I agree with you that Don Panoz gave up on this but GA really hasn't made much to keep any image of ALMS.
They haven't tried to keep much of an image of the Rolex Sports Car Series, either.
Once again, that doesn't discount what I just said about what development actually is compared to actual developmental formulas like LMP1 and F1. Alex Job also said that they hadn't done very much development the year prior and that cost them and it didn't seem they were willing to really make an effort when they realized they needed to actually test and develop a car to be successful like any team. ALMS gave them a massive break with weight to help them out even...
You're the only one comparing them to P1 and F1. I'm comparing ALMS GTE cars to Grand-Am and GT3 cars. And you then go on to say the exact reason why GTE teams want to finish in front of GT3 teams, because if any of them drive an under-developed car, they're going to be slower than the Pro-Am class of cars (if they were full GT3 spec).
Why would it be easier to ask ALMS change, due to GA's asinine GT program?
You answered your own question.
When did I say they were developing it around Stock-car racing interests
You didn't, please understand that most of my posts up until now have been directed in a general direction, not at you. And that has nothing to do with oval tracks being on the calendar.
As for the cost topic, even if a team can't run ALMS and Grand Am Rolex most of the top teams in GA are heavily involved in NASCAR and some in IZOD. So I find it hard to see cost being a massive issue to why they didn't want to join ALMS. Especially when the cost of running a NASCAR team is far more expensive than running a GA or ALMS team over a season.
By "teams" you mean Chip Ganassi racing. And the cost-effective racing formula by Grand-Am I mentioned refers to the fact that they would want to have different cars than another racing series, but since they're only racing in one series, the cars need to be cheaper, since the volume would be lower. ALMS teams are buying cars that are raced around the world, and thus can afford to be more expensive, since that's how they get their volume.
Also
as stated in a recent interview with Michael Andretti big teams like that only venture into Sports Car racing when they have money backing them. Lexus and Ganassi's sponsors found Grand-Am to be the better fit, so he went and raced there. Now he's running BMW's and he's still getting a good deal of financial backing to continue there. No NASCAR or IndyCar or even Sports Car team makes decisions like running in the big classes without having serious money behind the program. Because if you think it's cheap running in just one, imagine the costs involved in running in two or three?
The way you wrote it out was a bit hard to understand and thus I was just trying to get a more clear response, which I understand now.
I feel like this has been the trend for this entire conversation we've been having.
I don't know how you can assure that, it could be like Indy cars from recent years past. Also why would the Europeans have stopped coming here if this joint effort never happened?
I didn't. Allow me to personify this hypothetical: WEC approaches ALMS with his head hung low, speaking softly he says, "Hey ALMS, I'm sorry but we can't keep sharing an event with ALMS at Sebring you have too much stuff and I have too much stuff, so I need to move out and into my own place, sorry dude." And so ALMS said "Well I can't pay the rent without WEC living with me, I need to go find a new roommate!"
Remember that they had already stopped going to Petit Le Mans, and Sebring was absolutely packed for the one year they both ran there. ALMS, of course, liked seeing 64 cars on the track, but I imagine WEC started wondering what would happen if they had more people show up to race.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
And Sam, that's not too bad of an entry list, but I believe Dempsey is done with Prototype racing for now, and he might even be considering a move to WEC,
if he decides it's best. So I put some asterisks next to his GT entries as well. Also, TRG-AMR plans on running in the GTE as far as I know (Even Turner motorsports is considering running in GTE)
P – Prototype (21 - 26)
- Team Ganassi – BMW Riley
- Team Ganassi – BMW Riley
- Picket Racing – HPD Honda*
- Dyson Racing – Lola Mazda
- Dyson Racing – Lola Mazda*
- ESM Patron – HPD Honda
- ESM Patron – HPD Honda
- Gainsco Racing – Corvette
- Action Express – Corvette DP
- Action Express – Corvette DP
- Level 5 Motorsports – HPD Honda
- Level 5 Motorsports – HPD Honda
- 8StarMotorsports – Corvette
- 8StarMotorsports – Corvette
- Starworks – BMW Riley
- Starworks – BMW Riley
- Michael Shank Racing – Ford Riley
- Michael Shank Racing – Ford Riley
- Wayne Taylor Racing – Corvette DP
- Team Sahlen – BMW Riley
- Team Sahlen – BMW Riley
- Doran Racing – Ford Dallara
- Spirit of Daytona Racing – Corvette DP
- Marsh Racing – Corvette DP*
- Delta Wing* (-)
PC – Prototype Challenge (7 - _)
- Bar1 Motorsports – ORECA
- Bar1 Motorsports – ORECA
- RSR Racing – ORECA
- Performance Tech Motorsports – ORECA
- PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports – ORECA
- Dragon Speed Mishumotors – ORECA
- CORE Autosport - ORECA
- Starworks - ORECA*
GT-LM – GT Le-mans (10 - __)
- Corvette Racing – Corvette C7R
- Corvette Racing – Corvette C7R
- Team Falken Tire – Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
- Team West/AJR Boardwalk Ferrari – Ferrari F458 Italia
- Paul Miller Racing – Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
- BMW Team RLL – BMW Z4 GTE
- BMW Team RLL – BMW Z4 GTE
- SRT Motorsports – SRT Viper GTS-R
- SRT Motorsports – SRT Viper GTS-R
- CORE Autosport – Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
- TRG-AMR - Aston Martin Vantage GTE*
GT-D – GT Daytona (16 – 34)
- ESM Patron – Ferrari 458*
- Rum Bum Racing – Audi R8*
- Burton Racing – Porsche 911 GT3*
- Muehlner Motorsports America – Porsche 911 GT3
- Alex Job Racing – Porsche GT3
- Alex Job Racing – Audi R8*
- Magnus Racing – Porsche GT3
- JDX Racing – Porsche 911 GT3*
- Dempsey Del Piero Racing – Porsche 911 GT3*
- NGT Motorsports – Porsche 911 GT3*
- APR Motorsports – Audi R8*
- APR Motorsports – Audi R8*
- Riley Technologies – Viper GT3*
- AF Waltrip – Ferrari 458 RK Motors*
- Stevenson Motorsports – Camaro GT.R*
- Brumos Racing – Porsche 911 GT3
- R. Ferri/Aim Autosport – Ferrari 458
- Aim Autosport Team FXDD – Ferrari 458
- Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari 458
- Flying Lizard Motorsports – Porsche 911 GT3*
- Flying Lizard Motorsports – Porsche 911 GT3*
- TRG – Porsche 911 GT3*
- TRG – Porsche 911 GT3*
- TRG – Aston Martin GT3*
- TRG – Aston Martin GT3*
- Park Place Motorsports – Porsche 911 GT3
- Tuner Motorsports – BMW M3*
- Tuner Motorsports – BMW M3*
- Black Swan Racing – Mercedes SLS GT3*
- Fall Line Motorsports – Audi R8
- Audi Customer Racing – Audi R8 (4)*
- BGB Motorsports – Porsche Cayman
- Speedsource/Mazdaspeed – Mazda 6
- Speedsource/Mazdaspeed – Mazda 6
Edit: FIA is calling the shots in LMP1 for WEC. How long 'til DRS?
