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My issue is more with a seemingly inconsistent, and sometimes apparently arbitrary, set of standards. Can sportscars really get away with that much more than open-wheelers, or are we being silly in holding the latter to as much of a "higher" standard as we seem to do? Also, given all of the ground covered, um, how are street circuits allowed to do things that road courses are not?
If it's "not safe" on a road course, that judgment, to begin with, should be based on physics, in which case, it can't possibly be "safe" to have a lesser standard than a certain minimum, regardless of the type of course. At the same time, if that "lower" standard is actually "good enough", then there is no physics-based reason to have a differing standard elsewhere. It's this visible inconsistency that bothers me. (Maybe I'm just too German.)
The last full-on, wheel-to-wheel launch situation I can recall on a road course was Oriol Servia going for a high-flying ride at Laguna Seca in 2001. The last one on an oval was Dario Franchitti at Kentucky in 2007. Las Vegas, Houston, and others, have been wheel-to-bodywork contact, which happens in fendered cars as well. And really, it's the latter type that propels the launched car forward FAR more, whereas wheel to wheel sends the car higher, but for substantially less distance before it lands.
I don't know exactly how close I can get at Road Atlanta, but I DO know that for Road America, Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, and Lime Rock Park. I rather doubt that Braselton is a particular anomaly compared to those other four in terms of potential viewing proximity.
It's not that I expressly want IndyCar at Road Atlanta, but I'm going to have to see something with my own eyes that is UNIQUE to it, compared to ALL the other road courses IndyCar or ChampCar have visited in modern open-wheel history to be convinced that it SHOULD BE precluded.
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