. Perhaps Primetime – the Viper seems a bit of a lost cause, doesn’t it? The ACO has added its training-wheels ‘P3’ prototypes to the back of the Asian grids; ‘tack-ons’ seem to be much the rage, don’t they? If we’re going into obstacle course stuff, David Brabham’s still way good enough to be able to navigate a few Patrón Porsches. The Bear wants to see what he can do with a few Priuses in the way.
Tags: Audi, FIA GT, Grand Am, Miller Motorsport Park, Panoz Prototype, Patron, Prius, The Wizard of Oz
1- Thanks for the many up-dates, it sure beats watching TV at
Walmart’s elec-tronic department.
2- With the lack of entries at the green series, perhaps host tracks
could start hobby gardens for the fans?
3- The Purelli boys are watching the ALMS “all rear tire teams”.
– the Proto series may adopt all rears to save dough…
Hey MTB, a photog I follow on Twitter spotted the Zytek truck at MMP.
Speaking of that, what does it take for a bear to tweet?
I did tweet that, didn’t I. Paul Drayson has told me twice that he will be at Petit with a car. Hopefully this turns out to be true.