The Fate of the U.S. Grand Prix

So, earlier this week, Bernie Ecclestone decided to open his big, rat-infested mouth and start talking about the United States Grand Prix.

Part I

The USGP was put on hold because it turns out it wasn't the only sporting event in Indianapolis, so there were actually people who weren't interested in it. Naturally, that offended Bernie so much that he decided to essentially price the Speedway out of the market for the race. After the Michelin tire debacle in 2005, many had expected the race to die, but Bernie certainly didn't help. He has new Middle Eastern and Asian friends with lots of money who can fill the space in the schedule nicely.

It's unfortunate that Bernie is the only one who actually controls which venues appear on the schedule, because everyone else on the planet wants a U.S. Grand Prix (or, at the least, a return to Canada). The teams are clamoring for it, the drivers want to see it, and the fans would certainly show up for it.

Bernie, in his infinite wisdom, decided to share his thoughts with us on Monday. First off, he said that a return to the United States was partly contingent on the teams agreeing to allow for more races on the calendar. I suppose that's fair, even if it's unnecessary to have a poorly-attended race in Bahrain and an unfinished track down the road in Abu Dhabi, or a gimmicky night race on an impossible circuit in Singapore a few hundred miles away from Malaysia. Bernie doesn't want to lose his oil-drilling friends or his wannabe-Monaco friends because they cough money directly into his face.

My issue comes with another thing he has said: the teams should be willing to accept less money from FOM if they want to race in America. See, that statement is just offensive on all counts. The teams want money because Formula 1 has expanded in such a way over the last 25 years that they need tons of money to keep the show alive. The major problem is that Bernie and CVC Investments take exactly half of the money for themselves and let the teams squabble over the rest.

Now, I understand that Bernie is worth a lot to the sport because of the way he built it into the commercial empire that it is today. However, when he and a bunch of bankers take half of F1's money, then say the teams need to be willing to accept less to go to the United States, that's just absurd. In this economic climate, people have needed to make some concessions in order to go about with their lives. However, Bernie doesn't understand the idea of sacrificing just a little bit of his own fortune for the greater good of the sport. Until he either learns to do that, or passes away, (the latter is sure to happen first) F1 will likely not be in the United States.

PART II

As I mentioned before, Bernie isn't entirely cool with the city of Indianapolis or the fact that Tony George doesn't place the utmost importance on Bernie's freak show. Tony, though he certainly puts all Speedway events in high regard, certainly had to think of the futures of the 500-Mile Race and the Allstate 400 before that of the USGP because of attendance. (500: ~300,000; 400: ~225,000; USGP: ~120,000) Plus, if your track is famous for, and has been holding, the most famous race in America for nearly a century, everything else plays second-fiddle.

Bernie might not understand that, but what he does claim to understand is that Indianapolis, currently, is the most suitable race course for Formula 1 -- especially now that they've taken the oval turn out of the road course for the motorcycles. That's a fair assumption to make, since it fits with Bernie's idea that you need to have a city nearby and a relatively large airport to handle the fans. Plus, Indianapolis' road course is the only one in the States that was originally designed specifically for Formula One and, if the fans would buy, there are 200,000 seats around the track in F1 configuration.

Bernie wants a race in New York city (if he has to go there, I say build a track in the Meadowlands parking lot) because he thinks it would be the most economically viable, though I suspect it's because there are nice hotels and restaurants for him to drop his dough on in NYC. However, I think Bernie is looking at the wrong end of the United States on this one.

If he needs a race on the coast, near a big city, why not go to a place that's done it all before: Long Beach, CA? After Monaco, Long Beach is the pre-eminent street race in the world. It has the waterfront, the R.M.S. Queen Mary, the beaches, Los Angeles, and many other things that Bernie usually loves. The track itself is quite picturesque and has lots of good passing zones. Plus, you can easily get 100,000 people to show up for an F1 race there.

Think about it, Bernie. Stop wasting everyone's time with your posturing and your insistence on New York and just give us our race back.