Brad, With all due respect, what "Gloden era" are you refering too? The EU is a joke, the US economy sucks. and China has crapped out. Where's the Golden era going to come from?
GF posted some great photos... from 1998! Things were great then, the height of the Clinton era, life was good lots of money to go around, where are all those prototypes now?
Some of you are living in fantasy land?
NASCAR, if it really buys into sportscar racing, will go into it making sure their series is the pinnacle of the sport, screw the ACO! I know people in NASCAR, their attitiude will be"If people want to race at Daytona or Sebring, then they'll race under our rules" These people went into the Meccca of Indycar racing, the heart of US racing, IMS, and their race became the biggest event on the calendar there, do you really think they're going to set their regs around a race held once a year in France?
GF mentions the heritage of US participation at Le Mans, really? The last ten years or so its been the Vettes and the Lizards, and a handful of other privateers. Your going to make that argument? Seriously?
Fax
The Golden Era, comes from the excitement and quality of the racing - three major manufacturers, trading blows for overall victory, is something we haven't had for many years - sure there's been Audi vs Peugeot, and Bentley, and Pesky-Rolos - but the addition of a third, genuine contender, makes the next few years an extremely exciting prospect. It might not happen, but if the rumours are correct, it's a distinct possibility.
The fact is, that Sebring and Daytona pale into complete insignificance in comparison to Le-Mans, - Don't get me wrong, Sebring is a brilliant event, better for the spectator trackside, etc etc, but it's still not the same as the challenge of Le-Mans - and Daytona barely even registers on the radar in the US, let alone the rest of the world. For manufacturers and teams to genuinely claim superiority, or claim any kind of saleable benefit to their race programmes, they need to be racing at Le-Mans, or racing against the grand efforts of Audi, Toyota and Porsche with events in the US - and the general consensus is that this will not be possible when the regs are announced.
As for "where are all those prototypes now?" - errr....they're racing at Le-Mans - the 2012 Entry list suggests 33 of them......which is a pretty impressive grid for a group of cars that "nobody is interested in"......
As for US entry. Audi North America, Krohn, Flying Lizard, Corvette, Highcroft - that's a bigger representation than most other nations.
If US manufacturers concentrated on making products which were fuel efficient (40mpg is more than acheivable with modern technology, yet you'll struggle to find a US car that does more than about 25mpg), made with quality materials instead of flimsy plastic, and which could actually go around corners, they'd sell more vehicles outside of the US, make more money, and be able to afford to go racing - and the development cycle would BEGIN with racing in the same way it does in Europe - develop the technology on the racetrack to safeguard future sales, and the whole thing becomes self sufficient.
And finally - you can't "orchestrate" safety car situations - well, not unless you throw "competition cautions" - which thankfully, are not a feature of European racing.....and long may that Americanism stay away from the important stuff.
