Am I the only one who doesn't understand why Champ Car is doing this event?
I don't think the Bay Area is a huge motorsports center (as far as fan base),
and the Champ Car events at Laguna Seca have not been a really huge draw,
despite providing some pretty good races over the years.
I understand Laguna has scheduling difficulties with the construction for next
year, but it seems silly to attempt to stage a street race less than 100 miles
from one of the best road courses in the country.
Also, there was talk a while back about a San Francisco street race maybe on
Treasure Island for a first (and then second) US Grand Prix for Formula 1.
There was talk recently about staging another USGP, but I guess having Mexico
rules that out? New York is apparently also having talks. Either way, I think
the appeal and glamor of F1 (combined with the allure of SF) would be a bigger
draw for the Bay Area crowd.
Even ALMS, which gets a pretty big draw (although a large portion of the fans
seem only interested in ALMS and none of the support races), doesn't seem to be
a huge success to me outside of the few who follow motorsports closely?
I also don't understand IRL's decision to start their open wheel adventure at
Infineon. I guess it's strictly the NASCAR appeal?
I guess I would have liked to see something big booked at the new
Atwater/Turlock/Modesto/whatever they're calling it Motorsports park. Maybe a
Champ Car race on a Roval??? I think the track's location just doesn't have
the same appeal as a major city?
And in the long run what does this mean for Solo2 or even Club Racing?
Probably little change. A street race might be good for Motorsports relations
in general, but wouldn't provide either group a new place to play. SCCA
workers will likely staff a lot of the events (whether as SCCA or otherwise),
which would be good, but don't we currently get credit at Laguna for having our
workers do the big races?
--Darren
"Carl Merritt" <cmerritt@luminous.com> wrote ..
> Anybody know where the Camp Car "Silicon Valley Gran Prix in San Jose"
> is going to be held? And of course any way we can ride their coat tails
> into getting a new site opened up for our use? :)
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