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Edit: See HERE for more info

About had a heart attack when I read this article. Oh PLEASE God let it happen!!

"What was once only a tantalizing rumor seems to be gaining ground, as the 2008 MotoGP series is looking more and more likely to include - in addition to the successful Red Bull USGP at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and for the first time in the history of the sport - a second US round, hosted by Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

IMS officials have been in talks with the FIM for several months, and though track changes would have to be made to accommodate motorcycles, IMS President Joie Chitwood has indicated that the sppedway is ready and willing to do what it takes. The event would fall on the 100th anniversary of the facility's first race - which just happened to be a motorcycle race. At press time IMS was expected to amke a final announcement by spring."

Quote your source Onion.... you pulled our leg once before... :Rolling

Just been looking at the track layout on google earth. I notice its an oval with a few curvy bits on the infield. Am I missing something somewhere because there doesn't seem to be much of a track??

FZRDude wrote:Quote your source Onion.... you pulled our leg once before... :Rolling

S'true.....Crash.net

Did you google the Daytona track?

No, never thought of that. I'll have a look later. How popular is motogp in the states? I thought you yanks prefered stuff with ovals? ie indy car & american football?

75K folks showed up per day at Laguna. It by no means is a large capacity venue. Now Indy, Daytona, VIR, Barber, Road America, maybe Louden, and possibly Road Atlanta, would all be good prospects, but look at the money sunk into Laguna to make that happen.

My guess if they make a second race, it'll be Indy, Road America, or Barber.

owdamer wrote:I thought you yanks prefered stuff with ovals? ie indy car & american football?

We have a ton of road courses also. They just don't get airtime like the Nascar/Indy ovals. Most people I know prefer twistys. Nascar is actually considering adding another road race to the schedule because of the fans demand for more.

I just spent most of the day and will go back tommorrow on a road course. I am tracking my Porsche along with about 300 more cars. Several different run groups depending on experience.

P.S. I hate football! When they strap an engine on their ass I might start watching.

I just can't see going around the world to the left.

I hope you get it. It'll be good to see some new tracks. I just wish that your tv guys could up their game a bit. I dont know if you get the same feed that we do when the races are in europe, but the coverage is in another league compared to what we got when the motogp guys were at laguna. If you look at the european rounds on tv the camerawork is stunning. you can easily pick out the sponsors names on the bottom of the fairings. Compare that to the footage from laguna last year. Its as if the camera crews aren't allowed entry to the circuits or something!

I watched some racing on TV while I was in Germany a couple a years ago. The coverage was way better than what we get in the states.

Motogp at Indi would be nice but they will have to do a ton of work to meet Motogp standards. But to see a gp bike come down the straight would be nice. They would pobably have to get rid of those bricks on the start/finish line. Nate you might want to start your home addition for John and my rooms.

Cropover20 wrote:Motogp at Indi would be nice but they will have to do a ton of work to meet Motogp standards. But to see a gp bike come down the straight would be nice. They would pobably have to get rid of those bricks on the start/finish line. Nate you might want to start your home addition for John and my rooms.

lol...will do man. I don't have a ton of space but you guys would be welcome to crash there.

IF Indy does pick this up, I would think it would probably be the best choice at drawing attention to the sport in the US due to the history of the course. I am really curious as to how they would design the track. Only bad thing about Indy, is that for watching an auto race it sucks. You're lucky if you get to see 1, maybe 2 corners, then a big section of straightaway. Still cool to be there, but without the jumbo tv's you don't see much.

And funny you said that about the quote, Tim. I figured I somebody would mention that after my little stunt in the past.

ugh, as much as i want another motogp event here in the states, indy is an absolutely horrible prospect. it's a horrible track with no good points, just watch an f1 event there and you'll see what i mean. i don't understand why people that own the ovals (daytona, indy) think just because they throw a couple of turns in the infield that they instantly have a good road course. there's no elevation changes for crissakes! there are plenty of other courses that would make a much more interesting race.

ANY road racing (non nascar or indy cars) coverage is absolutely terrible in this country. that includes the ama superbike series, sports car series, etc. we get decent motogp and wsbk coverage, but they show the race only with no extras. our f1 coverage is pretty good, but it helps that speed channel has hired a couple of good commentators (david hobbs, peter windsor, bob varsha).

Maybe they should go to daytona. I'd love to see the motogp guys up on the banking!!! Not sure how rossi and co would feel riding that close to the wall though!. I read somewhere that 80% of the bikers who attend daytona dont watch any racing though. Is that true??

probably true. it's a big harley festival basically.

i have never been down there, it's a zoo. plus, i hate the daytona course. while the banking is cool, that's about it. the infield road portion of the course has about 2.5 curves.

I'd like to see what the proposed layout is going to be for course. It's a big track and all, but the infield is kind of goofy and I don't see how they could make the track big enough. Of course I want this to happen regardless because it would only be 3 hour drive for me to get there.

I've been to the Daytona 200 and it sucks big time.

FZRDude wrote:I've been to the Daytona 200 and it sucks big time.

But why exactly did it suck, Tim? The course itself or what?

Frankly, I think the better option (if they want to show the US is serious about the GP) is to build a completely new track elsewhere. Wouldn't hurt to try and put one up next to an existing track here in the States to help with attendance. Sure it's going to cost an assload more money then modifying a track. Doubt that will ever happen, though.

The only good thing about trying to make a track at Indy is the name recognition, but even with the track history I don't think it will make a huge difference (short term) on drawing new fans to the GP.

There are several great tracks around that would be perfect. No need to build a new one just for one race as such.
I think Barber would be awesome. It has a great track. The facilities are fantastic. Not to mention one of the best motorcycle museums in the world.
If you want a new track, there is one being built in the Dallas area right now. It is called Eagles Canyon Raceway. The track was designed by the lead FIA Formula 1 track designer. It has tenative approval by the FIA and FIM. SCCA, PCA, and AMA have all tested the track and claimed it to be one of the best ever. They are building really nice facilities and paddock area as we speak.
OK, enough of my rambling. I just want a second race no matter where.

Here is a link to the Eagles Canyon Raceway http://www.eaglescanyon.com/php/circuit.php