Sebring field decimated by economy
The starting lineup had six fewer cars than last year's race and the most exciting battle on the 3.7-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit was waged in the elite LMP1 class, with two Acuras, two Audis and two Peugeots competing for the overall title. But only the Acuras will be on hand in two weeks when the ALMS moves on to the streets of St. Petersburg, with the other two manufacturers leaving the series to concentrate on European sports car racing's biggest event, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
Audi and Peugeot may or may not return later this year for the ALMS Petit Le Mans and the season finale in Monterey, Calif. In the meantime, ALMS president Scott Atherton acknowledged things could get a little sparse on the race grids.
"Our expectation right now for the next three races (at St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Calif., and Salt Lake City, Utah) would be high teens with the potential for maybe low 20s,'' Atherton said. "If everything that's available in all of these hoped-for expectations come into place, it could easily be low 20s. I think that St. Pete will definitely be the most challenging event we have just because of the timing of it. The other cars that are planning to compete are simply not going to be available for that race.
"And there is also some reluctance by some teams to place themselves into a street racing environment simply because they can't afford the potential for the crash damage that goes with it. You can make a big mistake in the Utah desert and live to fight another day, whereas that same mistake can ruin the rest of your season on a street course.''
"We have some entries that will become viable for St. Pete and Long Beach and Salt Lake that actually aren't here today,'' he said. "We know of at least a handful, three, four or five cars that are certainly capable of racing in the series … that could easily be activated to race. And I know of at least two right now that will be on the grid there that are not here today.
"As we go through the season, we're actually going to be adding to our car count. There will be teams that will start competing with us after Le Mans. We know that because they've made their intentions known to us. (24 Hours of Le Mans) is their focus and until they get that behind them, we're not going to see them.''
03/17/09 The total entry of 28 cars for this year's 12 hours of Sebring is the smallest in Sebring's history, a true sign the economy is having its effect on racing, and the fact the independent teams cannot compete with the factory efforts, so don't bother. The previous smallest field was 32 for the 1952 inaugural. The second smallest was last year with 33 starters. The largest Sebring field assembled in 1983 during IMSA's heydays when no fewer than 84 cars took the green flag.