Vegas baby! VEGAS!!!! Let's hope Kimi is running with someone still so we can have the pre-amble to "The Hangover 2" Actually, I prefer Long Beach.... They'll get 300,000 people in a weekend easily and the weather is good anytime of the racing year. The only way I can see Vegas is if it's a night race... it's just too expensive. Why do I have the feeling that a US GP will NEVER happen?
My vote is for a New York street track... ok back to my bong and Project Gotham Racing 4 Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dream on...NEVER HAPPEN. Close the center city for 4 days for a sporting event???? Jeez when the President comes to town overnight it's bad enough.
NYC will never happen. I would absolutely love it to happen, but in a time when even SPA is having people complain about noise levels there's no way NYC would happen. I can't even imagine how great F1 would sound running through the city.
Mike, I have been watching F1 since the old days of the Monaco GP on Wide World of Sports, and later on the rebroadcast (back than it wasn't live) on ESPN. I am absolutely disgusted to no end with what has happened especially in the last 5 years to the sport. I went to Indy in 2000 and cheered Michael Schumacher towards what would be his 3rd Championship. Since this year, the appeal just keeps getting less interesting.
Logistically speaking, the idea of a mid-town race is obviously fantasy, but honestly (and I am smoking here ) I think they could probably put on a race at flushing meadows park (where the US Open is held, across from Citi Field) or they could make an infield track at the defunct Aqueduct Racetrack. Everyone has the idea that Manhattan is the only option simply because it would look great on TV; NYC would not balk at the $$$ a race weekend would bring in. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This whole discussion is fun but, truly, almost pointless. Every major city in America is hard-up for cash and would be unable -- economically and politically -- to subsidize Bernie Ecclestone's exorbitant demands. Barring a one-off experiment by Las Vegas, underwritten by a billionaire, it ain't gonna happen.
Just a thought, As I recall INDY cars race (or raced) at an airport in Chicago. Still may need a billionaire to sponser Bernie's fee though.
You're probably thinking about the horse track they converted to a race oval--the paperclip. It was pretty lame.
having failed to get the Olympics, Chicago probably qualify for government $$ for a GP race. It could be the "Jackson Memorial" or the "barack GP"
I actually laughed out loud twice reading this thread. Thanks guys, I needed that. This thread is indeed useless in that it will never happen without government funding in a city, but with this group in charge who knows? My choice of venues would be: 1) Long Beach (love the roots, and hey, the Andretti's would support and could put Andretti Jr, in a car for the race) 2) NYC. Biggest event today in the Big Apple, until the Giants game kicks off 3) Detroit. Nothing else going on there so why not? Well, they would have to repave the roads again, and again, and again to stop the manhole covers from ripping up like they did last time 4) Cleveland Airport......bwahahahahaha! 5) Walmart Parking Lot near where I live. Plenty of Space and WalMart is rich and doing well in this economy so they could front the money to 'ole Bernie. 6) Antarctica. Now hold on, this would be a new marketing angle. Plenty of room for yachts to park and skiing between qualy sessions....
Detroit would be good. That city today is pretty much where Long Beach was 30 years ago. I like LBGP because the infrastructure is there. Long Beach was a Navy port city that lost alot of money when the Navy left town. Look at old footage of LBGP 30 years ago. Shoreline drive was boarded up peep shows and vacant buildings. Now there is a booming night life all year around, Luxury hotels and condos and the marina's live aboard slips have a 100 year waiting list. ...oh yes it is only 20 miles from my house. The only thing missing in Long Beach is a title sponsor willing to pay Bernie's fee which is about the same amount to field 2 INDY cars for an entire IRL season.
I believe you are referring to the Cleveland "Grand Prix" on Burke Lakefront Airport. And as MBFerrari says: "bwahahahahaha!"