ALMS at Road America

Well, the American Le Mans race at Road America was another good one (watched it on ESPN3).

You wouldn't think that a class with 4 cars in it could be fun (and usually it's not).  But at R.A., the Greg Pickett-owned HPD-Honda went 4 laps down to the Dyson Lola-Mazda turbo, with a water leak, and clawed it all back to pass for the win on the last corner of the last lap.  Except that the Dyson car outdragged it to the checker by less than a car length.  Hollywood stuff.

The GT class was, as usual, the most fun.  They chewed on each other for 4 hours with little to choose among the top teams.  Each marque led for many laps at some point, except Viper, which is new to the series.  It occurred to me while watching, not for the first time this season, that these are the Good Old Days of GT racing.  I'm getting antsy to make my trip to Road Atlanta in October, to watch these guys chew on each other for 9 hours, into the night.

But, as a spectator, Road America remains my "home track."  I love the place and know how to wring the max enjoyment out of an event there.  I haven't been up since 1999, the last year CART ran there before the open-wheel split.  Didn't want to "overwrite" my mind's eye memories of the glory days there.  But ALMS GT is good enough to get me back.  Especially a 4-hour race among equally matched and well-prepared cars.

Road America Trivia (big dog lap records):

1955: 80 m.p.h., Ferrari Monza, Phil Hill (inagural race)
1959: 88 m.p.h., Scarab, Jim Jeffords
1965: 97 m.p.h., Chaparral 2B, Jim Hall
1971: 114 m.p.h., McLaren M8F Can-Am, Denny Hulme
1973: 123 m.p.h., Porsche 917/30 Can-Am turbo, Mark Donahue
1984: 125 m.p.h., Lola T-800-Ford CART, Mario Andretti (Donahue's record finally broken)
1999: 144 m.p.h., Reynard-Honda CART, Dario Franchitti (this remains the absolute record)

As Road America fans know, the track's configuration has never been altered, although it has been widened and resurfaced.  So these lap speeds are comparable...sort of.  Another way to look at it is that a current ALMS GT car can lap as fast as Denny Hulme's 7-liter Can-Am "Batmobile."  Technical progress?  I guess...

Ex-Hulme McLaren M8F (Chevy) "Batmobile" at the Monterey Historics.