IMSA Advance Auto Parts SportsCar Showdown Is An Ideal Time To Make Your Friends Racing Fans

With the weekend-long Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas culminating May 6 with the hotly anticipated WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race from 7-10 p.m. ET on FS1, we’re making it official: the International Motor Sports Association’s thrilling hybrid of NASCAR, Formula One and IndyCar racing has its hooks too deep into us for us to tune it to anything else.

A fortunate few of ushave had the privilege of cheering on IMSA’s adrenaline-charged competitive spirit live over the past year. The rest have found ourselves glued to FOX Sports and full-race streaming simulcasts on the FOX Sports GO app one weekend after another. It seems like every race sucks a new friend or two into our little personal fandom and makes each event that much more fun to take in from start to checkered flag. The IMSA pits the most skilled and celebrated drivers from around the world against each other on the most intricate, challenging international tracks any competitive motorsport has to offer. Multiple classes focus on sleek, open-cockpit machines precision engineered to rule the track and GT cars that push production models from every major automaker under the sun to the absolute bleeding edges of their performance potential.

It’s a flavor of fast, furious and skill-savvy racing like nothing GT or open-cockpit prototype can individually boast on their own. Still, there’s something to be said for shaping every race into the perfect excuse to suck someone into the good times and excitement guaranteed to turn anybody into a full-fledged fan for life. Allow us to offer a few suggestions…

Friendly Wagers

Just so there’s absolutely no mistaking our meaning, we won’t suggest laying down more than what you could scrounge up from your couch cushions to lay down a bet on your favorite racer. However, why not make things interesting in a way that improves everyone’s enjoyment? First, have everyone pick a driver prior to qualifying from any of the four classes – Prototype, Prototype Challenge, GT LeMans, and GT Daytona. Slowest qualifying time picks up the food tab on race day. You could even establish a season-long challenge, like a fantasy league: choose a “commissioner,” have each of your group pick one driver in each class, and establish a point system with a fun-but-reasonable prize at stake at season’s end.

Fast Feasting

Want to really attract a crowd? Ring the dinner bell. IMSA events blaze a trail of hotly contested racing across the United States and Canada every year. Have you thought about tailoring your menu according to each locale’s unique flavor? With summer set to overtake spring and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship bound for the Lone Star State, this would be one prime occasion to fire up the grill serve up some signature Texas barbeque. Get their mouths watering right around the time the engines start revving and you’ll keep everybody coming back for “seconds” all season long.

Something To Talk About

Here’s the easiest, sure-fire guaranteed way to have your friends and family beating a path to your door every Saturday: let seeing be believing. It’s one thing to tell anyone who will listen what a blast you have herding folks together under each other’s roofs to root on your favorite racers. Share your race-day good times on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat with the #IMSA hashtag. The more people around you see all the fun that follows the IMSA atmosphere, the more likely they’ll want to stop by to see what all the talk is about.

Hey, you never know. A newly minted fan may be just one photo away.

If you haven’t checked out an IMSA race yet this season, there’s no better time to jump in than May 4-6 when the Advance Auto Parts SportsCar Showdown comes to Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. If you can’t be blown away in person by this incredible sport, by all means, join the party in its entirety from 7-10 p.m. ET on May 6 for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race simulcast on FS1 and the FOX Sports GO app.

visit Facebook Event Page @  IMSA Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown