So Many Tracks, So Little Time

As a fan who follows endurance sports car racing almost exclusively on-line, I would like to see as many races as possible. After all if you follow racing on TV or via the Internet, you don't have the expense of travel and your logistics are pretty simple. For the participating race teams, the number of races and where they are held present a much larger budgetary and logistical problem. For teams competing in the proposed ALMS/Grand-Am unified series (it really needs a name, I'll call it ALMS-GA for now), the choices of venue are wide but the constraints of budget, time, and conflicting calendars will limit the number of races that can realistically be run in a season.

At the merger press conference the ALMS-GA folks stated that they are shooting for a 12-race schedule for 2014. They further suggested that championship points would be calculated on the best 11 of the 12 races to allow teams to prepare for Le Mans without penalty if they wished.  In creating a 2014 schedule for the ALMS-GA one would have to be aware of each track's schedule/availability, the weather at the venue for the time of the proposed events, possible conflicting events, and keep in mind the travel and logistical realities of getting the teams to the venues, with breaks for repairs and development taken into consideration. I'm glad it isn't my job to juggle all these factors.

January 2014 is a bit more than 15 months away, so part of the scheduling process is guesswork because many potential conflicting events are yet unknown. Traditionally the ALMS, ELMS, and ACO attempted to avoid overlapping events to allow teams the option of competing in any of the events (except this year, with the WEC). No 2014 series schedule exists yet, we only know that Le Mans is usually held around the summer solstice (third week of June).

So, for the time being let's just concentrate on the "where" first. In 2012, combining the ALMS and Grand-Am, races will take place on 18 different tracks. Additionally there are 4 venues that have either been included by one series of the other, or been considered for inclusion. That is 22 venues. Somehow the ALMS-GA will have to select 12. There are some hard choices to be made. From the 2012 schedules of the ALMS and Grand-Am let's see where they go. First there are 4 tracks that were visited by both series:

I have included the 2012 event dates in the table to show possible openings at each track for scheduling purposes. Since both series chose to run there and these are some of the best natural-terrain road courses on the continent, these would likely be included in the new schedule.

Next, we have the signature events for each series:

In the cases of the Daytona 24hr. and the Sebring 12hr. they have a history in sports car racing that pre-dates both ALMS and Grand-Am; those two events were the traditional beginning of the endurance racing season and previous world championships; Daytona in January and Sebring in March. Those two events are currently also the single largest draw for their respective series. In recent years Watkins Glen has been featured in the Grand-Am's endurance championship (along with Daytona and new this year, Indianapolis), while Petit Le Mans is the traditional season-ending event and one of the largest draws (along with Sebring and Long Beach) in the ALMS.

Then we have what I will call the "market-driven" events:

These events are all street circuits located near large population centers. They are important in raising the profile of their respective series and in attracting new fans, sponsors, and media coverage. They are also nicely spread out geographically.

So, if the ALMS-GA were to include just these 3 categories unchanged, they would already be up to 11 events. If they were adamantly committed to a 12-race schedule, there is only 1 further venue include. Let's look next at the venues that are unique to each series in 2012:

A tough choice isn't it? Personally if I had only 1 choice from this list, I would choose Mosport. But I have a suggestion that would ease the pain somewhat: allow teams to drop 2 races from championship calculations and go with a 14 or 15 race schedule. Some tough choices would still need to be made, but that way both Canadian races (Mosport and Montreal) and Indianapolis could potentially be included (for example).

There is at least one further category of venue to consider when creating a schedule: tracks that have been utilized in the past, or are under consideration for 2013:

The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is still under construction, but the WEC is likely to hold it's North American round there in 2013, possibly as a double-header with the ALMS. St. Petersberg is a street circuit that the ALMS has run on in the past. Miller Motorsport Park in Utah is the longest natural-terrain road course on the continent (and one of the newest) that has also been used in the past. Sonoma is in an important market area and has recently received some upgrades.

So, here are my picks for the venues for the ALMS-GA 2014 season in chronological order:

1. Daytona 24hr. (late January)
2. Sebring 12hr. (early March)
3. Long Beach (2hrs. early April)
4. Laguna Seca (6hrs. early May)
5. Belle Isle (2hrs. 1st week in June)
6. Watkins Glen (6hrs. early July)
7. Mosport (2:45hrs. mid July)
8. Mid-Ohio (2:45hrs. early August)
9. Road America (4-6hrs. mid August)
10. Lime Rock (2:45hrs. early September)
11. Baltimore (2hrs. late September)
12. Petite Le Mans (10hrs. late October)

In addition, I would add at least 3 more and allow teams to drop 2 races for championship consideration to hold down costs and allow running at Le Mans:

2a. COTA (6hrs. late March when the weather is cool)
3a. Sonoma (2:45hrs. late April)
9a. Montreal (2:45hrs. late August)

The top 12 would include the 11 "core" races described above plus Mosport to keep some International flavor. My 3 added races include a second Canadian race and two western venues to help regionally balance the series. I would also like to add Miller Motorsport Park, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I tried to be realistic in my choices. My unfettered personal choices would not include "rovals", or street circuits (I don't like to see heavily damaged cars). Daytona and the street circuits are too important not to be included, but my list favors natural-terrain permanent road circuits.