WOW ALMS is SOOOOO Popular!

[vettemaan]

dang where is everyone!

[hermunn123]

well, there aren't any races until june or july.

BMW isn't racing so it isn't nearly as exciting as last year.

um..... ya, that's all i have to say

[Cbass]

Don Panoz is god. This man has rebuilt the North American sports car world. We have always had the SCCA events, but now local racing is actually getting mentioned on TV, and magazines!

[porscheguy9999]

Originally Posted by vettemaan

dang where is everyone!

Yeah, ALMS is popular. I hope your not being sarcastic. Either way, NASCAR has a large number fans (and a number large fans ) but America needs more than just one popular motorsport. If you ask me, most NASCAR fans are Budwiser drinkin', malburo smokin', #8 Dale Erndhart rememberin' rednecks. Thats just my opinion. Sure its very American, I admit. But they are just carbon fiber shells that replicate the shape of American cars and trucks. And thats all that they have to do with the production cars. The rest is performance. ALMS uses real production cars (GT and GTS classes) and drives them on road courses that go up and down hill and have twists and turns. NASCAR uses an oval course. Thats really predictable and quite boring if your watching them go in circles for two hours. And ALMS has a rapidly growing number of fans. And that's my 2 cents.

[SilverLotus340R]

^^^ hit it on the head

ALMS is growing and growing every year. But there is no where near as many fans as @ Nascar events. Which is sad given the fact that Nascar is (as Porsche said) oval track racing, there is no excitement. There are crashes but they only happen when someone gets bumped or falls asleep (jk) because the race is so monotonous. ALMS is real racing on real roads with real winners.

Maybe we should make a commercial for this

[vettemaan]

Im concerend, seriously only 3 P1 cars at portland :/

[whatcha/got/racer]

i have been going to alms events since 4 years ago i think its growing but u wouldnt want it to grow like nascar. i went to the sonoma nascar race and there is to amny people. at alms at least u can get close enough to touch the cars and talk to teh pit crews.

[Layla's Keeper]

Well, there's three problems with the ALMS.

#1: Audi - remember what the Audi/Porsche/Penske consortium did to CanAm racing in the 70's? Guess what. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Just as the 917 program devoured CanAm, driving away fans and team owners alike, the Audi R8's are a corrosion upon the battery terminals of sports car racing.

#2: Poor TV package - We never get enough GTS coverage (you know, where the fight is going on?), too little in car, too little concentration on non-top level teams. No, we don't care to see Alex Job Racing lead another lap. How about showing us that neat Morgan running around instead?

#3: Too few races - There's Sebring, then nothing until about a month after Le Mans. Seriously guys, this flat out sucks.

Compare it to the 25-30 strong Daytona Prototype fields in the Grand-Am Series, all of which put on a helluva fight with each other, many races decided on the last lap, and you see that ALMS is in serious trouble. You can't rely on an Audi and two Lolas to be the stars of your whole racing series.

[johnyrengo]

I wouldn't know how fast it's growing cause i still haven't gotten to a race, and have only been following it for the last three or so years. Layla's Keeper breakdown of its weaknesses is pretty accurate in my opinion. But then you look at NASCAR and wonder what the hell people are watching for. If they're waiting for crashes maybe they should just make crash testing a spectator sport.

[Layla's Keeper]

NASCAR has immediate star recognition. Drivers and cars are immediately associable and that helps a lot for casual fans.

For us sports car fans, part of the fun is "Hey, did you hear that Boris Said is going to be swapping stints between the PTG BMW and the Konrad Saleen?". To a casual fan, "Who's Boris Said? What number car does he drive?"

Another problem is that casual fans want to be able to know what's going on. With NASCAR (and in fact oval racing in general, of which I am a fan particularly of USAC, World of Outlaws, and ISMA Supermodified short track racing) all of the action is presented right in front of you and is easy to follow. The guy in front, he's leading. Passing is frequent and the freight train of cars vying for position remains in the field of vision. Just pick your favorite and you'll see everything he does.

This feeds right back to my "poor TV package" statement about ALMS. It's entirely possible for people to choose a favorite team within the dozens and dozens of sportscars at ALMS events, but when the broadcasting team fails to put a human face on the cars AND fails to show a wide cross section of the cars involved, it becomes very dull very quick.

Do I really need to get into the problem of trying to get a casual fan to want to watch 24hours worth of racing?

ALMS is a fundamentally good series that is poorly represented and poorly run. Too much sanction is made to manufacturers who're willing to spend a dime and too little sanction is made for privateers who are the lifeblood of the racing. Too little emphasis is placed on variety, and the "driver's championship" is a farce (anyone actually figured out how the driver's points system works?)

Let's face it. ALMS doesn't work right now.