MUCH SOUND AND FURY, SIGNIFYING NOTHING.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: We're going to leave my column up from last week because it's still timely, especially given that Sebring is right around the corner. But I can't let this opportunity slip by without commenting on the events that took place down in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. As much as I was looking forward to it, and as much as I wanted to be excited about the Pirelli World Challenge opener at the Circuit of the Americas (see "The Line" for more on that event - WG), the reality was a major disappointment. Yes, the weather certainly put a damper on things, to put it mildly, but it should be clear to anyone who was paying attention - and being honest about the reality - that it wasn't the weather that was the problem. Simply put, the Pirelli World Challenge cannot carry a weekend racing show by itself, especially in the cavernous confines of COTA. Other issues? Let's face it, the class structure of the PWC is not only confusing, it's almost debilitating in its all-inclusiveness. I get the fact that the PWC prides themselves on offering something for every interested manufacturer, but after a while it's just so much noise, with little to show for it. The bottom line? If the powers that be at the PWC series ever hope to match the lofty projections that they harbor for their series, they're going to have to get very real about its show, and that means focusing on their three top classes, while leaving the rest to the SCCA "majors." Yeah, I get it, no one wants to hear this, especially the competitors that field small-bore entries, but in looking at the Big Picture, the PWC show - except for its very top, fastest classes - is a jumbled mess. - PMD

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit.  Much has been made of late - and with a considerable amount of hand-wringing to go along with it - of the next iteration of the Prototype 2 racing rules coming in 2017. I'm sure if you're interested, you can find every nauseating detail of the rules package changes coming on the Internet, but the short story? The cars will be Coupes and they will take on a decidedly spec-car quality. The ACO/FIA, in their infinite wisdom - and I'm being sarcastic here - have bequeathed that P2 take on the trappings of a semi-pro class, with regulations that are aimed at keeping costs within reason.

That's just swell, of course, but once again it leaves major league sports car racing in this country in the lurch. The DPs are the favorite of Jim France and several bootlicking auto manufacturers who have adopted the go-along-to-get-along mentality, and they're already rationalizing the move with insipid public statements suggesting that it will be just fine, and that just maybe they will consider supplying engines it if it works out to their advantage, or that maybe the DPs will even be allowed to hang around past their "sell by" date, but does this, ultimately, hold any promise for IMSA and our allegedly premier national road racing series?

I think not.

I've long since grown weary of the notion that the French racing elite in the FIA/ACO continues to be allowed to hold American racing interests by the balls when it comes to dictating "the way it will be" for international sports car racing. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the greatest endurance sports car racing event in the world, but should it be allowed to hold sway over every national racing series just because? I think not, Part Deux. To me it has come down to this: If American teams have delusions of grandeur in mind when it comes to their racing aspirations, then they should throw their lot in with the WEC and bone up on their French. Wishing and hoping that a thriving Prototype class can survive here seems to be pissing in the wind at this point, grandfathered DPs, or no.

I am much more concerned about the health and well being of major league sports car racing on this continent, and I still see a woeful lack of vision being displayed by the interlopers in Daytona Beach who have been given the keys to the sports car racing kingdom in the country, which translates into pushing Jim France's "ME, Myself & I" agenda. The recent intransigence displayed by France when it came to an appeal from the IMSA racing community who wanted the old ALMS pit stop rules reinstated - the ones that keep the tire and driver change separate from the refueling - is a perfect example of how it is now. France rejected it out of hand just because, even though the rationale behind the request made all the sense to the racers and the larger racing community in terms of safety.

And when I see that kind of stubborn intransigence on display, I can't get worked up about a P2 rules package down the road. Does it really matter? I mean really matter, when Jim France will adjudicate based on his whims, dismissing rational thought and differing points of view as unnecessary and irrelevant? It is true that most racing series that have survived and even thrived throughout history have had dictators at the helm - it's just too bad that major league sports car racing in this country is stuck with the wrong one.

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times - and I'll probably say it a thousand times more - the fact that this country doesn't go its own way and embrace a national GT road racing series is a complete travesty. Sports car racing in this country is missing a golden opportunity to create and showcase a distinctive, manufacturer-intensive road racing series that might actually have a snowball's chance in Hell of at least registering on the TV ratings scale, let alone increase in-person fan attendance.

A road racing series with factory-backed participation in all of its classes - GT, GT3 and even an American-flavored, run-what-you-brung GTX class at the top - would go along way toward getting major league sports car racing in this country off of the dime.

Until that happens, everything else is much sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing.


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)
Sebring, Florida, March 21, 1964. Ken Miles in the No. 1 Shelby American Cobra 427 Prototype that he shared with John Morton during the 12 Hours of Sebring. Affectionately nick-named "The Turd," the experimental Cobra was Miles' pet project and a direct response to the whipping put on the Shelby American team by the Grand Sport Corvettes in Nassau. It was a 289 FIA Cobra stuffed with a 427-cu. in. V8 and heavily-modified to not only accommodate the extra weight, but to deal with the cooling issues and the extra loads on the suspension and brakes due to the massive increase in horsepower. Miles famously lost it in practice while hammering "The Turd" around the course and managed to hit the lone tree near the circuit. After taking much grief from the Shelby American entourage, the team rebuilt the 427 Cobra prototype but after all that it suffered an engine failure during the race and a DNF. Watch a video here. And check out some Pete Lyons images from that race here, including a picture of the wrecked No. 1 Cobra after Miles' practice mishap.

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