donskar wrote:To add another perspective on Road America (I was there in the early Can-AM days): it is a beautiful setting, hills, trees, lots of green and clean. Friendly people. Great food. LOTS of good places to watch the race. Cheap tickets. A great place to watch a race and enjoy the whole experience.
I guess a lot of the above rules it out for F1
And maybe this is an indicator of the widening gulf between dedicated race tracks and the requirements of Formula One. My home track, Mosport has a lot in common with Road America. It's set in the country, a beautiful place to spend a camping weekend for the die-hard race fan. When no major events are scheduled, almost every weekend you will find club racers, teams testing, clubs using the track. I don't know how many times I would wander up to the pits on a quiet Saturday morning and share some coffee and stories with others as we watched the sun burn off the morning haze, then prepare to get on track for some fun.
There are countless tracks like this, be it Brands hatch or Elkhart lake, or Mosport, where enthusiasts collect on a regular basis and the tracks are continually busy. And for the fans, it's a wonderfiul camping weekend where you enjoy the cars and racing during the day, and socialize in the evening.
A few weeks ago during the pre-race coverage one reporter asked Bernie about Turkey, and he was enthusiastic about this venue, and expressed a desire that more tracks should be like Turkey. Admittedly it had produced some exciting Formula One races, but just like other tracks like China, are used only once a year, for one event. These tracks are designed to host major sporting events, and basically sit unused for the entire year.
I don't have a problem with the NASCAR Nationwide Series Bucyrus 200 at Road America, heck, jacques is on the pole. Some have expressed concern that the track would suffer. Most likely it will, but on my belief that having 43 cars run a 50 lap race is a lot of hard usage.
Racing should be decided on the track, not the court room.
