Why isn't F1 popular in the States

The day F1 takes a queue from NASCAR in the way they totally involve the fan, then they'll be popular here. The F1 season ended, is there a special review on the past year? A special on the greatest driver in history retiring?
During the season, no shows on the life of the drivers outside F1, thier interests, how and where they live. More access to the drivers at the races in interviews and autograph signing. Nothing. People are paying alot of money to see the races, buy team apparel etc. They get more for thier money with NASCAR. F1 is just too clinical and standoffish. Can't wait till younger blood runs F1.

 

P.S , I don't think it has anything to do with passing on track, we had alot of that this year. The opposite can be said about NASCAR where all the "passing" that happens is more strategy than anything else.

 

Absoluteley.

 

I like all racing in general, but frankly F1 is way too much 'follow the leader'. It's BORING. NASCAR has the whole package: stratgy, passing, wrecks, intense wheel to wheel driving, and the drivers are marketed here in the US so you can have favorites. F1 has (had) Schumi but not many casual fans can name more than one or two other drivers. No marketing.

IRL would be better if they had better drivers, but it's minor league and it shows. I watch 3-4 IRL races a year and even my untrained eye sees how much better the cream of NASCAR is. Of course, F1 are the best but unless you have a stopwatch, it's impossible to tell! F1 tracks are awful for spectators although as a driver they must be a blast.

Plus, I can't get Speed Channel, so how am I supposed to see the races???

Ken

 

Am I missing something here? It seems, that watching a few Nascar races, that most of the passing comes from wrecks or from damage cause from a wreck. Talk about follow the leader racing. There really isn't much true passing in Nascar. Its no better than F1. Although, when there is a pass in F1 it is truely incredable to watch. I can npt recall one Nascar pass that is worthy of a replay.

Now the crashes on the other hand. Those Nascar ones are something. However, if you ever see an F1 car shatter infront of you or even see one of the high reving engines explode while at full tilt, it will surely get your blood pumping much more that a buch of twisted sheet metal.

When the F1 boys go wheel to wheel your heart stops! Its not like your waiting to see who put who into the wall. Its wondering how badly the cars and drivers will be hurt. Much more interesting when F1 is wheel to wheel.

I also like the F1 tracks. I don't feel they are unfreindly to the spectator. Lots to see from almost any place on the track. You pick your seats depending on what you like to see. Fast, passing, Pits...whatever you like.

Racing is kinda like wine. Some good, some bad. Some you like, some you don't. Some is cheap, some isn't. Anyway you look at it and no matter which you choose, it will all get you drunk! Bottom line is you choose what you like.

 

Like it says above .... I think F-1 is very popular... when did the US GP ever have over 200,000 people?? Indy has been getting those crowds though Indy holds lots more so it looks more empty.... Watkins Glenn was as close to that as you can get.... F-1 is more popular now than it ever has been, but it will never be a house hold name brand like NASCAR, cause there just are not as many races, here or abroad.... F-1 is popular in Europe, but not as popular as say NFL football is here... its kinda like their version of NASCAR.... so I just dont get how folks say F-1 is not popular...it is...why else would SPEED keep the coverage going... surely the sponsors could use their money elsewhere.... the business of F-1 is what is not popular... they face a much more difficut time making money here than anywhere else... US fans have so much more stuff competing for their attention NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, College sports, NASCAR, ALMS, CART/ IRL.... not to mention Tennis, & Golf....so to me the fact that F-1 is still in there.... drawing hundreds of thousands of folks to a race at $50 - 200 a pop.... means It's popular in my book!

 

DirecTV. Even in an apartment, if the building doesn't offer a dish feed, you should be able to put up your own. (Check FCC regs on that.)

Ovals actually make for exciting races for the instant results/microwave generation.

The question of performance rally popularity has been batted around for decades, too.

If you look at the comments on youtube on WRC summaries, they all say "we need more rally in the US". But that's a pre-digested summary. The actual stages are spread all over the countryside. It takes dozens and dozens of cameras to cover WRC, on-board cameras, and it's still mostly the "amateur video" that catches the action.

F1 tracks are more compact today than the old Spa or North ring loops, but they still don't let the fans see all the action from one seat. It just costs more to cover an F1 race than a NASCAR oval. TV coverage goes for the discount.


And then there's the question of the driving. WRC is the pinnacle of vehicle control, an automotive ballet. F1 drivers are no slouches either, but passing in F1 takes finnesse and skill.

People who sit in gridlock in an SUV simply don't have an appreciation of that skill. Ask your average licensed driver in the US to define a handbrake turn, double declutching, or even *spell* "heel and toe", and you'll see why people don't appreciate a sport based on these things.

Americans don't much follow operas in Italian or sports they've never played (like soccer). They just don't speak the language of motorsports.

Anyone can see two boxes banging fenders on a NASCAR oval. That's aggression and horsepower -- things that US drivers *can* understand.


US drivers. Like Japan, US drivers can compete at home. They don't have to spend all their time out in another country. So you don't see our best on the F1 circuit. Our best would rather spend weekends at the family BBQ than eating snails with Bernie.

But even the domestic venues are getting lots of import drivers. Our roads aren't training good drivers, and liability issues limit access to tracks. This is also why you see a lot of kids street racing --- which doesn't make for F1 drivers.

US culture has deemed that internal combustion is "bad", and cars are politically incorrect. We're not making race drivers as a domestic product, much less enough to export them.

 

F1 to NASCAR is what

Chess is to checkers

Or

Poker to blackjack.

 

NASCAR is the F1 racing over here unfornately.


Also the Indy 500 is more popular than F1. People know who Danica Patrick is but they don't have a clue who Michael Schmacher is.

 

I'd say Schumi is the exception. A lot of people know who he is, because he has a great personality, has been racing a long time, and is approachable. ANY other F1 driver these days? Forget about it.

 

The first thing people wanted to do with the first cars was race them. In Europe they raced horses on grass and wouldn't think of letting a car tear the grass up, so they raced on public roads. Thus road courses. In America we raced horses on dirt and the American enterpenurial spirt saw grandstands with gates where admissions could be charged. We even made portable board tracks.

Fast forward.

Europe is old with small streets so they made small fast cars suitable for road courses. America is new and big, so we made big cars suitable for oval courses.

Fast forward.

We live on TV. When I was a kid, (established in 53), Monaco was on Wide World of Sports, and the Daytona 500, very little other racing coverage on the tube. In the early 80's ESPN began to cover the entire NASCAR season.

Fast forward.

Increased interest in racing spread. Cart became almost as fast and technical as F1, I said almost. Fan base and attendance were huge. Then the Cart/IRL split.

My opinion is that if the IRL and Cart had not split, the growing base of new open wheel fans would have found F1 and it would be bigger in the US today.

 

But F1 caters to a very specific audience, and by that I mean, if there were 3-4 races a year here, then you would not get 150,000-200,000 at one venue. The reason so many F1 fans go to the Indy F1 race is because it's the only game in town for the year.

Why did Long Beach fail ?
Detroit ?
Dallas ?
Phoenix ?
Watkins Glen ?

They are no longer racing there for a reason, and those reasons are high-$$$ sanctioning fees. Don't kid yourself, if it was a matter of changing some tracks to make them safer, the tracks would do that. F1 has NO problem making money here, it's the people HERE that have to pay F1 in advance that lose their butts.

If F1 was the slightest bit interested in the USA then they would change their philsophy a little bit, but they don't change because they don't have to, in their eyes.

 

Whoa, the fast forwarding gave me motion sickness. But I agree with everything you said. If IRL/CART had not split, the open wheel fan base in the USA would have been bigger today, and many of them would have discovered F1.


I would have supported both the IRL and CART, but then CART gave all fans the finger when they scheduled their debacle first event the same day as the Indy 500, only a few hundred miles away in Michigan. At that point, I gave messers Penske and Ganassi the finger. Now that they infiltrated the IRL, they too do not get my spectator dollar even though they are just down the street in Homestead every year.

I also have been listening to, watching, and spectating NASCAR event since the days of Fireball Roberts and Curtiss Turner. Heck, when living in Ohio, I would drive everywhere to catch a race, NASCAR, Can-Am, TransAm, F5000, sprints, etc. Now I go to 2 events every year, F1 in Indianapolis and the Daytona 500.

 

In the same way that i think Tony George's actions to split open wheel racing in two was a Americacentric and somewhat Anti Euro/Southamerican move, I think that Bernie and formula one like that it's the worlds largest automotive spectator circuit independent of the big bad America Bully.

Michael Schumacher giving the race to Rubens a few years back at Indy didn't help.

That it comes on in the middle of the night or at the wee hours of the morning isn't helping things.

Nonstop Nascar in your face on speed channel may not be formula 1's fault or maybe Bernie charges to much for coverage...i dunno.

I record all practices and races on my comcast thingy but would like to see other armchair quarterback/jock sniffin' shows on formula one that they have in europe.

 

Is all about the show.
F1 is not easy waching if you are not a fan alredy.
F1 sponsors are going out of F1 for the high cost or shwoing they brands in a short 18 race program.

easy and cheaper sponsorship some one in IRL or NASCAR.

 

These are some of my feelings as well, but I better put on my tripple layered flame suit.

Over 10 ears ago I watched a news article on Nightline, where they spoke about the average european consumer being able to read a electrical schematic. VCR, TV, what have you. Can the average American? We Pioneered this crap and yet we have no clue? We invented the transistor, the TV, the VCR, yet the majority of our people today are so uneducated they have absolutely no clue how anything works, and no interest in finding out. is it any wonder Billy Bob can get excited over Nascrap? You dont have to know anything to be involved. And worse, they have everyone brainwashed that these Nascar cars are some of the most highly designed and engineered racing cars on the planet. You jus stan back der sonny boy and weeel sho ya'll how its done down hea

The average car owner 100 years ago knew machines. They knew how they were made and they knew how to keep them going. In the great races they carried machanics along, and you would have a major part of the race being keeping the car running. But time marched on. Back in that period, 100 miles was a long ways. 1000 kilometers was an overwhelming distance. The Indy 500 took all day. But as speeds increased, the distances have remained virtually the same. Make the Indy a 2000 mile race without aerodynamics or driver aids and youll find fans again. Make the F1 races 1000 miles with simular requirments and youll find fans. Seeing MS rise from his big race after an hour and a half all smiles and full of energy is a lot different than seeing Fangio lifted from his car to weak to stand.

So I see the problem from two fronts. The average American has become so uneducated they have no clue about anything electrical or mechanical, and racing has become so engineered to keep things from breaking or anything bad happening that people have lost interest. Racing was created to see whose machine and driver would wear out first. Uhmmm, they dont go far enough for anything or anybody to wear out anymore. We need longer more grueling races. Races long enough to change a gearbox and still get back out with a chance of winning. I think thats why so many still romanticise the early days of racing.

 

I could not imagine going to an F1 event to watch a "race";
Here come the cars, lots of noise, whoosh there gone. A minute later the same,and if I'm paying attention possibly will notice a rare position change.Repeat.
Thrill of thrills would be a pass at my corner, once. Fight traffic 2 hrs.
At a "Nascrap" event you can pretty much see most of the race ALL the time. Passing, crashs, pit stops; the works.
Without TV, in which one can watch most of an F1 race courtesy of on-board cameras, F1 would be hurting more.

 

No flaming, you could be very correct with your assessment.

 

Americans are consumers.

Things are sold. They are not brought.

The France family understands this.

Bernie does not.

Dale

 

Need to watch some more racing then.

 

Well, I did mention the business of F-1 is not popular here... Europeans just are not wired like us... thats what keeps it interesting.

Long Beach and Watkins Glenn did not survive because they thought they did not have to pay up! - Long Beach got CART and was succesfull for a couple decades... today ... its debatable... Watkins Glenn... well it had other $$$ issues going on...I agree even if they would have ponied up all the cash F-1 would have most likely moved on... it's just not sexy out in the middle of no where! - but the track was one of the best & I've been to all the great tracks...( Spa is probbably my most favorite ) F-1 in the USA today is more popular than it ever has been... its on TV each race, every car magazine carries something about F-1 - Scott Speed in there, etc.... its just not ever going to be a big major deal.... if Andretti was racing today and was W/C - he might get more main streem coverage - like Lance Armstrong - Maybe.... but that is about it. Ecclestone et al... they are all about the $$$, especially now since its owned by big banks.... so they have to produce... or should I say exploit.... and the USA is just too sophisticated for their basic tactics... their approach only works when a country does not have any motorsport... in the USA.. billy bob, is real happy with Dale Jr. ... so Billy bob dont need Alonso... Renault or any other furrin things! - in the rest of the world ... they do!

I look for F-1 to become increasingly focused on China and India... 2 billion folks who want Ferraris

 

It almost sounds like you have never watched any NASCAR races, certainly never in person. Most of the lead changes come from on track action, then during pit stops, not from accidents or debris. There have been so many thrilling last lap passes for the win in NASCAR, especially on the superspeedways.

At most oval tracks, you can sit anywhere in the stands and be able to see the entire track. Crowd reaction is part of the scene, almost like being at a basketball game. Last weekend, when Earnhardt Jr, and Jeff Gordan were racing together, there was hardly anyone sitting in their seats, most were standing and cheering.

Despite this, I really have no idea why I prefer F1. Probably because of Ferrari. It is the only form of racing I must watch on TV, and only live, no TIVO for me. Passes are infrequent, and usually with a few laps to go, you already know who the winner will be. Becomes anticlimatic.

Frankly, I do not think I would be watching F1 if Ferrari were to drop out.

 

The answer is simply that there is only one race in the USA, there are hardly any American drivers, companies, teams, sponsors, etc etc.

 

There are hundreds of countries that do not have a race, that do not have a driver in F-1, zero national sponsors and yet, F-1 is hugely popular in their counties. I.e. Mexico.
Mexico hasn't had an F-1 race since 92, the last Mexican driver races in the early 80’s; Mexicans do not have anything in common with the "elite" of F-1. Mexico has similar geography as the US (except for the cold). Down in Mexico they watch the same "lack of passing", and yet they love F-1.
So it is NOT F-1 fault that it is not more popular in the US. It is the US fans fault.
So here is the question what makes the American fans any different from the rest of the world?

 

NASCAR has the most passing of any racing league. By a wide margin. Anyone who doubts that doesn't watch the races. How many F1 races have 10 lead changes? 20 lead changes? Ever watch the Daytona 500 or Bristol? I rest my case.


Ken