Murphy’s breaking a long-standing rool by doing so, but he thinks this item is interesting enough to pass along from the americanlemansfans.com forum: Poster sullystable reports he was told at a visit to Lou’s Wylie, Texas shops that the No. 28 Corvette is being prepared to compete at Petit Le Mans after testing at Watkins Glen. Murphy has just one question. Why will the Texas-based team test in New York before a race in Georgia? Perhaps Lou will drop the Bear a line. He’s got the address.

Rug Rats

Guy and Alicia welcomed Priya Mae Smith, and Butch and Kirsten brought home Henry Christian Leitzinger. All cute, happy, and well behaved, of course. Each was also welcomed by a big sis (and Henry by a grinning Grandpa Bob Leitzinger).

Where’s Waldo? (or Chapman)

The Dublin, Ohio team ran with two drivers. The kid started and finished, Dad in the middle, which will usually get the best result  – in Murphy’s opinion, anyway. The Bear didn’t see anything of Chapman Ducote. There was advertising for a funded driver a couple of weeks ago. Will this become another argument for a new sports car racing business model?

Wedding bells and other stuff

It was wedding bells and a Carmel honeymoon for an ALMS exec – with whom the Bear had a Lime Rock chat. Yes, they’d heard the “rumor” that Jim from Daytona was telling folks at Barber they were “close to a deal to acquire the Sebring lease.” This was clearly ( in the opinion of our ALMS exec) an instance of disinformation. Sure enough, Murphy later heard the same story from Barber. Does it make sense? Not really. The Bear thinks Sebring is a cash cow for the PMG if there is one, so how can you peel it off? Either there’s nothing here or there’s more than meets the eye, so to speak.

On the Road with Jim-Bob

Big boss Jim (not J.C., he’s there every time noodling around in a prototurtle) shows at an occasional Grand Am race, waving the flag for a series that badly needs it. Let’s face it, it’s a hell of a cash drain that Sprint Cup teams are none too happy about, and with eleven Daytona Prototype entries on his personal life support system, he and the family have plenty of skin in the game. One of the ways to push the guppie gang forward is to get NASCAR drivers the seats. He’s been working his backside off to help get a star in a seat in a Ganassi second entry. Ryan Newman was a no-go, as was Kyle Busch, who pretty much summed up the history (and business model) of sports car racing in one sentence. “Way too much effort for way too little return.” They’ve actually got some pretty smart cookies over there don’t they? (Not that you’d have to look much further than the bank accounts to figure that out.)

Guppies in the mix?

Adding to the dissonance is recent rumor that ALMS will create an equivalency rule that will add DP’s to the prototype ranks. Gordon Kirby threw that idea into an otherwise good article on Acura’s ARX-02a program and got a lot of attention, when he wrote that, “a veteran team owner and manager with close to forty years experience said at Lime Rock that if no new manufacturers front up with P1 cars for next year IMSA will create an equivalency formula to encourage Grand-Am Daytona prototypes to race in the ALMS.”

How will they do that, put drag chutes on the LMP’s? Turbos on the DPs? Murphy’s not sure how rational any of this stuff is, but the noise continues unabated. As the series’ CEO told Speedtv.com’s Marshall Pruett,  “this year they (rumors) have been more frequent and widespread than in the past. This is a byproduct of the worst economy we have seen in decades and the unprecedented instability that unfortunately surrounds most industries including motorsport at this time.” In that he was right, of course.

What equals two?

Putting two and two together is the way the old saying goes, and in this case the sum is still two. As in two classes. There’s a lot of background noise that the American Le Mans Series may make two classes an official thing. Or maybe just semi-official. But definitely more than just de facto. Murphy’s a bit of an expert on rumors, and you can believe him that there are all kinds. One is the “over the top” rumor, something that doesn’t seem quite logical. Sometimes, though, there is so much volume and repetition that the Bear can’t ignore it. Sometimes there’s a suspicion that a rumor has been ‘planted.’ Even beyond that, some unattributed stories (aka ‘rumors’) seem to be orchestrated. They come up in an interview…kind of out of the blue. An article appears in a place not known for speculative pieces. You start to hear some “what if” discussion. Two classes are like that now.

ALMS’ boss has found yet another way to say “If you knew what I know,” the new version being, “When we announce our plans for 2010 and beyond – you’ll know what I am talking about.” That just after a reference – common lately – to “rules and regulations that work best for our (presumably North American) circumstances.” Read those comments and tell Murphy again that we aren’t headed for two-class racing – perhaps even including DP’s? But of course, the Bear knows nothing!

Sometimes “bad luck” is an excuse

The Challenge Porsches contributed excitement in much the same way that rocks, water, and fences contribute to a steeplechase. On the other hand, Martin and Melanie Snow have paid their dues over the years, and even have a Sebring class win to show for it. They captured the first outing of the Challenge class at Utah and had this one wrapped up until they came in for a splash about seven minutes short of the checkered flag…and the starter failed. Bad luck. On the other hand, if they can conserve a bit more fuel…

Red Molly

Murphy spend Sunday with Red Molly at Bodle’s Opera House in Chester, New York. Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner and Carolann Solebello are Red Molly, playing Americana, which includes acoustic music from various traditions; bluegrass, folk, gospel, Appalachian, country, blues, and even a touch of jazz/swing. A key component in all of our songs is the use of three-part vocal harmonies, as well as driving rhythm guitar and Dobro. “Front Person” Laurie MacAllister describes the Molly’s night at Bodles:

“Bodles Opera House in Chester is one of our favorite local places to play.  It’s more of a pub than an opera house, really, and always seems to be filled with the most friendly, laid-back people.  I think the writers of “Cheers” actually based the show on this club.
 
In any case, it was a big night, with Carolann (Solebello) debuting her new solo CD “Glass of Desire” and singing a song solo for the crowd!  She hadn’t performed solo in about 5 years, but really nailed it. 
 
We debuted a new Red Molly song called The Last Call, written by our opener Anthony da Costa (much to his surprise!).  He played his own set introducing his latest release “Not Afraid of Nothing” and even joined us on stage playing bass on Beaumont Rest Stop.”

Murphy really liked yet another combination – Anthony da Costa and Red Molly’s Abbie Gardner performing a cut from their 2008 duo CD release, Bad Nights / Better Days.

Very cool stuff. Not just bears…people would love this Americana stuff too.

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