World of F1 comes to U.S.

Absent since 1991, the series will run this fall on the hallowed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

By BRUCE LOWITT

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2000

Formula One is to NASCAR what soccer is to football. The rest of the world loves it; we couldn't care less.

But like Major League Soccer (and the NASL, USISL, NPSL and an alphabet of other leagues, dead and alive), F1 just keeps plugging away, trying to get out of low and up to speed with an American racing public that loves stock cars and open-wheeled Indy cars.

Maybe this time, after a nine-year absence, the U.S. Grand Prix will find the right, umm, formula. Maybe making a Sept. 24 stop in Indianapolis, where the Indianapolis 500 is as traditional as the Memorial Day weekend on which it races, and where the Brickyard 400 is a tradition-in-training, Formula One can get itself in gear.

Maybe not.

"The only way to be successful is to create a unique atmosphere," said Chris Pook, who created the Long Beach Grand Prix, then switched from F1 to CART. "You've got to make the audience feel like they're seeing something very, very special. And that's a tough situation at Indy since they've already got two major events."

Compared with the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400, the U.S. Grand Prix may feel less fan-friendly. Gasoline Alley, the garage compound for the two oval races, is open to fans with appropriate tickets. Mingling with drivers and mechanics is a big attraction. In the late '70s and early '80s at the Long Beach Grand Prix, too, fans could buy garage passes.

But Gasoline Alley at Indy won't be used for the Grand Prix. Twelve pitside garages are being built and, as at all F1 events, they and the drivers will be off-limits to the public. The access, Pook said, "really helped sell our race in those early days because people could pose for pictures and get close to the action. Traditionally, if the audience has been restricted, it's not gone very well."

Formula One has tried Indianapolis before, from 1950-60. It has made stops in the California cities of Riverside and Long Beach, Detroit and Phoenix, Dallas and Las Vegas, Sebring and Watkins Glen in upstate New York.

Maybe the best thing that can be said about most of those Formula One trips to our shores was that they didn't always crash and burn; sometimes they puttered along, then quietly stalled and rolled off into the sunset.

Watkins Glen and Long Beach were relatively successful for a time. Las Vegas and Dallas were economic failures. Detroit elicited only mild interest and Phoenix even less before the United States was knocked off the F1 schedule.

"Not having a race in America is wrong, and I'm glad we're coming back," said Patrick Head, chief designer for Frank Williams' racing team, "but I would have preferred to go back to Watkins Glen, a proper road course.

"Having said that, it's great for the people involved," Head added, "but I'm not sure what the general American public makes of Formula One -- or if they're even interested."

Indy's 13-turn, 2.61-mile road course will meander off and on the famous 21/2-mile Indy 500 course, including a portion of Turns 1 and 2 and two-thirds of the main straightaway. The cars will run clockwise, the reverse of the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400.

Attendance of 100,000 -- enormous by F1 standards but one quarter of the crowd that packs the Indianapolis track for the Indy 500 -- would be considered a success by Speedway president Tony George, spending a reported $40-million to build a road course at the track. Formula One ticket prices range from $45-$150, comparable to the Indy 500 ($35-$150) and Brickyard 400 ($30-$140).

Even a successful race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, self-proclaimed Racing Capital of the World, may not be enough to keep the event alive for too many years, said Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula One champion and winner of the 1995 Indianapolis 500.

"To make (the U.S. Grand Prix) a success, you'd need to hold 10 races in the States," Villeneuve said. "Except for (the Canadian Grand Prix), North America isn't used to a sport where you have only one event a year. Our sport is worldwide, yet it has had a hard time getting a foothold in North America. But Indianapolis is a good place for racing and the fans are great."

-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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