Why American racing drivers have more fun

Ask drivers who came up through the international road racing ranks what they like most about racing in America and inevitably you’ll hear about the genial friendliness and relaxed paddock atmosphere. But the answer you will get most often will involve the racetracks themselves.

Most of the classic road racing circuits in the US were constructed in a three-year period from 1955-57, and the ones that have survived – Road America, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock Park, Watkins Glen and Virginia International Raceway – are virtually unchanged in terms of layout some 70 years later. Supplement that core group with the likes of Mid-Ohio (which opened in 1962), Road Atlanta (1970) and add in the Sebring airfield circuit (in use since 1950) and Canadian classics Mosport (1961) and Mont-Tremblant (1964), and you have a pretty enticing group of tracks for true racers. Barber Motorsports Park, founded in 2003, offers a more modern (and less rustic) take.

These classic North American road courses couldn’t be further in concept and character than the ‘Tilkedromes’ that dominate the international scene. In short, lots of high-speed, high-commitment corners, with little or no run-off. When a driver makes a mistake and runs wide or off course, they pay a price far beyond the threat of an ambiguous ‘track limits’ penalty.

“America has probably the best tracks in the world, except for the Nordschleife,” declared Philip Ellis, a Mercedes-AMG-contracted driver who competes in GT3-based sports car championships around the world. “They’re all a lot of fun and very challenging, and the best part is there is no discussion about track limits, which I absolutely hate at places like Spa and Paul Ricard. It gets a bit ridiculous and instead of focusing on driving, we focus on track limits and penalising others.

“That’s one reason we pushed very hard for our team to do IMSA because the tracks are just amazing,” he added. “Look at Sebring. I really hope they don’t modernise it or fix the bumps because it’s the character of the track. Those tracks bring you back to respect the place and it wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t a challenge.”

“There’s maybe a little less rules to abide to. But also the fans are different”

Fellow Mercedes-AMG GT3 racer Jules Gounon sings a similar tune. “In Europe, the tracks are very safe with a lot of run-off,” he said. “It’s sad to say but you lose a bit of excitement and risk management. In Europe you have some guys who drive flat out around the track and it’s very frustrating as a competitor because you’re like, ‘You are cheating, magically,’ and we can’t do anything about it. Whereas the American tracks, if you go off track, you crash. You have to respect the actual track limit rather than an artificial one. That’s what makes it so special and what makes it so good for us as drivers.”

Granted, many of the classic North American circuits don’t measure up to modern international safety standards. Without significant modification, they simply couldn’t cope with the speed of current Formula 1 cars. At Mosport for example, Mario Andretti set the F1 lap record of 1min 11.385 sec in qualifying for the 1977 Canadian Grand Prix; the pole position for the recent IMSA race was 1min 8.888sec, and that was in an LMP2-class car, not a top-level Hypercar/GTP. Marco Werner set the outright lap record of 1min 5.823sec in an Audi R10 in 2008; a 21st century F1 car would possibly break the 60sec barrier.

Laurens Vanthoor competes in the top Hypercar class full-time for Porsche Penske Motorsport in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He also contributes as an endurance driver for PPM’s effort in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, sharing in victories earlier this year at the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours. The Belgian envisions ending his career in the US.

“The IMSA racetracks are pure, which promotes a risk/reward thing; just in general I would say the racing is more pure,” he said. “There’s maybe a little less rules and things to abide to. But also the fans are different. It seems motor sport is more alive, in a fun way, in the US compared to Europe, especially in endurance racing. I really enjoyed my times in IMSA and that’s why I’m very happy to do at least the three endurance races.

“I said to my wife, and I said to Porsche, ‘I’m very happy to do the WEC because it’s a world championship,’” Vanthoor added. “But I definitely see myself hopefully ending my career back in America. When I was a kid, my family had a place where we would live part of the time in Florida for about 15 years, and my wife and my daughter and I still go there. Three or four years ago we were very close to moving there and we are actually still considering doing it someday. We just love spending time there and enjoy the American way of life.”

For decades, open-wheel aspirants including Teo Fabi, Gil de Ferran, Scott Dixon, Sébastien Bourdais, Dan Wheldon, and Álex Palou found racing Indycars in America was an attractive career alternative when their F1 dreams fell flat. Now a younger generation of sports car racers who once targeted WEC is reaching the same conclusion about IMSA. Getting to race at fabled circuits like Road America, Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca is an added bonus.

Based in Indianapolis, John Oreovicz has been covering US racing for 30 years. He is author of the 2021 book Indy Split