IMSA: Stakeholder feedback key to future

After releasing a "Future Strategies" memo during the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda, IMSA CEO Ed Bennett and President Scott Atherton are ready to start a dialogue with stakeholders on how to chart IMSA's future direction.

Bennett and Atherton spoke to RACER.com

during the Monterey weekend about possible repositioning of Pro-Am classes starting in 2018. The next step forward is to gather comprehensive feedback and direction from the paddock.

"Our intention is to take a strategic, critical look at these categories that are running with us both in the WeatherTech Championship and the Continental Tire Challenge and to begin the dialog, so the memo is written very purposefully to not lead its readers in a specific direction because that would imply we've already made a decision, and the rest is just a formality," Atherton said.

"There is truly a desire on our part to start that dialogue and to hear from every stakeholder we have – both those who are directly impacted, as well as others who think, 'We've never thought of this. That's a great idea.'

"The follow-along to this memo will be a series of conferences that will be aligned with specific categories to go through a conversation not unlike we're having right now, to throw out some ideas that we've been batting around internally, and see if they make sense to those who are most impacted and to see what tweaks and adjustments we would have to make in order to make it better, and hopefully discover some gold nuggets in that process that nobody within our four walls has come up with," Atherton added.

Atherton said the merger between the American Le Mans Series and GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series "consumed every waking moment of our time." Saying that that particular chapter is now behind them, he called the Monterey weekend "the right time" to release the memo.

"There's enough time for whatever adjustments we need to make moving forward," Bennett said. "There are options for all these things we are trying to serve up – specifications that we think are worthy of consideration now."

"And that's why this memo was written when it was," Atherton added. "Not to imply, but to open up a dialogue, and to start conveying that. This part of the sport was never intended to be all things to all people, but there are some examples to where it has evolved into more of that than we would prefer. And this process we're going through now is an opportunity to pull back."