I hate rumors

[SACK-U]

What I heard was a little disturbing. It seems the France empire is trying to buy out Panoz and acquire their tracks. They would like to shut down Sebring and Mosport plus develop Road Atlanta into housing. They feel that by shutting those tracks it would drive more race fans toward their Series. Daytona sold 72k less tickets this year than last. They are desperate for a new fan base that has money.

The saving grace might be that Panoz has a contact with LeMans and the sebring race. As well as selling the canadian track is next to impossible due to that contract.
 



I say, just sell them Sebring’s Turn 1, 3, and 5 they are the only left turns they might be interested in 

[shakedown067]

OH HELL NO. That'd officially suck balls...Although, I think there are enough people in Sebring (and surrounding area) with guns, that we could take over France and force them to reopen the track though...

[SACK-U]

Another reason why I do not think Panoz will sell......... Batmobile 2.0

Panoz has been working with Lola to bring back a Panoz LMP car

[Kings_Suck]

That seems to be a stretch, buying out the competition to close it down.  I think there are anti-trust regulations against stuff like that.

[pureadrenalin]

Ehhh..where to start. I've been trying to follow this as close as possible throgh any available news source..facts being facts..it seems anyone who can get their hands into things has. And has all found the same things. The Frances are all about controlling, and dominating motorsports within the US, the problem lies within the fact they have the financial ability to do so. They dumped money into the AMA, they've dumped it into IRL, GrandAm...now they have their sights set on the ALMS. They have wanted to own Sebring for some time, and with the Panoz group having the cash inflow problems they do now, it makes it easier for the France family to step up and make an offer to float a little bit of money twoards the ALMS...but similar to the Mafia, you won't get away scot free. It's a matter of what the ALMS will have to give up, to stay afloat that scares me. The stakes are quite high, and the ALMS doesn't have much room to negotiate. My feelings at this point are that, if the Frances are dead set on owning the ALMS, they will need to change the way their setup currently is.

Why? Well, the current state of affairs will allow for the protoype teams as are to swap into a DP without headache, and they would all proabbly be fairly successful. And I speak of privateers. Intersport, Cytosport..or whoever else including the Dysons could easily be into, and competitve with a DP in whatever chassis/engine combo you want. While I don't want this, without a solid P1/P2 class in 2010, it's going to be another tough year. People watch this sport for the cars, I was glad to have been around the days of Group C, and got to see some of the great marques in person. Camel GTP used to draw thousands, and thousands of fans to tracks, we need to get back to that. How, I don't know.

Acura will probably not be back next year without some kind of competition. Should Audi not return full season, we will not see them again. This I am confident of, and not because Wirth is going to work in F1, but because branding a P1 car as an Acura and saying you compete against the best....you better be competing against the best. They are not, I really doubt they will fund another P1 entry to run against Cytosport, or Intersport or whatver.

GT1 is all but dead, unless your name is Ratel, and then it's alive becuase you've made it's own place for it to run. I commend this personally.

GT2 is the healthiest class in the US right now in both Grand Am and the ALMS, the positive side to this is that the ALMS cars could remain the same, and Grand AM could just ease up on their regs to match the speed of the GT2 spec seen within the ALMS, therefore it allows teams such as FLMS, BMW, Risi, to go to LM with a proper spec car, and still be competitve. Conversely, should that happen, the DP speeds need to increase. Either through power, or a redesign.

On the sponsorship end of things, it may be a better package to present to someone who could become a title sponsor, in the current economic state a unification of a series is smart for general health and longevity. Though, it has the possibility to hurt as much as it helps. Take Michelin for example..they are the tire to have in endurance racing, will they just roll over and let Pirelli have that? Or will we see a tire battle amongst the best DP/GT teams?

As for the Panoz LMP thing...I don't know, there isn't much published, or talked about..with the essential collapse, and sale of Elan, I don't know how to apporach this one..even if Lola is building it.

To end, unification is the way to go..but, it's how it's done and what the end product turns into is what is important for the future of US sportscar racing..there are worse things..Andy Evans could come back..  

[F-Troop Mom]

In my opinion France is the devil and even Andy Evans would be better.

[BillBones]

According to Murphy, the Communications Director for ALMS/IMSA has denied this rumor.

http://murphythebear.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/08/1305-denial-suffering-and-not-so-deep-throat/

[pureadrenalin]

According to Murphy, the Communications Director for ALMS/IMSA has denied this rumor.

http://murphythebear.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/08/1305-denial-suffering-and-not-so-deep-throat/

Hmm, interesting times. After reading that, it's interesting to think abou what is happening. Mariantic has reported that if Audi returns to full time racing in 2010, it won't be in Europe. Also, what are Peugeot's plans? With Fiat cars coming over, will Peugeot too? And if so, they will have a need for marketing..could a 908 be in the ALMS full time? It's going to be a whacky offseason..that is fo-bizzle.

[BillBones]

There's been some speculation on other boards that unless Acura gets some competition (like Audi) during the second half of the season, Acura will take the three teams back to IRL next year.

Creation, which moved to Charlotte from England last year, keeps saying they'll enter ALMS during the second half of the season.

MuscleMilk has announced they will be running a Porsche RS Spyder with Timo Bernhard driving from Mid-Ohio on.

There's also some speculation that if Audi does return it will be with Penske.

[SACK-U]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/pruett-7-questions-with-scott-atherton/


PRUETT: 7 Questions With Scott Atherton
Written by: Marshall Pruett  
07/09/2009 - 01:16 PM
Oakland, CA



Summary: There are no plans and there are no discussions to sell the American Le Mans Series. There are absolutely no plans or discussions to sell IMSA or any of the Panoz Motor Sports Group circuits either. You know, these same rumors have surfaced in various forms for many years and nothing has ever materialized from any of them

[leeself]

hmmmmmm.....

 

[Kings_Suck]

Summary: There are no plans and there are no discussions to sell the American Le Mans Series. There are absolutely no plans or discussions to sell IMSA or any of the Panoz Motor Sports Group circuits either. You know, these same rumors have surfaced in various forms for many years and nothing has ever materialized from any of them

OH NOES!!!!1  Strongly worded denials like that usually mean the rumors are TRUE! 

[SACK-U]

Mariantic has reported that if Audi returns to full time racing in 2010, it won't be in Europe. Also, what are Peugeot's plans? With Fiat cars coming over, will Peugeot too? And if so, they will have a need for marketing..could a 908 be in the ALMS full time?

A little bird told me that Audi has reserved it's block of rooms at Cheatau Elan for 2010. Maybe they intend to come watch. or they have 10k to throw away if they cancel