ALMS

The American Le Mans Series has published the Sebring entry list as things stand right now, and it's more than a little worrying.

If you're interested in running the American Le Mans Series, 2009 is the season to try. Acura's LMP1 program has no guarantee of immediate success, and with Audi gone a privateer team can really make a splash.

The same goes for LMP2, with only one Acura left and all the Porsches gone.

If you want to win the LMGT1 championship, you'd basically just need to enter and survive every race.

And of course, LMGT2 is always wide open.

And yet, the Sebring Entry list shows an LMP2 field that more closely resembles 2008's usual LMP1 field in size. What's more, only three of the LMP1 competitors can reliably be expected to field full-season entries—the Acura teams, and Intersport.

We've heard that Creation Autosportif plans to move the ALMS, but where are they on the Sebring list? Are they waiting until St. Pete? Are they just unwilling to go up against Audi and Peugeot? We have a new LMP1 entry coming in late season, but its not exactly helpful to the field as things stand now.

The action is sure to be good in both LMP classes this year, but the lack of entries may cheapen even the best racing.

Even with the financial crisis, I'm struggling to comprehend why nobody seems willing to try and take advantage of the openness of the ALMS championships this year.

Perhaps I'm overreacting, and some teams that just don't wish to compete with the diesels will be popping up for St. Petersburg, but as someone who recently switched his favorite race series from IndyCar to ALMS, this is more than a little disheartening.

Good luck to the American Le Mans Series in 2009.

It has come to that time, when we as fans (and sometime writers) tend to take the jump off the cliff of fact and history, clutching to the life-ring of knowledge, into the sea of guess work, to catch a fish of prediction, hoping that one of the prediction fish has eaten the smaller fish of correctness.

Here's my take on a handful of major championships, scouting out the winners, and some other tidbits that could be coming during the season.

Formula One

This all comes down to who's come out best with their new cars. Providing all are created equal then it's going to be another Lewis Hamilton year. If the new aero regs truly help overtaking then Hamilton's race craft is going to be a major factor in a number of races this year.

We saw glimmers of it last year - Hockenheim springs to mind - and anyone who watched him during his F3 and GP2 years is more than familiar with it.

It should hopefully be a very open year. Toyota and BMW will be stronger challengers for wins week in, week out, which could include maiden wins for Hiedfeld and Glock (Glock, not Trulli). KERS will only be here for one year.

NASCAR

The educated money is on a three-way race between Kyle, Jimmie and Carl. So I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a Roush title for Greg Biffle. Greg just needs to get his ducks in a row, it so nearly came off for him in the chase in '08 as he peaked at the right time. He just needs to do the same again. Only better.

There will be very few surprises around in NASCAR-land this year, with perhaps only Juan Montoya and Brian Vickers breaking into the big four for The Chase.

Right, here's a big one. Joey Logano won't race the entire season, and I don't just mean that Gibbs with stick a ringer in the No. 20 for the road courses, there will be weeks at a time when Sliced Bread is benched for the good of the team.

I will get sick and tired of writing things along the lines of "I hate Start-and-Park teams"

Indycar

Indycar needs a close season, but that isn't going to happen. At best it's going to be a three horse race, between Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe, with Scott Dixon again coming out on top.

The world will continue to get more and more fed up with the Danica Patrick PR machine, and Andretti-Green will struggle to get anywhere near the win column.

Le Mans

Taking, only Sebring and the Le Mans 24 hours here, as the continental Le Mans Series are currently all over the place in regards to predicting next month, let alone November.

It all depends on how the new Audi R15 comes out of the box. If it comes out fast (and perhaps more importantly, reliable), then Audi could sweep the board. If there are even the slightest problems then this is everyone else's best chance at grabbing the spoils for years.

As it is, I believe the new Audi won't come out fast, handing the overall Sebring win to the Lowe's Fernandex P2 Acura, after both the brand new P1 models suffer the sort of problems that handed Penske the win last year.

Le Mans is Peugeot's for the taking. They have two years head start on their 2009 cars compared to Audi, and knowing your car is crucial in endurance racing. 

Some smaller categories....

World Touring Car Championship - no-one can beat the diesel Seats right now, so I'll take the world's fastest Swede, Rickard Rydell, to take the title.

V8 Supercars- Last year I predicted a Holden title, and Ford promptly won the thing, so whatever I say the opposite is going to happen. So it'll be another Holden title, by which of course I mean Ford will win, probably with Whincup again.

World Rally Championship- Loeb (yawn)

The Le Mans 24 hours organisers, the Auto Club de L'ouest (ACO) have today announced they have received 82 entries for the 2009 edition of the endurance, scheduled to take place June 13-14.

An official press release from the ACO compares this number to 2008, when 88 entries were received, and 2007 when only 76 entries were received. Here I have a go at trying to work out what may be on that list.

Due to the way the ACO makes up the field every year, a handful (15 in total) of teams have confirmed places on the entry list. These are teams invited to take part in the race due to their achievements in other sportscar and GT racing series. 

Recent winners of Le Mans itself are invited, along with winners of the endurance races at Sebring and Petit Le Mans, winners of the European Le Mans series and the FIA GT championship.

It must be stressed that not all of these invites have been taken up; for example, Penske have chosen to decline the entry for the second year running. This means that the remaining 40 places on the starting grid have to be fought out between the other 67 entrants.

Working out exactly who is on the entry list (aside from the confirmed entries) is next to impossible, and the exact list is kept under wraps until late February. However, some things are obvious.

Adding the team from the published full time entry lists for the European Le Mans Series brings the entry number up to 64. I find it hard to believe a full time LMS team would shy away from an attempt at Le Mans itself, there is a huge break in the season to allow preparation and it surely represents the best opportunity for sponsor exposure.

With the ALMS teams the obviousness of a run at Le Mans is less, well, obvious. Firstly it's not just a question of loading the cars on the hauler for another few weeks, it's a major expense. Secondly, a number of rules in the ALMS mean that you cannot just ship an ALMS car over to France and run it the same way. This is one of the major reason why Penske have always stayed away.

Many of the big ALMS teams are amongst the 15 confirmed through invites, the two works Corvettes, two Risi Ferrari GT2 entries and a single Flying Lizard Porsche are all guaranteed spots at Le Sarthe.

Other teams may not be so lucky. The Creation team, who are rumoured to moving to the ALMS from Europe, have been Le Mans stalwarts for years, and the Intersport outfit were at Le Mans last year, so may have a chance at making the trip again. 

The big unknowns from the ALMS are the plans of the new Acura and BMW teams. Both have commented that they can bring  their car within the 24 hours rules, and both have expressed a desire to make the trip. But will they make it this year, still with new cars?

But this is all very sketchy. There are certain teams who are glaring omissions from every list. Perhaps the biggest missing name are Spanish outfit Epsilon Euskadi.

However, although their 2008 was far from glamorous I find it very hard to believe the won't be back. To invest so much in a completely new car for only one year seems an appalling decision, no matter what the economic climate.

The second gap is in GT1. There are no Aston Martins. The works team have jumped ship to P1 and Team Modena have dropped to GT2 with a Ferrari, passing their invite up along the way. Of course, there is a chance there will be none.

However, with all these used GT1 Astons on the market I would like to think some of them have been snapped up by a privateer for a run at Le Mans (but perhaps I'm judging everyone by NASCAR standards).

Of course, all this could be rubbish. Previous years have seen something of a wheat and chaff split in Le Mans entries, and the current list spans everyone from those will turn out to be overall victors to those who cannot even build a car properly.  

Audi, the German car giant, have dominated worldwide Le Mans series racing in recent years, including by being the winning manufacturer of the last five overall Le Mans 24-hour winners.

Even the Bentley that breaks that run was hugely influenced by Audi technology.

Starting with this season Audi are moving onto the third incarnation in the racing dynasty, the R15.

However, if they are serious about keeping their run of 24-hour victories alive are they making a monumental error in how they're planning their 2009 season.

The new car is planned to make it debut at the Sebring 12-hours on March 21st. The South Florida race is the curtain raiser to the new American Le Mans Series, and in recent years have become many teams first step on Le Mans preparation.

Last year saw Peugeot bring their 908 HDI over to the track, gaining further endurance experience with their relatively new car, Sebring is (after all) the second longest ACO regulated race, behind Le Mans.

So, it might not be a surprise that Audi plan to turn their first wheel in anger in Sebring. What might be a surprise is that's all their doing.

Audi, and so the R15, have no more planned competitive outings until Le Mans in June. There is no Audi presence at all for the majority of ALMS season, and the only Audi entrants in the European Le Mans Series are a pair of the out-going R10 models run by a customer team.

So, what if they find a problem running the new car round Sebring? If there was ever a time when you need every chance at development it's now. A new car has new things to go wrong, and with new rules being enacted to close the chasm between diesel and petrol cars Audi may have lost some of the advantage its powerplant has given it in recent years.

They're missing three months of racing, with all the information that can give you, while their rivals, Peugeot, Aston Martin, Pescarolo, even Acura are turning laps and crunching numbers to make their cars and their chances of victory better.

Of course I fully expect Audi to be working away from the track on their new car. They undoubtedly have wind tunnels, dynos and everything else they need to improve their car.

It is possible that the customer Audi team, run by Colin Kolles will effectively test new components. Kolles' team apparently has factory backing in the form of mechanics and technical support so the workforce is there to test new stuff on the old car.

It is equally possible that Audi know they're making a mistake, but have been forced into it by the economy. They announced late last year they were pulling their factory teams from the European and American series, so the Audi accountants are obviously worried about the bottom line, and producing a new race car isn't a cheap business.

So perhaps it was a case of either we get the new R15 OR we get a works Audi team for the year.

What Audi do between between Sebring and Le Mans could be the most important choices in sportscar racing for a number of years. But with the ACO trying to level the performance of diesel and petrol cars 2009 represents the best chance of a non-Audi win at Le Mans in years.  

The American Le Mans Series has seen its popularity on the rise in recent years, and the future looks even better.

When the ALMS started back in 1998, it was not a bunch of shabby teams that came together to race, but a concerted effort between manufacturers and the ACO to continue the IMSA series. Today, it is seeing record levels of not only attendance, but fans and media coverage as well.

Radio Le Mans, a service that dedicates itself to covering the Le Mans Series (formerly LMES), covers most major ALMS events as well. There are more teams than ever and more cars than previous years have seen. So what is in store for the ALMS in the future?

There is no doubt that the current state of the economy will have a negative impact on motorsport, but the ALMS will continue to perform as it has due to many cost cutting measures the regulators have already in place. With the Green Challenge that has been happening in 2008, it will be easier for teams to find sponsors despite what's happening outside of the motorsport world.

In a previous article, months before Acura announced its entry into the LM1 class, I had noted the problems with the LMP1 class after the entrance of the Penske Porsche LMP2 cars.

Typically, it was LMP1 cars had more power, were faster, and outflanked the LM2P cars. Of course this was historically. The Penske Porsches broke the barrier in 2007 when they dominated the ALMS.

Looking back on the 2008 year, it seems that the tides have returned to normal with the LMP1 cars showing that they are truly the kings of the hill. The Audi North America team has revised their gameplan and as a result put on a clinic during the season and showed up Peugeot at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Petit Le Mans.

Acura also obtained its first overall victory, which served as a perfect gateway to its entry into the LMP1 for the 2009 season. The announcement of Acura leaving LMP2 is certainly one that will make the Penske racing team re-evaluate their situation of participating in a class that no longer features a strong competitor within (although their first year was without Acura).

Dyson Racing, which ran Porsche RS Spyders in the LMP2 class in 2008, has officially ended its partnership with Porsche. BK Motorsports had been the official Mazda factory effort since 2005 (earning Mazda's first ALMS win at Mid-Ohio in 2005), but officially closed--terminating its ALMS program.

Although some teams are leaving, it is all about what is coming up and what to look forward to.

LMP1:

The first being that the LMP1 class is getting larger. This means that the competition at the top rung will be more exciting than ever. The Lola and Judd cars that are participating with hybrid powertrains and now getting to form after a testing period and with proper management and driving, ought to provide some challenges to the Audi and Acura LMP1 teams.

Let's not forget about the Peugeots! It is most likely that they will only participate in the 12 Hours of Sebring as well as the Petit Le Mans as they have done this year, but anyone who watched the Petit Le Mans can tell you that it was more than worth it till the end!

There were rumors that Peugeot may attempt at entering more than those races in 2009, but economic problems may be forcing the Peugeot Total team to forget the idea. Nonetheless, the LMP1 class will be a blast to watch.

LMP2:

With the Acura teams and Mazda team no longer participating, it will be the Penske Porsches dominating the LMP2 class as the Audi TDI Power team had been so good at in past years in the LMP1 class.

The future of Penske and the Porsches are not yet set in stone, but with invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they may consider participating in the factory-backed LMP1 class as opposed to the privateer-LMP2 class. The only problem being that no reports of a car in development have come out. Nonetheless, the Penske Porsches are a formidable force and have a chance at being just as competitive as the LMP1 cars.

GT1:

Corvette Racing will only be participating in two-three races prior to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where it will participate in the GT1 class. After Le Mans, Corvette Racing will introduce its all-new GT2 Corvette entry marking a new era of GT racing! Aston Martin does not seem to show much interest into entering its factory vehicles so like the LMP2 class, the GT1 class will be in limbo for 2009.

GT2:

This is where the vast majority of the action will be! With BMW and Corvette entering the GT2 class, the Porsches, Ferraris, Vipers, Vantage V8s, and Ford GTs will now be in a large and diverse group of cars that will provide a great deal of excitement.

2010 will mark a new era for the GT class as regulations combine both GT1 and GT2 classes to make the GT-class. This class is more based off of GT2 standards and will provide a more equal platform for racing GT cars.

One objective of this is to provide more incentive for new brands to enter the sport, and it may very well do so. Rumors of Audi and possibly Ford (with the Mustang GT) are considering entering into the new GT class.

The ALMS has an extremely bright future. In a nation of NASCAR lovers, the ALMS has tough competition, but it provides a lot more than the typical NASCAR event: days of events, approachable friendly drivers, actual cars (GT), and a track-not-stadium atmosphere.

The LMP1 class is on the rise and may very well see more entrants in the future, but the GT class is where the future lies and with more manufacturers entering and considering entering, this series is one that will become great.

Increased television coverage is also helping a great deal (although I really wish that NBC would replace their commentators) and will be a key asset in improving the ALMS.

On to the 2009 season!

Diesel... Long the bane of the performance enthusiast. Jeremy Clarkson once called it the fuel of Satan.

For years the idea of diesel as a racing fuel was laughed at. Diesel was a fuel meant for big trucks, and tiny cars meant to be extremely fuel efficient.

Then, in 2006, something amazing happened...

Diesel power won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

All of a sudden, everything we knew about diesel changed. No longer was it a horrific fuel for boring folk. It was suddenly the future of racing!

Or not.

Because despite the Audi R10's success, there are still a great many people who look down on diesel as an inferior form of power. Some have threatened to stop watching a series if a diesel vehicle ever made it into the show!

Why is there such hostility towards diesel? It's certainly proven its worth, and in an age where environmentally-friendly fuel-efficient cars are becoming more important than ever, its an existing method of achieving these goals: It's clean, efficient, and readily available.

A little more expensive, perhaps, but imagine how expensive 100% Cellulosic Ethanol(my preferred form of clean fuel) while the infrastructure is being set up for it - assuming Cellulosic Ethanol proves viable.

Lack of power? Audi's proven that to be a non-issue. Throw on some good turbos and it can provide plenty of power over the entire rev range.

It seems anti-diesel hostility seems to come mostly from fans of Formula One, the "pinnacle" of motor sport.

Shouldn't the pinnacle of motorsport be the PERFECT place for performance diesel? Diesel's only real flaw is that it takes a little work to balance its power and efficiency. Isn't that the perfect challenge for the best engineers in the world to take on? To advance understanding of how to work with diesel?

F1 hasn't had a serious innovation since traction control. Working with diesel could bring back the technological advancement that is supposed to be the entire point of Formula One.

What better way to advance clean fuels than to prove they're not underpowered? What better series to prove they're not underpowered?

Some people say there really isn't much point in advancing diesel. Now that the Honda FCX Clarity has proven that hydrogen fuel cells are possible, efficient, and most importantly SAFE, its quite clear that hydrogen fuel cells are almost there, just about ready to solve the bulk of the emissions problems.

But wait... Despite being the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen isn't THAT easy to get hold of. To produce it from water takes an enormous amount of energy.... To produce enough hydrogen to power all the cars in the world may be a difficult to impossible task.

Just as questions linger about whether Cellulosic Ethanol's production requirements can be offset by the amount of fuel produced, hydrogen has a big question mark that can kill it off easily.

But diesel's production costs are already well-known. We KNOW that its possible to produce enough diesel, both petroleum and bio-diesel, to power the world's cars. Its only issue is a lack of advancement to sell it to the performance-minded.

So I ask again... WHY should we NOT be using diesel in racing? WHY should F1 NEVER touch diesel? Racing has always been able to justify itself by purporting to help advance automotive technologies. Be they maintenance techniques, aerodynamic developments... Even NASCAR helps advance knowledge in regards to crash safety!

Saying F1, or ANY series, should never touch diesel completely goes against one of the most important aspects of automobile racing.

I say bring on the diesel. Lets prove that auto racing can bring us something not only important, but obvious enough that even the harshest critics can't say that auto racing never helps us.

Even so.... I'd rather have Ethanol.

A quick postscript for the environmentally-minded to think about: I don't believe human beings are causing Global Warming. List me something that proves Global Warming, and I can dig up a proven weather phenomenon that explains it being a natural occurrence.

Its for this reason that not too many people jump all over the "problem." Until Global Warming's cause has been proven beyond any possible doubt, you will NEVER get enough support for dealing with it by going on about it constantly. 

Use your heads: It just so happens that the same things that would fix Global Warming (assuming we're causing it) are the same things that would fix a whole host of long-since-PROVEN environmental problems. Focus on those, and you'll get a LOT more support.

(Allard J2X-C photo courtesy of ultimatecarpage.com)

July 11th, 1993. A day that will live in my memory for the rest of my life. The day I received the greatest birthday present I've ever been given, even though it was one month(to the day) AFTER my birthday.

That day, my father took me to the Grand Prix of Cleveland, and I witnessed one of the greatest battles in all of racing: Nigel Mansell vs Emerson Fittipaldi.

That day, I got hooked on IndyCars. Nothing else mattered. I was ten and I'd just seen a spectacle that nothing could ever match.

To this day, that battle rates in my mind as the best battle in all of racing history. It almost certainly gets bonus points in my mind for the circumstances surrounding my trip to the track, but few moments in racing before or since can match the quality of that battle. The best way I can think to sum up the battle is to use but two words: "Pure awesome."

I've been to every Cleveland Grand Prix since then, with the exception of 2003 and 2004. As far as I'm concerned, no track will ever match Cleveland. Its just that good.

Why am I telling you this? Because our first race exposure strongly shapes what kind of racing we enjoy. Think about the first race you saw, and what type of racing you prefer now. Was it an oval? You're probably a NASCAR fan, then. Was it a road course? God only knows what you're a fan of these days.

Back when Mansell and Fittipaldi's battle blew my brain out the back of my head, I had no idea there was anything other than IndyCar out there. Perhaps at that moment it was for the best—I didn't have to witness the demise of the IMSA GT Championship. NASCAR was still dominated by pseudo-rednecks. Formula One was...well...Dull next to IndyCar of the time.

I wish I'd been exposed to racing of an earlier time. I occasionally scour Youtube for some good old IMSA GT/Group C videos, and I'm sometimes astonished at the kind of things I've missed. I think this sense of missing out is why I've latched onto the American Le Mans Series—the spiritual successor to IMSA GT, they've produced some of the best road-racing action of the current racing era.

They can run on the worst road and street courses on the planet and still be almost guaranteed to put on a good show.

Much like the IMSA GT Championship once did, and the original Can-Am series before that.

To this day my dad says I missed out on the best racing ever with the Can-Am series. I want to believe him, but its hard to when you've enver been able to see videos of Can-Am races.

Why do I love racing? Because I find it beautiful. Man (sometimes woman) and machine merging together in a symphony of noise and speed to find their way to the finish line first. Because its the only really pure sport left: Fastest driver around the track wins.

I find my only limitation in racing enjoyment comes down to the cars. I find it difficult to enjoy racing that uses cars based on production models. Touring cars and such do nothing for me—I BARELY care about the GT classes in ALMS. NASCAR manages to hold my interest BECAUSE the cars aren't anything like their name—stock car—implies.

I can enjoy an ugly box of a car like the CoT so long as its a fast purpose-built racecar driven by some of the best drivers in the world. I can enjoy that...THING...the IRL uses so long as it puts on an awesome show.

I don't even really need to be able to see the vehicle being used to race. MotoGP is pretty awesome, though a little too short, I feel.

A great series combines great vehicles, great personalities, and great racetracks. What series has it best? Well, that really doesn't matter, does it?

In the end, all race fans are tied together by one thing: A love of speed.

So forget about this driver is better than that driver, or this series is better than that series. Lets all just have a seat, crack open a cold one(be it a beer, soda, or something else), and enjoy the operatic symphony of engine noise and the sight of sheet metal or carbon fiber being destroyed when someone screws up. Lets be happy for the other guy's driver when he wins—it doesn't automatically mean your driver sucks, after all.

But most importantly, let us never, EVER look down upon another series as inferior to our preferred form of racing. In the end, the goal of it all is the same: Control your equipment and go faster than anyone else.

It all boils down to that. So why do we even argue over such petty things? Racing is racing, and its all good.

(Multimatic MDP1 image courtesy of Racingsportscars.com)

In this world, there are several types of racing. Some have cars which bear relevance to road cars. Most do not. Some have tire wars. Most do not.

Historically, racing has brought change and advancement to our road cars, resulting from people trying to get the upper hand over their opponents, then big car companies latching onto those ideas.

But all this seemed to come to a crashing halt with the advent of Traction Control in Formula One. Since then, no major racing series has given us a significant boost in automotive technology.

We're seeing signs of such advancements rising again in Le Mans racing. The American Le Mans Series was recently rated as the worldwide leader in alternate fuel technology, something that will very soon trickle down to our road cars.

But is relevance really what racing is all about? I've never really considered the matter myself, but thinking on it now I have to say relevance has ALWAYS taken a back seat to competition.

Relevance was just a bonus that let the automakers get something back from investing big money in racing.

If relevance was so important, NASCAR would've died out ages ago. Formula One would be struggling right now. The IRL/CART war would've ended with the death of both sides.

If relevance was important, everyone in the world would know what the 24 Hours of Le Mans is—even people who don't follow racing.

Right now, Le Mans racing is the only form of racing that has any actual relevance to road cars.

I already talked about how innovation at Indy is dead. I've made mention that it's dead in F1 in past articles. We all know innovation was never the point of NASCAR. But there's a good reason for this...

F1, Indy, NASCAR...they all use formulas that make it difficult to make technologies relevant to road cars. NASCAR's too low-tech, while F1 and Indy have design limitations.

But Le Mans racing has always been about relevancy. For a long time, pure-stock cars used to run at Le Mans amongst the purpose-built beasts. Even today, many of the GT2 entries are actually BUILT from a road car.

Even the prototypes are more relevant in that simply by having covered wheels, their creators learn aerodynamic details that can help them in designing better road cars.

Right now the ACO is using their influence with Le Mans to push green racing tech. And it's the first time in over a decade that a racing series has had serious relevance to the automotive industry.

And yet, NASCAR and F1 are still top dogs in this world.

Clearly, nobody is concerned with relevance these days.

But there is something people DO get concerned about: Tire competition. And for once, I'm touching on a subject on which I'm actively involved in the debate over.

As a driver myself, my feelings are quite simple: Anything that compromises the safety of my car is a Very Bad Thing. The end.

Do tire wars compromise safety? Well, NASCAR ended two tire wars on account of compromised safety. The second one is widely believed to have claimed the life of Neil Bonnet, as well as causing several other severe injuries.

IRL and Champ Car both put a stop to tire wars on account of safety.

F1 recently ended a tire war between Michelin and Bridgestone.

The F1 tire war is a PERFECT example of their dangers. In order to outdo the other guy, one company can easily, and without realizing it, push their tires too far and make them unsafe to run. This is EXACTLY what happened in the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

Sure, the FIA's behavior made a bad situation worse. Much, MUCH worse. So much so that the core of the problem was almost completely overlooked: Michelin brought a DANGEROUS TIRE to the race.

You can try to blame the track, but remember that Michelin had been racing there since 2001. They knew what to expect. There's no more excuse for it than there is for Goodyear's clusterfuck at Indy this year in NASCAR.

But at least NASCAR handled the situation better than the FIA handled the USGP disaster.

In my observation, the potential benefits of advancement in tire technology are far outweighed by the dangers of tire wars.

Bridgestone actually claims that by not having to focus on competition, they've been able to advance their tire technology even FASTER than during the tire war—and without compromising safety. There's something to think about.

As a driver, you will never see me support a tire war. Nor will you ever see me support one as a fan.

I just hope that the ALMS ends their tire wars before it kills someone. Of course, in their case the Michelins are so dominant that the other suppliers have almost given up, which is obviously reducing the dangers.

But it still worried me. I would never get into a car in a professional racing series in the midst of a tire war.

There's a lot of stuff I'd rather do than race in a tire war. And most of its not appropriate to mention here.

Prior to the entry of the Penske Porsche LMP2 (P2) cars in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 2006, the LMP1 (P1) class dominated the series, much like the P1 cars do at Le Mans.

Now with the Porsche and Acura P2 cars being just as competitive, is there a point to keeping the P1 class?

P1 cars feature engines that produce 600-700bhp and have a minimum weight of 1,985-2,040lbs. P2 cars produce 500-550bhp but have a minimum weight of 1,760lbs.

On the track, especially last year and this season, the Penske Porsches and Acuras have been just as competitive, if not more, than the Audi R10s, who classify as P1 cars. On the track, the P1 cars are faster on straights, but other than that, the P2 cars' track times are similar.

The popularity of the class is also waning. Although there are four teams competing in the class, only the factory-backed Audi cars are truly competitive and the other teams do not necessarily participate in each event.

Should there be a P1 class anymore?

Personally, I believe that either a class combining P1 and P2 ought to be created or that P1 be dissolved in the American Le Mans Series. P2 cars are relatively cheaper to run and the popularity they have because of the Porsche and Acura cars is not one the P1 class experiences anymore.

In the Le Mans Series and the 24 hours of Le Mans, the P1 cars are truly in a whole different class than the P2 cars, but in the ALMS, the difference is negligible.

I have been a fan of the R8 since 2000 and now the R10 and love to see them getting a run for their money because it's what makes racing great. 

If they were all in the same class, or the cars were adjusted to find a middle-ground, then it would not be so awkward that a higher class car's main competition is a lower class car that technically should not be.

With ALMS popularity on the rise, it is time that the officials of the series look at the two classes and make a decision if it is worth it to have two separate classes that are not all that different.