ON THE EDGE

 

 

It being “that” time of the year when schools reopen in full-tilt-boogie mode; Federal tax forms near the absolute, bottom-line deadline and driving along the southern edge of Great Salt Lake being a daily routine – for at least a few days, anyway - thoughts of course can’t but help to turn to …

GRAND-AM FUTURE IN DOUBT?

In its August 24, 2009, issue a weekly automobile magazine stated “ … according to rumors that refused to die” that future Lexus-badged engine participation in the Rolex Series’ Daytona Prototype class appeared over “unless funding is found.”

Frankly one would’ve thought the issue was settled at the series’ June Mid-Ohio event, considering Toyota Racing Development representatives stated the TRD-supported program would conclude at the end of the 2009 season.

Yet, having years ago shifted the “Lexus” engine’s production to East Coast engine-builder Don Miller, the TRD representative also said that while TRD research and development of the DP series engine had ceased, Miller wouldn’t be prohibited from building and supplying future TRD-based engines for the series.

But Wait, There’s More because the kicker of the whole magazine piece, though, was its highly trained professional assessment that the Rolex Series series might soon wreck out as a result.

“Earlier this year, General Motors, through the outgoing Pontiac brand, also pulled its factory support from the series, calling Grand-Am’s long-term future into question,” it read.

Oh, for goodness sakes, the world as we know it must be ending.

Well, maybe such ain’t a bad thing and, furthermore, perhaps even expected by a series that has for years clearly stated its intent was to break sportscar racing’s historic, almost masochistic dependency on manufacturers.

Breaking into the Rolex Sports Car Series when in late-2002 Darius Grala drove his red Toyota-powered FABCAR Daytona Prototype onto Daytona International Speedway’s high banks, Toyota Racing Development hasn’t exactly slacked since, having powered a combined six driving, team and manufacturer championships – not to mention three-straight Rolex 24 At Daytona endurance crowns.

TRD’s biggest problem? Most likely, it having proportionately demanded more cold cash for the use of its leased engines than that requested by other Rolex Series engine suppliers. (Did anyone else note the subtle shirt of the term used to describe from whence the engines come?)

While your basic building-block ingredients may well, but not always directly come from a manufacturer, an approved Grand-Am supplier is responsible for building, leasing and servicing those engines found in Daytona Prototype engine bays. Texas-based Lozano Brothers Porting, builders of the Porsche Cayenne V-8 used in the No. 90 AMA Pro Racing Coyote of Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia, their first Cayenne race engine was derived from junkyard parts because Porsche wouldn’t sell the Lozano Brothers an engine block – or any other part.

Ford engines aren’t really “Ford” as much as Roush Yates Engines; “Honda” engines come from Bill Margraf and Computech; Infiniti from Menard; and, so on. Oh, and TRD’s engines? Don Miller – whose Toyota engine-building history started in 2000 with Eric Van Cleef and led to a 2003 NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series championship for five-time Dash champ Robert Huffman.

Whether TRD’s and Miller’s engine-building economies of scale are better or worse than others is anyone’s guess but Pontiac was known to heavily subsidize DP engine programs by providing sponsorship money to teams for acquisition and use of the GM-branded product. Ford, not Roush Yates, would slip a DP or two onto a seven-post and have one of its top aerodynamicists oversee the test. Thus, a team like Mike Shank Racing could put a Ford in its Riley engine bay and put both on a seven post rig mostly at Ford’s expense.

Even though GM/Chevrolet isn’t completely gone from the Rolex Series – it’s behind Johnny Stevenson’s two 2010 Chevrolet Camaros for the Acxiom GT class – the manufacturer’s roll has lessened substantially and, one could say, just about at a comfortable involvement level for the Rolex Series.

Sure, manufacturer involvement kicked the Daytona Prototype into gear in 2003, and the Acxiom GT to some extent later, but even their relatively small involvement - ‘cause we’re not talking whole cars, here -  started biting teams in the rear because the escalating cost of racing since 2003 has been found more in the engine bay than anywhere else. Seems to me that TRD has gone through at least three cam configurations since it joined the series – each new crank costing money to correctly dial it in.

Krohn Racing’s Jorge Bergmeister won the 2006 DP driving title with a Ford behind him. So with what engine manufacturer did Krohn go for its 2007 engines? Pontiac. Why? The overall cost of the engine program was lower than that of Ford’s. When Krohn later switched back to Ford, he candidly admitted he’d made a mistake with the Pontiac brand. For sure, he then got some 7-post time that may well have been instrumental in his wins at The Glen and New Jersey Motorsports Park in prior weeks.

Nope, this manufacturer going away thing will be both sweet and sour – but necessary if sportscar racing truly is to break the wildly oscillating cycle that for far too long has controlled the fortunes of tens-of-thousands of people.

And Grand-Am is doing exactly what it needs to do – and said it would.

Later,

DC