I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and if you listened to the show this morning (August 3, 2019), you heard a bit of what has gone right with F1 in the States to this point.

But, let’s refresh your memory, or fill you in if you missed the show.

Formula 1 is on the most available cable sports network out there, the ESPN family, with their parent network, ABC, willing to air three of those races, something NBC didn’t do when they had the rights to Formula 1 the past few years, leaving all of them on the NBC Sports Network. 

So, that’s a good plus, on top of two other factors. Prior to the move to ESPN/ABC, the first American-owned team came into the series, 2016 was their first season actually running, and, up until this season, had actually improved their points scoring each season.

Just before that Formula 1 got a proper Formula 1 race course, Circuit of the Americas, near Austin, Texas. Before that they had to race on a not quite ready for prime-time Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in the middle of the famed rectangle, and prior to that trying street courses in places like Detroit, and for a while a nice run at Long Beach, pioneering the course IndyCar runs on now, and they even ran at Watkins Glen for a few years.

So, Formula 1 has almost everything they need to gain a sincere foothold in the US, a proper F1 course, an American-based F1 team and a proper television outlet for fans in the United States to see the races.

What’s missing you ask? An American-born driver to root for. For the record, there are some American-born drivers that are attempting to climb the ladder through the Formula 1 feeder series ladder, but none of them are quite ready yet.

Since Haas F1 is having a down year, and looks to be in need of a sincere change at a lot of levels, now might be the time to bring on a American driver.

So, who to go after you ask? Well, Alexander Rossi would have been an obvious choice, but he just re-upped with Andretti Autosport, so that’s out.

Josef Newgarden would be my next choice. The Tennessee-born driver already has one IndyCar title under his belt, and as of this posting, is in prime position to gain title number 2, with Alexander Rossi the main hot on his heels at the top of the standings. 

Newgarden currently drives for Team Penske, and I’m sure “The Captain” doesn’t want to see a driver who is a major title contender walk away, but, Formula 1 is something that Newgarden has said does interest him. As for his contract status, when he signed on with Team Penske, the terms of the deal were not released, so it is not truly known how much longer he has left.

But, if Haas F1 wants to make a splash in the United States, I would be calling Newgarden’s agent and finding out as much information about that contract as I could. If you saw the fan turnout at Circuit of the Americas in 2018, or watched the Netflix “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” series, you saw that there is a big Haas F1 fan-base that turns out at COTA each year, and they would love to root for an American driver, on the American team, at the American track. 

That’s the splash Formula 1 needs, and Haas F1 should want, and should go for.

To the stewards and officials of Formula 1……

Its about time that the rules of competition be looked at and revised. As a fan of motorsports overall, it is absolutely obsurd that theres a penalty for everything done It seems. From the technical side of things, things are understandable, from a cost control method. But from a competition side of things, the entire rulebook needs to be BURNED. Guys, this is racing. Drivers are supposed to race hard and push the cars to the extreme limits they can stand. Its ridiculous for me, as an enthusiast, to see a driver get a penalty for somthing ridiculous: SEE penalty on Sebastian Vettel at the Canadian Grand Prix. I could guarantee that if you let these guys race, your viewership on TV and fans would flock in higher amounts to the tracks.

If you’re like us here on the show, and if you’re reading this blog post, I know you are like Matt, John and myself, you’re getting prepared for the best day of racing. There’s no doubt in my mind that Sunday of Memorial Day weekend is the best day in racing, beginning with Formula 1 running the crown jewel race that is the Monaco Grand Prix, then to the US with one of the crown jewel races in all of racing, not just IndyCar, the “Indy 500”, and then in the evening, NASCAR’s Cup Series “Coca-Cola 600”.

However, don’t forget that NASCAR has the Xfinity Series at Charlotte on Saturday, a day that begins with Formula E running in Berlin. Let’s not forget the NHRA, which will run on Memorial Day itself, the “Route 66 Nationals” in near Chicago, Illinois. There are other great weekends of racing, where you get a lot of good races in, but this weekend marks the biggest weekend of them all, considering that of the series we cover on a regular basis, only the Gander Outdoors Truck Series won’t be in action.

I’ll be going to church in the morning, which means I’ll miss Monaco live, but, I’ll be back home in time for the Indy 500, the replay of Monaco which ABC will air between Indy and then the live action of the “Coca-Cola 600”, and I’m sure you’ll be doing a lot of that too, if you’re anything like us on the show…deja vu right? If it isn’t, re-read the first line of this blog entry.

So, as we have mentioned on the show a number of times since the “Talladega Transformation” project was first announced that 2019 is the fiftieth anniversary of the first-ever race at NASCAR’s longest and fastest track. That is certainly worth celebrating, and will be, both in the spring and in the fall. However, a bit less known was that, just this past weekend, we celebrated ten years of IndyCar Racing in Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. That is equally as laudable, especially considering that, other than Florida, IndyCar has little to no other presence in the southeastern part of the United States.

When the race was first proposed at Barber, many people scoffed, claiming that Alabama is in the heart of NASCAR country, and would not be acceptable to race fans who prefer, some said, to wear cut-off tees, jean shorts and who have, some said, questionable tastes in food and drink. While at its peak Talladega could, and still can, fit about 250,000 people in the stands and in the infield, the people showing up at Barber have been reliably estimated to be at least 100,000. Remember that Barber is a road course, so there is really no place any race fan can sit that shows them the entirety of the 2-plus mile-long course, but for a decade, people in Alabama and surrounding states have come out in droves to see the IndyCar drivers compete.

Then there are the IndyCar drivers themselves, who, to a driver have applauded the Barber family for the wonderful facility they’ve built just east of downtown Birmingham, and have been more than complimentary of those who come out, year over year, and pack the hill-sides and grassy areas around the track to see the action each April.

I was happy when I first heard IndyCar was coming to Alabama, went to the first race, and have been to many of the ten events since, and it just keeps getting better and better in my mind. The drivers love it, the fans seem to as well, and for those who questioned IndyCar coming to “the heart of NASCAR country”, it has been proven the two series can co-exist.

Now, if only NASCAR and IndyCar would get together on the scheduling, and allow Barber and Talladega to run on back-to-back weekends again, bringing back “Alabama Speedweeks”.