duane_sword said:
I agree that Laguna Seca would be a blast, but could be a bit of a parade for the F1s, how about Road Atlanta?... I am not much of a CART/INDY fan but when I see them running at Road Atlanta or any of the SCCA racing I am keen to watch given it is such an impressive circuit.
I signed the petition, keen to get the GP back in the USA, but would be a lot more eager to see a race where there are some decent support activites... how about ALMS, or CART, or Star Mazda... I know that egos get knocked when they are a 'support' race but come on we need to see better on track activity than doctors and attorneys running about in Ferraris and Porsches.
Bingo, and that's the rub from my perspective, organizers here just do not have the saavy to put together a "total package" the way the yank general market perspective "expects." I am all for club-ish racing, too, but lets face it there is NOT ONE track in the US that is engineered for the kind of racing at the elite F1 level that F1 fans stateside expect. I mean, a critique against a road circuit is "no passing"?? Get real, there is precious little passing in ANY F1 venue today, the cars have outstripped the current track opportunities. Even the brand new places in Japan or Turkey or Malaysia or China afford little opportunity for the kind of action most old farts remember and long for. That kind of driving is just not modern, not to slight modern F1 (really) or disparage the good old days, its just not the way it is anymore. At least a street venue in the states, like San Francisco would/could/might capture interest stateside that open wheel has lost over the past 20 years to bubba and the bootleggers.
As to the old Laguna hairpins and junk...no one liked them when they were new, and the only time I have ever seen cars three abreast at that track in the last 20 years was coming into the andretti hairpin (and an historic event at that....three CSLs!) Still, when people started flying off of that fast left hander in the 80's, it was ugly...and the people at Scramp even then were "just this close" to venerating wildlife and noise limits even then. Cars crashing at car racing events? Perish the thought. Even if they coughed up the money, we'll never see F1 at Monterey. THAT venue will be NASCAR (just like Sears Point) before it will be F1.
I dunno what the solution is, with all the difficulty w/broadcast rights I don't even bother to pay attention to F1 any more. The last time I was able to regularly watch F1 broadcast was 5 years ago when I was working in the UK. Never have even that in the States! Heck, even historic is out of reach for an old fat guy like me, and I already have two good vintage cars! :roll: