Le Mans comes to America, maybe Indy, too

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 10:34 a.m.

By STEVE HERMAN

AP Sports Writer

Indy cars, stock cars, maybe Formula One. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway already has strayed far from its traditional one-race-a-year roots.

Now, with the debut of another new racing series at Road Atlanta on Saturday, sports cars also could be part of Indy's future.

While Speedway president Tony George is still trying to bring Formula One to the world's most famous race track, the American Le Mans Series is making its debut in Atlanta with a 10-hour version of the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It's the brainchild of car builder Don Panoz, who modeled the series of endurance races after the 24 Hours of Le Mans and negotiated rights to use the name on this side of the Atlantic. By next season, he hopes to run a schedule of up to 11 races.

"This form of racing is a bit unique. It hits a niche audience," said Bill Donaldson, a former IMS vice president hired by Panoz to be executive director of the new series. "It's an audience that likes sports cars, they like endurance racing, they like road racing."

The first race is dubbed the "Petit Le Mans," and will be 10 hours or 1,000 miles - whichever comes first - on the newly refurbished 2.54-mile Road Atlanta course.

Road Atlanta is one of three tracks Panoz recently bought. The others are in Sebring, Fla., and Mosport, Ontario. A 12-hour race in Sebring is planned for next year, although the complete schedule has not been finalized.

George, who took the Indianapolis 500 away from Championship Auto Racing Teams when he founded the rival Indy Racing League, is trying to negotiate a Formula One race for Indianapolis. Reports say it could happen as early as 2000.

The Le Mans series might also be interested in Indy, Donaldson said. He concedes that there have been sanctioning body debates and controversy, but says there is motivation to solve them.

"I think where the sport is today, there's a number of constituents, whether it's promoters, sponsors, manufacturers, race fans, that are all really thirsty for sports car racing to come back," he said. "There's a need to rebuild the confidence of all these constituents in the sport today."

Donaldson said the new series, based in Indianapolis, is not connected with George's Formula One effort. He has not talked to his former boss about bringing sports cars to IMS.

"We're waiting to see if there's actually a road course being built," Donaldson said. "But I guess I'd say if the track is built and there's interest, we would certainly be interested in that as a venue."

The entry list for the race at Road Atlanta includes nine Indianapolis 500 veterans.

Among them, Hurley Haywood, Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson have won in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Haywood, Scott Pruett and Didier Theys were on winning teams in the 24 Hours of Daytona, America's premier endurance race.

Daytona is run by the new United States Road Racing Championship, which is considering a merger with the rival Professional Sportscar Racing. PSR is the successor to the International Motor Sports Association as the sanctioning body for other major sports car races in North America.

"It tends to be a more upscale demographic of fans, which is good from a marketing standpoint," Donaldson said of endurance races. "There are some companies that would like to be involved in motorsports that I think would prefer to be in this environment as opposed to other forms of motorsports, and our job is really just to create the right marketing platform for them."

Donaldson also is president of Premier Management Group of Indianapolis, a motorsports consulting firm hired by Panoz to run the new Le Mans series. Among his group's plans for attracting fans is a Women's Global GT Series as a support series, with Indy driver Lyn St. James as executive director.