Déjà vu all over again
“American Le Mans is the global benchmark of professional sports car racing.” –Scott Atherton to the Austin Statesman, June 9, 2011–
Professional Sports Car Racing (PSCR), Andy Evans’ renaming of IMSA, was – according to management – more descriptive of the content of the product. When Don Panoz bought PCSR, his American Le Mans Series adopted as its motto “For the Fans,” arguably an improvement in that it directly addressed the constituency that would sustain it – or not. Later, that was not good enough (and perhaps not so descriptive anymore, either) to describe its “aspirational” content, (and after spending a few hundred thousand on a consultant) the American Le Mans Series decided it was “World Class.” After a run of a few years, in which “World Class” attracted nothing but a parade of watch makers and a few pearls (and another consultant for another few hundred grand), and yielded more stagnating fields and fading visibility, Scott unveiled a new motto, Global Leader Green Racing. Fields dropped further, Ethanol sponsorship came and went, fans tuned out. If Global Benchmark Professional Sports Car Racing is indeed upon us, we’re nearly back to where we started, aren’t we? (more…)