Happy (Belated) Birthday!
Warmest wishes for a joyful birthday to my favorite sawbones, Doctor Hee Haw! I missed the good doctor's birthday on Tuesday & for that I am truly sorry. The FaceSpace even provided me with a reminder & yet I was still able to overlook the auspicious date, curse my bones! As a tribute to his generosity of spirit, in private communication Doctor Hee Haw has already forgiven my thoughtlessness. Congratulations, old friend, on not dying for another full revolution of the Earth around the Accursed Sun. Happy birthday, Seth!

The Explorers' Club
№ CCC - The convoluted, contrived, & often contradictory history of the "Roman" salute.







This Week in Motorsport
By Endurance We Conquer
Today, it was announced that the American Le Mans Series (A.L.M.S.) & the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series (hereafter, Grand-Am), North America's competing endurance racing series, are merging to form one combined series. They will continue to run separately through 2013, with the new, yet-to-be-named series to debut in January '14, at the 24 Hours of Daytona (the signature event from whence Grand-Am's Daytona Prototypes [D.P.] derive their name). On the one hand, this is undeniably good news. There is an appetite for endurance/sports car racing in the United States & the Canadas, but there has been much doubt about whether there is enough of an appetite to support two rival series. Comparisons have been made to the erstwhile split in American open-wheeled racing. At the height of Indy car racing's popularity in the early 1990s, hubris, ambition, & avarice lead to the creation of two bitterly rival series, the Indy Racing League (I.R.L.) & the Champ Car World Series (it went through many names, but Champ Car was the most prominent). There was not the audience in America to support two such series, & the squabble tarnished the reputation of the Indianapolis 500. This is only one of the many factors that allowed N.A.S.C.A.R. to rise in the '90s to become America's most popular form of motorsport (to our national shame), but it was definitely a factor, as open-wheel Indy car racing used to be on top. The two Indy series reunified as the IndyCar Series in '08, & the audience for IndyCar racing has been building, slowly but steadily, ever since (the author is a recent convert). The I.R.L./Champ Car debacle has weighed heavily on many minds throughout the decade-plus of the A.L.M.S./Grand-Am rivalry. The resources of both series can now be put behind the creation & promotion of a single series, instead of diffused amidst two different series.

On the other hand, the two series have been separate because they embody different philosophies, & the differences are not trivial. The A.L.M.S. favors technological sophistication & innovation, at the inevitable risk of spiraling pecuniary costs; Grand-Am prefers ruthless cost-capping, at the price of artificial competition & technological backwardness. The A.L.M.S. is more genteel, reflecting its European routes at Le Mans; Grand-Am tolerates a lot of "door-slammin' & paint-swappin'," one of the biggest reasons why I for one have never been as fond of Grand-Am as of the A.L.M.S. The nuts & bolts: Grand-Am Road Racing is wholly owned by N.A.S.C.A.R., & the "merger" is the acquisition of the A.L.M.S. & sundry assets, including the Road Atlanta race course, site of the annual Petit Le Mans. Significantly, & ominously if one is so inclined, today's announcement took place at the Daytona International Speedway, ancestral home of N.A.S.C.A.R. & all its evil. To my mind it remains an open question, one that cannot be answered fully 'til the new series debuts in '14, if this will be a true merger, blending the best of both the A.L.M.S. & Grand-Am, or a "merger" in the vein of Daimler-Benz's erstwhile seizing & pillaging of Chrysler. All of the parties have said that retaining the link to Le Mans is a priority, as is forging a productive relationship with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (A.C.O.), the originators & organizers of the 24 Heures du Mans. The A.C.O. has made positive noises in press releases. I should probably find these words more reassuring than I do, but an agreement—any agreement—is only as good as its enforcement mechanism. With the A.L.M.S. now bought lock, stock, & barrel by N.A.S.C.A.R., what is the enforcement mechanism? What are the means & methods of accountability? I am well aware that my habitual reaction to change is suspicion, hostility, & dark auguries; I freely admit this. However, that does not mean that suspicions, hostilities, & dark auguries are necessarily wrong. Plus, in this instance, my suspicions are based on a distrust of N.A.S.C.A.R. Can I really be blamed for flirting with despair when endurance racing on this continent will now be in the knavish hands of N.A.S.C.A.R.? That which is this merger's strength—the unification of American endurance racing—is also its great weakness, for it means putting all our eggs in one basket. If the N.A.S.C.A.R.-dominated board of directors (two-thirds from N.A.S.C.A.R./Grand-Am, one third from the A.L.M.S.) fouls this up, as I am inclined to think that they will, then fans of endurance racing like me will be up a creek. We'll have a paddle, in internet-based coverage of other endurance racing series, like the World Endurance Championship, the European Le Mans Series (if it survives), or the Blancpain Endurance Series, et al., but we'll still be up a creek & forced to row against the current.

On the gripping hand, & my intention is not to appear nihilistic, but it doesn't matter a whit what I think. My opinion has no ability to derail this multimillion-dollar deal. I was a fellow sitting at home watching races on television before the deal was inked & I am a fellow sitting at home hoping to watch races on television after the deal was inked. I'm just along for the ride, so why all the angst? Because the angst is the fun. That hackneyed & yet so very, very true phrase about "the thrill of victory & the agony of defeat." The angst is what keeps me interested, keeps me watching, keeps me caring which massively-expensive race car bested which other massively-expensive race car. So, not being able to play any substantive rôle in shaping events, I shall hope for the best, prepare as best I am able for the worst, & wait to see the shape of the world that's coming.

Whatever else occurs, I take great solace in this: Le Mans remains Le Mans. The ninetieth anniversary running of the 24 Heures du Mans will take place on 22-23 June 2013. Make ready!

Fortitudine vincimus. "By endurance we conquer."

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Grant-Lee Phillips, "Mona Lisa" from Virginia Creeper (T.L.A.M.)