THINKING OUT LOUD.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. It was a swirling maelstrom of big-time racing last weekend, with the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, the Formula 1 opener in Australia and of course the ubiquitous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in southern California. Not to mention the Supercross races in the Motor City... but more on that later.

Most everyone seemed pleased with the season opening F1 race in Australia, if only because there was actual competition for the win. Ferrari made sure that the almighty Mercedes team didn't have it easy, serving notice that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming season, which was refreshing. But the rest of the weekend was marked by discord and open grumbling.

The new qualifying procedure lasted all of one race, as the powers that be in F1 managed to screw up something as time honored - and simple - as determining the fastest car at a race meeting. How the new procedure even saw the light of day is a testament to how crippled the F1 brain trust is, and every single team principal is culpable in this mess too. Niki Lauda, the much-decorated former F1 World Champion said out loud that F1 is "broken" and that things were in danger of spiraling out of control, and I don't think there's any doubt of that being the case.

Despite the more promising on-track performance in Australia in terms of competitiveness, it's clear that F1 has completely lost its way. Given the money being spent in F1, it's hard to see how a wholesale change in the rules would make much of a difference in the overall spending, which remains the primary argument against doing so by the powers that be. But by not doing anything about it they're just accelerating F1's downward spiral.

There are too many exceptionally bright minds in and around F1 for the series to be doing what it is doing. The lack of vision and fundamental unwillingness to be bolder with the technical aspects of the sport is staggering, because it suggests that the people involved actually believe the gravy train will last forever. It's not enough to suggest that Bernie has to go, because that is merely the price of entry in this discussion. Beyond that an entire rethink of the sport is needed, as in, what is Formula 1 and what does it want to be going forward? Does it want to respect the past while projecting into the future? Or does it want to continue along in fits and starts with incremental changes leading to nowhere?

As I've said repeatedly over the last ten years or so, F1 must embrace a new vision if it wants to remain being the pinnacle of the sport. The problem is that no one can "fix" F1 except for the players involved, and so far they've shown a stunning lack of awareness and an even more pathetic lack of willingness to get out of their own way.

As for Sebring, it more than lived up to its reputation as America's toughest endurance test with the added bonus of torrential rain mixed in for added excitement (see more coverage in "The Line" -WG). With the treacherous conditions getting the best of the field of competitors, the race even had to be red-flagged at one point, but it was still the usual slugfest on the track during green flag runs, as always. And all of that contributed to the ongoing mystique that is Sebring, which was oddly comforting.

What wasn't comforting was the completely disjointed coverage by the FoxSports network, a smorgasbord of channel switching and ridiculousness that by the end of the night was simply indefensible. The loudest complaints were reserved for the fact that the Monster Energy Supercross on FoxSports1 and the UFC coverage on FoxSports2 basically preempted the most dramatic last three hours of the race, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Though FoxSports1 resumed coverage at 10:00 p.m. with 40 minutes to go, the damage had been done and any viewer interest in the flow of the race was completely lost.

There are a couple of issues at work here that ultimately define the state of major league sports car racing here in the U.S. in the modern era. 1. The reason the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship gets that kind of TV treatment is that the interest in the sport beyond the hard-core faithful is almost nonexistent. And 2. The reality is that a live Supercross race is a much more attractive proposition to the TV networks - and to the viewing audience -  than the most prestigious endurance sports car race in the U.S., which is a bitter pill to swallow.

As for the above point No. 1, I've said it at least 100 times in this column and I'll probably say it at least 100 times more, and that is that the class structure in the WTSCC is confusing and boring to the casual viewer. Hell, it's barely tolerable to the seasoned racing enthusiast. And as long as the WTSCC hitches its star to the ACO and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while pledging allegiance to the FIA - even though the esteemed French brainiacs running that show dismiss the two major U.S. endurance races as being not quite worthy enough of WEC status - then we will be stuck with the nonsensical class structure that defines the WTSCC.

What's nonsensical? The fact that the GTLM class isn't the premier product on the race track is a complete joke. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the world's great races. I loved experiencing it once and I plan on going again. But what works at Le Mans in terms of a class structure doesn't necessarily work here, especially when marketing the sport to casual viewers. Even though the coverage attempts to explain it over and over and over again during the broadcast, it still comes off as confusing and tedious. Projecting the Le Mans class structure to viewers who are used to watching NASCAR and then hoping to convince a network that the ball of confusion on TV will translate into viewer interest at home is a dog that won't hunt. And for those suggesting that 2017 will be way better with the "improved" prototypes? How, exactly?

And to those who would suggest that I just want to dumb down the "purity" of the WTSCC road racing I would say, really? That's your takeaway from this? The "purity" of what, exactly? No, I am being ruthlessly realistic, that's all. If major league road racing in this country ever wants to be more than a Sideshow Bob that can be bumped around from channel to channel or worse, just dismissed altogether on the whims of TV network executives who don't understand and who don't care, then it will have to step out of its racing-in-a-vacuum bubble and put its best foot forward.

And that translates into presenting the GTLM class as its premier product, which, this just in, is the finest, factory-supported road racing in the world.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.

Editor's Note: “The Decision” is the first of five video shorts from the Ford Motor Company about the development of the Ford GT. It features Bill Ford Jr., Raj Nair, Dave Pericak and Edsel B. Ford II, who attended the 1966 race with his father, Henry Ford II. The shorts will culminate in one long-form documentary that will follow the development of both the Street Car and Race Car version of the Ford GT from the decision to build the cars to the return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (The Autoextremist makes a cameo appearance as well.) Watch it here. -WG

Editor's Note: Many of you have seen Peter's references over the years to the Hydrogen Electric Racing Federation (HERF), which he launched in 2007. For those of you who weren't following AE at the time, you can read two of HERF's press releases here and here. And for even more details (including a link to Peter's announcement speech), check out the HERF entry on Wikipedia here. -WG

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Mexico City, Mexico, October 23, 1966. Bruce McLaren (No. 17 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren M2B/Ford V8 3.0 V8) at speed in the Grand Prix of Mexico. McLaren's car was powered by a Ford Indy V8 adapted to run in F1. It wasn't successful. McLaren qualified seventeenth and suffered a DNF with a blown engine. John Surtees (No. 7 Cooper Car Company Cooper T81/Maserati 3.0 V12) won the race, followed by Jack Brabham (No. 5 Brabham Racing Organization Brabham BT20/Repco 3.0 V8) and Denny Hulme (No. 6 Brabham Racing Organization Brabham BT20/Repco 3.0 V8).

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD