Comments on: F1 in America: the ballpark experiment

By: Henry Sleaford

Henry Sleaford — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 04:11:45 +0000

Regardless if it’s political or religious views, race, size, or orientation- Doesn’t everybody deserve the chance to be who they are? As long as they’re not harrming anyone, why not?

By: 1994fanatic

1994fanatic — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:05:38 +0000

I’m in central pa, lancaster area. I have quite a bit of knowledge of F1 but I’m sure many others have much more. Been following f1 for going on 20 years now

By: the limit

the limit — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:19:14 +0000

I had to laugh halfway through the Valencia Grand Prix two weeks ago, as I was watching the commercial break on Speed TV, a NASCAR commercial popped up. Right in the middle of a rival series event.
The same can be said of the IRL events on tv. The NASCAR advertising reminds me alot of McDonalds. It is everywhere you look in America, on almost every street corner. There is no way, absolutely no way, that anything can rival NASCAR for exposure in America right now. Also, you must not forget how badly the foreign drivers have run in NASCAR in recent years.
Montoya is probably the only foreign driver to have achieved anything close the success in stock cars. Villeneuve, Franchitti, have both fallen quickly by the wayside. The open consensus among the ‘good ‘ole boys’ is that the open wheel drivers are just not good enough for NASCAR, which really gets on my you know whats!
IRL, F1, are just seen as inferior series to NASCAR, by millions of American fans and pundits alike. There will always be an American fanbase for F1, aswell as Europeans like myself craving for a piece of home, but the appetite for Formula One is just not there in large enough numbers, even if the U.S retains its grands prix.
A man said to me the other day, ‘Your soccer will never be as popular as American football’.
My reply was quick and not well recieved, ‘And you American football will never be second only to the Olympics in terms of ‘worldwide’ popularity’. It went down like a led balloon, believe me!

By: Gman

Gman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:10:00 +0000

James- Very interesting point of view. I agree that our home grown sports, such as the NFL and NASCAR, will always be king of the sports hill, and any leagues from outside the U.S. will need to earn their way into the popular culture.

However, making it work here is far from impossible, and the perfect example is European Soccer…er, football for you folks! You could go into nearly any American high school today and find a solid number of young people who know all about Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. Walk around a busy street, and you’ll find a soild number of team gear from those respective players as well.

My point here is that the foreign-based sports can catch on- it just takes some good marketing/PR, as well as the understanding that those sports may never rival their American counterparts, but they can make good money here and be very popular in their own right.

By: Gman

Gman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:01:41 +0000

Polak/DG- Very good point about the American drivers. While I beleive F1 can catch on and grow in popularity here without an American driver on the grid, having one in a race seat and driving well would be a huge boost for the sport in the USA.

In terms of a NASCAR import, I can’t see that happening unless it was a very unusual situation. It’s not that NASCAR drivers aren’t skilled or talented- they are- but they all love the more relaxed setting of stock cars so much that it’s highly unlikley any of them would ever make the jump- just ask JMP, or read his interview in last month’s F1 Racing magazine.

As for Danica, she may look good in the photo shoots, but she hasen’t shown me anything on the race track to prove she’s worthy of an F1 seat. I believe that in a series like IndyCar, where a spec car is used, a driver’s raw ability shows through- and Danica dosen’t have much. Don’t forget that before the reunion this season, Danica was driving in the mostly-oval IRL series, and not the road course-filled Champ Car circuit-if Bourdais was a multiple CC champion and still isn’t drivign well in F1, how would oval-loving Danica do against Lewis/Kimi/Felipe/etc..?

In terms of her potential impact on the US market, Danica would be a smash-hit if she got a seat and drove well and won races. However, if she failed to meet expectations- as I believe she would- she’d be out of a seat and then you’d have many Americans shaking their fists at the F1 establishment for giving our Danica a raw deal- it would be a PR disaster for F1 in this market.

By: James Christie

James Christie — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:01:45 +0000

Danica would have to control her temper just a little bit & improve her road course skills.
Speed does a good job with F1 here mostly due due Hobbs & Windsor.
I live in Minnesota originally from the UK. Racing in general here is a just below the surface sub culture. However the various mainly dirt tracks here mainly 1/2 mile & 1/4 mile are packed all season long & I have to say I love it! I do see people wearing F1 gear in the stands here Mainly BMW, Ferarri & some Mc Laren & have had some interesting conversations about F1 with some of them.
Really though it will always be an up hill battle here as things that are considered AMERICAN GRRRRR! are to be encouraged . Things European are considered effete & somewhat suspect. Attention will be payed at least for a while if an american is doing extremely well ” Lance Armstrong”. Yeah Beat those Pussies at Their own game!! Sorry about the Rant James

By: DG

DG — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:31:22 +0000

@Polak – isn’t there some history between Danica and Bernie? I don’t think he likes women drivers one bit – even though there are plenty of them in Britain, and Danica appears to be taking it personally.
It would be great if Williams or BMW got brave and hired her, even as a third driver, just to annoy Bernie. I would!

By: Polak

Polak — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:10:52 +0000

here is a picture of Danica

http://www.adsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/danica-patrick-si-swimsuit-feb-08.jpg

By: Polak

Polak — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:08:37 +0000

That is a good point michael counsell. For F1 to really become popular in the USA, a USGP and US racing star are needed. Imagine if Danica Patrick got a F1 race seat! The US public would go nuts and stay glued to F1. There would be a tremendous new interest in the sport. She would be the first woman in F1, an American, and shes pretty damn hot.

As wee saw with Scott Speed, an american flag is not enough to get US watching. It would have to be a high profile driver from Indy or NASCAR. If F1 could get half the NASCAR fans to watch a race, it would be a great accomplishment.

By: Brett M

Brett M — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:53:09 +0000

Great article – wonder what would happen if someone did a reverse experiment – NASCAR gear at a Premier League game (or AFL where i hail from)
Pink Peril – i think F1 is very healthy here in OZ – and the coverage is better now that Ten HD telecast the races live (well nearly live)