WideOpenWheel

YAAWWwwwwnnnnnn……..yeah, it’s Brickyard Day. Think I will mosey on over and scalp a 10 dollar ticket….yeah

Ever wonder what it takes to host a Formula 1 race besides butt loads of cash? In Austin, Texas, if you are the (soon to be) poor schmucks I would imagine that you had best come up with 25MIL for the Troll, Bernie E. Holy schmolly, that’s a LOT of bucks you have there! It never ceases to amaze me that people still line up for face time with Ecclestone, only to be fleeced out of hard earned cash, and then the event….goes away. The current school of thought is that the USGP in Austin, Texas will require public funding in order to even take place. Tons and tons of dirt have already been moved, but no track buildings have been started. Looks like just a big ‘ol hole in the ground at the present.

Rush over to Speed TV to read a discussion on the shuffle of the 2012 F-1 calendar to try to accommodate a request to move the inaugural USGP of Texas from June to November. F-1 says they are considering the request to move the date for temperature considerations. Ya’ think the construction pace has anything to do with this? Read, review and discuss……Speed article can be found here:

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-race-delay-a-big-help-for-2012-us-gp/

The cost of an F-1 sanctioning fee will not break the bank, but it WILL require public funding. What, you say???? Using public money for…SPORT! P’shaw. No, seriously, that is the European way of conducting motorsport events at the F-1 level; governments sign up and line up to pay to host the events. Where do you think some of that oil money goes in Bahrain and AbuDabi? It goes to Bernie’s FOM, silly people. And here is how we do it in America:

http://f1newsaustin.com/tag/sanctioning-fee/

Ahhhh…..only in America! Welcome back Bernie. Some of us in Indy still shed a manly tear over the original tire debacle that even NAS-TAY Kar tried to emulate…and then, Bernie was…..gone. With the money.

RUSH over to the Weekly Miller Mail Bag link for the latest, snarky yet professionally written retorts to the clueless questions Robin gets. He gives everyone that warm, fuzzy feeling with his answers! Props always given to speedtv.com for their reporting.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-robin-millers-mailbag-727/

Simon is IN….Tags is OUT at Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Is it time to get Simon into the IICS? Comment and discuss.

J O L I E T  June 2009

www.indycar.com