In my office, it's easy to tell what I like. I have a bunch of 1/18 scale die cast Formula One and other historic racing cars that adorn my shelves. On my wall is a mounted poster for the 1956 1000km Nurburgring. On my little conference table, the only book that adorns it is Karl Ludvigsen's Classic Grand Prix Cars: The Front-Engined Formula 1 Era 1906-1960 which I read from time to time when I get sick of reading reports, studies, bills, and other literature. It creates a nice ambiance to work in, at least for me.

When others see all this, they are taken aback a little bit. They see my Maserati 250F and think it's a Ferrari. I feel like a snob in correcting them, but I do it anyways. They flip through my book; lightly laughing at the archaic motorcars saying under their breath "that's neat." When I restate one or two of the facts about a car they are looking at, they give me the same look one gives to a person who just punched a baby. I quickly change the subject.

Being an F1 fan in America is not an easy proposition. I am absolutely confident that 80% of the population doesn't know it exists and 85% couldn't name a driver past or present... not even Michael Schumacher. To them, the only European recreational activities are soccer and drinking.

Most NASCAR fans have a special hatred of Formula One fans. F1 races in the United States are shown live on a cable network that you have to request, pay extra for, and that maybe 10% of the population actually gets. Not that it would matter... since most of the races start at 3AM to 6AM. Oh yeah, the US Grand Prix has been awful for two decades straight. We haven't had a US based team since the early 1980's. F1 teams are afraid to even touch an American driver now after each successive disaster. With all of this, I am even surprised that there are any American F1 fans left. Yet, we survive.

With no US Grand Prix this year, I have spent the time since the Canadian Grand Prix wondering...

Does F1 need America?

Even though there are still big names in the sport like AT&T, Phillip Morris, Boeing, Microsoft, and others, the United States remains one of the single largest media and advertising market that Formula One hasn't really tapped into successfully. Throughout the 1990's, more and more American advertisers have pulled out, cut their budgets completely, or transferred to more domestic advertising activities, such as NASCAR.

However, all is not lost for three reasons. First, the global nature of the new economy now dictates that you have to advertise on a world wide scale with limited resources. If you want to do TV/web advertising on a global scale, Formula One is always a great buy. It's probably the only sport in the world that is regularly shown on a worldwide basis. Where else can you get hundreds of millions of people to watch the television or computer at the same time all around the world? That is the key to selling Formula One and as American companies continue to fight for consumers on a worldwide basis, things like
Formula One will look tempting if presented to them correctly.

Second, with the IRL finally winning out, America has a chance again to redevelop an open wheel fan base. This may sound weird, but America's Formula One interest was stronger before the split. Even though they seemed like competing interests, the people that were CART fans always followed Formula One. The drivers that went between F1 and CART like Mansell and the Andrettis provided a chance for Americans to attach to the drivers and follow them throughout their careers.

Finally third, there are the manufactures in Formula One. The United States is still the single biggest car market in the world. The market represents at least 30% of all the sales of BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, and Honda cars. For these manufacturers, how does it make sense that their premiere racing teams do not get to race in their most important market? It was very telling when the sponsors and manufactures raised hell when it was announced there was no US Grand Prix this year. Rumors have been flying around of a new deal for the US Grand Prix. If so, bravo Bernie.

So it has to be asked, with so much potential and so many people wanting it, why hasn't it worked?

Why hasn't Formula One worked in America for the last 20 years...

From my point of view, it is a complicated answer that goes in a lot of directions. There are several underlying facts.

1: The CART / IRL split: As I said before, Formula One and CART were tied at the hips in the 1980's which made for a lot of crossover appeal. When the CART/IRL split happened in the mid 1990's, it absolutely destroyed open wheel racing in America. Think of it this way: before the split we had names like Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Paul Tracy, Micheal Andretti, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Al Unser Jr, and Jacques Villeneuve racing. At the merger last year, we had Danica Patrick, Scott Dixon, the guy from "Dancing with the Stars", another Andretti, and a bunch of other people.

To say the quality of open wheel racing in America has been destroyed by the split is an understatement. I just spent 10 minutes looking through my AP style guide, dictionary, and thesaurus looking for a proper word to describe what happened. I couldn't come up with one. The split had many casualties including potential and long-time sponsors, young open wheel drivers (who went to NASCAR instead like Tony Stewart), and wrecked proper racing in America. We have gone from the holder of the main feeder and retirement series for Formula One to something that is even below Formula 3 or Formula 3000. Pathetic.

2: No Rooting Interests: Americans are a very strange lot. We ignore the rest of the world of sports (actually, the rest of the world in general), unless there is an American angle. For example I don't think most Americans knew what the Tour de France was till Lance Armstrong started dominating it. Actually that is a very good cross over example to use for Formula One. The impact of Armstrong on American cycling was huge. Sales of road racing bikes have skyrocketed, as well as racing competitions, teams, and general interest in the sport. Whatever you may think of Armstrong, he has brought competitive cycling to America.

So could that happen with Formula One? Absolutely. Is there anyone who could do it? Ahh... no. I have not seen an American driver in my lifetime that I believed could win a world championship. There are drivers out there that wouldn't be competitive but would raise America's interest in the sport like Danica Patrick or Dale Earnhardt Jr. They would bring a whole lot of people and advertisers into the sport. Yet to be frank, they are not good enough.

3: Horrible races and venues: I have really tried not to point a finger at Bernie or Max. There are a lot of things that are blamed on them unjustly [oh but it's so much fun, Dan. Ed.]. However, they have been a key reason why F1 in America has failed the last 20 years. The decline in America started when Bernie and the organizers in Long Beach couldn't reach a deal to continue the race. Not only did the sport lose a great venue, but their replacements have been awful.

Detroit and Phoenix were horrible venues that had no right to be on the calendar. They were away from the Formula One strongholds in the United States (California and the northeastern US), were poorly marketed and run. Nobody would go to Phoenix or Detroit just for a race, there is not enough to do and, frankly, the cities are not the most pleasant. (Detroit is a dump and the murder capital of the US. Phoenix averages 110 in the summer and there is absolutely nothing else to attract people.)

When Indy got the race in 1999, I was somewhat relieved. Yet the Ferrari fiasco of 2002 and the tire fiasco of 2005 has destroyed the credibility of Formula One in America more than any wanton sex party of Max's. It's not just the races themselves, but it was that Bernie, Max, and the F1 community was so unapologetic afterwards. The F1 message of "Tough s***, America doesn't matter, just give us next year's track fee and shut up" rang loud and clear to American racing fans. Three years on, I am still bitter and angry about it. To me Indy has been tainted. I would love to have F1 racing back in America, but I think we deserve a better venue.

We need somewhere better than Indy, but where?

I'm sorry, but the road course at Indy just doesn't work. Think of it this way: would you hold a rally event at Silverstone? Or how about a Monster truck race at Brands Hatch? Indy is synonymous with only one type of racing... oval racing. If the US Grand Prix was held there, it should be a race on the full 2.5 mile oval. Under the current F1 environment, that won't work. (I personally think it would interesting to try once.)

So if not Indy, where? It needs to be near a major city like New York, Chicago, or in California because of media, advertisers, and infrastructure. So that throws out a lot of traditional places like Road America and Road Atlanta that are great tracks but impossible to get to and do not have the surrounding infrastructure.

If I were in Bernie's shoes, I would want to move the race back to California. Here is why. First, you have three very viable locations (Laguna Seca, Long Beach, and Infineon Raceway.) Second, a race starting at noon in California would be showing in prime time in Europe (7 PM GMT), which equals higher ratings, more exposure, and better advertising rates. Picture if you slot that between the Japanese Grand Prix and Brazilian Grand Prix. That would be a prime time race that might decide the championship. What's not to like about that? Third next to Monaco it would be one of the most star studded races on the calendar. The money made from hospitalities and star catering would be astonishing. Finally fourth, California and the rest of the western US is really not NASCAR territory yet has a very strong motorsports history and culture. Any race they hold is certainly going to be a sellout.

So out of the three tracks, which one? From visiting them, here is what I think.

Infineon Raceway: The closest to being "F1" ready out of the three. Could be easily modified and improved to fit Formula One's needs of safety and infrastructure. For my money, it is one of the most underrated tracks in the US. The winding esses on the back straight would be amazing to see an F1 car go through. Also, the track has great elevation change and very interesting corners. It would be an excellent challenge for any F1 team. Finally, it's in the metropolitan bay area, which means it is within an hour or two of Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento. Plus, the place already holds 100,000 people for a NASCAR race; I bet with improvements, you could get more for an F1 race.

Long Beach: I always believed that F1 lost a lot of momentum in America when they left the streets of Long Beach. It is a great street course, great crowds, Hollywood being 30 minutes away, and a glamorous location. Also, like Valencia it's an interesting, unconventional street circuit. That might the problem. For at least the next decade or so, we are looking at having 3-4 street type circuits already on the calendar. I don't know if they would want to add another one. Also, because of the way the Long Beach course is situated, they don't have the space to put in the needed F1 infrastructure. Add to that the bitterness of how Formula One left and how well they are doing already with the current IRL, American LeMans series, and other races; why would they want F1 back?

Laguna Seca: Yes, it's a couple hundred miles from a major city, a short track, and at best has very basic infrastructure... but man oh man... what a great place for a Grand Prix. It would be unlike any other race on the Formula One calendar. Just thinking about twenty cars going through the corkscrew gives me goose bumps. As for not being near a major city, I think there is a firm exception to this one. First off, the Monterey, Salinas, and Carmel area can support major sporting events. As proof, they have held regularly major golf tournaments at nearby Pebble Beach. These draw hundreds of thousands and in the same exact demographic as Formula One. Speaking of Pebble Beach, it is also the home of the Pebble Beach Concours which is something that if a car snob like me and James May went to, we would need oxygen.

As for the track itself. I don't mind that it is short. Yet, my greatest concern is the infrastructure of the track itself. It is pretty bare bones down there. They would require a LOT of Hermen Tilke type of pits, stands, run off areas, and other safety stuff. As long as he does not touch the track, I am ok with that. It's a track that always produces great races no matter what motorsports class.

I think a race at any of these three tracks can re-vitalize F1 in America and be real additions to the calendar. Oh well, I can dream and watch the French Grand Prix and wonder what could have been or could be.