Stop It Stop It Stop It!

For my money, the best racing in the US is found in the Speed World Challenge Series. World Challenge, split into Touring (Acura TSXs, BMW 328s, Mazda6s, etc.) and Grand Touring (Dodge Vipers, Corvettes, Porsche 911s, etc.) classes, races at some of the best road courses in the world - Sebring, Road Atlanta, Mosport. The races, sprints lasting about 45 minutes, are hard fought, intense, and exciting at almost every round. Pound for pound, it's fantastic racing.

Criminally few people know about it. Speed Channel, despite being the title sponsor, doesn't do a great deal of promotion. So a chance to expose the series to a new audience is a good thing, right? So, the series decides to run a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a Nextel Cup weekend. Problem is, with the infield filled up with RVs, the race has to be on the oval, with 2 chicanes thrown in for excitement. OK, as a one off, that's not too bad. But that's not enough:

Beginning with the SCCA SPEED World Challenge trademark standing start, the race will be divided into two sessions, each lasting no longer than 20 minutes. Once the first session has been completed, the pace car will pick up the field and escort them into pitlane. There, teams will change all four tires and make adjustments. All the work must be completed in five minutes and refueling will not be permitted.

During this intermission period, a ceremony will be held involving the “wheel of inversion” to determine the restart order. Numbered with positions one through five, the number that is landed on will indicate the position of the car that will make the restart in first place. If the wheel lands on one, there will be no inversion.

For the second session, cars will be lined-up in their order before the intermission, plus any inversion, and lapped cars will be placed at the back. The second session will commence with a double-file rolling restart.

This is not a special all-star race, mind you - it is round 4 of the GT series championship. They're changing their format to appeal more to a group of fans who probably won't give two shits about the rest of the series. I'm reminded of Major League Soccer's policy of using one of the few ABC game broadcasts to show the mid-season All Star Game - a game that, due to the free subs and lax defense, is completely unlike a real MLS game. Anybody who saw that game by accident and then checked out a real game would feel cheated.

It'll be the same with the Nextel Cup fans with World Challenge. I'm all for trying to sell the series to them. But why sell them something that's not the genuine article?