FUMES #466

October 8, 2008

Formula 1 pirouettes into the ground.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. First there was Max Mosely's plan to shove a common specification, "equalized" engine package down the throats of the Formula 1 manufacturers. That plan - allegedly designed to cut costs - could and should spell the end of the once prestigious form of motorsport by sentencing it to a static netherworld of regressive technological development and worse, flat-out irrelevancy. Mosely's "spec car" plan alone threatens to send the participating F1 manufacturers to a new racing entity of their own design, and deservedly so because it is so hapless, ill-timed and dim-witted. But, not content to derail the enterprise altogether by their wildly out of touch incompetence, the powers that be in F1 have come up with yet another new way to insult manufacturers - and fans - alike.

The brainiacs in the World Motor Sport Council met in Paris yesterday and came up with a brilliant solution to end F1's problems altogether in the North American market, and that is to drop the Canadian Grand Prix from the schedule in 2009, effectively eliminating Grand Prix racing from this market completely.

This is what F1 does to its competing manufacturers in North America - still, despite all the negativity - the most important market for BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari in the world? This is what Formula 1 does to its most knowledgeable (and rabid) fans in Canada, the people who have enthusiastically supported Formula 1 for years?

Simply incredible.

Formula 1 fans in the U.S. have grown used to the idea that Bernie's Greed Circus will appear within our boundaries only on occasion, at least when the price is right, anyway. We don't blame Tony George for balking at Bernie's obscene and outright usurious fee structure, because in the end, it's just not worth it to expend that kind of money for what is inevitably and more often than not a decidedly mediocre show. We're enthralled with the way F1 used to be way back when, not what it has become. But to throw the Canadian fans under the bus? Simply unconscionable.

At this point in time the only form of Grand Prix racing that's actually worth the effort from where I sit is MotoGP. And guess what? The MotoGP organizers have seen fit to schedule two races on U.S. soil because they understand what an important market looks like and treat it - and its fans - accordingly.

What a refreshingly visionary concept.



Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Ford Racing Archives)
Mosport Park, Canada, 1973. Peter Revson on his way to victory in the Canadian Grand Prix in his Team Yardley McLaren M23 powered by a Cosworth-Ford V-8. It was Revson's second and final GP win of his career (his first coming at the British Grand Prix earlier in the season), as he was killed the following year in his Shadow F1 car while testing for the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami, on March 22, 1974, at the age of 35, due to a suspension failure. Revson was a gifted driver who had many great days in racing, including sitting on the pole for the 1971 Indianapolis 500 (and finishing 2nd) in his Team McLaren/Offy, and winning the Can-Am Championship for Team McLaren that same season (the first American to do so).

Publisher's Note: Leon Mandel's book about Revson, Speed with Style, is a must read for anyone interested in that era, and in the glittering career - and lifestyle - of Peter Revson. I consider it to be among the finest books about racing ever written. Here is how Sports Illustrated prefaced an excerpt of the book that appeared in its pages on September 23, 1974: "Peter Revson had it all: he was lithe and handsome, 35 years old and rich through his own accomplishments. He had become the best American sports-car racer and was recognized on the Grand Prix circuit as one of the very finest drivers in the world. He had just finished his autobiography with motor sports writer Leon Mandel, and its title, 'Speed with Style,' summed up Revson's outlook on life. The book offers a different approach from most of the genre; in alternating sections Revson and Mandel present their individual views of racing. Last March 22, his book completed, Revson was at the Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg, South Africa, practicing for the third Grand Prix of the season. After 191 miles of testing, his speeds were steadily climbing, and late in the afternoon he decided to make a run for the track record. He pulled in for five gallons of fuel and rolled away. Two laps later Revson was dead, his car crushed against the steel barrier on the fastest turn."