I'm guessing most of you weren't on Miller's Indycar chat......... but this caught me off guard:

[Comment From Bob H]
Any comment on the rumored IRL/ALMS double bill at Thunderbolt raceway at NJMP?

2:33 robin miller: I had not heard that one but today I heard that Grand Am was going to buy ALMS. I do know that the IRL/ALMS twinbills at Long Beach and Mid-Ohio are popular.

That would suck, IMO.

Later on:

[Comment From dave fahey]
how solid is the alms/grand am rumor? buy it to kill it or bring it into the fold?

3:02 robin miller: I heard it from a team principal so I have no idea how solid it is. But sports cars do need to be united at some point.

whatttttttttttt???????????????????????

I don't have a problem with this. Back in the IMSA day Daytona and LeMans (and Sebring) ran similar cars. If the problem is Franceophobia, well that's your problem. If the problem is the Grand-Am DPs, I get that, but maybe they'll improve. Maybe the driver roster gets better, who knows? Porsche, Audi, Lexus, BMW, Aston-Martin, Ferrari all in one series maybe? What's not to like?

I do believe, ALMS cannot run a race more than a certain amount of miles. I cannot remember what that mileagae is, but they cannot run a 24 mile race. So if this rumor were to happen, the ALMS prototypes would likely go away, if they already haven't after this season. ISC is probably only wanting the ALMS venues or simply want ALMS to go away. Grand AM would pick up venues Sebring, Road Atlanta, St Petersburg, Long Beach and Road America. Put those venues together with Daytona, Watkins Glen, Barber and Montreal and you have a great schedule.

The ALMS though, doesn't own Sebring, Mosport or Road Atlanta.

i really, really hope this is not going to happen. i'd rather see something other than the daytona prototypes as the premier sports car class in north america. i need something better looking, and quicker. unless grand-am was willing to do a major overhaul of their entire format, it would still have the same problems, still lack the same appeal for the majority of sports car fans, and not become any more successful.

that said, unless audi came back to challenge pronto, i could see it happening if panoz just got tired of the bleak economics of the current situation...

Merge the two series. Upgrade the DPs to be closer to GT1 in lap times. Keep P1. P2 and GT2 as is, drop GA GT. I see no problem with that at all. Pontiac is ceasing to exist, so GA is going to take a hit in both series. Porsche is well represented in both GT(2)s. Mazda would lose the RX8, unless they can make a real RX8 competitive.

Unless the GA/NASCAR decides to 'common template' everything, but thank God the ACO wouldn't let that happen.

Problem is P2 is much faster than DP. GT1 is about as fast as DP. It would take a lot of cash and a major regulatory overhaul just to get DP to compete with P2. No way DP could ever compete with P1 - P1 would have to be emasculated.

GA's whole appeal (such as it is) is that it is cheap and lo-tech; easy to repair, and no need to upgrade or modify.

But the whole appeal of ALMS is fast, high-tech cars, the F1 of sports racing cars. No way the series can be combined.

Maelochs - 24 June 2009 11:31 PM

Problem is P2 is much faster than DP. GT1 is about as fast as DP. It would take a lot of cash and a major regulatory overhaul just to get DP to compete with P2. No way DP could ever compete with P1 - P1 would have to be emasculated.

GA's whole appeal (such as it is) is that it is cheap and lo-tech; easy to repair, and no need to upgrade or modify.

But the whole appeal of ALMS is fast, high-tech cars, the F1 of sports racing cars. No way the series can be combined.

With no GT1 cars out there, my thinking is that DP would help fill the gap between P2 and GT2.

My Worst Nightmare!

What good would this "Proposal" Do? No competion for "GA" I guess.
The end of Modern,Technical,Multi-engine type Sports car racing in the US.....................

I couldn't imagine Mr Panoz going for this At ALL!

Panoz Motorsports owns or leases Sebring,Road Atlanta,and Mosport.