gaijin
02-16-2005, 04:36 PM
European-Style Auto Racing Is Taking Hold in United States
By DAVE CALDWELL, New York Times
Published: February 16, 2005
on Fellows remembers the early days of the American Le Mans Series, when he and other drivers were told to block out an hour to sign autographs on Saturday afternoons at the racetrack.
"You were kind of twiddling your thumbs after 20 minutes," Fellows said yesterday.
Now an hour is not nearly enough time, he said. Even though it seems to be the antithesis of Nascar, the yardstick of American auto racing, the American Le Mans Series has taken off during its six-year run, like one of Fellows's Chevrolet Corvettes.
Scott Atherton, the president of the series, said television ratings, though modest when compared with Nascar's, were 24 percent higher in 2004 than in 2003, and attendance was up 15 percent to 20 percent.
Atherton said that this year's 10-race series, which opens with a 12-hour race next month in Sebring, Fla., has found an audience among more affluent race fans. That appeals to sponsors.
"The message we want to get across is not how many eyeballs watch us, but whose," Atherton said in an interview after speaking to the Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society in Manhattan.
The twist is that the series, whose cars include foreign makes like Audi, Porsche and Ferrari, might not have become as popular as it is without Nascar, which features American stock cars.
Fellows has given the road-racing series some cachet by driving brilliantly in Nascar Nextel Cup events. He started last in a race last August at Watkins Glen, N.Y., but maneuvered his way to a second-place finish behind Tony Stewart.
Fellows, a 45-year-old Canadian, said road racing received substantially more exposure in January 2001 when Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time stock-car champion, and his son, Dale Jr., raced a Corvette in a 24-hour road race at Daytona Beach, Fla.
"I just give him full marks for making the attempt to do something that brings absolutely nothing to you," Fellows said of the senior Earnhardt, who died in a crash a month later at the Daytona 500.
While practicing for an A.L.M.S. event last year in Sonoma, Calif., Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed his car and was burned, dealing a setback to his hopes for his first Nextel Cup championship.
But Earnhardt made it clear before he was injured that he was eager to drive in the A.L.M.S. event.
Like the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, the race the series takes its name from, A.L.M.S. events are timed, not run by distance. The car that covers the most laps in a designated time wins.
There are also four classes of cars racing at one time, and the difference in the speeds among the classes can be 15 to 20 seconds a lap, said J. J. Lehto, who has driven in the A.L.M.S. since its inception.
"You need to play your tactics well, because you need to overtake many, many cars in a lap," said Lehto, who drives an Audi in the fastest class. "You want to be smooth and stay out of trouble."
Atherton said events had drawn up to 100,000 fans in a weekend. The series has come a long way since 1999, when its founder, Don Panoz, staged a Le Mans-style race in Brazelton, Ga., that was popular enough to inspire a full racing series.
But the series is not that big. A ticket holder at an A.L.M.S. race gets to roam the paddock during a race weekend and is allowed on the starting grid up to 15 minutes before the race.
"What you get is this," Atherton said, pulling out his cellphone and pretending to make a call. Then, imitating an awestruck fan, he said, " 'Dude, you wouldn't believe where I am.' "
By DAVE CALDWELL, New York Times
Published: February 16, 2005
on Fellows remembers the early days of the American Le Mans Series, when he and other drivers were told to block out an hour to sign autographs on Saturday afternoons at the racetrack.
"You were kind of twiddling your thumbs after 20 minutes," Fellows said yesterday.
Now an hour is not nearly enough time, he said. Even though it seems to be the antithesis of Nascar, the yardstick of American auto racing, the American Le Mans Series has taken off during its six-year run, like one of Fellows's Chevrolet Corvettes.
Scott Atherton, the president of the series, said television ratings, though modest when compared with Nascar's, were 24 percent higher in 2004 than in 2003, and attendance was up 15 percent to 20 percent.
Atherton said that this year's 10-race series, which opens with a 12-hour race next month in Sebring, Fla., has found an audience among more affluent race fans. That appeals to sponsors.
"The message we want to get across is not how many eyeballs watch us, but whose," Atherton said in an interview after speaking to the Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society in Manhattan.
The twist is that the series, whose cars include foreign makes like Audi, Porsche and Ferrari, might not have become as popular as it is without Nascar, which features American stock cars.
Fellows has given the road-racing series some cachet by driving brilliantly in Nascar Nextel Cup events. He started last in a race last August at Watkins Glen, N.Y., but maneuvered his way to a second-place finish behind Tony Stewart.
Fellows, a 45-year-old Canadian, said road racing received substantially more exposure in January 2001 when Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time stock-car champion, and his son, Dale Jr., raced a Corvette in a 24-hour road race at Daytona Beach, Fla.
"I just give him full marks for making the attempt to do something that brings absolutely nothing to you," Fellows said of the senior Earnhardt, who died in a crash a month later at the Daytona 500.
While practicing for an A.L.M.S. event last year in Sonoma, Calif., Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed his car and was burned, dealing a setback to his hopes for his first Nextel Cup championship.
But Earnhardt made it clear before he was injured that he was eager to drive in the A.L.M.S. event.
Like the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, the race the series takes its name from, A.L.M.S. events are timed, not run by distance. The car that covers the most laps in a designated time wins.
There are also four classes of cars racing at one time, and the difference in the speeds among the classes can be 15 to 20 seconds a lap, said J. J. Lehto, who has driven in the A.L.M.S. since its inception.
"You need to play your tactics well, because you need to overtake many, many cars in a lap," said Lehto, who drives an Audi in the fastest class. "You want to be smooth and stay out of trouble."
Atherton said events had drawn up to 100,000 fans in a weekend. The series has come a long way since 1999, when its founder, Don Panoz, staged a Le Mans-style race in Brazelton, Ga., that was popular enough to inspire a full racing series.
But the series is not that big. A ticket holder at an A.L.M.S. race gets to roam the paddock during a race weekend and is allowed on the starting grid up to 15 minutes before the race.
"What you get is this," Atherton said, pulling out his cellphone and pretending to make a call. Then, imitating an awestruck fan, he said, " 'Dude, you wouldn't believe where I am.' "