armchairgm
all sports, all you
+ Add Friends
You are not logged-in.
Sign Up - Log In
Main Page
Sports
Write
Articles
Hot Links
Images
Meet People
Fun
Explore
MLB - NFL - NBA - NHL - College Basketball - College Football - Soccer - Nascar - Other
Article - Locker Room Discussion
All Articles - New Articles - Today's Articles
Submit a Link - Approve Links
Picture Game - Ratings - Polls - Pick Game - Quiz Game - Spring Silliness
Random Page - Random Image - Random Fan
Edit
Page history Discuss pageWhat links here

No F1 race in United States in 2008 - Germany and France also scrapped

13
Vote

by Alex Holowczak

Formula One will not return to the United States in 2008, it was announced today.

Just as the sport was beginning to grow, Tony George and Bernie Ecclestone could not make an agreement about how to stage the race in 2008. So Bernie threw the race out.

The 2008 calendar will be without a US race, although there is scope for it to return in future. But to where, is a different question.

This is further demonstration of Bernie abandoning the traditional motor racing countries, as he moves the sport to money making autodromes in Asia.

The US ought not worry, technically there will be no German Grand Prix this year either. Due to controversy about naming rights, the race has been scrapped. Instead of having the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring next weekend, the European Grand Prix will instead be held at the Nurburgring next weekend, in what is arguably the stupidest legal case in Formula One history.

But the main news, no US Grand Prix in 2008 - a fate consigned to France too.

Enable Comment Auto-Refresher
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 3+-
Way #1 to not get people in America to enjoy Formula One: do this.
Permalink | Reply
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Absolutely. That's what Britain, France etc. has to cope with every year.
Permalink
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 0+-
This is not admirable about F1 organization - why forsake the most loyal people you have, not to mention the core nations developing racing talent?
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Because F1 is more out of touch with the real world than Hollywood.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Exactly. I wish fans could run F1... I like to think I'd do a better job of organising race schedules - it's not like it needs the money.
Permalink
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 0+-
But that clearly is the reason they do this - "Why schedule the same races in France and Germany when some sheik will give me many millions for a race?"
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Exactly. I don't mind the new races - but there is plenty of room for the old ones in a calendar year - they just aren't used.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Astonishingly enough, the goverming body of NASCAR actually listens to what the fans have to say. It's a beautiful thing.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
F1 claims to do the same thing - but they do not consult fans on this sort of issue.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
What I don't understand is why not make the US Grand Prix an oval race. Now that would generate some excitement!
Permalink | Reply
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Step away before the snob train comes out of Alex.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
I am officially starting the bring F1 to Bristol in '09 campaign.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
What's wrong??? Bernie thinks he is too good for Tennessee. Afraid he might get a chewing tobacco stain on his nice suit?
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
You'll never get F1 at an oval. It just cannot happen. I am quite happy for part oval, but all oval will not happen. Because we cannot cancel events in the rain (as we'd have to). It would be financially bad. So we'd need part oval if we have any at all.

F1 will not go anywhere near Bristol. Of all the places in the USA, that is the last place on the list, sadly.

I want to start the bring F1 to Zandvoort and Brno campaign though if you want to throw a tizz... :P
Permalink
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Okay, if you join my "Let's fix up Laguna Seca so F1 has a real American home" campaign.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
I was obviously joking about Bristol.

But how bout this. We have a very nice one mile oval here in Phoenix. F1 actually did come to Phoenix a few times in the late 80's and ran through the streets of downtown but it didn't go over to well, but I have a feeling an oval race my work out better.

Also, by coming to Phoenix you eliminate your rain problem.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Laguna Seca only needs to be safer at the Corkscrew and a couple of other areas, and about another half mile in terms of length. Length is the only thing stopping it being in F1 at the moment.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Oval will not happen! But then I thought F1 in Bahrain would never happen 10 years ago... So I hope I'm not wrong. The Phoenix race was a disaster. It left because more local fans went to watch an ostrich race that day.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Because nobody in this country gives a crap about road racing.

I don't get why it would kill Formula 1 to do one oval race. That would really be enough to get me really excited about Formula 1.

I love when the NASCAR guys run the road courses twice a year, and am fully appreciative of the skill road racing takes. The bottom line is that ovals are more exciting to watch.

If Phoenix isn't good enough for you, then how bout Daytona. The facility could surely house an F1 event.
Permalink
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 0+-
I love a mix of road/street courses and ovals. Although I wish it was slightly more competitive, the mix of tracks in IndyCar right now is really good. 2 street (I would like them to add one or two more), 3 road, the rest ovals of varying lengths (from tiny Richmond to big Indy). Ditto the old CART setup which was very similar before the purged out the oval tracks.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
CART is a joke.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Excuse me, CHAMP CAR. I saw that they have gone to a standing start now. They are trying to be like FORMULA 1. Good luck when your best driver is an 80-year-old Paul Tracy.
Permalink
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 1+-
Sebastian Bourdais has been their best for the last four years - three straight championships and leading again. That is their big problem - nobody can beat Seabass and they have the most awful TV contracts (I think the last race was on Animal Planet or something).
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
It would kill the fan base. You have to understand, the European audience lauds US motor racing on the whole, and hates ovals. Monza used to have an oval plus a circuit, Montlhery did the same. Other tracks of yester-generation had ovals in them. But fans do not want to see it over in Europe. Grand Prix racing was founded on being city to city racing, on streets and roads. Formula One and the Drivers World Championship was an amalgamation of those races. From city to city you never went in an oval, you had variety to the challenge. That's why F1 ought to remain non-oval. I agree though, logistically, there is no reason why not.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
I was just using the opportunity to take a shot at Paul Tracy. Can not stand that guy.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
And notice how IRL and Champ Car are so bad? Standing start is better than rolling, easily. It is a race from a place to another in F1, as I explained above, and you rarely start a journey at 100mph.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
And Bourdais may be off to a back of the grid F1 team (i.e. Toro Rosso) in 2008.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
I understand that, and I am not asking you to have oval races in Europe. However, I think that if the sport is interested in having a fan base in this country that they need to have a race here, and the best chance of that race being successful is for it to be an oval.

It would be an event unlike any other and would be sure to get a ton of attention. Don't even make more than a one year commitment. Just try it once and see how it goes.

Then again I guess like asking you to love football and me to love futbol.
Permalink
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 0+-
IndyCar did standing at St. Pete, the street course. I personally don't like standing starts. Seeing a car stall out and screwing up the guy behind him is not that great.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
If CHAMP CAR was any good then how AJ Allmendinger has only qualified for 8 out of 18 NASCAR races and hasn't finished better than 31st?
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Exactly, with a standing start somebody always inevitably stalls.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
I do love football! I support the Packers! Stalling doesn't happen that often in F1. Also, that's the point, it's another skill the driver has to master. Champ Car isn't very good, I never said it was. Bourdais will probably make no impression at Toro Rosso, unless he picks up his game.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
This is why I am beginning (i.e. the last month) to like Speedway. They have a Grand Prix series (dirt ovals, bikes with no brakes or steering) and it goes to all sorts of places. There are races where the hub of the support is, despite the fact that the stadia are shocking at times. They hold races at stadia where the capacity is just about 10,000, purely for the sake of holding it. There is more than one race in each country if that is what the situation demands. It's a much better way of doing it.
Permalink | Reply
ChristofMVP
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Tony George has been a disaster to open-wheel racing in the US. He blew up the Indy 500 a decade ago, and only now, is it coming back to the glory it once had. The guy is just an awful manager / executive. But he was born into the right family, so the rest of us get stuck with crap.
Permalink | Reply
ThecrookedcapAll-Star
901 days ago
Score 0+-
That's why this is not a surprise in the least. The only people who should like Tony George these days are the France family, since they've become super-rich after the Open-wheel split and NASCAR's ascendancy.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 0+-
The Raceway itself will always be bigger than Tony George is.
Permalink
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
The more money there is in a sport, it seems the more greed there is.
Permalink
Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
901 days ago
Score 1+-
That is a coalition that transcends the sporting world.
Permalink
JamelAll-American
901 days ago
Score 0+-
What about Canada?
Permalink | Reply
Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
901 days ago
Score 0+-
Canada has a race every year, at Montreal, on its own island! It's tight and cramped and really shouldn't ever be thought of as an F1 venue, but it's a decent track and Bernie is satisfied that they do a good job at the moment. They give him no trouble. Canada is famed of course in F1 for Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve.
Permalink
AndrenWaterboy
900 days ago
Score 1+-
If Tony George were any smarter, he would have kept the race under Ecclestone's terms. Indy is so full of history that in 10 years the US Grand Prix would be an integral part of F1. Then he would get a better deal. I think Ecclestone will eventually get another venue for the US Grand Prix. The potential market is too large for him to simply go away. As a fan, I will miss Indy and its clever track layout. I will not miss Tony George at all.
Permalink | Reply
Anonymous Fanatic #1
896 days ago
Score 0+-
How about Pocono? It is not an "oval" per se. More of a "triangle" with each turn being different from the other. Very close to NYC and the track is 2.5 miles long. Or California at Fontana? Another very fast track - close to LA... To whoever said Daytone - that would be a great place for a race as a lot of racing events take place there. Talladega is another superspeedway which would make a very fun race to watch F1 on an oval, however, I don't think F1 would be welcome there nor do I think F1 would want to go there.
Permalink | Reply
Add your Comment
ArmchairGM welcomes all comments. If you don't want to be anonymous, Register or Login. It's free


Retrieved from "http://armchairgm.wikia.com/No_F1_race_in_United_States_in_2008_-_Germany_and_France_also_scrapped"

This page was last modified 21:22, 12 July 2007. Content is available under the GFDL.

Contribute

ArmchairGM's pages can be edited.
Is this page incomplete? Is there anything wrong?
Change it!

Edit this page Discuss this page Page history

Recent contributors to this page

The following people recently contributed to this article.

Embed this on your site
Main Page About Special Pages Help Terms of Use Advertise