Atlantics now sanctioned by IMSA

[paul-collins]

http://imsaracing.net/2008/news/IMSA...by%20Mazda.pdf

While the Atlantic Championship will continue to be owned by Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe and will be operated by O’Connor and her staff, all races will be run under IMSA rules. The Atlantic Championship will be conducted under the IMSA Code, which establishes and oversees event, participant and safety parameters and conduct, as well as governing rules for each of its sanctioned series. The IMSA sanction takes immediate effect and will be in place for the next round of the Atlantic Championship on June 27-29 at Mont-Tremblant.

[paul-collins]

Whoops, guess I got the wrong forum. Mods please merge with this:

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=110214

[athletics68]

Good for them. That should cement them pretty solidly at the top of the Mazda/IMSA OW development ladder above Star Mazda and Formula BMW.

[roadracer]

Makes a great undercard for the ALMS weekends.

[Threewide]

Makes a great undercard for the ALMS weekends.

I doubt you'll see them at St Pete or Belle Isle when ALMS comes in.

[athletics68]

I doubt you'll see them at St Pete or Belle Isle when ALMS comes in.

Why not? It's up to ALMS and the promotors who they'd like to have on the card.

[VonScratch]

Atlantic is the best development series in North America right now. I love watching their races.

[Foxracer]

I wonder what the Atlantics will look like 10 years from now........

[Kurt Cobain]

Atlantic is the best development series in North America right now. I love watching their races.

I agree

[moviemaker]

Excellent news!
Good to see this and i hope they keep it going for 2009 and beyond.!

[TUBORG-fan]

Atlantic is the best development series in North America right now. I love watching their races.

Exactly andisn't it strange that it's sanctioned by a sportscar series and not the IndyCar series??

Weird...

[fatlantic]

The original IMSA sanctioned the Atlantic series in the mid-1970's

[Threewide]

Why not? It's up to ALMS and the promotors who they'd like to have on the card.

Easy, no space at Belle Isle and not enough track time to give to Atlantics at St Pete.

[athletics68]

Easy, no space at Belle Isle and not enough track time to give to Atlantics at St Pete.

Space is of course a reasonable concern. As for time however, I'm sure they could be fit in if Don Panoz wanted them to be.

[Fogelhund]

Space is of course a reasonable concern. As for time however, I'm sure they could be fit in if Don Panoz wanted them to be.

Don Panoz is not active in the business anymore. That would be up to Scott Atherton and Tim Mayer.

[Seadog]

Exactly andisn't it strange that it's sanctioned by a sportscar series and not the IndyCar series??

Weird...

Not strange to me. IRL already has their own 2nd tier series. What do they need another one for?

[Doyouloveit?]

It will be interesting to see that Nigel Mansell's sons do next year, maybe FIL? You would think that any current Atlantics drivers who are interested in Indycar will want to race in FIL?

[athletics68]

It will be interesting to see that Nigel Mansell's sons do next year, maybe FIL? You would think that any current Atlantics drivers who are interested in Indycar will want to race in FIL?

Only if they feel ready to move up. Watching their performances this year I don't think Nigel's boys are ready for FIL's yet. They've been back of the packers so far this year in the Atlantics and would need to improve greatly to make the move up next year. I'd look for them to stay put in Atlantics another season for 2009.

[athletics68]

In other news it appears that CCWS, LLC which I believe was dissolved recently is no longer in control of the Atlantics. They're now owned and operated by Atlantic Racing Series, LLC based in Brownsburg, Ind. Been a busy week for the Atlantics. They're headlining the Mont Tremblant race in Canada, new entity running the show and new sanction. Looks to me like they've almost got everything in place other than TV for a fairly bright future as the third tier OW series above Star Mazda and below FIL.

http://atlantic-championship.com/New...le.asp?ID=3378

[Jim Wilke]

Let me get this straight: The parent organization went bankrupt - again. They have no title sponsor, no engine partner, no TV deal and are down to 5 full-time employees. The schedule has been drastically reduced and they are tagging along with a series that isn't really related to them while the one series that might do them some good is not interested..........and they have a bright future?

"Passengers of the Titanic, do not be concerned. We have merely made an unscheduled stop to pick up some additional ice for your cocktails."

[rjohnson999]

Cleary, you are ignorant of the history of Formula Atlantic. Long before CART bought them, there were an independent entity, managed by the same team that's still running the show, and then as now, operated by a very small staff.

Let me get this straight: The parent organization went bankrupt - again. They have no title sponsor, no engine partner, no TV deal and are down to 5 full-time employees. The schedule has been drastically reduced and they are tagging along with a series that isn't really related to them while the one series that might do them some good is not interested..........and they have a bright future?

"Passengers of the Titanic, do not be concerned. We have merely made an unscheduled stop to pick up some additional ice for your cocktails."

[athletics68]

Let me get this straight: The parent organization went bankrupt - again. They have no title sponsor, no engine partner, no TV deal and are down to 5 full-time employees. The schedule has been drastically reduced and they are tagging along with a series that isn't really related to them while the one series that might do them some good is not interested..........and they have a bright future?

"Passengers of the Titanic, do not be concerned. We have merely made an unscheduled stop to pick up some additional ice for your cocktails."

Actually they have 2 titles sponsors (full series name is "The Cooper Tires presents the Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda"), an engine partner (Mazda), and it appears a TV deal is in the offing if not already complete that just hasn't been announced with SPEED Channel. SPEED's broadcast team has recorded and covered both races so far and Long Beach has been released on the net so far.

Also their schedule was only reduced by 1 race when it was all said and done not unlike the ALMS when both series lost Houston. The Atlantics obviously lost other races like Portland in the whole merger but they replaced them, their original schedule had 12 races pre merger, current schedule has 11 (not bad for 3 weeks emergency work). And they're "tagging along" with ALMS, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, IRL, and the Rolex series this year. Their spread is pretty good.

I think someone fixed the hole in your boat analogy Jim. Her name is Vicky O'Connor.

[Jakester]

Not strange to me. IRL already has their own 2nd tier series. What do they need another one for?

I seem to recall a very successful three tier ladder in the past...as well as one that works very well for the 800 pound gorilla.

They have no title sponsor, no engine partner, no TV deal and are down to 5 full-time employees. The schedule has been drastically reduced and they are tagging along with a series that isn't really related to them while the one series that might do them some good is not interested..........and they have a bright future?

They've got Cooper Tires as a presenting sponsor.

They've got Mazda as a sponsor and engine supplier.

They've got Vicki O'Connor (that alone is worth a heck of a lot)

Not fantastic, but they've got a few contingency sponsors:
Bosch
Performance Friction
Impact
Tilton
Sherwin Williams
Coast Fabrication

IMSA also sanctions Pro Mazda series, who are open wheels and related to Atlantics. edit: forgot IMSA also sanctions Formula BMW.

And Atlantics are the longest running open wheel series in the US.

Yes, the lack of a TV deal is certainly an issue.

[Grinder-Tank]

No Ovals? If not, it pretty much washes away their distinction from any other series of that nature. And since they're inert from IndyCar, the only major open wheeled series in America; they stay stagnant or fade IMO.

They serve as only a step series to another group step series since they're not a direct step to F1.

Again, they have no distinction now. They have become a superflous organization.

[athletics68]

No Ovals? If not, it pretty much washes away their distinction from any other series of that nature. And since they're inert from IndyCar, the only major open wheeled series in America; they stay stagnant or fade IMO.

They serve as only a step series to another group step series since they're not a direct step to F1.

Again, they have no distinction now. They have become a superflous organization.

By that logic though so are Formula BMW and Star Mazda, and they're doing just fine. Plus as their own website points out the AC has always been more than just an OW stepping stone. They have alums in ALMS, Rolex Series, ICS, FIL, etc...

Plus as someone mentioned above they existed before CART and they now exist after CART.

[MarkDonohueFan]

It goes from a development series that gave rich kids the opportunity to race. Now it goes to a secondary hobby series for super rich kids to fill their weekend by saying they're race car drivers.

Why run in an open wheel series on all road courses where you have no exposure to F-1, let alone Indy Car? You'll never get to Indy Car because you abandoned running on ovals.

They are better off taking what the energy they have and building a conduit series between USAC and Firestone Indy Lights. Those kids need to learn roads and ovals.

[Fogelhund]

Of course there is no ovals on the current schedule. They had to cobble a schedule together at the last minute just to continue. Given the change in landscape of the Open Wheel in North America, you would have think that they would modify their schedule somewhat to include some ovals over the next few years. Give it time.

[athletics68]

Of course there is no ovals on the current schedule. They had to cobble a schedule together at the last minute just to continue. Given the change in landscape of the Open Wheel in North America, you would have think that they would modify their schedule somewhat to include some ovals over the next few years. Give it time.

That's always a possibility. I mean as recently as a couple of years ago they were running the Atlantics on ovals. No reason they can't go back next year when they get more than 2 weeks to make the schedule. That and if I'm not mistaken the current Swift chassis the Atlantics run is oval capable. So technologically little would need to be done to make it work for them.

[athletics68]

It goes from a development series that gave rich kids the opportunity to race. Now it goes to a secondary hobby series for super rich kids to fill their weekend by saying they're race car drivers.

Why run in an open wheel series on all road courses where you have no exposure to F-1, let alone Indy Car? You'll never get to Indy Car because you abandoned running on ovals.

They are better off taking what the energy they have and building a conduit series between USAC and Firestone Indy Lights. Those kids need to learn roads and ovals.

As mentioned previously, there is little stopping them from going back to ovals. And even if they don't your logic hardly makes sense. Raphael Matos and Franck Perera are both graduates of the Atlantics last year who have now moved up to the FIL's. Doesn't seem to have effected either of them and their quest to be in ICS.

[Jimmy Hendricks]

I wonder what the Atlantics will look like 10 years from now........

It will be dead long before that.