Doesn't Car Week exist because of the Historics?
Doesn't Car Week exist because of the Historics?
Tough to say Keith. The concours started in 1950 which was before LS was there. The growth over the last 15 years I think has as much to do with the growth of the auction scene there.
Ah, I thought "Car week" grew up around the Historics. I agree that the event would survive pretty well today without the track portion.
the other side will always win. The other side is land developers. County officials who have projects to award contracts for always have developer friends who donate to their campaigns and contribute to their getting re-elected
100%.
As a "volunteer" from 1983 to 1987 I have fond memories of great events and very early mornings getting to the track. I worked Indy car events, IMSA and the historics. My introduction to the gig came from one of my co-workers in the restaurant industry who had a special needs child that was part of support group that received funding in part based on their providing volunteer's to the raceway.
I was willing to trade my time for the benefit of my co-workers child. Yes, I has access to the events at no cost and could go to any part of the track when my time was done completing my given task. It was a fair trade.
I would like to find out how it will be working out going forward. Having the county more directly in the mix does not give me much hope.
David
Keith Tanner said:Ah, I thought "Car week" grew up around the Historics. I agree that the event would survive pretty well today without the track portion.
"Car week" grew up around the pair of events that took place the same weekend, I don't think we'd have seen the same growth if it had just been the Pebble Beach Concours. But yes, most of the growth is in the auction area (more auctions, larger auctions, etc) -- the track is pretty much fully booked that week so it's hard to add more vintage racing. :)
I'm glad I was able to drive this track a couple times - I have fond memories of watching the ALMS series there with my dad as a kid. I'd then run home and play the same track on Gran Turismo - one of my favorites. The only time I've ever damaged a car on track was at LS as well - heavy rain created canyons in the sand traps and just two wheels off track right completely destroyed the passenger side suspension of my car.
I give it 3-5 years before they either build luxury condo/garages on it a la VIR (I'm ok with this) or it shuts down.
In reply to morello159 :
First time I drove Laguna Seca--might have been a Subaru press event--I thought, Hey, this is just like Gran Turismo!
In reply to slowbird :
I don't think the deed will allow them to bulldoze the track, but it does seem like that is the County's overall direction it wants to go.
In reply to L5wolvesf :
It was in Marshall Pruett's post a week or so ago in Racer Magazine
David S. Wallens said:In reply to morello159 :
First time I drove Laguna Seca--might have been a Subaru press event--I thought, Hey, this is just like Gran Turismo!
First time I drove, going around T5 - wow, this is uphill! T6. Still uphill! The game didn't give me any indication of just how vertical that track is.
racer_tim said:In reply to slowbird :
I don't think the deed will allow them to bulldoze the track, but it does seem like that is the County's overall direction it wants to go.
Yeah, I would be curious to know what the conditions were for the transfer from the Army to the County.
Keith Tanner said:First time I drove, going around T5 - wow, this is uphill! T6. Still uphill! The game didn't give me any indication of just how vertical that track is.
I'd been going to Laguna for many years as crew and even did a few ride-alongs (the one with Frank Leary in an IMSA GT 280z was especially memorable) and didn't get the true indication of that climb until I rode the track in a bicycle race (the referenced money loser) in, I think, 1993. About the 8th lap, I was doing tacks at the top. It about killed me...
The descent was really something though!
Does the track still have pretty serious noise restrictions? I thought they only had a fixed number of days each year without limits.
I am still, like most of us, not sure where this is going, but since I live in Palm Springs and watched Riverside get bulldozed, I have my concerns about this path. (I was lucky and got to drive RIR many, many times. Yep, it was FAST and just great!)
My best guess would be adding residential to the area around the track. All over the country, golf courses are closing and trying to find out what to do instead. I am a retired architect and it is a real problem, according to some of my peers.
At least, with the track, they have a marketing hook to sell the houses. In my opinion, those houses would have more value if there is something to watch. Most would probably be second homes, I think. Even the most rabid would probably tire of actually being that close to the action, all the time.
Well, popcorn time!
trakktapedude said:Does the track still have pretty serious noise restrictions? I thought they only had a fixed number of days each year without limits.
Yes, still has the strictly enforced limits. I don't see that changing.
Toyman01 said:This really sounds like the beginning of the end to me.
Get rid of "racing" management.
Bring in "business" management to save it.
Prove that it just doesn't work and decide to transition to something else that also doesn't work.
Sell off property to "developers" for a nominal amount.
I wonder if there are any developers on the current board or current board members that are owned by one.
Get up, go outside, and do something. - Me, mostly talking to myself.
I want to see how the county Government is vis-a-vis developers and development adjacent interests. I also suspect some degree of coziness between the two.
WELL SAD TO SEE, We have been racing out there for over 20yrs coming from the east. We loved every trip out there and the people and friends we made became more important than the racing . So we now have a NON RACE GUY RUNNING THE TRACK. You can argue that maybe he will bring some business sense to the program and he will run it like a business but you had some serious race car (WELL RESPECTED BUSINESSMEN ALSO MAKING BIDS ) I think you have to look at the BOARD OF SUPERVISORS and see how this whole thing really came down. It does not smell great . And if iam not mistaken the guy who has now taken over the track was involved in a lawsuit against the track several yrs ago. WOW ---OH WELL WE WILL SEE HOW IT PLAYS OUT . They say a CAMEL is a race horse designed by committee SORRY TO SEE RACE CAR BUSINESSMEN ARE NOT INVOLVED -----HMMMM If racing at LS is on your bucket list , dust off your race car and do it but bring your golf clubs because it might be a TRUMP NATIONAL GOLF COURSE instead--I HOPE NOT ---------THANK YOU SCRAMP FOR ALL THE YEARS AND SUPPORT YOU HAVE GIVEN
Is it just me, or does Narigi look like Bill Murray, if someone stole his hair....
In reply to dculberson :
Not so they use local club Flaggers who are vollenteers
Disappointed...
I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley to non-English speakers and first visited Laguna Seca when my brother talked our mom into taking us to the Historics in 1976. It was a pivotal experience for me, as a 13 yr. old, and probably had one of the most profound influences on me, as I eventually went to Art Center to study automotive design. From that first experience in 76, I ended up making pilgrimages to the peninsula for "the week" for 24 out of 26 years.
Magical moments included meeting Fangio at the track, going to the polo fields at dawn to photograph cars as they were offloaded and prepped for the Concours, before buying tickets to go out on the 18th fairway. When the Italianno became an event, I began attending that, as well.
When we had our own kids, in concert with increases in costs, it got harder to do our annual pilgrimage but we didn't stop, started to rent a house with a friend with his wife and kids (the same ages as our own kids). At Italianno, we'd walk amongst the gorgeous cars, in an atmosphere that was ideal for introducing our families to the hobby, and (when the kids showed signs of needing to blow off some energy) let our kids run wild on a fairway adjacent to where the cars were collected.
I'd also take our kids to the track on Thursday (is it still free on Thursday?) and I was always impressed by how nice the vehicle owners & crews were to my kids, letting then sit in their cars, while I drooled over the cars of my heroes (AAR Eagle Westlake, Sunoco Camaro, Aston DBR, among others).
I'd joined the Iso Bizzarrini Owners Club (IBOC) when I was younger because the car that first caught my imagination as a kid was the Grifo, and prices were within reach, something I thought might always be the case, given the SBC "heart". Then prices seemingly tripled overnight and that dream died. I eventually let my membership lapse, but seeing those cars rise in prominence at Italianno was thrilling, if bittersweet.
I remember when I first heard that SCRAMP was a non-profit; I thought that it was a brilliant idea to have a track run as a non-profit, relieving the pressure to make a profit, even as I was beginning to wean myself from the annual pilgrimage because of the increasingly incredible costs of attending. The track was a beacon of hope.
Over the past 5 years, though, as I learned more about the contract issues, I began to fear that the pressures that had made everything else, seemingly, associated with (what had been) my favorite week of the year so expensive, could completely kill Laguna Seca.
Don't get me wrong; I've always wanted to see F1 come to the Peninsula. Even recognizing that the track and facilities would have to be improved, and likely make it inaccessible, I would be (just as I was when the Grifo had increased I value out of my reach) thrilled for it.
Now, though, I can easily imagine a future without it.
Another disappointing sign that automotive enthusiasm for the masses may be at risk.
In reply to Summazooma :
I don't think LS could ever be appropriate for modern F1 cars without completely changing the track. Let alone the facilities investment.. Not likely even under private ownership!
Dave M said:In reply to Summazooma :
I don't think LS could ever be appropriate for modern F1 cars without completely changing the track. Let alone the facilities investment.. Not likely even under private ownership!
It's been discussed a few times, IIRC the track itself isn't far off the safety standards required by the FIA and wouldn't require a ton of changes to meet them. It's shorter than any of the current F1 tracks by a bit, though.
The pit & hospitality facilities are way off, as is the capacity of the local roads & hotels to manage the crowds that would be expected to attend.
wspohn said:Is it just me, or does Narigi look like Bill Murray, if someone stole his hair....
"Just a Cinderella boy, tears in his eyes, I guess, as he lines up for the last curve... normally reserved Laguna Seca crowd goes wild..."
In reply to b13990 :
Ha.
Beyond iconic indeed. I’m amazed at the amount of conversation this has generated. I’ve never been to the track and can’t comment on the pro/cons of what has happened, other than it’s less of the end of an era, or more the dawn of a new one. I am just glad Laguna Seca still there and hope it still will be when I’m finally ready to drive the corkscrew (and I hope they will still let a privateer check off a box on his bucket list).
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