Oddly enough it wasn’t until the US Gran Prix F1 stopped coming to Indianapolis Motor Speedway that I first went to the Indianapolis 500.
A friend from Vegas is a huge F1 fan and came in every year to catch the race. I’d help him with his commercial website and other various technology questions and he’d buy my ticket each year. I love bartering for services. To make it even I’d also serve as pack mule for the weekend.
Anyway, I was pretty bummed when they decided to pull the race from Indianapolis and the United States completely. I think hosting the US Gran Prix is a great event for Indianapolis and we should continue to do everything we can to make sure we get it back. It seems the problem with that idea has always centered around F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone.
It was good news then this evening when I saw an article where racing legend Jackie Stewart, now called "Sir Jackie Stewart", says it’s time for Bernie and Max Mosley, president of F1’s governing body FIA, to step down and hand over the commercial interests to some successor.
"He has been so used to total control that if you look at his structure you have to ask yourself ‘is there a successor?’ and you would say ‘no’. That is wrong. The commercial reality has to be recognised … and there has be continuity that the ageing process makes necessary," Stewart said.
What do you think? Would Indianapolis be the shoe-in again for hosting the US Gran Prix if Ecclestone and Mosley weren’t in the picture anymore?
Did you attend the race when it was here? What did you think? It’s definitely not like American Indy car or NASCAR racing, that’s for sure. But it’s racing. And this is the racing capital of the world. We should host this race.
Here’s me saying "Happy Trails" to Ecclestone and Mosley. I say let’s make Jackie Stewart the successor in the interim and let him find an even more appropriate and willing replacement.
Source: Jackie Stewart says time for F1 supremos to go
We aren't into racing but we loved the classic car show that they had on Monument Circle in conjunction with the race (it was called Concours D'Elegance or something like that). Plus, it was just cool to walk around downtown while this was in town. All of the visitors gave Indy an international feel.