The Straight Poop?
The Boss predicted 5-6 LMP1 entrants “week-to-week” after the “Le Mans break” (that’s 3-4 “new”) and a week later “2 or 3” additional entries, which means 4-5 total. In other words, he doesn’t know for sure. It’s not reasonable to expect him to, of course. Even the principals don’t know whether their “deals” will come through or fall through. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Paddock Poop’ Category
188. Baltimore struggles. Changes to ALMS Media Presence? Abruzzi MIA.
Saturday, April 9th, 2011Mobtown
A rumor of layoffs in Baltimore Grand Prix, LLC. circulated last week but proved to be false. The Bear suspects it was an “echo rumor,” (that’s a story based on an earlier – but different – set of facts) of the February dual firing of the public relations and advertising firms. Ad firm GKV, was replaced by the Leffler Agency, Mobtown’s big agency. Baseball-focused Maroon PR, (the Cal Ripken baseball empire is their cash cow) bowed out, in favor of Edie Brown is the doyen of Baltimore PR. (more…)
187a. Matt Answers Murphy
Saturday, March 26th, 2011Four days after the Bear questioned in Paddock Poop 187 whether there will be a 2011 Signature Motorsports prototype entry in the American Le Mans Series, Signature Principal Matt Tarleton posted a lengthy (1,000 word) ”rebuttal” in the americanlemansfans.com forum, here.
Here is Murphy’s opinion of Signature’s 2011 prospects as described in 187:
Murphy doesn’t expect to see Signature Motorsports. The Tarletons made a “run” at the same kind of “reality tv” deal two years ago, that time with an Aston Martin. It didn’t fly then, and doesn’t look like it will fly now. It’s a huge jump from a few turns of the Firestone Firehawk in the eighties and a nascent performance driving school to a pair of Le Mans Prototypes. If this were headed anywhere, Riley would be building something, or planning to. The Bear’s been told there’s, “Nothing, and nothing expected” in Mooresville.
Actually, Murphy agrees with all the facts that Matt so nicely laid out in his post, which the Bear notes and clarifies below: (more…)
187. Abruzzi cost. No Signature. A.C.’s ex. Semantics. Media Disaster.
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011Real Cost of the Abruzzi?
What’s the Abruzzi worth to you? Evidently it’s worth the loss of television coverage to the Don. Murphy’s learned that the cost of the latest monument to the Panoz ego is about $5 million – so far. Coincidentally, that’s about the cost of televising the 2009 American Le Mans season, as the Bear’s friends over at Last Turn Clubhouse pointed out in their seminal 2009 series, Operating Revenue and Costs of the American Le Mans Series and IMSA (more…)
186. Track Turbulence. Excited about Highcroft. Should Aston Martin have Built a Prototype?
Thursday, March 10th, 2011Mid-Ohio Sold
Green Savoree LLC bought Mid-Ohio. The Bear doesn’t expect much change, but he’s not cheering, either. Mid-Ohio has seemed in the decade or so he’s been going there to be in good repair and have good crowds at events Murphy’s a fan of – principally the American Le Mans Series. It’s in more or less essential geography for that series and for IndyCar, being about equidistant between Cleveland and Columbus and not much further from Detroit. It wouldn’t be hard to drive there from Pittsburgh, and Murphy’s left there and taken his sweet time driving to Chicago, but he suspects the Chicago Cross-Roads Corvette Club could make the trip in less than the 6 hours Google estimate. (more…)