United Sports Car Racing = #The Future

Change is not only in the air in North American sports car racing, it is everywhere as the American Le Mans Series and the GRAND-AM Rolex Series prepare for the 2014 debut of the bold, new United SportsCar Racing (USCR) series.

Created by a merger of the two series that was announced in September 2012, the USCR looks to draw the best from each into a unified, powerful and fan-focused new series that will have strong appeal to manufacturers, teams, sponsors, media and fans when it launches next January.

The Alley looks ahead to see what the future may hold for 2014 and beyond in this feature report.

#The Challenges

Combining two organizations, cultures, sets of officials, staffs, rules, manufacturers, teams, sponsors and promoters into one big package is a seemingly endless series of challenges. Leaders of the two series, including NASCAR’s Jim France, Ed Bennett and Richard Buck and their ALMS counterparts Dr. Don Panoz, Scott Atherton and Scot Elkins have worked to address those challenges for over a year.

The series faces a challenge in balancing Prototype performance. The DP and P2 class cars achieve their performance from different directions with the DP cars enjoying greater horsepower and straight-line speed while P2 cars generate superior braking and cornering.

The organizers are considering a variety of options to bring the performance of the two classes into balance for 2014.

Establishing the schedule, television and sponsor packages, marketing plans, maintaining the relationship with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, providing opportunities for current participants, satisfying the competing demands of manufacturers, controlling costs and attracting new participants are all challenges that will continue well beyond the series launch in 2014.