Does ALMS/Grand-Am merger make NASCAR a monopoly?

A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, It is inconceivable that the Justice Department would ever permit this "merger." The problem is that it's such a small deal that it may never reach the halls of Washington.

It would be one thing if the entities were truly independent, but this has the makings to be an anti-trust sham of the greatest proportion.

NASCAR (France Family) predominantly controls stock car racing domestically. NASCAR (France Family) also predominantly controls motorcycle racing (AMA) domestically. Now, with the "merger," NASCAR (France Family) will predominantly control sports car racing. NASCAR (France Family) will now predominantly control motorsports in this country.

To the top competitors in sports car racing, the cold hard facts are that powers-that-be at the "International Motorsports Center" in Daytona Beach, have been trying to bankrupt ALMS out of existence from its founding. They played Tony George like a fiddle so he would create the IRL, split open wheel racing, and destroy it. The voodoo economics scheme worked just like it worked with the Grand-Am (with near zero fans and questionable business model) spending ALMS into the ground.

Holding races with no spectators, forcing its TV upon NASCAR's broadcast partners, and coercing Cup sponsors into the series, GrandAm was immorally and unethically subsidized by the shareholders of ISC just so some billionaires could swat at some upstart in Georgia (ALMS and Don Panoz).

NASCAR was built by pursuing the American dream. God forbid that NASCAR and the titular owners of ISC would ever allow anyone else to achieve the American dream. Mordichai Rosen, Los Angeles, CA

Dear Mordichai, It's always interesting to hear your perspective on things. Without a doubt, the France Family, with all its series (including the NASCAR Regional Series) controls a major portion of the racing sponsorship dollars and TV revenue in the USA. They are the 800 pound gorilla in the room. We guess your conspiracy theory will be true if eventually (say 5 years) the France family kills off the Grand-Am and sports car racing ceases to exist. One can argue that motorsports is too fragmented, and this economy, and the loss of the younger generation fan base, can no longer support as many forms of racing as existed. All forms of motorsports in the USA are struggling financially and as they die off the France family will be there to pick up the pieces (leftover sponsors and teams) until eventually NASCAR stadium style stock car racing will be the only form of motorsports left in the USA. NASCAR will be racing……their monopoly complete. Mark C.