ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - There’s always so many more elements to a race weekend than just the on-track activity itself and one of those is celebrating a key milestone this weekend.
Some 10 years ago, then Michelin motorsports marketing manager Silvia Mammone hatched the idea of Michelin producing an all-inclusive trackside publication to complement Michelin’s trackside activity.
And thus, “The Alley” was born, starting with the 2007 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the first race of that year’s American Le Mans Series season.
While sports car racing, through various teams, series and regulations have all changed over the last 10 years, Michelin, and its trackside publication, have been an enduring constant - one that has served as a perfect trackside compendium since at every ALMS, and then IMSA race since that Michelin has participated in. Michelin currently participates in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s lone class with open tire competition, GT Le Mans.
This weekend, “The Alley” turns 100 with its 100th print edition. The core team of producers include longtime Michelin PR ace John Love (lead writer and editor), along with photographer Rick Dole, creative director Paul Ryan, and Love’s EMC Strategic Communications’ managing editor Barry Cameron. And there’s been a number of longtime writers and reporters within the industry who at one point or another have contributed along the way (myself included, which I’ll expand upon here in a second).
On a personal note, this is a special milestone for me because I’d been brought on by the team when Michelin’s trackside publication took its next step to launch a standalone website as a compendium to the trackside publication. MichelinAlley.com launched in 2010 with both a blog and a separate Twitter account, and serves as the most up-to-date website for Michelin’s trackside activity after the print itself. It was a major step in my career and something that, without it happening, I’m not sure I’d be sitting here writing this today.
But as my mom once famously told me and it’s something I’ve listened to ever since, “Always have a hard copy” - and at every ALMS or IMSA race I’ve been to since it launched, I always make sure to grab at least one hard copy of The Alley.
Here’s two links about The Alley from MichelinAlley.com:
100 editions of Michelin Alley
Michelin Alley 2007 – 2016 (and counting!)
Here’s a link to the 100th edition itself.
And here’s a video linked below:
100 Michelin Alleys / 10 yrs - time has flown. Read the special edition from @RoadAmerica - https://t.co/WIqcq96FWRhttps://t.co/3hsxPe6xou
— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) August 4, 2016