Anybody see the Phoenix Grand-Am race last night? I'm sure this will be met
with skepticism but I am really starting to like this series. Very exciting
race, lots of overtaking even within the same class, lots of trading paint,
and the cars were actually repairable after incidents. I really think these
guys might be on to something. Sure the DP's are still kind of ugly and the
infield road courses are less than inspiring, but consider the advantages of
this format: lower cost for the teams, higher durability, lots of sponsor
space on the bodies, cars are easily identifiable to even the casual fan,
and nearly the entire track can be seen from the stands. In comparison at a
typical ALMS race you will not find one place on the track where you can see
more than two corners, the cars are very expensive to build and they break
if they touch anything, and some of the teams are a bit hard to tell from
each other. I will always love ALMS and similar "classic" sports car racing
but I think the Grand-Am formula is really going to work. It may even be
America's only hope for commercially viable road racing in the future.