Michael Lewis believes in the ALMS
Michael Lewis of Autocon talks about racing in 2004 and beyond
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy Craig Elliot and Mark Weber
TORONTO, Canada (December 13, 2004) – To paraphrase an old Ray Stevens song, the 2004 racing season was not Michael Lewis’ idea of a real good time.  “We had big plans to go to Le Mans,” said Michael in an interview early last week, “and when that didn’t work out, it upset some of our funding.  Then my engineering company demanded a lot of time for a few months, and then when we came back, we got wrecked and did major damage to the car.  Kind of a disappointing season for us as a whole.”  To most people that would qualify as the understatement of the year. But you can't keep a good man down.

When last we saw the No. 12 Autocon Riley & Scott MK IIIC/Elan at Petit Le Mans in October, it had just been sideswiped by the J3 Racing Porsche of Manuel Matos and slammed hard into the Turn 2 wall.  Both drivers were transported to the hospital, where Lewis was discovered to have a broken collarbone, which was certainly bad enough but thankfully no worse.  He’s now healing up and beginning to make plans for the 2005 ALMS season, in which he fully intends to take part, although he concedes, “It’s early days for us yet as far as 2005 goes.”  Autocon is planning to line up at Sebring; deals are already in place for that race. They’re working out deals for further races, and looking at their options regarding team, drivers and car.  “I’ll definitely be driving,” he confirmed, “but the rest of the line-up remains to be announced; and we are looking at several car options including our existing chassis, and closely looking at the ‘hybrid’ rules and the adaptability of our car.”  It seems the off-season, as we call it but the teams do not, will be none too long for all the work to be done – but then, when has it ever been? 

Well, then, is racing in the ALMS worth all the blood, sweat, logistics and broken collarbones and machinery?  You bet.  Although there are changes he’d like to see, Michael Lewis is a believer in the ALMS.  “The ALMS,” he said, “is provably the lone bastion of ‘purist’ sports car racing in North America.  Now, I know some people get all worked up about the word ‘purist’, but it’s not meant to tear anybody down.  It merely indicates that the ALMS puts the integrity of the sport ahead of entertainment, which is not the case elsewhere – and I have raced everywhere else!  As a lifelong racing fan, I find a lot of value in that.  The way the races are run, the venues, the variety of cars, it’s all first class and I enjoy every minute at the ALMS events.”  With many other racing series concentrating on the entertainment and willing to sacrifice conventional aspects of competition such as “the winner is the best man in the best car on the day” to get there, this is an important point to be made.  Although, he adds, “It may be the death of the ALMS, but I’d rather see that than have another cookie-cutter, dumbed-down racing series.” 

As for the changes he’d like to see, particularly at the longer races such as Sebring, Michael would like a little more attention paid to cars that are not “Audi, Corvette and Porsche”, particularly in the matter of television coverage.  “Some of the other guys are running pretty damn good races,” he pointed out, “even if they are not in the top three.  It always amazes me how, for example, at Sebring, with 12 hours of coverage to fill, they can’t at least get a couple minutes of air time and a few interesting things to say about every car.  We all have to find support from sponsors and if they want bigger fields, they should act like it when it’s time to give a little exposure.  What [the smaller teams] really need is a little exposure on the TV broadcasts and unfortunately I haven’t seen the slightest improvement in the past three years.”   

Since I knew that Autocon had been hoping to be invited to Le Mans in 2004, I asked him if he’d been there as a spectator and he said, “Not yet.”  About the advantages to his team of racing at Le Mans, he said candidly, “There’s no real advantage for a guy like me.  The real and only reason to go is to participate in arguably the greatest race in the world.”  As for any B2B opportunities, Michael doesn’t see them.  “Of course you can attract a few sponsors you wouldn’t ordinarily get, but the whole thing is a net loss anyway.”   

A form of promotion that does help his team and one that many fans enjoy is the appearance of ALMS, Speed World Challenge and Trans Am cars at trade and car shows.  Since Michael Lewis has raced in several different series, he has participated in these events as a driver to support sponsors, and also as a team owner has displayed his cars at trade shows for his engineering company, “and it works great.” 

Because RFM Sports covers the Trans Am series and Michael Lewis has been involved with that series, and occasionally still drives there, I asked him what he thought the future of Trans Am might be, and if he’d drive with them again if he got the chance.  “Trans-Am’s fate is tied entirely to Champ Cars’ fate,” he pointed out, “and at the moment Champ Car is busy with its own survival.  It’s a difficult road in Trans-Am at the moment, with one dominant team that is well connected, and with the field dwindling how do you sell yourself to a sponsor to try to challenge that [one big team]?”  But having said that, he added, “No one else has really stepped forward to do anything with [Trans Am], so it’s hard to criticize those who have.  It’s not an attractive proposition for a sponsor or a team at the moment.  A real Catch-22 situation.” 

Finally I asked him if there were any lessons to be learned by the fraught 2004 season, and he said there were two.  “I learned that the ACO is a mysterious beast,” he concluded, “and to watch out for rent-a-ride Porsche drivers.”