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How it started
Don Panoz founded the American Le Mans Series in 1999 after his son launched the sports car company Panoz Auto Development.
Panoz, a longtime entrepreneur, had considerable success creating pharmaceutical companies and wineries and resorts. One of Panoz's pharmaceutical and development companies created the technology that led to the nicotine patch. Another developed cutting-edge heart medication.
Panoz (pronounced PAY-nose) considered the Series the best way to draw worldwide attention to the Panoz brand, while honoring his heritage and giving drivers the ability to compete apart from the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Series, which features four classes of cars, showcases top manufacturers such as Aston-Martin, Audi, Corvette, Ferrari, and Panoz. The four classes are broken down into open-top Le Mans prototypes and production-based GT cars.
5 Things you must know about ALMS
Class warfare
There are four classes of cars that all behave differently. For example LMP1 cars are fast (can go from zero to 100 in about three seconds), while LMP2 cars are more agile around turns. Simply put, the cars won't look the same. They are regulated within their specific class, but not overall. Drivers compete for their specific class and the overall championship.
Tick, tock
The race's length is a fixed amount of time, not number of laps, though lap count matters. The race at the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course in St. Petersburg will last 2 hours 45 minutes. In endurance races, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, teams use driver changes. No driver changes are expected...