USF1-Why can't we help?

Because most of us don't care to fritter away MILLIONS of dollars.

F1 racing - like Horse racing and any other kind of racing is a losing proposition UNLESS you can sign on major corporate sponsors to pay YOU. Why do you think a lot of folks quit driving for someone else and start their own teams? (Tony Stewart)
I guarantee you if Joe Gibbs wasn't making money he would not be owning a race team, same goes for Penske, Hendrick, Andretti, Roush, et al. Penske could not find a sponsor for his ALMS team so he folded it. Prost did the same when he bought (Ligier?). Look at all the F1 teams that have folded over the years, they fold for one reason and one reason only, lack of money.

 

If they cannot make it on their own, and if the other teams do not see value in having more cars on the grid--more fans, more eyeballs for advertisers, etc--then, forced contributions will not work.

I appreciate the fact that you are calling for voluntary contributions, but PW needs to show people he deserves it, before passing the offering plate. And, on that count, the jury is still out.

 

The best thing you or I or anyone can do to help USF1 is to go to their website, their YouTube channel and other websites and make supportive and enthusiastic comments about the team. That is one of the things potential sponsors will be looking at. Then, when they offer some merch, buy it. Then, if you can, go to a race and wear it. Potential sponsors will be looking at that as well.

 

I do not want them to fail. That is why I am so hard on them.

If they are a joke or worse -- a scam or PR stunt -- they will set back any serious F1 effort from the US for years and years.

I hope they become a Mindardi or Super Aguri with their own legions of fans. But, from what I've seen already, something doesn't smell right here.

I became suspicious as soon as they started to show their organization. To me, the "Speed" interviews set them way back in the credibility. Honestly, I've seen Vintage race shops that were more sophisticated and better prepared to compete in F1.

If I'm wrong, I'll be the first to say so. I hope I'm wrong, but my gut tells me that something else is brewing under the surface.

 

You are absolutely correct with this post and apparently the person with this original post (#1) has not been following the progression (or lack thereof) of this team and it's very offensive to see that someone on here is suggesting that those of us who post on here join him in monetary support

Carol

 

Are they going to use racer CASEY PAUTSCH?

 

Nail on the head.

From what I've seen so far about USF1, they're just not going to make it to bahrain. Not with a car than can compete with any of the other teams anyhow.

I do want them to be there though, just so that I have something to laugh at. But in all seriousness, I want a race back in the states (even though I don't live there...).

The thing that annoyed me though was when peewee said ''We're basing USF1 in the states because they invented carbon fiber and therefore are better''. Maybe not annoyed but baffled by such an outrageous statement. They made it sound like in Europe its the bloody bronze age and cars are still being pulled along by a horse.

 

great post. as much as i support USF1 i'm not going to "donate" money to a non-charitable organization. and if they actually need fan contributions they are done for anyway.

I'm stunned that this attitude is still fairly prevalent. They have accepted money to the tune of TENS of MILLIONS of dollars. They are supposed to announce today a driver who is bringing (in part) government money. A year ago it was clear it wasn't a scam, today it has to be painfully obvious.

In computer security, we have a saying, never attribute to malice what you can attribute to incompetence.

Unfortunately, I think you are correct, if they fail it will set back another US F1 effort for quite awhile.

 

I can't think of a single team other than the originals (Williams, McLaren) that started out as from-the-ground-up efforts and were still in F1 after a few years.

Look at all the flame-outs. Minardi, Spyker, Midland, Arrows, Prost and countless others.

Then look at the money-is-no-object teams that started from the ground up - Toyota, BMW. They all failed. All of them.

If you look at the teams that have been successful and new to the sport, I would say Force India is doing reasonably well, as is Red Bull and STR. All three of those teams were formerly racing under a different name and were bought out. Force India was Spyker which was Jordan before that. STR was Minardi. And Red Bull was Jaguar.

The lesson seems to be that success in F1 requires an existing team being bought out by a very rich person who has the commitment to see the process through.

It also seems to be that if you start out from scratch, you can't make it in F1, even if you have unlimited money to spend.

USF1, having anything but unlimited money, and starting from scratch, is doomed to utter failure. I think the same will be said of Manor/Virgin and Campos as well.

I think we'll be lucky if 2 of them have a car on the grid in Bahrain, and I doubt if ANY of them will make it to the end of the season.

And they will all be ridiculously slow. Embarrassingly slow.

 

I hear you! Sending money was not the best of ideas but I agree with your sentiment.

 

I don't think so. I've heard from pretty reliable sources that Force India has a lot of outstanding bills they can't pay. Thats old news, so maybe since 3 mos ago they received some influx of capitol, but I have not heard any new sponsor arrangements.

 

I hope they get themselves together and get to go racing. However, something doesn't seem right if they don't even have a driver line up or even logos yet. I like Peter Windsor when he was with Speed TV and hope his group can get things together.

 

The President is due to announce the first driver at 19:00 today.

 

That is the president of Argentina of course, to announce Lopez at USF1.

WhooHoo!!

Hope the checks clear......then some more videos can be released......

 

Dude . . . dude . . . don't type when drinking. It can only end badly.

 

I just got back from town and checked the websites and I was beginning to think it was just more hot air from Pee Wee - all the important news of the day has already been covered by the multiple of websites. Thanks for the heads up of 19:00 - that certainly seems a bit of a strange time to make an announcement - 7 pm ??? perhaps happy hour preceeds the announcement thus the wait??

Top Gear is on at that time here.....priorities.

Carol

 

19:00 what timezone?

 

The funny thing is though, it's not that long ago that every single car in America's Indycar series was constructed in the United Kingdom!. Not just some of them, but every single last one of them!. It's only in more recent years that the cars have been built in the states.
That kind of blows a hole in PeeWee's statement to Me.

 

Have you followed these guys from the beginning and read all the ridiculous and by now proven false statements they released?

Anderson did the Falcon project and PeeWee failed in getting a F1 project going in the eighties together with Bruni, who ended up in jail for fraud in relation to those activities.

It's not that I want them to fail (I honestly don't, if for no other reason than to no longer have to see the stupid grin of PeeWee while doing the gridwalk). It is that I'm tired of all the idiotic statements they have released.

A more honest and modest launch would have won them fans in droves. And a bit more openness would have probably brought them more sponsors.

But please, by all means, send them your money. I don't want PeeWee back at Speed TV. It's bad enough that Leno is back, but I digress.

 

Oh, I know first hand that they have some giant bills they aren't paying.... but I mean they have been pretty successful in terms of race results for a privateer team. They almost won in Spa.

 

I smell that also.

Tens of millions from where?
Anything at all to show for it?
Any 'real' hires of note, folks with an actual track history in F1?

You see, this attitude is still fairly prevalent because we have been down this road before...

For the record, most of the teams you stated started out as a different team, such as Prost. Williams started out as March, basically. I cannot think of many still around that started TOTALLY from scratch except Ferrari and McLaren, all the others either inherited a team, bought one out, bought it at auction, or bought it at tax liquidation.

Said it before/say it again: if Penske isn't in it, and if you recall he was and withdrew, then who else in a better position is there to make it, both financially, but more important: politically? NOBODY.
Force India has money, to some extent, but if they have issues paying bills, that tells you the scratch it takes to compete, even a multi-billionaire draws a line somewhere, seeenske.

 

Williams has been around since the early 70s with customer chassis, Brabhams, Iso and Marches before building his own name cars. I can remember his shop on the Bath Road with all 3 employees!

 

It will be all for naught if they can't manage to pay the bills as there are only so many vendors specializing in F1 quality components and service much less ones that can sit on multi-million dollars of "AR". Word travels fast and for "any business" to continue forward without settling their debts, old and new relationships will end up being cash in hand "first".