THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
May 5, 2016
Volume X, Edition LXVI
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What to Watch: Thursday
- The big news of the day has already broken (see below). For the rest of the day Camping World Truck Series teams are practicing at Kansas Speedway. Unfortunately, there is no TV for the sessions and the grandstands are not open. We'll have updates on practice on our Frontstretch Twitter. Meanwhile, Beth Lunkenheimer is live covering the event and can be reached on Twitter @Beth_Frntstrtch.
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Thursday's TV Schedule can be found here.
Thursday's TV Schedule can be found here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
NASCAR Releases 2017 Sprint Cup, XFINITY, Truck Schedules
Early Thursday morning, NASCAR released the 2017 schedules for the (for now) Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series. The changes are somewhat minimal given the five-year deals that started this year; however, there are a couple of adjustments on dates. Those include the restoration of Dover's traditional June Cup date and Talladega no longer ending a Chase round, swapping out their fall race date with Kansas within the Chase round of 12. Read more
10 Teams Warned After Talladega
On Wednesday, NASCAR released their weekly penalty report. No one was punished for any serious violations but ten teams received warnings for various infractions. Jimmie Johnson in Sprint Cup and Ty Dillon in the XFINITY Series will miss the first 15 minutes of practice Friday in Kansas due to an accumulation of those warnings. Read more
Have news for the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Editor's Note: Potts' Shots will return next week.
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Editor's Note: Potts' Shots will return next week.
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The Critic's Annex: Could Driver Ratings Be Considered Actions Detrimental to Sports Car Racing?
by Phil Allaway
Greetings, race fans. Hope your nerves have disappeared after last weekend's races in Talladega. This week, we're doing something different. I will not be critiquing any broadcasts today. Instead, we're going to talk a little bit about driver ratings.
Now by ratings, I don't mean the kind of stuff we do at Frontstretch each week with The 10. That's just an opinion piece where we rate who we think are the best chaps out on track, coming up with some cute little one-liners for you. By no means are they set in stone.
However, in sports car racing at the moment, driver ratings are everything and they are most definitely binding. They effectively determine where you can and can't race.
The idea behind them is that "gentleman drivers" need to have a place in sports car racing and the rating system was created as a way to keep them from being forced out. Four rankings were created: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Platinum and Gold-ranked drivers are considered to be true professionals while Silver and Bronze drivers are considered to be amateurs.
In addition, both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship here in the United States and the FIA World Endurance Championship have two classes that they consider to be Pro-Am. In the IWSC, they're Prototype Challenge and GT-Daytona. In the WEC, they are P2 and GTE-Am. The rules differ based on whether it's a sprint race or an endurance event. In the IWSC, sprint races require a minimum of one silver or bronze-rated driver. Endurance races are dependent on the number of drivers on the team; for example, a four-driver lineup would require two silver-rated drivers.
In the WEC, each car always has three drivers. In P2, one of the three drivers has to be a silver or below. In GTE-Am, only one professional is allowed. In addition, there is also a year-old car rule. That's why you won't see a Ferrari 488 GTE or Ford GT in the class this year, but that's another column for another time.
The problem with these rankings is that a lot of drivers ranked as silver are not actually amateurs. Would any of my readers consider Katherine Legge an amateur? No. She's been racing full-time for more than a decade. But, the FIA does. How about Scott Pruett, a man who's won the Rolex 24 multiple times, in CART, Trans-Am and a bunch of other series? He's considered an amateur. Based on the FIA's own criteria, he's a Gold driver, and only because he's over 50 (he's 56). It's laughable. The only explanation I could give is if the FIA's committee thinks Pruett's CART performances (three top-10 finishes in points) occurred too long ago. They do have carte blanche to make changes as they see fit. Also, it seems that actual performance in sports cars seems to have next to no effect on your standing. There's very little reference to actual sports car series. Winning even a WEC class title technically doesn't count unless there's more outright criteria than the FIA lists.
Often times, rides in the professional classes are limited to those driving in factory outfits. GT-Le Mans is a good example of that in that there are ten full-time entries in the class. Exactly two of the ten (the Ferrari 488 GTE's from Risi Competizione and Scuderia Corsa) are independent efforts. The others are factory teams for Chevrolet, Ford, BMW and Porsche. Competition is ludicrously tough for those spots. Anyone who's lucky enough to snag a factory spot is considered to be a Platinum-rated driver, along with anyone with significant Formula One experience.
As a result, gold is about the highest level that most drivers can achieve. The silver ranks are filled with a number of drivers that are actually amateur racers (by definition, those racers who have something else going on in their lives) and don't race full-time. But, there are also actual pros in there as well. Yes, Pruett owns a vineyard, but would anyone describe Pruett as a winemaker first? Unless you read Wine Spectator magazine (I don't), the answer would be "Heck to the no."
There's also mandatory level drops based on age, something that infuriates a number of drivers. You drop one level upon reaching age 50 automatically. That's why Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Oswaldo Negri, Jr. is silver-rated. Negri, experience-wise is not a silver. He's one of the fastest drivers in IMSA right now. That he just so happens to be 51 doesn't really make a difference.
The result of all this mess is that there's only so many professional slots available and a substantial glut of drivers. Being upgraded to Gold from Silver is seen by the FIA as a compliment of your skills behind the wheel. In reality, it has been a route to unemployment for a lot of racers because they can't be the amateur racer on a Pro-Am team.
Also, the list can be changed multiple times a year. When were the most recent updates to the rankings released by the FIA? Tuesday. As in, two days ago. Looking at the updated list (available for download here) no one had their categorization revised but the red type in the key indicates that they can do such a thing.
There have been instances in which teams have had to scuttle plans because their driver pairing suddenly became invalid for the class they were racing in. Such a setup makes creating a contract nearly impossible in a Pro-Am class because you never know what's going to happen with the rule organizers. You can't have a multi-year deal.
The rules in IMSA are a bit simpler than in WEC (for instance, GTE-Am requires at least one Bronze-rated driver) whereas no class in IMSA specifically states that a Bronze-rated driver is required. Regardless, just having this setup in place has a depressing effect on car count. I believe that without driver rankings, teams would be more free to hire whomever they want to drive their cars. Especially with driver aids being in place now, it is possible to have more equitable racing between professionals and amateurs.
I would argue that without rankings and requirements to have drivers of such limits, you can have situations where all kinds of lineups could be possible and still be competitive. Grand-Am's former Rolex Sports Car Series was like that. It was still possible for a Pro-Am team to win a championship despite racing against pro-pro lineups. For example, the pairing of Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato won GT titles in 2010 (for SpeedSource in a Mazda RX-8) and 2012 (for AIM Autosport in a Ferrari 458 Italia). Segal was the pro while Assentato raced on weekends and worked for FXDD (the team's sponsor), a company that trades foreign currencies, during the week. Ideally, I'd like to see a setup like that be viable along with regular lineups.
I would argue that without rankings and requirements to have drivers of such limits, you can have situations where all kinds of lineups could be possible and still be competitive. Grand-Am's former Rolex Sports Car Series was like that. It was still possible for a Pro-Am team to win a championship despite racing against pro-pro lineups. For example, the pairing of Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato won GT titles in 2010 (for SpeedSource in a Mazda RX-8) and 2012 (for AIM Autosport in a Ferrari 458 Italia). Segal was the pro while Assentato raced on weekends and worked for FXDD (the team's sponsor), a company that trades foreign currencies, during the week. Ideally, I'd like to see a setup like that be viable along with regular lineups.
Who was behind that duo in points back in 2012? Robin Liddell (a pro currently competing with Stevenson Motorsports), Paul Dalla Lana (an amateur currently affiliated with Aston Martin), Sylvain Tremblay (team principal of SpeedSource) and Jonathan Bomarito (currently racing a Prototype for SpeedSource), Leh Keen (pro for Alex Job Racing in GT-Daytona currently), Wayne Nonnamaker, Dane Cameron (currently driving for Action Express Racing) and Andy Lally (a pro driver racing for Magnus Racing in GT-Daytona). You've got a mix of different drivers there and that was without a mandate for Pro-Am lineups.
The current setup was created to make sure that amateur drivers didn't get pushed out of the field. In practice, it's pushing pros out of races. It's depressing car count in series because certain pros can bring sponsorship but can't drive because they're pros. A return to Grand-Am's system of a few years ago could benefit car count and make for a much stronger field in the lower classes.
That's all for this week. Next week, we'll be back with some more motorsports commentary. Until then, enjoy this weekend's racing in Kansas and Spa.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Beyond the Cockpit: Brendan Gaughan on 2016 and Beyond
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Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Beyond the Cockpit: Brendan Gaughan on 2016 and Beyond
"My dad and I have always talked about it. Two years ago I wanted to retire and he said no. This year, my dad wanted me to retire and I told him no. Every year, we do that back and forth, we goof around, but in the end, I'm still having a great time. My family life is great at home because I get to stay at home. I'm still running up front, and as long as Richard wants me, I still want to be here." - Brendan Gaughan, on potential retirement
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Dustin Albino and Sean Fesko
by Bryan Gable
by Toni Montgomery
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: When Kansas Speedway first opened back in 2001 it was near the existing intersection of Interstates 70 and 435 but there really wasn't much around it. What other major sports team now plays their games near Kansas Speedway today?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: Tomas Scheckter's 2002 IRL season was very unusual. He showed superior pace as compared to much of the field but kept having problems that took away his chances at Victory Lane. During the Kansas weekend Scheckter led more than half the race but wasn't around for the finish. What happened?
A: Scheckter was leading the race, all by himself with ten laps to go when the car suddenly went up the hill in turn 2, swapped ends and hit the wall. The crash can be seen here.
The booth theorized that fluid from Al Unser, Jr., who had just retired from the race could be to blame. Scheckter, for his part claimed that it was a soft right rear tire. Either way, the crash took Scheckter out of a near-assured victory.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have some news from today while we preview Saturday night's GoBowling.com 400 at Kansas Speedway.
On Frontstretch.com:
On Frontstretch.com:
Zach Catanzareti answers Four Burning Questions heading into this weekend's action in Kansas. Also, our Joseph Wolkin presents a special slideshow involving promising NASCAR talent Ryan Ellis.
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Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2016 Frontstretch.com
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Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2016 Frontstretch.com
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