ELATION, ALONG WITH SOME STURM UND DRANG, AT ROAD AMERICA.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Elkhart Lake. It was a magnificent weekend of racing at beautiful Road America, but the off-track news captured even more headlines as IndyCar and IMSA made some significant announcements.

The first major announcement came Saturday morning in the midst of a practice session for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, as the long-rumored news was finally made official: IndyCar is returning to Road America - one of the spiritual homes of American road racing - in 2016.

Derrick Walker, the outgoing director of competition for the Verizon IndyCar Series, and George Bruggenthies, the talented president and general manager of Road America, made the announcement in the track's media center. But, as Bruggenthies admitted to me immediately afterward, this agreement was far from being the done deal that everyone assumed it was, with negotiations going back and forth for two weeks beforehand and right up to the very last minute. Indeed, the "I's" weren't dotted and the "T's" crossed until Saturday morning, immediately before the announcement.

Long the favorite track of many of the sport's greats, Road America's 4.048-miles carved out of the stunningly beautiful Kettle Moraine country in Wisconsin is a rolling testament to American road racing history, and one of the most desirable driver's circuits in the world. In fact, IndyCar can trace its modern road racing roots back to the glory days of Formula 5000 in the mid-70s, when stars such as Mario Andretti, David Hobbs, Brian Redman and many more of the sport's luminaries battled in those high-powered open-wheel machines at Road America.

The chatter generated by today's IndyCar stars after the announcement confirmed that other than the Indianapolis 500's 100th Anniversary next May, the stop at Road America next June would be the highlight of the season and the one other race on the schedule that everyone wants to win the most.

Does this solve all of IndyCar's problems? No, of course not, but the fact that America's premier open-wheel series hadn't raced at America's most prestigious and historic natural-terrain road racing course was a travesty, and the gaping hole in IndyCar's schedule reared its ugly head each year the series stayed away from Elkhart Lake.

I'm happy to report that with the announcement of IndyCar's return to "America's National Park of Speed," the giant hole in the hearts of knowledgable road-racing enthusiasts across the land has been filled.

On to the other significant piece of news to emerge last weekend (see more racing coverage from Road America in "The Line" -WG). IMSA announced that WeatherTech would be replacing the TUDOR watch brand as the presenting sponsor of its road racing series, which will now be called the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship beginning next season. (TUDOR will step down to become the official IMSA watch partner in a ten-year deal.)

The match with TUDOR had been difficult for IMSA right out of the gate, with the the Rolex sub-brand seemingly never able to get off the dime when it came to promoting the series. It was clear that the partnership wasn't going anywhere halfway through its first year and by the end of last season it was apparent that something had to be done, because IMSA was damn-near invisible, operating in a Twilight Zone of its own making.

The WeatherTech deal is an interesting one, as its CEO and founder, David MacNeil, has been in and around racing for quite a while and doesn't lack in the confidence department. The rocket rise of WeatherTech has been a sight to behold in recent years, and it's clear that MacNeil believes in the power of advertising and that IMSA is counting on MacNeil's gift for promotion to launch the series on an upward trajectory.

This is what MacNeil had to say about it: “I am proud to announce that WeatherTech will become the entitlement partner in 2016 for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. We want this to be the new golden era of sports-car racing in America, and I want WeatherTech to be a big part of it. It is my intention to use our marketing horsepower to elevate the awareness of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to the general public. We want to increase our fan base for the betterment of the teams, the sponsors and finally the drivers."

It was refreshing to have someone talking from the sponsorship side of the equation who actually sounded like he understood what needed to be done. And MacNeil's enthusiasm for the task at hand was palpable. Although I have to say that MacNeil's awkward attempt - along with son Cooper - at humor at the beginning of his speech Saturday evening (something involving the "WeatherTech Girls" who were there in person) was so stupid and cringe-inducing that it was momentarily painful. I'll give him a pass on that, chalking it up to nervous jocularity - but just this one time.

As I tweeted Saturday evening, this new sponsorship agreement for IMSA doesn't solve its problems, but I will take WeatherTech any day over TUDOR, which seemed to phone it in right from the start, going nowhere. I expect MacNeil will be the opposite of that, which is exactly what IMSA needs.

IMSA also was quite proud of the fact that it was able to announce its 2016 schedule Saturday night, which is a boon to the individual track promoters and for advance planning by teams and television entities, but the schedule itself was ho-hum and more of the same. (Although IMSA seemed to be quite pleased with itself that it as adding GTLM to the proceedings at Lime Rock, which to me is so nonsensical that it almost defies explanation. Does adding even more cars on track at that chaotic Connecticut bullring really seem like a good idea?)

I wish all involved in IMSA the best, because this country needs major league sports car racing to not only survive, but thrive. But the looming storm clouds threatening the series are still there and in fact gaining momentum, and that is the fact that the new prototype rules coming in 2017 - for LMP2, which will be IMSA's top class - are borderline ludicrous.

There are four chassis manufacturers (Dallara, Onroak Automotive, Oreca and RileyTech/Multimatic) lined up and visual manufacturer identification will be encouraged and expected, even though the cars will be using spec engines and drivetrains (a supplier will be announced this fall) to encourage more participation while containing costs.

What manufacturer in its right mind would buy into this deal engineered by the ACO and the FIA? And, guess what, have you noticed that there has not been one single announcement of teams signing with even one of the chassis manufacturers, even though the beginning of the 2017 is just seventeen months away? That is the quintessential definition of a giant, steaming bowl of Not Good, in case you were wondering.

I will say this once again and I will probably say it a couple hundred more times in the future: If IMSA truly wants to create some excitement and build enthusiasm for its series, it is going to have to walk away from the dictates handed down by the ACO and the FIA and carve out an identity of its own. And that means creating a premier American GT series that runs three classes: GTX (or GT1), GTLM and GT3.

IMSA could keep its arrangement with the ACO to guarantee invitations to Le Mans for its teams, but in the meantime it could set about nurturing a big-time road racing series that would be manufacturer driven, with all of the intensity that entails.

IMSA feels that it's on an upward trajectory with its new agreement with WeatherTech, and I sincerely hope that is the case, but its schedule needs more races (meaning they need to add more while dropping some of the venues that it clings to), and it needs to walk away from its rote fealty to the ACO and the FIA, and create a dynamic road racing series of its own, one that draws manufacturers like flies, instead of swatting them away because of its unhealthy allegiance to Spec Racing Hell.

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

Editor-In-Chief's Note: I need to correct some erroneous information in my column that was pointed out to me by Nate Siebens, the Senior Manager, Communications, for IMSA. Here is what Nate had to say this morning: "I wanted to clarify one point on the 2017 Prototype situation. Our top Prototype class will be open to multiple engine manufacturers, not a spec engine as the ACO and FIA will use for its LM P2 class. Those engine manufacturers also will have the opportunity to create specific bodywork. We (IMSA, the FIA and ACO) will use the same four chassis constructors, but we'll stay open to multiple manufacturers in our top class." My apologies to IMSA and our readers for getting this wrong, however, whatever the regulations are, I think the "new" P2 class is a non-starter here in the U.S. I firmly believe that only a premier, all-GT series will draw the kind of fevered interest from the manufacturers - and from racing enthusiasts alike - to propel major league road racing above its perpetual state, which is hovering around also-ran status. -PMD

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

(Photo by Dave Friedman, courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Riverside, California, October 30, 1966. A.J. Foyt Jr. (No. 83 Lola T70 Mk.2-Ford 427) battles Parnelli Jones (No. 98 John Mecom Lola T70 Mk.2 - Chevrolet) during the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix Can-Am race. Neither driver finished. John Surtees (No. 7 Team Surtees Ltd. Lola Mk.2-Chevrolet) won that day, followed by Jim Hall (No. 66 Chaparral Cars Chaparral 2E-Chevrolet) and Graham Hill (No. 3 Team Surtees Ltd. Lola Mk.2-Chevrolet).

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