Road America Reduction

[Breitling24]

Yikes, ALMS has cut Road America from a 4 hour to a 2:45 hour race. Blaming it on TV scheduling and "market research." What?
Reported on ALMS fan site.

[joeb]

That would be unfortunate if the race time is reduced. On the other hand a 2:45 race is better than no race..........

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by Breitling24

Yikes, ALMS has cut Road America from a 4 hour to a 2:45 hour race. Blaming it on TV scheduling and "market research." What?
Reported on ALMS fan site.

That is still too long for a handful of cars.

Two sprints, with only one driver, one on Sat. and one on Sunday, would be better yet.

[tlongman]

Then its not sports car racing. To me sports car racing is about different classes but also long races.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by tlongman

Then its not sports car racing. To me sports car racing is about different classes but also long races.

I would agree, 2:45 to me is a sprint race when it comes to Sportscar racing, and the minimum that I feel one should be as it is still long enough that some endurance and pit strategy comes into play. But at 2:45 it does allow for a better TV window and holding the attention of the non fan-atic's like us that might watch it.




L.P.

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by joeb

That would be unfortunate if the race time is reduced. On the other hand a 2:45 race is better than no race..........

It's happening, posted by fogelhund on ALMS fan site:
http://www.imsaracing.net/2009/alms/...um%2009-12.pdf


True, at least it's not cancelled.

[bil588]

I hope the ALMS strikes a deal with the Versus tv channel after their three year deal with Speed is over.

[broadrun96]

Or ESPN, did wonders for bringing NASCAR exposure in the mid-90s. ESPN2 would be better than SPEED sometimes and probably better promotion but they already run Nationwide (fullseason deal?) so who knows if it would fit. Rarely if ever see any sportscar promos in other races on SPEED but you can be sure we'll see plenty of NASCAR promos during LM, ESPN is really good about cross-promoting all their events so it could build viewers plus getting coverage on Sportscenter. Not sure any network would do better for the hours covered than SPEED does for LM though, hard to block out a full day on most any US networks with the variety they try to cover to get the widest/biggest audience possible to the network as a whole.

[blueflagger]

Owww, this is sad news.

I wonder what market they were researching. The sports car racing market or the NASCAR racing market? Hmm?

[joeb]

The Bear is reporting this shortened race could be the last ALMS race at Road America for a while.

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by joeb

The Bear is reporting this shortened race could be the last ALMS race at Road America for a while.

That would be quite sad as Road America is one of this country's great race courses.

DK

[blueflagger]

Double and triple oww. Not that RA doesn't have lots of other fairly big events but this one is a classic. I love flagging it.

[fjn356]

This is sad. RA is a great course and I will miss the brats, but I will not drive two days again for a 2 hr 45 min race. What next, the Very Petite Le Mans and the Sebring 2&3/4?

[fieldodreams79]

i like the ANY OTHER NETWORK than SPEED idea.
Verses and Mickey Mouse couldn't do any worse.
if the ALMS leave RoadAmerica, all they will have left is two wheelers and the June Sprints, right?
would be utterly shameful.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

i like the ANY OTHER NETWORK than SPEED idea.
Verses and Mickey Mouse couldn't do any worse.
if the ALMS leave RoadAmerica, all they will have left is two wheelers and the June Sprints, right?
would be utterly shameful.

Their vintage weekends are very successful.
The track has standards, and it seems, only seems, that the IMSA, as is, may not meet them.
They kicked CC out and they begged their way back in on a trial basis, then CC sold out to the IRL.

[blueflagger]

Road America has the Runoffs now too. They also have well-attended SVRA races and the KIC (historics). They now have a popular karting track too.

I understand IMSA's dilemma. There's little in the way of sponsorship money these days and they have fewer cars. The longer track with fewer cars doesn't look so great and it loses TV viewer attention quickly. There is lots of competition out there for viewer attention and therefore advertising dollars.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by blueflagger

Road America has the Runoffs now too. They also have well-attended SVRA races and the KIC (historics). They now have a popular karting track too.

I understand IMSA's dilemma. There's little in the way of sponsorship money these days and they have fewer cars. The longer track with fewer cars doesn't look so great and it loses TV viewer attention quickly. There is lots of competition out there for viewer attention and therefore advertising dollars.

IMSA had better worry less about viewers and worry about people coming through the gates.
Road America is/would not drop the IMSA because of television ratings.
Television rating do nothing for those trying to operate a race track.

[blueflagger]

Bob, I agree about RA's outlook but RA needs to provide more spectators at the track to help IMSA if they want to keep IMSA. The crowd last year looked sparse to me.

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by blueflagger

Bob, I agree about RA's outlook but RA needs to provide more spectators at the track to help IMSA if they want to keep IMSA. The crowd last year looked sparse to me.

LOL-- well I think that works the other way around; the IMSA has to provided a better show, so more fans, with a more varied auto enthusiast background, decide it is worth their dollars.
Road America has done/does a lot to get people in.