ALMS...Not For the Light of Wallet...

So I was in Northwestern Connecticut this weekend for a host of reasons but as party to all that I realized there was a big American Le Mans Series event going on at Lime Rock raceway and that I would be practically next door and after completing an appointment I had nearby I'd try and attend the event as well...

Well, so much for that...While there are activities at the track all day long on this past Saturday, the premier race would only begin around 2pm and last just a few hours. So I figured (silly me) that here we are in the middle of nowhere Connecticut and the ALMS is not exactly the highest of high profile series, and I was only looking to attend roughly 1/2 the day of racing and thus tickets would be relatively affordable.

Wrong.

Whether it was a Lime Rock policy or an ALMS policy the first issue was that there was no tiered pricing. Once size fits all...and that one size was $70 a person. That's $70 a person to a facility with no true seating, poor sight lines, lots of obstructed views and not exactly the Taj Mahal of amenities. Not only that but there seemed to be no desire to discount tickets to those who showed up for only part of the day. So I did the smart thing and walked away.

Given the number of Porsche, Land Rover, Lexus, etc., vehicles in the parking lot it appears I am not part of their target audience anyway so I doubt either ALMS or Lime Rock lose much sleep over turning away the less affluent but this is just another example of why road racing in America had withered on the vine and is now the sole purview of those who only pay others to turn a wrench while the "common folk" turn to dumbed down--but cheaper and more accessible forms of racing like NAPCAR....