Should they stay or should they go? Is Acura about to bow out of the ALMS?

Autoweek is reporting what many in the American Le Mans Series paddock believe is already a fact: That "Acura looks increasingly likely to quit its LMP1 prototype program in the American Le Mans Series."

A global economic meltdown coupled with the departure of Audi from LMP1 and Porsche from LMP2 has created a cavernous lack of competition at the front-end of the ALMS grids this season. And the "show" has suffered. Crowds are down, TV ratings are down and media interest is almost non-existent.

When the ALMS was first formed in the late 90s, it was just what American sports car racing needed. The series quickly attracted top-flight teams and manufacturers, including BMW, Audi, Chevrolet (Corvette) and Ferrari, to name a few.

Within a few years the series was in major markets, hosting its own street race (Washington, D.C.) and getting good ratings on major networks like NBC. The racing only got better when Porsche and Acura joined Audi. But running in LMP1 or 2 costs a lot of money, and Audi was getting upset that Porsche and Acura were getting overall wins while running in the "cheaper" LMP2 class.

Then the economy turned and it made a simple excuse for many to bolt. Meanwhile, the Rolex Grand-Am series developed a reasonable-cost alternative prototype car, getting a number of car and engine builders interested. They've also seen a small reduction in grids, but no where near the drop the ALMS has experienced.

The ALMS still provides a good show - the GT2 class features some great battles between BMW and Ferrari, and Jaguar and Corvette (jumping from the now-defunct GT1 class) are set to join the fray. But these are modified street cars, not the prototype racers that the crowds love to see. Case in point: after the end of the GTP/Lights IMSA era, it was the prototype Ferrari 333SPs and similar racers that made the crowds come, and when they departed, the crowds left.

The same thing that made ALMS great - its exotic racers - is what makes Grand-Am successful now, and why Grand-Am abandoned its plans to feature street-based cars for the DPs back in 2001. If the American Le Mans Series is going to remain viable, it has to make a choice: Continue to follow the Le Mans rules and keep car costs high or change course, focus on the GT2 class at Le Mans and let teams build cost-effective prototypes that require minimal manufacturer investment. A third option, hoping the economy turns around and Audi and other manufacturers return, just does not make sense from anyone's point of view.