Much like NFL Europa, very few sports fans in America care about the US Grand Prix that has run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the last 8 years. I'm right there with them, but, I live in the Indianapolis area...so the event, or should I say, its fans, have been in my face each year. Despite the fact that this event brings in quite a few Euros, Pounds & Dollars to Indy, I'm really happy it's going away.My dislike affair began the first year the race came to town. I was downtown getting something to eat and was suddenly surrounded by drunk, non-showered, ballet shoe & tight pant-wearing Euros. To tell you the truth, I could deal with that...I worked for a German company in my first years out of Purdue. So every six months, at my employer's sales meetings I dealt with something pretty similar. Plus, drunk race fans are the norm, if you've been in Indy during one of the three major races held at the IMS (Indy 500, Brickyard 400, USGP).
But, I couldn't handle what happened at the race of 2005.Michelin and Bridgestone are the two "tyre" sponsors/suppliers of the USGP & the greater F1 circuit. Many of the drivers on the circuit didn't like the course at Indy because they thought it was tooooo scary! Supposedly, the Michelin "tyres" supplied to half of the teams didn't hold the track as well as they would have liked. So, instead of trying to solve the problem diplomatically or at least like men, these race teams decided to boycott the 2005 race...the morning of the event. The result was the 123,000 ticket-buying fans were left with a fast parade of about 8 cars. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between that and a normal F1 event, but the die hards could. That "race" completely wrecked the relationship between Tony George and megalomaniac Max Mosley. Although George took the high road in the presser on Thursday 7/12, I'll say what he was thinking, "So long A-hole!"
Mosley, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, has spoken and acted as if he and his organization are entitled to everything he's desired since he became President of the F1. I'm extremely pleased the IMS had the gonads to stand up to him.I'm sure both the IMS & F1 will be just fine following this parting of ways...and I can absolutely tell you that the greater-Indianapolis area, and more specifically, Boilerdowd, will be much better off sans the USGP.
10 comments:
Funny how a sport where they often continue through wet conditions is being mocked. We all know how tough it is to drive in circles once it starts raining.
Nice to know there still remain Tony George apologists out there.
It's much easier to drive in the rain if you never pass...or if, I don't know, the league has already written the script of whom is going to win.
Tony George isn't always right...but he was this time.
Tony George destroyed open wheel racing in America when he decided that he wanted to make all the rules for CART. The only person who was happy to see the IRL/Champ Car split was Bill France. It is great to see that he is applying that same great decision making to IMS. I went to the USGP every year, and it seemed that the race never really got a chance to be good. The first few years that it was run, Michael Schumacher had already won the title and Ferrari the constructor's championship. This was really the first year that the race was important for the world championship, and it was a good race this year. Tony George is playing hardball with F1 8 years too late. This could've been the jewel in the track's crown. The Brickyard 400 is just another NASCAR race, even the Indy 500 has only drawn more television ratings than the NASCAR race run that weekend twice since 2000. George should've fought F1 to have the North American leg of the F1 Circuit start much earlier in the season BEFORE he committed to renovating the track and hosting the Grand Prix. I'm sure the sponsors would have backed him. With the right kind of promotion and marketing, George could've owned F1 in America for as long as he wanted to if he were a smarter business man. The very fact that such a large percentage of the crowd comes from abroad for the USGP shows how poorly Tony George did promoting the race locally and domestically. The gearheads I know here at Purdue are big F1 fans, but I was the only one that even knew which weekend the race was taking place. I'll miss having F1 here in Indy, but Tony George is just as much to blame for that failure as the F1 management, if not more.
John, First off, thanks for coming by and putting in your two cents. I must say that I agree with your assessment of George's botching of CART. Clearly, he was in a pissing match and forgot about the end product during that period of time. France & NASCAR benefitted greatly from the schism...and Champ Car AND IRL both lost. No doubt about that. Now, we're left with two leagues that need eachother to make the sport great again.
All that said, F1 is a different animal. To tell you the truth, it makes no sense to me why George was so hospitable and flexible toward Mosley & Co. from the get-go. He gave up too much ground and helped F1 to believe that it had all of the "cards".
I can understand why some like F1 simply because the machines are so well engineered...but, to me the team preparation made the driving secondary. It's almost as if once the race prep is completed the driver merely has to leave the garage and he'll be crowned champ.
Back to the IRL discussion- to me, George is completely opposite of his Grandfather in his philosophy for the 500 (and the greater league). Hulman strived to create a race in which innovation would thrive and the fastest machine would win. George seems to want to make it a controlled, safe and economical form of racing...he also pushed to make it more of an American sport (initially). His grandfather didn't care about nationality, but wanted the fastest drivers at Indy.
The fact is, it's still the greatest race in the world, despite his mistakes...but it's not as great as it can be; nor is the series that surrounds it.
Don't you mean Bernie Ecclestone when you mention Max Mosley? I too live in the Indy area and attended four of the eight USGPs. I will miss the race as I have become a bit of an F1 fan since the "feriners" arrived. I got a DVR specifically to watch the early morning F1 races.
I think Eccelstone deserves blame as well.
John - I do agree that the split was a bad move, but crown Jewel? Really? You criticize television ratings for Indycar, but Formula 1 gets much worse numbers and no major coverage in the States.
Not to mention that attendance has been steadily dropping since the tire debacle and the 'gimmie' win a few years ago.
Bottom line is that Formula 1 has come to Indy, their representatives have trashed the event and its location in the press, and then put on a lackluster race for several years now.
Good riddance, I can't wait to see moto GP. I'm sure they will sell as many tickets as F1 did this year for next year's event.
Jon- I think GPMoto will do very well @ IMS...I'll buy a ticket to that, but refused to go to more than practice for the USGP. I think the product is better; but that's up for debate.
I don't much care for no Indie racin', I'm more of a NASCAR gal. But I must admit, those guys in that picture are SUPER HOT!!!! I want to make sweet man love to them!!!!!
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