Interesting article from RACER.
http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints...l=&limitstart=
Some great comments from Ben Keating, Mike Hedlund and Alex Job.
Not terribly impressed by Patrick Lindsey or Mr. Potters statements though.
From Lindsey.
Quote:
|
"The real issues I experienced over in World Challenge – and I'm a huge fan of the format and the people over there – is it's not officiated in the manner you'd want as an owner in what you'd consider a true championship. Even with the struggles IMSA had with BoP and homologation of some cars like the [GTD] Viper, I still feel it's a more professionally-run organization," he said. "World Challenge doesn't have the same budget to attract the same officiating talent as IMSA has, and WC Vision, which is the group of [PWC team] owners who are also competitors, subcontract SCCA Pro Racing to run the series. Indirectly, owners pull the strings over the sanctioning body, so there's a conflict of interest to consider."
|
Does anyone Know why Lindsey seems so bitter towards PWC?
Regarding the "conflict of interest" statement. This seems like a real non issue. It's not like the series owners personal team (cough-cough.....Action Express...) won the championship or anything.
There's also this slam from Lindsey, on the level of driver talent in PWC
Quote:
"With Turner [Motorsport] headed over there, and maybe Flying Lizard, you'll probably see some really good drivers added into the field. Right now, they've got Mike Skeen, who's been the best guy over there, and a few other guys who are really good, but you also have a lot of pro-am type drivers by themselves in those cars," he added.
"The talent's sharp at the top, but widens out pretty quick after that. I think the talent is deeper in GTD because you have more pro drivers there, and if that changes, I'd have an interest in looking at World Challenge again; but I know that when I ran there, I was able to finish in the top-5 when I had a pretty good run, and I wasn't a pro. I want to be wherever the deepest pool of talent is racing, and right now, that's GTD."
|
Guy Smith, Johnny O'Connell, Anthony Lazzaro, Alex Figge, Butch Leitzinger, Andy Pilgrim, Ryan Dalziel, Tomas Enge, Mike Skeen, Nick Tandy,
Kuno Wittmer Plus up and coming young drivers such as Andrew Palmer, Robert Thorne, Mike Hedlund and Nick Mancuso.
Enough said!
And then there's John Potters view.
Quote:
|
A lot of the vitriol you see on the internet towards TUDOR seems to benefit PWC, but I've yet to see any merit when it comes to argument based on pure spectacle and quality of 'the show.' Yellows seem to be proportionally just as long if not longer; there's proportionally far fewer pro drivers, and despite all of the criticisms of TUDOR drivers... none of them hit a pace car this year, which PWC can't say. "The poor television package that World Challenge holds works to their benefit, because very few people actually get to watch the reality of this
|
There is some truth to the statement, that many fans have given PWC a second glance due to our unhappiness with the new IMSA. However it is the quality of the cars, teams and drivers in World Challenge that has driven the growth of the series.
I attended both the IMSA and the PWC events at Road America this year. The PWC races were fantastic, while the IMSA "spectacle" was not very enjoyable for me.
I really like the closing statement from Alex Job.
Quote:
|
"In the second season, I think they'll do a better job, and it's important for them to do a better job or else they'll lose more cars again. If they do a better job, I think the numbers will increase. As a competitor, if someone's doing a better job than you, it's your job to work harder to beat them. IMSA shouldn't be worried about trying to crush the competition; they should be worried about doing a better job than they have been doing, and if they can do that, the problem will fix itself."
|
Well said!