John Dagys has been the topic of an almsfanforum thread of late. Some of it runs along the lines of “lucky guy.” Luck? Murphy’s furry backside! Young as he his, John Dagys worked his tail off to get the gig the forum numpties (that rather descriptive word coined by an anonymous “industry observer” who the Bear claims as a friend) dream of. Anyway, John was haunting media rooms writing – on his own nickel – for an independent website (The-Paddock.net, in which he was a partner and the chief editor) while still a journalism student at Columbia College, Chicago.

John started covering the American Le Mans Series in 2005, as a freshman, and started at Speed.com in 2009, the same year he graduated with his journalism degree. In between he slaved over PR releases to keep himself fed while getting paid next to nothing at web publications  in the “mainstream” of sports car racing coverage (“mainstream” in the sports car media world means little noticed, and rarely read, of course).

You wienies want to get a gig like John’s? It’s easy, just learn to write (Ha!), spend a half decade mostly paying your own way , and plan to keep having to supplement your income trying to make the owner of Level 5 look good. (If there’s any measure of genius, that might be it. Of course, it didn’t hurt he practiced with Intersport, another tough nut.) [Edit: Murphy 's told that John does not do PR work for Level 5 or its owner.] After yesterday, stick a fork in the Scott Tucker thing – it’s done.

Murphy’s been there, done that (including the PR articles tagged as “team reports” that once included Intersport, but that’s another story). It got really, really old. As for John, the Bear thinks he’s doing a great job under the circumstances. And Murphy believes what Mr. Dagys writes, too…except for when it’s about Mr. Tucker, of course.

On Lotus AJR

Alex’s racing BFF once told the Bear. “The best sponsor you can have is the manufacturer.” Alex Job Racing is a much better team than Rocketsports Racing. All you would have had to do is walk the paddock and look – really look – at the cars and the work area to see that. Want to know the secret to racing? Given a reasonably competitive car – admittedly that’s in doubt for the Evora – it’s attention to detail. Alex will do just fine.

And if he doesn’t? Some of the forum numpties will write “he should have stayed with Porsche,” proving once again they have no understanding of this sport at all. As Murphy’s friend “Reality Slap” wrote, Alex is in business. Drivers, sponsors (including the manufacturer) paid Alex to race the Evora. What are he and Holly supposed to do?” Starve? Of course not. They’ll take on the challenge, and (you read it here) do much better than Rocketsports did with the Jaguar. Why? Have you ever looked at an Alex Job prepared car? Then at a Rocketsports prepared car? Case closed.

News Flash

You want the definition of really, really big news? Even bigger than “FTC Accuses Scott Tucker of being a Rip-Off Artist?”  This headline might make it in our sport: “Jim France Fields ALMS Team.” That’s what you’d have if Action Express were to run in the ALMS, so yes, that would “rate a laugh or two” as a regular posted in the almsfanforum.

On Dope

Back in January 2007 a driver named Luca Moro was given a two-year FIA suspension for a positive drug test. Two months later, at Sebring, a driver named Luciano da Silva led three laps in GT2. Wink, wink.  An entry is an entry, isn’t it? Do you really need to know anything else about this sport?

No Soup for You

Who remembers the guy who pulled the scam on Cosworth, ordering their engines for an LMP1, then ordering a pair of prototypes from Lola (all a big mistake, to hear him tell it)? Well, lately, he’s sort of back. “Sort of” because the scam isn’t on builders, it’s on fans – the few of you who you read Murphy, anyway.

A while back, Mr. Malooley started posting in the Bear’s comments as “Clay.” Not long after, Murphy began a correspondence with the estimable Mr. Malooley, who (nothing new here) was perfectly happy to talk about his plans for a two-car prototype team. It didn’t work out for 2011, of course, but there was to be a “rented car” (Enterprise will pick you up!) for “a very limited ALMS and LMS program in 2012.” That bit followed teases about meetings and conference calls, hiring crew, and locating shops. None of which can be verified, of course. Most recently, Clay writes in comments to the Bear’s 198 that “the program (will use) an America car, engine, and driver package.” Yadda, yadda, this has been going on for too long.

Murphy never bought Clay’s BS. Really, who would? (Don’t answer that!) And really, would the Bear, very closely associated with the exposure of the Solaroli-CET scam? Who was right there reporting Greg Loles’ demise in the sports’ press? Daily SportsCar was the first to name Clay (good for them, makes up a bit for hanging on so long lapping up Solo Al’s crooked bullshit), way back when he was placing faux orders with engine builders and chassis constructors. But Murphy figured he’d see where this was going. Well, it’s been going nowhere except to more tall tales, it seems. All wrapped in sworn to secrecy by the wealthy big-name sponsors, and always meetings and delays, meetings and delays – and market studies and surveys. Finally it’s time for the Bear to say, “Move along, there’s nothing here to see.” After posting that his yet-unseen  racing operation was working with NASA, Clay followed up with this post:

“We believe the amount of technology available and the fact we are based on the Space Coast will be invaluable. Several companies have offered their assistance in a number of ways. Some of the technology and materials that we have seen is beyond anything currently being used in motorsports. It may help us down the road.”

Geez, what crap.

Murphy will give this little episode a wrap by simply saying, the Bear doesn’t believe it. Not one word. You can read the whole story by reading through the “Comments” at the end of each Paddock Poop over the past six months or so.

On Pretenders

Continuing with our theme, the list of pretenders is pretty long, isn’t it? There was Reg and the gang over at Signature (not much of a gang, of course, since there’s no one there we know of beyond Reg and Matt). That one’s kind of like Clay’s latest, just an April Fool’s trick (carried on for months) on the fan community, both the gullible kind and the sycophant kind (for some of you forum followers, that word means ass-kissers – ok, to be a bit more kind, we’ll call it hero worship). The Bear figures that other than time wasted writing gushingly hopeful posts in forums, there’s no big harm in scamming the fans. Hell, the series has been doing it for years, hasn’t it? ACO leading the way struggling year-after-year to “balance performance” between gasoline and diesel power. Wink, wink. ALMS inadvertently let that cat out of the bag in 2007, didn’t it?

On Real Crooks

Remember the Rands? Murphy wrote this last September.

“Gregory Keith Rand, aka “Greg Rand,” 46, and William Nicholas Rand, aka “Bill Rand,” 41, both of Dallas, were sentenced on July 27th to federal prison terms of 18 years and 14 years, respectively, for fraud. Their father, William Anthony Rand, aka “Tony Rand,” 69, of Plano, was sentenced to five and one-half years in federal prison. In addition, the defendants were ordered to pay $99,707,758 in restitution and forfeit numerous pieces of personal property to the government, including real estate, boats and other personal water craft, luxury vehicles, artwork, including an original Picasso, furniture, antiques, musical instruments, jade, expensive jewelry and wine. Greg Rand was remanded into custody; the others will be allowed to report to the Bureau of Prisons at a later date. The forfeited property will be sold by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Rand Racing contested Grand Am in 2001 and 2002 in SRP II. And yes, some who worked for them were screwed, even after winning judgments against the crooks, when the Rands stripped the assets out of Rand Racing. Among many who worked for this criminal family were Thomas Blam, Risi Competizione, Jeff Braun, Anthony Lazzaro, Nic Johnson, Marino Franchitti, and Ralf Kelleners. How many were stiffed? One for sure, who told Murphy “ I sued and won, but Bill mothballed the team until the statute of limitations ran out, so no restitution here.”
This little note from Murphy is for the superfans who want their heroes to be left alone. The moral of this story is, “sooner or later the Feds will get you,” and, the crooks in our sport hurt real people. Ever since John Dillinger, we can believe if the IRS is in the hunt, something is not right. And what if the next felony will be the third?”

Is there a Theme Here?

Dah! Wink, wink. Today’s theme is crooks, and the Crook de Jour is Ferrari Test Driver Scott Tucker, the Boss’ BFF (or so Murphy’s been told). If you really want to know what Tucker thinks of you rubes out there, just figure he thinks you’ll believe that test driver crap. Ole Scott has the FTC on his ass, and Murphy was on the wire last night with his friends, including the Hunting Dawg, parsing the long-expected news. You didn’t really believe ole Scotty boy would get away with that scam forever, did you? The Bear didn’t, and he said so, many times.

It’s just another in a long line of crooks who think sports car racing will be a fun place to launder their ill-gotten gains.

Another example is the felon who’s son owns the Ohio sports car racing team. Wink, wink. The IRS has finally put that build-and-close, dump-and-run-in-the-middle-of-the-night operation out of its misery. But back to Tucker and his Rent-a-Tribe operation. He seems really to have believed that would keep his consumer loan scam out of the reach of the law.

Someone over in the ALMS fan forum actually thought he was being funny when he asked the Hunting Dawg if he was taking legal advice from the Bear…only to eat his words a few posts later. You want a clue? A case with which Murphy is quite, ah, intimately acquainted is actually cited in the FTC-Tucker Federal Court filing. And the Bear knows that case chapter, verse and seizure. So padlocks it is for Level 5…and its assets, and that might extend beyond Level 5 into the ALMS grid. Don’t give Murphy any of that “innocent until proven..” crap, either. This is the FTC, the SEC, the IRS. They seize it and ask questions later.

It almost extended even further, because Tucker’s BFF (the bald one aka “The Boss”) had been wandering around the paddock for a long time looking for a buyer for the series, almost pleading with those he thought might be well-heeled enough to bail him out from under “The Don,” who of course had long since lost interest in the whole shebang. (Abruzzi, tracks for sale, DeltaWang, what else do you need to know?)

He thought he had that done with Tucker when the deal had to be set aside in last year’s spike in bad publicity for the Kansas City scammer. (Murphy says you’re welcome.) But the Bear’s sources say that wasn’t the end of it. The rumored “investment” by Tucker and his Level 5 team in other operations and entrants has been a holding pattern to find the right time to take over the rest. (And it’s a little more cash laundered, isn’t it?) Murphy can’t prove that, it’s rumor only, but now it’s irrelevant, isn’t it?

BTW. Someone said the Tucker’s Level 5 had made some big commitment/contribution to ALMS. Really? Got pissed off and ran off to the WEC? Parked its car in the middle of a race, as soon as the points were in hand? Murphy’s bent over in laughter.

Where’s the Bear Been?

After more than a decade, he’s really quite tired of the Braselburger crap. He’s got something far more fun and far more important to work on. Check out some background material at http://gourl.gr/owz or http://min.us/msLVTYQei . Go ahead, download. Perhaps you know someone who knows someone who can help.

The Bear will check in occasionally, and he’ll still tweet. But if it’s the same ole mostly-spec-racing crap, well, he’s got better things to do.

Just minutes before it was announced, Murphy was told the two TBA’s were Detroit and Texas. Subsequently, other candidates have made the routine rounds of the rumor mill. Boss Scott confirmed the Detroit TBA in a rather odd and self-serving  press release after Grand Am confirmed it would have that June 2 Detroit Race. Now it seems likely nothing will fill that ALMS April/May TBA.

Nor does the September/October event seem very likely. Though Sears Point, Montreal, Oklahoma City (the only thing going on there appears to be the all-too-routine legal wrangling amongst the promoter group – Oklahoma City Grand Prix LLC et al v. Mattioli), and Thunderbolt (New Jersey) have been thrown out there by fans, the only one that makes sense – the only one that might motivate Braselburg to move PLM to late October date  – is Texas.

Unfortunately, that’s ground being plowed by others. The gang from International Speedway Boulevard was in Austin not long before PLM, just the latest in a series of such visits. Australia’s V8 Supercar – a NASCAR ally, an FIA darling, and a growth product for Speedtv – is already scheduled for the new Texas track. The FIA’s ally in North America is Grand Am, not the ALMS, the partnership with the ACO in the WEC notwithstanding.

The Circuit of the Americas needs an event ahead of the its first F1, if for no other reason than to sort out its traffic and parking plans. As of now, Murphy will bet on Grand Am being that event, even though he can’t think of a weaker way to test traffic (little will be expected) and parking (little will be needed). Perhaps they want to make sure their dry run isn’t too challenging?

All that assumes the Texas track will get built in time for any 2012 race, even the November F1 date. Construction’s been halted while the principals fight for control (see also Oklahoma City and Baltimore). The only “money guy” in the promoter group is Billy Joe “Red” McCombs, who in owning the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, and Minnesota Vikings, pretty much defined “cheap” and “ruthless”  for sports ownership and promotion.

The continued “temporary” absence from the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Boss Scott told us this was just a temporary scheduling conflict, and that ALMS would be back in the streets of St. Pete. Temporary is now 3 years; the promoters don’t seem to be very interested in getting the Braselburgers back, do they? The Bear’s said from the beginning the combination of geography and calendar made this a “cannibal event,” one that would do little more than leech from the series’ premier event in Sebring. But why dissimulate?

Laguna Seca moves back to the spring. Make up your fricken mind! Are they really trying to kill sports car racing on the Monterey Peninsula? Braselburg’s spin is “requested by the venue.” Of course Boss Scott has given us nothing but reasons to believe him, hasn’t he?
The likely outcome of all this is another 9-event ALMS schedule, with two breaks, eight weeks in May-July, and seven weeks in September-October.

Sebring Confusion

Who to believe? Here’s Scott Atherton’s description of Sebring rule from his State of the Series at PLM:

“Next year’s 60th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will be round one of the 2012 ALMS. It will also be round one of the FIA WEC… The ALMS cars will be competing with technical specifications consistent with what will be in place for the balance of the ALMS season. …
Our class configurations will remain unchanged for 2012:
LMP1 – utilize the current 2011 regulations that include permitting grandfathered cars.
LMP2 – as current
LMPC – as current
GT – as current
GTC – as current”

Autosport, in its October 6, 2011, issue paraphrased Boss Scott this way:

“Atherton said that the latest contract would give the ALMS new freedom when implementing ACO rules. He stated that cars from his series would be able to run in ALMS specification when they compete at Sebring next March.”

and continued:

“That comment has been contradicted by the ACO.
ACO president Jean-Claude Plassart said: ‘Sebring will be 100 percent WEC rules. There will be no GTC cars, for example. They are not in the rules.’”

Nor, Murphy reminds his readers, are 12 cylinder LMP1’s. “100%” is pretty unequivocal, isn’t it? The Bear emailed Messr. Plassart for clarification. Valérie Girard, (v.girard@lemans.org) actually, to whom Jean-Claude’s mail is routed. Murphy will pass on what he hears – if anything.

Corvette

Corvette, under pressure from GM to deliver in the remaining years of its contract with Pratt & Miller – or sooner – met at Road Atlanta with the ACO. Their point? Others have been given an “unfair advantage,” not in the way Mark Donohue meant it, through engineering and team performance, but off the track in the way “performance balancing” is conducted in the sport.

Does this have to do with the design waivers granted in the homologation of entrants? It doesn’t seem likely, does it? Ferrari got none in 2011, and Corvette (and BMW) got a bazillion. Perhaps the devil is in the (engineering) details? Murphy’s been told Corvette would rather have the rules and homologation done at the beginning of each season (as it once was), then leave it alone. Without (as they see it) getting “on par with BMW, Porsche, and Ferrari,” the American team might easily be gone before the end of 2013. Pratt & Miller’s contract extends through the 2013 season, but the company’s work can easily be directed into pursuits other than the American Le Mans Series if GM believes that would be advantageous.

So why go to the ACO, since the ALMS has announced a separation of rule-setting from the ACO the ‘Vettes are an ALMS program? At least one source says the ALMS so-called “declaration of independence” from ACO rules is largely window-dressing, mostly concerned with the Sporting Regulations, not so much the Technical Regulations. Then there’s the fact that Chebby has always said that the most important part of the Corvette Racing program is Le Mans, not the ALMS.

Far more ominous to the American Le Mans Series is the obvious budding romance between Chebby and Grand Am. That shouldn’t come as a surprise.  The General moved last season to make the NASCAR sports car series the place it would establish a performance resume for its new Camaro, while it discouraged Corvette GT entries, preparing to move ”the American Sports Car” into a prominent place in Daytona Prototypes, where it was designing and funding a Corvette body for the new “DP 3.”

At the end of the season the Bear was told Chevrolet would substantially strengthen its Grand Am factory driver program, abandoning the use of part-time ALMS drivers in favor of an expanded full-time Grand Am group. In fact look for considerable “restructuring” across the board, with drivers being assigned and re-assigned to different series, with movement in all directions between ALMS, Grand Am, and Pirelli World Challenge.

A new IndyCar engine program, a continued strong relationship with NASCAR (despite the rants of a Detroit pundit), and now the title sponsorship of Grand Am’s first race in the Motor City means at least a relative reduction of the prominence in the Division of Corvette’s American Le Mans Series program.

Ferrari

The Bear won’t be surprised if you’re at least a little confused at Corvette’s ACO complaints, since he’s written that a Ferrari team is unhappy about the same tinkering, and “the straw” was an advantage given mid season to (wait for it) – Corvette. So much so that the “pause and review button” was punched for the ALMS racing program.

A move to Grand Am seemed  a slam-dunk just a few weeks ago (the toe is already in the water via a little noticed partnership) until Maranello signaled it was getting cold feet. Backtracking a bit, when Ferrari committed its 458, it was generally supposed that Mazda would not return in 2012. Now it appears the RX8 is back.

Why would Ferrari expose its 458, (MSRP $247,000) to regular losses to Mazda’s RX8 (MSRP $26,795)? The simple answer is they don’t want to, and Grand Am’s reversal of its early decision to let the RX8’s homologation lapse has caused Maranello to review its commitment to support full-season Grand Am entries. It’s bad enough they’ve had to suffer through a season of losses to the BMW M3 (MSRP $58,900), but that car at least has some racing history and a performance cachet, as does the Porsche 911  (MSRP GT3 $103,100). Murphy’s certain zoom-zoom doesn’t count Maranello among its fans.

For manufacturers the attraction of racing is the establish your performance creds – or in Ferrari’s case, reinforce them. If you are Ferrari – or more recently, Audi  – the last thing you want to do is damage a hard-won performance reputation.

So what are the 2012 choices for Murphy’s favorite Ferrari team in the whole wide world? (1) Take the year off (2) Race in the WEC – including Le Mans (3) a Grand Am campaign (4) an ALMS campaign, with or without Le Mans. The Bear’s betting that’s pretty much the order of probability, too.

Jaguar

In its second full season, RSR’s Jaguars completed just 44% of ALMS GT laps. In 18 entries, had one top-ten finish.  The kitty cats averaged a 13th place finish in a field that averaged 15 entries. Is there any doubt this is the worst GT team ever? It certainly is among those that raced for so long. Others in history this bad had the sense to be embarrassed – and quit. When will Tata realize what a great advertisement this is for its competitors in America, providing reasons at every event not to purchase a Jaguar?

Fun with Numbers

The Braselburgers – led by “Two-T” Scott – continue to have a problem with numbers. During the Silverstone round of the LMS, on-line viewing reportedly peaked at 2,500. We’re told that ESPN3 routinely draws 100 times that for ALMS races.

Or try this from the 2011 State of the Series: “Attendance is up 12%,” reflecting in large part the substitution of Baltimore for Salt Lake City. To which Murphy says, “duh!” In 2009, Miller was reported to have attracted 35,000 fans willing to drive around the Oquirrh Mountains from Salt Lake City. That number – already “ambitious” – fell further in 2010 before the northern Rockies were abandoned in 2011. Given that Baltimore was claimed to be on the far side of 100K, it’s not just a “large part” of a 12% increase, but rather likely all of it, and perhaps more.

The funniest numbers faux pas was by Boss Scott, again in the State of the Series. “In addition to our already extensive international distribution through Motors TV in Europe (50 internationally-recognized nation-states), Fox Sports Latin America (33), Fox Sports Middle East (19) and Rogers Sports Net in Canada (1), we are now fully distributed through ESPN International which represents an additional 149 countries…” The ALMS is seen in 252 countries? Better tell Hillary, her Department only recognizes 195 (Taiwan not included).

ALMS Twitter followers nearly doubled from 3900 to 7500. Meanwhile, Murphy attracted over 800 followers (Twits?), even after winnowing out the pole dancers not already close friends.

The Other Jaguar

As soon as Ian Dawson (Taurus, ECO, etc.) was identified as the boss of an oddly ambitious out-of-nowhere Lotus racing program, the Bear knew something was up (or down). Now that shoe has dropped, with the thud we’ve come to know and love from Dawson’s racing adventures. The thud this time was the sound of the Lotus LMP2 program’s hitting the trash bin. After watching the Evoras at PLM, it wasn’t hard to imagine another Jaguar Racing program in the making.

Abruzzi: a cousin to the Norwegian Blue?

Dissembling again, Boss Scott said the Abruzzi was “on hiatus.” Unless “hiatus” no longer means “a pause, or break in continuity,” that was wrong when he said it. The Abruzzi was dead, gone, is no more, a former Abruzzi, very much like a Norwegian Blue.

Losing Count

…of the departures. This time, Lynda Polk, long time timer/scoring chief for IMSA will not be returning next year. Murphy expects her position to be filled by a needy Champ Car refugee.

Bathurst

Murphy sent Crocodile McFly  – the Down Under Mole – from Hendry’s Beach to Australia to report on the Bathurst 1000. The Croc called with his impressions on Monday. “Wow! A great event. Good, close racing. The fly-over was so low, I had to duck. Great crowd at a track “you aught to see.” Crocodile thinks this would be a better show than DTM. They have the right idea on so-called “gentleman drivers,” he says. They simply refer to them as “Co-drivers.” Simple, and without the negative (to some) connotation. Now that the FIA has approved the Supercars as an international sanctioning body, we’ll undoubtedly see more of them, including at Texas in 2013. Supercars, F1, and DTM – can USA racing get any more crowded?

The Bear understands there are new Supercar rules coming. That’s good, since the current technical regulations are compromised by as many adjustments as the infamous ACO homologations, and for just two cars. Perhaps they’ll provide little more exhaust noise, the only thing our mole thought should be tweaked.

Crocodile is going to stay over for the Gold Coast race this weekend. Check back with Murphy for that report.

Andy Lally Challenge

Andy’s had four races since Murphy last updated the Challenge, Chicagoland (28th, $95,100), New Hampshire (34th, $80,300), Dover (33rd, $78,925), and Kansas (37th, 85,250). That added $339,575 to his season earnings, bringing the total to $2,618,856. He’s also captured and maintained the 35th place in owner’s points for Kevin Buckler, so is ensured a spot on the starting grid.

The American Le Mans Series field closed out its season with races at Laguna Seca, where the field earned $148,000, and Petit Le Mans, which paid them $135,000. With that $283,000, the entire ALMS field was happy to claim total season winnings and bonuses of $1,795,000 including estimated privateer bonuses that Murphy added at the beginning of the Challenge.

Six races remain on Andy’s 2011 schedule.

Murphy knows many of his readers aren’t buying it, but that New Jersey F1 proposal is very, very real. Those who have seen the details say this is a “street course that works,” meaning, as the Bear understands it, that it’s not a typical “point-and-shoot, see-the-tops-of –the-cars” race track, but rather a good driver’s and spectator’s track. Baltimore has turned out much better than anticipated – so far, anyway – and that will certain add some impetus to the New Jersey street course idea.

Chris Pook and Leo Hindery, Jr. are among those involved in this deal. It also has the support of key local politicians, and with the skyline of Midtown Manhattan as a backdrop (the south end of the course that runs along JFK Boulevard and Port Imperial Boulevard is across the river from the north end of Times Square, with the north extremity of the circuit at about the mid-point of Central Park), it has Big Apple cachet without directly impacting NYC streets.

The two things required for any F1 seem to be present: cash and political clout.

Busting at the National Press Club

You read the announcement of the big press event at the National Press Club on August 30. This was to be a big deal – continental breakfast, panel discussion, Q&A, photo op – but in the end it wasn’t.

Though there were a few reprints of the ALMS post-conference press release, you read more about the event before than after. There’s a simple reason; the room was nearly empty. The Bear hears some automotive industry participants were not amused by the tepid response.

In France

The Don and The Boss flew off to France on Labor Day for meetings with the gnomes of the ACO. On the table? The way the Bear sees it, nothing less than the future of the American Le Mans Series. With the FIA/ACO-sponsored WEC on the verge of putting the last nail in the fast-declining American sports car racing series, the contract between the ALMS and the ACO lapses at the end of this season, is less than a month.

Weak marketing and poor media exposure began taking their toll on the American Le Mans Series after its 2007/2008 peak, and the inability of the series to appropriately respond to external challenges has left its teams bereft of sponsors, without external funding. To put it simply, if you can’t fund your team on your own, you’ll have to move on to another pastime, a state of affairs of which the Robertsons and Duncan Dayton are now painfully aware.

The problem is, Murphy can’t think of an outcome of the visit with the Frogs that will provide any relief. Not only has the ACO refused to consider supporting its regional series by encouraging participation by its WEC entrants, while Don and Scott were in the hallowed club house ACO officials were leaking the word they’ll take away the Petit Le Mans round of the WEC in favor of Bahrain (or, less likely, Montreal), and if Sebring is retained, no ALMS-only entrants will be allowed from 2013 forward.

Then the ACO goes on the record at Silverstone blathering about how they “need” the “feeder series” (ALMS, LMS, and Asian Le Mans – never mind that there is no Asian Le Mans Series), and that the LMS is “on the block.” The Bear’s told you the ALMS has been for sale for a long time, and he was told just this morning there was a serious discussion recently with the Evil Empire. Those fell apart when The Don threw properties unrelated to racing into the deal.  Does the WEC really need “feeders?” What’s the historical precedent for that? Do drivers move up a “ladder?”  Hardly; most drivers in the “real” classes get there after success in equal or higher level racing, and after climbing other ladders (F1, IndyCar, etc.). Teams? No. For example, if you want to hire a Challenge team, hire AJR. WEC pro GT team? Schnitzer. A world-class prototype team? Joest. No “development ladder” there.

Will The Don and The Boss come back with an extension? We’ll only know at Petit Le Mans, but Murphy is guessing yes. Why? First, The Don is a Francophile of the first order; whatever the Frogs want is ok with The Don. Second, the Braselburgers don’t seem to have the imagination to create a series appropriate to its own American sports car racing constituency or heritage. Unable to think of anything else, they’ll go along for another ride with the ACO.

Unlimited What?

The Unlimited Racing Championship. What the hell is this about? The Bear and a few of his forest creature friends have been digging. The law firm (but not the attorney) that filed the trademark for the title is also the firm employed by Patrick Dempsey. The PR person for the new “championship” is the same one employed by Tracy Krohn. Southwest Performance Technology, the company that holds the rights to the “Unlimited Racing Championship” is in Santa Ana, California. AAR, building the DeltaWing, is in Santa Ana. Mazda USA is almost in Santa Ana (ok, next door in Irvine, California). So we can conclude that the URC is a series to be launched by Tracy Krohn and Patrick Dempsey to accommodate new technology entries like a DeltaWing powered by the new Mazda Skyactiv-G 1.3 engine? Fun, huh?

Of more substance, the owner of Southwest Performance is listed as Richard S. Neuart, who Murphy’s been told has dabbled in various kinds of racing endeavors, often in the background. A good source stated categorically that this is a new racing series. Another rumor has Tracy Krohn behind a Can Am revival. This afternoon, the Bear got a call from a trusted source who – considering the players and other rumblings – believes the most likely announcement is a spec support series for the McLaren MP4-12c similar to the Ferrari Challenge.

If, as indicated in the media alert, Scott Atherton will preside over this announcement, you can bet there’s nothing here that will change the character of the American Le Mans Series. This will be a separate endeavor of IMSA.  Otherwise, you’d see The Don up front with a microphone, and the presser would be at Petit Le Mans, not in California.

Going Public

In his August 25th Paddock Poop, Murphy published this description of a meeting between the ALMS’ two top prototype teams and  IMSA COO Scot Elkins:

“Rob Dyson and Greg Pickett – among the last surviving racers of their era – requested and got a meeting with Scott Elkins before Mid-Ohio. The Bear hears the message was two part: we’re going to enter the 50th Anniversary Rolex and January, and also Sebring. We expect to be capable of competitive times – with all the LMP1 entries – in March. Then we will decide what to do for the remainder of the 2012 season. “

Today the story – in detail – made it into speedtv.com under John Dagys byline here: http://gourl.gr/k84 John points to the upcoming 14th Petit Le Mans in his first paragraph, perhaps implying Pickett and Dyson expect to be competitive with the diesels not just at Sebring in 2012, but at Petit this year (even though they are “most concerned going into next year”). Unfortunately, Elkins wiggles off the hook by hiding behind the ACO again, referring to next season’s as-yet unreleased and unknown rules. If they had any guts in Braselburg, they’d cut weight and increase breathing on the ALMS prototypes immediately. The Bear is not holding his breath.

Remember Rand

Gregory Keith Rand, aka “Greg Rand,” 46, and William Nicholas Rand, aka “Bill Rand,” 41, both of Dallas, were sentenced on July 27th to federal prison terms of 18 years and 14 years, respectively, for fraud. Their father, William Anthony Rand, aka “Tony Rand,” 69, of Plano, was sentenced to five and one-half years in federal prison. In addition, the defendants were ordered to pay $99,707,758 in restitution and forfeit numerous pieces of personal property to the government, including real estate, boats and other personal water craft, luxury vehicles, artwork, including an original Picasso, furniture, antiques, musical instruments, jade, expensive jewelry and wine. Greg Rand was remanded into custody; the others will be allowed to report to the Bureau of Prisons at a later date. The forfeited property will be sold by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Rand Racing contested Grand Am in 2001 and 2002 in SRP II. And yes, some who worked for them were screwed, even after winning judgments against the crooks, when the Rands stripped the assets out of Rand Racing. Among many who worked for this criminal family were Thomas Blam, Risi Competizione, Jeff Braun, Anthony Lazzaro, Nic Johnson, Marino Franchitti, and Ralf Kelleners. How many were stiffed? One for sure, who told Murphy “ I sued and won, but Bill mothballed the team until the statute of limitations ran out, so no restitution here.”

This little note from Murphy is for the superfans who want their heroes to be left alone. The moral of this story is, “sooner or later the Feds will get you,” and, the crooks in our sport hurt real people. Ever since John Dillinger, we can believe if the IRS is in the hunt, something is not right. And what if the next felony will be the third?

Updating Signature

When the Bear last checked on the Tarletons, he wrote this in Paddock Poop 190 on May 19th.

Murphy’s sees no evidence that Signature has a car, or an engine, or a crew. (When they do, perhaps they’ll be kind enough to post a photo? Even Solo Al was able to do that.) The team says it’s in the “re-evaluating” mode.

In response (just a guess that he was referring to the Bear), on May 23rd, Matt wrote on the team’s facebook page, “Someone asked for a picture of A car so I figured I would oblige,”  posting a rendering of a Norma prototype. One of his fans asked, “are you actively talking to Norma? or just messing with the bear?”

Matt didn’t answer that, but of course the Bear knows the Tarletons have been talking to Norma since soon after the Riley came to naught. In August, Matt cranked up the excitement by writing, “All I have to say is “Wow”…If we spilled the beans on everything we are doing and leave no secrets, would we be more respected for our work?” (If you knew what I know

He didn’t “spill the beans,” but the Bear suspects the “talks” with Norma have been going like this: “When will you have the money?” “Soon.” “Do you have the money yet?” “Not yet.” “Now?” “There will be a little delay.”

Of course Murphy just speculating irresponsibly, but since there’s no evidence of a car, an engine, or a team, he concludes there’s been a “temporary setback.” Maybe there will be a big announcement in October. Or maybe not.

The Andy Lally Challenge

Since Murphy’s last report, Andy Lally has driven to  25th at Bristol, 30th at Atlanta, and 32nd at Richmond, earning $279,400. Andy and team owner Kevin Buckler have now won $2,279,281 in the 2011 Sprint Cup season.

Meanwhile, the American Le Mans Series field was competing at Baltimore, the bunch of them winning a total of $147,000. Added to the season’s previous haul, all the entries of the ALMS have earned $1,512,000. It’s a rout, but the Bear’s going to play it out.

The Flying [redacted in the interest of good taste]

Murphy doesn’t like the whole idea – he can’t believe anyone can call this thing a sports car or grand touring car with a straight face – but neither does he revel in the failure of important participants in his favorite sport. The Bear can’t think of anything The Don has done right in quite a while – really, Mr.  Panunzio has no feel for this sport at all – but if you’re going to get into something like this you need to do it with both feet. (That’s been the problem for a long time, hasn’t it? Tepid support for the race team, the series, and most recently, the Abruzzi.)

So Murphy was hoping that the participants in this project would demonstrate some commitment. The news of massive layoffs (11 people) at Highcroft Racing this week says otherwise. There’s really no way the DeltaWing can be prepared for the track, tested and developed with two mechanics and a truck driver – not coincidentally the staff needed to maintain Duncan’s extensive collection of historic F1 cars.

Unfortunately, the Bear hears other disquieting things: the car is not expected to start testing until December, problematical for a Le Mans start in June.  But worse than that, no engine choice yet, and for a car that needs highly specialized tires, no manufacturer has stepped up to supply them. None of the partners in the venture have shown the inclination to provide the funding needed to bring it to fruition, and the appearance at this late date of an outside sponsor seems unlikely.

The latest story may give the clearest idea of where this project is headed. In addition to cranking up the PR machine (there’s a release today from Santa Ana from Highcroft’s PR chief), Murphy’s been told the first chassis will not go to the test track, but rather be sent on the show circuit. The hope seems to be that by trucking it around to car shows – and what else, county fairs? – someone sill step up with the cash the principals can’t – or won’t – provide.

Rumors of acquisition and merger – many conflicting – are rampant around IMSA, ALMS, Grand AM, ISC, and PMSG. The Bear summarizes them today, along with new cars, teams, and sponsorships and rules.
The Don Makes his Move?

Murphy’s been told by a well-placed source the Don’s been wheeling and dealing. While his Braselburg minions kept the gnomes of the Beach busy with putative and furtive talks about dumping tracks, the Don was shorting International Speedway Corporation (ticker symbol: ISCA), making a bundle on the $4.50 plunge at the end of January. Investment advisor Professor Pullen Legg of Universität Leipzig – fresh from his work for Porsche AG – has positioned the Don to take control of the Florida Racing giant.

The Panoz Abruzzi will join the Sprint Cup ranks as soon as the decals are done. Grand Am and ALMS will be merged. DP will henceforth mean “Don’s Prototypes.” Elan Technologies will produce a conversion kit allowing owners to add the required DP “greenhouse” to their Oreca LMPC’s.

The Alchemist, too?

A Florida source tells Murphy racing impresario Tony Dowe is leading a consortium that will take control of IMSA. One rumored change is the addition of an all-Ferrari spec class made up of Grand Am-legal cars soon to be available from Ferrari and prepared for racing at a secret location in Georgia.

Sebring Closed!

The Florida Department of Agriculture has closed Sebring International Raceway until further notice after discovering a tree planted in the paddock as part of the American Le Mans Series Green Initiative was infected with Citrus Gonorrhea (aka Orange Clap), a highly contagious disease that destroys orange groves. The quarantine of the historic raceway will continue until further notice, or until the track is sold to International Speedway Corp., owners of Daytona International Speedway. The disease was discovered following an anonymous tip from a “concerned citizen” at 1801 Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach.

Iconic Names to Return to the Sport

With new prototype rules coming into effect next season, there’s a lot of design and development activity, including some famous names. Jim Hall is consulting with Pratt & Miller and the General on a new Chaparral for LMP1. Carol Shelby is working with Ford on a new LMP2 to be called the Ford Probe.

Octogenarian Sir Stirling Moss figures if “Schumi” can come out retirement, he can too. Brian Redman will join him in an LMPC sponsored by Geritol and Viagra. Continuing what might be a trend, Murphy hears Augie Pabst will enter the only rear-engine Scarab in the world in LMP1.

Oklahoma City Announces History-making Street Race
 
Promoters in Oklahoma City are planning to host the 50th street race in North American to go out of business. The planned 2011 street race will mark a milestone in motorsports history, as it hopes to become the 50th such motor racing event to go bankrupt.
 
Oklahoma City hopes to follow the ill-fated red ink tidal waves of Des Moines, Niagara Falls, Columbus, San Antonio, Minneapolis, Savannah, New Orleans, New Orleans again, Dallas, Dallas again, Dallas yet again, Denver, Denver again, Tacoma, Sacramento (who can forget those railroad tracks), Detroit, Belle Isle, Tamiami Park, St Petersburg one, St Petersburg two, St Petersburg three (soon to be announced), Tampa, Miami one, Miami two, Caesar’s Palace, Houston, Phoenix, Reno, Cleveland (yeah, Murphy knows  it was an airport), Long Beach (yes, it did go bankrupt once), a small town in Michigan the Bear can’t remember, Halifax, Honolulu (never quite happened), West Palm Beach, Meadowlands, San Diego… you get the idea.
 
“We know we can make this another failure if we really try,” stated Oklahoma City GP promoter Larry Enron. “Although every single street race in North America eventually folded, we think being the 50th would be something special.”

Jon Field named Official Crash Tester
 
The FIA announced today in Paris that American Le Mans Series veteran Jon Field and his Intersport team have been named official crash-testers. Field will be tasked with crashing new cars to prove their structural integrity. Jaguar is currently exempt from this requirement since the cars are not yet capable of the minimum speed necessary to crash them.

J.C. France and Jeremy Mayfield to drive “Spirit of Colombia” Riley
 
The Colombian government’s Minister of Exports, Pablo Escobar III, has announced sponsorship of a BMW-powered Riley for drivers J.C. France and Jeremy Mayfield for the Watkins Glen six-hour Rolex sports car series race. Escobar stated the new team is “an ideal marketing tool for two drivers who have long supported Colombian exports.” The team will be based in Florida at a new race shop located on the Miami River.

Milka Too

Demonstrating the importance of the Latin market, the ALMS quickly followed the Grand Am announcement by confirming Milka Duno will return – she was LMP2 season runner-up in 2001, scoring four wins. “I drive world class in World Class ALMS, no?  I was dominatrix in series before, I be again, maybe?” said Duno.

Milka will bring her familiar Citgo sponsorship to Long Beach, where the team’s debut will correspond with an official state visit to the Govenator by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Riley Introduces 40-year Shelf Life
 
Riley Technologies and the Rolex Grand-Am Series have announced a new generation Daytona Prototype with a competition-life of 40 years. The new DP will allow teams to campaign the same car in the series for at least four decades. The new “DP40″ features NASCAR “Car of Tomorrow” technology. Updates kits will be available on a regular basis at Walmart.

Zogaib to the ALMS
 
Henri “Big Nuts” Zogaib has acquired a Porsche Spyder to run in ALMS beginning at Laguna Seca. J.L. “Cheese Balls” Kraft will join Zogaib as co-driver. Kraft was also expected to bring sponsorship from a consumer food product. However, protests from Braselburg that the rumored sponsor will be in conflict with its Official Cheese Curd have put that part of the deal in doubt.

Engineering support will come from Combustion Engine Technologies (CET), a company said to be one step ahead of NASA in understanding the physics of thermal kinetics. CET has reportedly extracted a 400% gain in the Porsche engine’s fuel utilization (patent pending), so the Spyder will produce 800 horsepower while not requiring refueling during a 2 hour 45.

Zogaib, an Lebanese iron ore magnate but now living in an exclusive Florida community nicknamed “Skinner Joint”, will handling team finances with help from Joey “Walnuts” Corsa. Alberto “Chestnuts” Solaroli will be in charge of engineering, and Greg “Pecan Sack” Till will manage day-to-day logistics and provide spiritual guidance. “We like to say that we’re ‘Four Nuts and a Cheese Ball,’” said Zogaib.

Drissi, Willman to Make Movie Magic at Long Beach

Bryan Willman, affectionately known in the ALMS paddock as ‘Shrek,’ and sometime driving partner and Hollywood producer Tomy Drissi have signed a deal with Dreamworks for the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Tomy often has movie sponsors for his car and this year will be no different with a new ‘SHREK’ installment getting on board. The deal with the studio was formalized when Bryan Willman showed up at the studio to pitch the deal with green dyed skin. Since the dye turned out to be permanent, Willman will appear in green the entire race weekend. Cameron Diaz will join Willman and Drissi at the driver’s autograph session.  After Autocon boss Mike Lewis will appear as the Donkey.

Grand Am expands Midwestern Presence

Murphy hears that Grand Am, will race in the parking lot of the Walmart SuperCenter in Rapid City, South Dakota next season. 

“With our success at the Iowa Speedway”, said series President Roger Edmondson,  “we figured Rapid City would be a natural.  People drive for miles, just to come and shop at Walmart, so now we’ll bring the racing to the people.” Adding interest, the course design will vary, based upon where shoppers park their motorhomes.

Waste Disposal joins list of Grand Am Sponsors

Mark Raffauf, Grand-Am’s rules mogul, has developed a system of speeding up those lengthy full-course cautions. When a DP goes off course and stalls it will have 30 seconds to restart and continue. If not, a trash compactor truck standing by at each corner will collect the inert machine.
 
NASCAR domo Jim Bob France VI announced that a sponsorship deal has been inked with Waste Management, Inc. to provide the crushers.

IMSA Addresses Pit Lane Safety Concerns
 
 IMSA has required all photographers to wear helmets in the pits. Now a directive has been issued that requires photographers to wear diapers.
 
“It’s for their own protection,” explained an ALMS official. “We’ve had several near-misses in which a photographer has been nearly run over when dashing for a Porta-Pottie.” The Bear hears that the quiet diesels have contributed to the problem.
 
Scott Atherton announced Depends has been named the  Official Adult Diaper of ALMS.

Murphy thanks the elves and his little woodland friends for their contributions to this Poop.

Follow the Bear at http://twitter.com/Murphythebear

USF1 closed the doors without paying its employees at noon today. Ken Anderson slunk out the back door without a word to those headed for North Carolina’s unemployment office…but that could be problematical.

The staff was told this was a “furlough while a reorganization” could take place. So, don’t pay the staff? Strikes the Bear as the same kind of manure Anderson and company’s been shoveling all along. Windsor was also nowhere to be found around the Charlotte facility when the staff was given the bad news. Perhaps we’ve seen the end of both of them?

Consider this: Murphy believes that by putting its employees on “unpaid leave,” while claiming they are “technically employed” USF1 makes them unable to collect unemployment compensation from North Carolina. It also saves USF1 from being responsible for those payments. The Bear’s waiting to hear how those applications for compensation are treated.

Murphy was quiet after his comments February 23, mostly because this train was on the tracks. The short version is that Charlie would report complete disarray in Charlotte (hell, he might just have read the Bear and saved the airfare), and the FIA would pull the entry, with only a glimmer of hope that a bond might secure the team’s grid spot for 2010. Now that latter seems to be the “official story” – that the staff is only being furloughed, and will be called back. Murphy really believes that’s true – he’s got friends in Charlotte – but doesn’t believe it will work out that way.

During the Bear’s holiday from this story, he was entertained by F1 bloggers who claimed all kinds of nonsense, the best of which was that “Hurley was being blocked by Anderson.” Murphy’s just a stuffed animal, but he knows enough math to know that 1 vote doesn’t beat 4. The same bloggers cooked up a long list of “agreements” to  merge with Campos, or Stefan F1. It’s always been hard to make sense of those things. Possible? Maybe, since Campos is still looking for a way to cure its default on the Dallara. But none of it likely. Deck chairs on the Titanic.

 There’s an assumption, it seems,  that dreaming up an idea to put video on the web makes one a competent businessman. It clearly doesn’t. The principal dithered, sending his friend hither and yon when action to fix the core problem was long overdue. The time to fix this was in October, and was long since past by December. Sending poor Parris to Italy and Spain in February didn’t even have the advantage of nice Mediterranean weather – the time for that was October.

Murphy made the case for the major management change public in February, but it was already a forlorn hope. There was no Obi-Wan waiting in the wings.

 Complicating whatever comes next is that Frank Williams and his friends in the middle of the grid are as likely to invite the left-over Toyota program join them as chickens are to invite the cat into the henhouse. A little understanding of the concorde – short version again, money is distributed on the basis of the season’s total points scored – is all that’s needed to know that Stefan F1 might cost Frank tens of millions of dollars.

Fiction: Where is T-Mobile?

So far no VICI for Sebring. The so-called “T-Mobile deal,” never made much sense to stuffed animals, even if it was popular in forums as an excuse for VICI “no-shows.”  Whether or not VISI shows up, with or without T-Mobile, corporations budget for the immediately following fiscal year, normally in a cycle that begins will submissions no later than September and decisions early in the fourth quarter.

Irrelevance: Audi disses ‘the platform’

Since we’re on the subject of Sebring, Audi will test for four days immediately following the 12 Hours. Not with a ‘transition’ car, but with an R15 version that’s fully compliant with 2010 ACO rules. So the ‘blame’ (Murphy did his share) on Peugeot for blocking a transition car at Sebring seems to have been overtaken by events. The fact is that during the week when the American Le Mans Series in on the track at Sebring, a pair of fully functional, shaken-down, brand new, ready-to-race R15’s will be sitting inside a transporter nearby. Now Braselburg looks stupid, or irrelevant, or both. In any case, Audi doesn’t give a flying eff to show up for the biggest race on the ALMS schedule. Some ‘platform.’ Explain that, Braselburgers.

‘Whatever’ Department

In response to a forum assertion that a friend of the Bear’s was a “good friend” of the Braselburg boss, the Bear’s been told that “Through the 2006 season, perhaps it was ‘friendly acquaintances.’ If memory serves, the last thing Mr. Atherton said to me, at the 2006 awards banquet, was ‘Are those real, or are they just for looks, like a doorman?’ (About United States military medal miniatures properly worn on a tux lapel.) It’s been pretty much downhill since then.”

Grand Larceny: Loles

United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware has published the list of creditors of now-defunct Farnbacher Loles Partners, LLC, including dollar amounts for the ‘20 largest.’ Here are the ‘highlights’ of the 88 total unsecured creditors:

As reported here before, Pratt & Miller, $930,000. Others of note, Christian Zugel, $390,000; Dick (sic) Werner $120,500; Jon (sic) Tancredi $350,000; PMNA (whoops, they’ve done it again, does Solo Al ring a bell, guys?) $190,000; Christopher Lux $500,000, Michael Marsal, $175,000. Good grief, when would-be drivers want to go racing they park all their business sense at the door, don’t they?

Citibank is out a quarter million on a line of credit, and $120,000 on a credit card, of all things! Even the Porsche Club of America gave this turkey credit. He owes poor Marion for his meals, and Murphy’s friend Sylvia for his 2008 PR work (he could use a bit of that, now, couldn’t he? Even Sylvia, the best in the business, couldn’t do much with this crook).  The top twenty creditors sum to the far side of $4 million.

Hype: Patrón

Nineteen days to Sebring. Any sign of life from that ‘presenting sponsorship?’ The Bear’s just askin’.

The top two at the Rolex once again came from Murphy’s top 5. After putting both Ganassi cars on the list (a bit of a no-brainer, even if your head is stuffed like a mattress), plus Brumos and two-time Grand Am Champion GAINSCO, the Bear mused in Paddock Poop 152 about the fifth, finally settling on the No. 9 Action Express because it fit all three Bear rools. Including the one about established teams, since in crew, staff, and owner, it was largely the “other” Brumos entry, the one vacated by the accused Daytona Beach druggie.

One Ganassi car blew an engine, a rarity in recent years; it had 8 hours on it at race’s start. Is it a measure of the economy that Ganassi’s ran a well-used motor? Even if his race engine was replaced because of an oil leak, no fresh engine was available?

Readers wondered about the Bear’s bullishness on the BMW M6 entries, but they’re thinking like ALMS fans, where ‘new cars’ are new cars. In Grand Am, tubers shed their skins like snakes, yesterday’s Pontiac becoming today’s Chebby, and tomorrow’s Bimmer. Finishing 8th and 11th, they didn’t have any more trouble than any other make in the field – less, in fact.

Two of Murphy’s five favorites finished in the top five, one on the podium; among the 30 GT entries, the Bear’s Five were 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 12th.

Saab-Spyker Saga

So Spyker’s ‘buying Saab?’ Everyone knows that the one-time Dutch F1 team masquerading as an automaker doesn’t have a guilder to its name, so how does this happen? The devil’s in the details. The Dutch want their pet car company, as do the Swedes, so the Dutch arrange a $562 million loan for Spyker and get the Swedes to guarantee it. GM will ‘sell’ Saab to Spyker for $74 million in cash and $326 million in Spyker-Saab preferred stock (what’s that worth, given neither has made a guilder or krona in living memory?).  Spyker pockets $488 million in cash (perhaps some of that will buy out the 30% Spyker holdings of Vladimir Antonov, suspected (by Swedish Intelligence) of money laundering and links to organized crime.

Rolex Rumor

Northeastern Florida isn’t exactly populated by ALMS well-wishers at this time of the year, so Murphy has learned to anticipate one or more pretty nasty rumors. Some have a kernel of truth, some are just off-the-wall. The 2010 annual ‘Daytona ALMS Rumor?’ Widely circulated in the paddock on International Speedway Boulevard was the story that ALMS has not yet paid 2009 prize money, so teams, in a kind of “strike,” are sending in their 2010 entries with no money. Of course the Bear is more than a little suspicious of the whole thing, but the “fact of the rumor” is surprise – just a measure of the ‘bad blood’ between these two competing sports car racing series.

Murphy’s sources indicated that at least the ‘strike’ part of that is untrue. If any team was withholding entry funds it wasn’t in concert with any other teams, and likely wasn’t in any ‘retaliation’ for nonpayment. Prize payments have dragged in a bit late – sometimes in installments – in recent seasons, and apparently this one is no different. The Series has suggested that prize money be credited against the new season’s entry fee, which seems perfectly reasonable to the Bear.

Defecting

Expect more than one Grand-Am team to “defect to LMPC” after Daytona. Alex Job is said to be one of them (interest by AJR was expressed early) along with Level 5, and at least one other. The LMPC count for Sebring will be 4 or 5, with 2 or 3 to join the series after that – consistent with ALMS Supremo Scott Atherton’s recent pronouncements.

From one quarter Murphy is told, “the Grand-Am fields will be horrific after Daytona,” and that “NASCAR upper management is fed up with Grand-Am.” If that’s true it didn’t keep Jim-Bob from winning the Rolex with his own entry. Close connections to Action Express’ owner Bob Johnson – along with other information – would suggest so. Mr. Johnson is Jim-Bob’s personal CPA; the company funding Action Express is something called High Rev Racing. Entering your own race series isn’t exactly revolutionary (Don Panoz being another example); the Bear takes it as a vote of confidence rather than something nefarious.

GAINSCO Gone?

The Bear’s been told that the Rolex was GAINSCO’s last race. Miami hotel reservations have been cancelled.

Audi In, Peugeot Overboard?

The Bear hears that Braselburg is considering allowing Audi to enter Sebring, pending the outcome of the new car’s testing, now underway. If the entry accepted is the “transitional” car, and not the “new rules” R15, then there’s little doubt the effect will be to toss Peugeot overboard. Peugeot may jump anyway, of course. The new Audi just might be ready for Sebring, anyway, since Audi Sport Joest has turned up as a “full season” LMS entry. That would mean the car is now believed to be ready by April…March 20th isn’t all that much earlier, is it?

There’s Cars and…

…then there’s cars. Ferrari can’t be happy about the two street-car based (barely more than that) Ferrari 430 Challenge cars entered at Daytona. One was turned away (‘not ready to race’ is a kind description) the Bear hears. The other muddled around, thoroughly uncompetitive. Look for entries from Tony Dowe later in the Grand Am season to be much more representative of the iconic marque.

Inlimbo Racing League

Izod is the IRL’s new title sponsor; you’ve probably seen the ads. Other noises from the surviving – for now – North American open wheel series aren’t so good. Ganassi is just the latest to join the ‘new car’ discussion, having produced a mock-up – a sign, according to one source, that the series is “just blundering around.”

The addition of Lanigan to Newman Haas was the work of the late Paul Newman; Carl’s family’s not on speaking terms with the new partner. Are we seeing the unraveling of Newman-Haas-Lanigan? That’s one opinion Murphy’s heard.

Unemployment Line

Here’s a measure of the weakness of the racing industry world-wide: Butch Leitzinger, Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller, Sascha Maassen, Emanuele Collard, Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty, all ‘available and looking.’ And that’s just a few.

USF1

What the Bear is hearing is pretty grim. The chassis hasn’t been ‘crunch tested’ yet. There’s no motor on hand, payments to Cosworth reportedly now in arrears. The team has applied to the World Motorsports Council for dispensation to miss the first three races without penalty – more a courtesy than a rule, since guaranteed participation is not a part of the new concorde, as it was in the old.

It’s  not over yet. USF1 owner Chad Hurley (one of Youtube’s three original founders) could rescue the operation – with new management – if he so chooses. Meanwhile, Bernie is in his element, the eminance gris trying to arrange an interim chassis, but that’s wrapped up in a ride for Bruno Senna. If Bernie can’t get USF1 onto the grid, he might be stuck with the Russians, who’ve grabbed the rights to the ex-Toyota chassis (someone will have to check the accelerator pedal).

Lou News

Murphy’s friend Lou Gigliotti is running for Congress – here’s his web site. Meanwhile, he’s charging ahead with his Grand Am Corvette entries. 

Unlike others in Grand Am GT, Lou tells the Bear that, “Our Corvettes are ‘Prep 1’ using stock frames like ALMS cars. We learned a lot from that car and we are moving the technology over to Grand Am.” It makes particular sense for Lou to stick with ‘the real thing’ because Lou’s business is selling Corvette performance parts. Lou says a result of the new program will be   ‘really nice Corvette parts’ that will one day make their way into LG Motorsports’ catalog.
 
Eric Lux and Kelly Collins are set for the season in the first Corvette, with a hoped-for second car possible as early as Birmingham, depending on finding a good driving partner for the Boss.

Pssssssst…anyone interested in a nice ALMS Corvette? Murphy knows where to find one.

Follow the Bear on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Murphythebear

At Laguna Seca, the Don was told by key manufacturers and teams they were unhappy with his management team, that the value of their ‘investment’ in the series was unacceptably declining. That he would have to do something to earn their continued support.

In response, our entrepreneur appointed a ‘steering committee,’ of prominent ‘stakeholders’ led by Duncan Dayton (Highcroft Racing) and Seth Neiman (Flying Lizard Motorsport).

The charter of this ad hoc committee is to recommend future strategy and implementation planning. Questions on the table include: How many classes should there be? What should the nature of the relationship to Le Mans, the Le Mans Series, and the Intercontinental cup be? Indeed, even such detail as the administration of performance balancing to promote competitive racing within classes.

The members, who Murphy hears were more or less nominated by manufacturers and teams, include a company turnaround specialist, a businessman/team owner, and public relations executive Paul Pfanner, the latter appointed by PMG chief Scott Atherton. Pfanner is seen as an Atherton ally, while Duncan and Seth are trusted by the rest of the ALMS community. The Bear’s been told that Rob Dyson is also a member.

If you’re looking for the éminence grise behind the Series’ marketing direction, Paul Pfanner is your guy. A former Haymarket executive currently on his own with Pfanner Communications, he was responsible for the market study of the Series fan demographics, helped create the logo, the ‘World Class’ title, and more recently the ‘Leader Green Racing’ tag line. Some would say (and do) the presence of Pfanner on the committee all but ensures it will accomplish little of substance.

It’s rumored that Neiman considered a purchase of the whole lot two years ago, one of just a number of such offers and near-offers, and separate from one Murphy previously reported from New York investors brought to the Don by Fountainhead Holdings CFO Tony Mastandrea. Tracy Krohn has also been a player in such discussions.

The price then was too high for the revenue streams. The Bear suspects it still is, even having dropped by half, the revenues have dropped further and faster. Those in the business point to the sale of the race car parts business to Haas, telling us “The car is a loss leader for race car constructors; the profits come from selling parts,” and asking, “What then does it say when you sell the parts business?” What, indeed?

Regardless of reference to a “management team” it’s believed that decisions in Braselton (outside of the Don) are made by the CEO alone. Unfortunately, even in the face of dissatisfaction with policies and performance, no replacement is apparent. Thus the committee was created to provide direction and ratify decisions.

One observer doesn’t expect any substantive changes, but wouldn’t dismiss the possibility of a sale, “Panoz does not want to manage day to day, nor does he want to put any more money in. It suits him to keep the guy at the top because its the easy option. A sale would be an even easier option, but only if he can get the price he wants.
 
“I think the only reason he has set up this steering committee is to avoid having to make public changes at the top. It allows the American Le Mans Series community some comfort that they can have an input and it allows Don to continue to enjoy his retirement.”

This past week our committee has been considering whether to be represented at the upcoming road racing conference, an annual event between the series and its constituent tracks. In the past, the ALMS has presided on the first day, then tracks’ executives have met separately on the second day of the conference.  A source told Murphy, “The (track) organizers have made it clear that they don’t want the same old BS, that they are looking for reality and new approaches. That’s why the committee may want to be represented separately from the Series.”

Of one thing Murphy is certain. If this ad hoc committee can’t make a substantive change in the direction of the American Le Mans Series, it will quickly become an ‘escape committee.’

LMP Challenge still Fraught with Uncertainty

Murphy’s been trying to follow the potential for Challenge cars on the Sebring grid and thereafter.

Intersport Racing – announced the second funded driver, Brian Wong, today; order placed.
Gunnar Racing – no announcement, but “firm rumors.” Declared interest at Road Atlanta test drive.
Comprent Motorsport – announced “interest,” and asked “funded drivers” to contact them.
O’Connell Racing – plan to enter “selected events.”
Genoa Racing – “expect February delivery.”
Primetime Race Group – rumored, but unannounced.

Murphy thought PMG would have a role in building the LMP Challenge cars under license from ORECA. It seems last year’s financial problems and subsequent cuts have made that impossible. A recent visitor wrote to the Bear, concerned that there may be delays in delivering the Challenge cars, “…the day I stopped by there, there were only about 1/3 the parking spaces used and only one guy in the fabrication shop. …the old offices that in the past had been full of cubes had been rearranged to be rather spacious for the current employees.

“I know more about manufacturing than the race car business, but it seems to my meager eyes that while Braselton has equipment to manufacture they don’t have anyone to put the equipment to work. Not just anyone can put that equipment to work though, and it would be a reasonable guess that the trained personnel doesn’t reside in north GA anymore which is likely why the Haas deal took place.”

Really good?

Murphy has been told to expect ‘really good Sebring entry news.’ What might that be? Wouldn’t that almost require an Audi entry…anything else would be ‘good news’ without being ‘really good news?’ At least that’s the way the Bear sees it.

A.C. hears the “Good News” about the Sebring entry will likely be a two-car ECO Radical entry, with both cars powered by (believe it or not) a urine blend fuel (U85, to be exact). The ACO has not blessed the urine-powered LMP1s yet, and they remain skeptical about the team’s refueling rigs. Several NASCAR teams have been looking into U85, and the virtually unlimited supply of the fuel, which could flow directly from the grandstand urinals to the fueling rigs. NASCAR has already trademarked “Global Leader, Yellow Racing” and hopes to run at least two cars in the Flomax Series powered by U85.

Look for Murphy’s upcoming Rolex 24 preview.

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