No U.S. team on grid, but a grand prix?
Monday, Mar. 15, 2010
Indianapolis is still a logical venue for a U.S. Formula One event and a return could be in the cards, Bernie Ecclestone says.
"It is (a possibility)," Ecclestone told a British newspaper, The Guardian. That would have been sufficient, but stopping there might also have been out of character for the billionaire holder of F1's commercial rights.
"It's only the fact that it's all the wrong crowd and the wrong people ... nothing worked there really, we'd have to have a big change round."
Indianapolis Motor Speedway spokesman Chris Schwartz said Monday he wasn't sure what Ecclestone meant.
"I'm not sure what to make of that,” Schwartz told the Indianapolis Business Journal. "I can tell you that the crowds were energetic; they were certainly international.”
The spokesman confirmed the speedway's interest in returning to the F1 calendar, even as the Formula One boss has been critical of the historic venue.
Ecclestone has long envisioned taking an F1 event back to the West Coast. However, no suitable venue has stepped forward to provide an alternative to Indianapolis.
Indianapolis began hosting F1 starting in 2000. Former track president Tony George was believed to have spent upwards of $75-million to revamp the circuit and build the infrastructure necessary to bring the race to the famed Brickyard. He is no longer track president and has also left the board of the Hulman Co., which owns IMS.
In its first year, the race attracted more than 200,000 people.
However, attendance began to decline in 2002 and the race suffered irreparable harm in 2005 when all but six cars pulled out of the event due to the Michelin tire fiasco. In 2007, the final year of the race, attendance was said to be half of the inaugural event and Ecclestone was blaming speedway officials for not doing enough to market the race.
Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the running of the Indianapolis 500 and while there are several events planned to highlight that milestone, Schwartz said it might be asking too much to have a deal done in time for a 2011 race.
Events have been run under the U.S. Grand Prix banner off and on since 1908. In additional to Indianapolis, they have been run at Sebring, Riverside, Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix.
ThatsRacin.com editor Bob Henry contributed.
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