Interesting question. While I agree that environmental/land use issues might be a concern is some areas, I will take another approach on this, primarily from a marekting stand point. I am going to speculate - big time :tongue:
I think it has more to do with Americans' car culture. Most of the car crazy buffs in their late 40s to 50s+ grew up on muscle cars, thus the affinity towards HP. The newer/younger generation are more into the
import scene with aftermarket show but no go, and even their interest in speed seems to be in drag racing or drifting. My guess is this is due to American manufacturer’s failure to anticipate and capture this youth market with desirable and affordable products - not to mention reliable and prone to aftermarket upgrades. It seems Ford and GM have been more interested in saturating the NASCAR fans than penetrating the aftermarket/drifting scene - and I would venture because they don't have the products to compete.
I may be wrong but SEMA's and NOPI's successes are not for "racing" products but mostly for "looking cool" products. So manufacturers and sponsors will gravitate to such more profitable endeavors.
If Honda, Toyata, GM, Ford are not involved in marketing/promoting such a racing effort, it is doubtful that the other smaller manufacturers can capture sufficient audience to generate the revenues/profits to underwrite and promote such a series, this especially when there is no prior history or provenance.
Besides the occasional interest in F1 - and my guess is primarily due to strong following of Ferrari enthusiasts in the US, the only other car racing event that has captured sufficient interest is the Indy 500 - which it too has lost some of its allure after the IRL/CART fiasco and engine limitations. And have you noticed how IRL became viable only after running in circles, just like NASCAR - though they are now contemplating some road circuits to compete with what was CART?
One cannot but notice and admire NASCAR's marketing strategy. Major corporations will not compete on who can pour more sponsorship dollars unless they see returns on their investment, and NASCAR fans have proven themselves to be very loyal.
With all the road circuits in the US, even the interest/coverage of road circuit races seems to be limited to a much smaller audience - comparatively speaking. Unfortunately the manufacturers have not pushed the marketing of such events as they do in Europe. Perhaps they see this as a venue for girlie men ...... LOL! Besides the coverage by Speed of the American LeMans, and the GT/Touring races (the latter with its continued encouragement of fender banging knock your competitor out to win at all cost - ie, emulating the successes of how stock car races became popular) there is little coverage of US road circuits. We are starting to see some Formula Mazda open wheels but the audience is very limted. Speed does not air the GT/Touring races live. And occasionally we get some coverage from Australian V8 or some European venture with Mercedes series.
My point is road circuit events do not seem to be that popular amongst sponsors/manufacturer; and where the latter go so will the TV producers. So chances of sponsoring and promoting WRC would be even less IMHO.
While occasionally we get a glimpse of rallying in the US, it has much stronger following in Europe because of the history of pitting rivaling European manufacturers at different venues (countries), and then remember the Paris to Dakar races ......... Remember the days of the Saab, Mini Cooper S, Lancia HF, Porsche 911, Volvo, Sunbeam, Skodas, Opel, BMW 2002, Fiat 850/126, ........... those were for the most part recognizable off the show room sports cars that people could relate to - though prepped up for rallying. While rallying has changed over the years, such cars had no following in the US where open highways and straight line 1/4 mile speeds were the bragging rights. It is only in recent years that handling and testing on road course tracks are becoming the vogue among car enthusiasts and even then HP is predominantly the key emphasis after all is said and done. Just look how many of us on NSXprime wish Honda could bump the HP to 350 -400 instead of learning how to drive the car to its full competitive potential
My first sports car was the Morris Cooper 1275 GT ........... and yes, like any teenager, I whizzed around city traffic and drove as if I was driving in a rally; and I pulled the hand brake at every opportunity I got when I had to make a left hand or right had turn :biggrin: ............ the rest is history.
Just my $02, YMMV.
