There is no doubt that the recent appearance by the American Le Mans series proved to be a hit at Virginia International Raceway.
"We have not disclosed the exact amount of numbers. We're still waiting on a couple more reports from the ticket scanning and hand counting (numbers) just to make sure everything comes in consistent, but we know for sure that we have doubled our best Grand American Rolex event. And we parked cars where we've never parked cars before. "The feedback has just been amazing," Kerrigan Smith, VIR director of track operations, said.
"Teams, potential sponsors, current sponsors, everybody just raving over how great the event was. If anybody got to see it on ESPN2, when it was aired on Sunday, just an amazing display of what VIR offers and the beauty of the best kept secret (in sports car racing).
"I'm hoping ... that title goes away for us very soon," Smith said.
The ALMS returns in 2013. "We're excited to hopefully repeat the same great level of racing and add a few more fans to it," Smith said.
The ALMS and Grand Am will merge in 2014, and VIR hopes to stay on the schedule with a combined event.
Smith said there are talks ongoing to reach out and bring some more diversity of racing to VIR in 2013.
The 2013 Grand Am schedule has been released, and VIR does not host an event. Smith said, "We're talking to a few other people and trying to get some different interesting events for people to partake in around here."
As for the planned ALMS/Grand Am merger, Smith had no predictions as for a possible role for VIR.
"What I will say, this merger is the best thing for the sport. If you look at it what it means ... this is the right move. It's something that has been talked about for years. It's something that needed to happen, so that people could stop trying to rob from each other and we could all get together and create one great venue for the fans. It really should always boil down to the fans, and this is a great avenue for them to come see everything at once.
"For VIR, I can only hope we can make that schedule and that we can be a part of it. That would be a very high honor for us," Smith said.
"We hope to bring a lot more racing here."
He's looking to such events as the Indy Lites feeder series to see if there is interest, or the NASSCAR K&N Pro Series East.
There's a possibility that the ARCA Truck series could return. World Rally Racing is another possibility.
"None of this is etched in stone," he said.
"Anything that offers diversity to VIR. We're looking to expand, hopefully to doing some more Drifting. We're hoping to grow our Gold Cup Historic event," Smith said.
Beyond the bigger ticket races and televised events, Smith makes this point about VIR.
"There's great racing here every single weekend and sometimes all during the week, with car clubs and SCCA, and NASA, CCS and WERA Motorcyles. We have a lot going on here on a regular basis," Smith said.
There are improvements in fan amenities at VIR. The track plans to work on improving overall views of the track for its fan base. VIR also hopes to erect more bleacher areas and other upgrades to the Tavern, the restaurant and hospitality areas.
There are also possible new plans to paving the Paddock area and do some improvements on track.
"There are a couple of places we'd be widening (the track). We really need to pave the Paddock and create a little more flat and gravel-free environment there in the paddock for professional racers," Smith said.
"When we go into paving the track, we would widen it in some areas and extend the track to our new curbing ... We've been updating a lot of our curbing around the track to the FIA curbing that's really been helping in our run off zones to keep the track a lot cleaner," Smith said.
VIR holds a FIA Grade Two circuit license and accepts their standards for the operation of the race track," Smith said.
FIA refers to the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile licensing procedure.
Smith has an interest in luring the Indy Car Series to VIR. Some cynics might see that as a considerable stretch, but there has been speculation that the troubled Indy Racing circuit might expand to new venues, including more road course racing. The Indy Car Series could return to Richmond International Raceway in the future, and that's certainly more of a first realistic first step as far as adding venues in Virginia. From a marketing standpoint, there has to be a question whether Indy Car would even consider two races in Virginia.
Smith appears to be driven to add a much higher profile for VIR, and Indy Racing would be a very significant addition to the professional racing lineup in Southside Virginia, if that ever became a reality.
"That is realistic, but it's not realistic next year. Maybe it's naivete on my part, but I feel anything is realistic. Always, with everything like that comes money. The (fee required to stage the race) is a very large one and there are a lot of upgrades we'd have to make to VIR to be able (to host that series.) VIR is looking at some of the feeder series for Indy Car, which have been helpful to track officials to better understand the kinds of improvements the track needs to make "to up our game as well," Smith said.
Smith does not dismiss the possibility of the Indy Car Series, which runs the fabled Indianapolis 500, for VIR.
"Yes, I do feel it's realistic down the road. We need to do a lot of things to VIR, and that costs a lot of money," Smith said.
VIR also has a major technical advancement this month.
The Force in Moment Tire machine at the national tire research center is being delivered. "We don't even know the doors of opportunity that's going to open for us," said Smith, noting the eight-post shaker rig enhances technical tire testing, combined with the opportunity to test tire data on the VIR track.
