Pre-Race: All Cars On Deck

Another cool thing about the American Le Mans Series: right before the race, they line up all the cars on the front stretch and open up the track to anyone who wants to come mill around, ogle the cars, and interact with the teams. Fans continue to linger on the track even after the color guard shows up and the teams begin filing up for the opening ceremonies. The red-suited race officials bustle around and people are urged off the track with such entreaties as "now folks, we’ve never yet had to delay the start of an ALMS race because fans were tardy in clearing the track"—and the fans listen! It’s all so civilized and orderly, it’s a little hard to believe. And of course, it offers some great photo ops of the cars with the teams behind them. I even got a chance to photograph the pits from the hot side of the wall, as the Intersport Racing LMP1 was in for some last-minute tweaks. See more pics below the jump.