2018 Pirelli World Challenge silly season

[jjvincent]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Those statements are bold.

One thing everyone needs to remember is that racing in the US is not like it is in Europe. Using European ideas in the US sounds like a good idea but in the end, does not result in long term success.

One of the main issues in the US comes down to competition. Too much money is spent on all of the various road course based series'. Then too much money is spent on non road course series'. In Europe they don't have the competition of dirt track, drag racing and oval racing. In the US, we do and thus that money is spent elsewhere. As for road racing, contrary to the idea that it's dying, it's actually is thriving quite well but the two big pro series' are not seeing the money. They have flatlined even though there are more and more people running on road courses.

Another main issue is the size of the US. I have documented before about the travel differences and it's not even close. The US requires much more travel and thus, the cost. This is why many teams do only what's in their area. A guy running in SCCA club will put the same amount of miles as a team does for the ADAC Masters.

Then there's the crew. In Europe, you can get crew to work for cheap because most have lots more vacation than they do in the US. In the US, you got to pay a guy more because he takes off work and is not going to get paid from his normal employer. Daytona and Sebring will run through the paid vacation for most crew guys. PWC will get there by the 5th event. I can get a really talented engineer from Germany to work for next to nothing because he will have so much time off that he still gets paid, has healthcare and retirement when he's working for me and I don't have to spend a euro.

In the end, these are things that the SRO cannot change. They are ingrained in our country. I suspect we will see the same thing go on and celebrate over and over again with 500 thumbs up when a new team appears. That will be "success" yet we forget about the one that left which gives us a net gain of zero.