Who will be the tech group for the USSB series. I didn't pick that up from the releases.

I get the sense that all of the MIC/USSB details are being worked out on the fly. I think they want to draw a line in the sand; force promoters and OEMs to choose sides and then solve all the details as the picture takes shape. I'm not thrilled with DMG but having "survived" the CART/IRL split in open wheel; I don't look forward to the slow march to zero that a superbike split foreshadows.

coleman... or anyone versed in the split, is a brief history (hit the major points) of that split something you care to give those of us with no time for 4 wheel racing?

hi-zoot - 11 September 2008 04:19 PM

coleman... or anyone versed in the split, is a brief history (hit the major points) of that split something you care to give those of us with no time for 4 wheel racing?

Bottom line, this was a split between team owners of the series and the race promoter for the Indy 500 (Tony George) about what the future of open wheel racing. The team owners felt that expanding american open wheel racing internationally to compete with F1 was their best future, while Tony George felt that promoting the series around the Indy 500 name was a better way to grow the sport and compete with NASCAR. CART was run by committee by the team owners. When they appointed an Englishman to run CART, Tony George quit and started his own series because to him this was the finals straw that the CART team owners cared more about international expansion than national expansion. Even Bill France, Jr. warned a few of the CART team owners at that time that the guy with the biggest race in the US will eventually win out. The IRL always received favorable support from ISC and the principals of NASCAR. Most of those team owners opposed to Tony George's vision eventually entered his series when it became apparent that sponsors did care more about the Indy 500 than they envisioned. While the IRL may look a bit like the old CART today, the one area that has changed is that it is run by one guy. Time will tell if he can make it successful again, but most people now believe that having one series run by one strong entity, not a committee, is following the success of F1 and NASCAR. The motorsports landscape is littered with failures of series run by committee. What the MIC is suggesting is going away from current successful trends in motorsports.

that said, the edmonson-led grand-am, and the racing philosophy promoted by it, have been far from commercially successful as well...

Actually, Grand Am was very successful for the original investors. The recent sale to NASCAR provided them with a very satisfactory return on their investments. That is what a company President is charged to do.

fastnloose - 11 September 2008 08:15 PM

Actually, Grand Am was very successful for the original investors. The recent sale to NASCAR provided them with a very satisfactory return on their investments. That is what a company President is charged to do.

did it? are you party to the terms?

how was the attendance or tv ratings?

oh wait, those things don't matter in a professional racing series...

I'd say that LTS' view overstates the rift being about overseas expansion (still a decent synopsis, however). Tony George who owns the Indy 500 decided he wanted to go with an all oval series (no more roadraces), try to break away from the manufacturers meddling influence on rules etc, and bring in many more American drivers; he created the breakway IRL. At first CART, which stayed truer to the open wheel series that had gotten the series to that point (oval and road races, exotic turbo-charged engines, talent drawn from a worldwide pool etc) held it's own.

Eventually, a series of unbelievably assinine business moves and one bad regime after another, combined with T George owning Indy spelled the end for CART; ironically after Mr. George was forced to bolster his series with a return to road courses, accept the same manufacturers that he had tried to break free from back into the fold (honda, toyota), and see his series again dominated by foreign drivers.

Some unfortunate parallels: One series has virtually unlimited pockets and the power of track ownership, one series apparently looking to dumb things down while the other goes more "status quo", two groups apparently intent on killing each other off with little regard for the fan support that got the series where it is to begin with, and an attempt to follow the "NASCAR template" to success. I'm not sure that Roger E is going to be the "benevolent dictator" that many hope can lead to success, but time will tell. I'm not sure I can watch another slow death march of a series that I really enjoy.

thanks, guys

Rumor has it Mel Harris will be the new boss at USSB after he retires from American Suzuki this year. I'm sure the other OEM's will get a fair shake.

marshallbanana - 11 September 2008 09:41 PM

fastnloose - 11 September 2008 08:15 PM

Actually, Grand Am was very successful for the original investors. The recent sale to NASCAR provided them with a very satisfactory return on their investments. That is what a company President is charged to do.

did it? are you party to the terms?

how was the attendance or tv ratings?

oh wait, those things don't matter in a professional racing series...

Neither do you and based on your past posts in the sports car forum you have no clue on how a sanctioning body makes money or what the real answers/numbers are to your other questions. Since this is a motorcycle forum and the sale of Grand Am to NASCAR is not relevant here, let's keep it to the subject on hand. If you want to discuss the sale in the sports car forum, I'll throw in my 2 cents.