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Old 05-06-2010, 02:22 PM   #13
chkltcow
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 10814
Join Date: Oct 2001
Chapter/Region: South East
Location: Stanley, NC
Vehicle:
'13 ToyobaruFRZ-86
97 Miata M

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Element Tuning View Post
The racing doesn't matter and if you've ever been to the Long Beach Grand Prix you'll understand. It's all about bringing in revenue to the surrounding restaurants, bars, and businesses. I love the LBGP as you can drink, relax, check out so many different areas of the track and since you're typically elevated you can see a lot. Places like VIR aren't great for huge amounts of spectators. Also city events can support lots of visitors with restaurants and accommodations.

If he has 12 million dollars to invest he clearly has more common sense than most of us. LOL!
But to me, the racing DOES matter. Granted, this weekend I was at the Mitty, which is an amateur event where the results don't matter and the racing isn't that close. It's more of just a "car porn" event, looking at the old Lolas, Chevrons, Corvettes, Lotuses, etc.

I understand the reasoning behind holding events in places like Long Beach, St. Pete, and this coming race in Baltimore. It just saddens me as a racing fan to see racing suffer in the name of the mighty dollar. Long Beach may be a fun party environment with tons of restaurants, accommodations, and the ability to support huge amounts of spectators..... but let's be honest.... the racing sucks.

Montreal has the right sort of idea. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a good track, and it's right in the heart of the city.... so you get proper racing and all those spectator bonuses that come with being in a population center. If more races were like that, I'd be all for it.... but I'm getting sick of concrete canyons with poor racing, no passing zones, and racers having to back off because there's no room for error with walls so close.

Edit: Oh, and the Long Beach ALMS race is under 2 hours.... don't ever count on me traveling that far to watch a race that short. It took me until last year to finally drive the 3 hours to Atlanta for a 10 hour race!
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Last edited by chkltcow; 05-06-2010 at 02:31 PM.
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