Bernie is such a tease... You never know if what he is saying is part of some theatrics to sway some organizing deal or other, it never encourages booking hotels and airplane tickes to these on again off again grands prix.

I think Bernie has a problem with the US motorsport world.
F1 did rather well in the US until Bernie gained power over F1 and it has been on and off up and down ever since. It has not been able to take root since.

Plant a seed, two good races Texas and New Jersey, let it grow and ten seasons from now F1 will be an established part of the US racing scene. Look at what grew out of the ALMS.

This

THEM AIN'T NASCARS, WHERE'S DALE JR? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Bernie is Junior sized.

wow, what an embarrassing photo

Texas is the only place willing to build an F1 track.

Texas is unique in a lot of ways

Thanks! Uhhh, I think...

Sure, why not?

Kolaches at Shipley's Do-Nuts
Texas Ren Fest
great steaks
variable terrain (west vs east)
Need I mention the Cowgirls?

Everything is bigger in Texas, and don't mess with it.

I wish Bernie didn't have such a grip on the sport, i dont like him and i dont think he should get to decide all that he does. Poison Dwarf i call him.

He complains about America and F1 being there.... but the problem is, he has never let it settle in over there, admittedly the whole tyre issue at Indianapolis that year caused an absolute riot, but tbh it needs to be given a few years to really take hold, i love seeing the footage of the old Detroit races that F1 used to have and what amazing races it produced, Bernie needs to just shut up for once in his life and let it happen.

Plus if he pulls the plug on this what example is that setting for "cost cutting" and everything? it isn't all it would acheive is alot of wasted money, probably a few buisnesses closing their doors and more people unemployed the man is a selfish little arse. GRRRRRRRRRRRR he makes my blood boil!

F1 in general would be great, or should I say could be great, and I'm really glad to see it going to Texas. What bigger or better place to have F1 races.But he just might be right.I've been into F1 since the sixties when there actually was some racing in F1, and all those ugly ass wings weren't on the cars, oh wait don't forget the sharkfins as well. But don't get me going on how ugly the cars are.
That and these awful cookie cutter tracks, strange how the favorite tracks of the drivers like Spa and Monaco are old school tracks of yesteryear.Or the stadium tracks made for thefans, which are jammed into such a small place how could they be any good?
I want to see the track and races here and see what happens.
In my little world in massachusetts or should say taxachusetts, they don't even know what racing is at all. The only time it ever gets on the news, is when someone has a bad accident.No auto sports news whatsoever. If you are into all types of motorsports as I am, Massachusetts is a motorsports void.
Strangely enough considering we have iRacing based right here too, half hour drive away for me.
I still think that race in Australia at Bathhurst was terrific, hope we see more next year !

Well the tracks all look alike because they were designed by Bernie budd Herman Tilke. The wings are so exaggerated because Max Moseley restricted tire size and mechanical grip for "safety reasons" and so the cars resort to adding as much aerodynamic down-force as possible. But the wings don't bother me much at all -- actually Texan Jim Hall started the whole thing back in the mid 60s with his Chapparell sports racers.

I've seen some great races this season, last season was IMHO better, but every race is not going to be great. But the best races do tend to be at the older tracks.

I'm quite familiar with the Chaparral, matter of fact I think its one of the nicest cars I've ever seen,I have one right on my shelf matter of fact #65. But anything taken to extreme just goes too far.I think some of the races were good as well, but will we see another duel like Villineueve and Arnoux?, probably not, its amazing what money can buy these days, except for possibly in the rain which is the great equilizer.I do love to watch the weather drive the poor engineers crazy, and the drivers work there own special magic behind the wheel. The cars are amazing pieces of rolling technology, I just wish it was a little more about the driver and less about the car.
I remember seeing amazing 4 wheel drifts in perfect control, without an engineer barking in the drivers ear to take it easy. Its like everything else these days I guess, everyone has a phone glued to his ear, information overload.
I wonder how many drivers have wanted to shut off the radios and just drive, the better ones could always tune out everything, the only noise being that great sounding engine, a litte wind noise, and the tires on the tarmac.
I really do hope the US public appreciates F1, but it will only be a small percentage at best, especially in the economy were in right now.

I appreciate your feelings.
I do think Schumacher and Hamilton had a great dice at Monza this year, but sadly they "called the cops" on Schumi because he fought for his position and did not let the faster car through.

I think that is bogus, if you are indeed faster you will get through. I have seen plenty of drivers make passes on track. It is the pezzenovante who put so many rules and restrictions on the drivers that now the young ones think "if I am faster he should move aside". No, it is racing.

One thing i hated from when i actually did a bit of racing was the constant chatter from the engineers on the pitwall blabbing crap to me that i didn't have any interest in knowing.

There was one race where i was really on it at Outlen Park, on it and in the "zone", and whilst i was going about my buisness right on the limit as you say there Bruce, sliding a bit when on the edge to find every tenth, they would indeed message me saying to back it down a little bit and to not take so many risks.
Well that set me off, and upon returning to the pits from qualy and that whole radio conversation and the constant chatter and orders i jumped out the car and stormed over to the pit wall absolutly fuming at them, it was a while ago but i believe i said something along the lines of "You send me out in that car to do a qualy run, to try and put us up front where we need to be and all you are interested in is keeping it tidy and not risking it, well it may be news to you but its racing so let me do my f****** job and deal with things my way, im the one driving the car so im the one who knows when its to much. Think you can do better get in the car and do it yourself, so in future keep the chit chat to a damn minimum"

With that i stormed off leaving them in silence probably a bit stunned at what had just happened, it worked though they were quiet and only came on to mention anything of importance like car problems, which were frequent because it was a piece of ****, but thats not the point, i fully believe in letting the driver just do his stuff, hes the one out there and knows when to do certain things its just second nature to any of us.

But yeah my season ended in spectacular fashion in the final round to complete what was a rather cruddy season, again back at Oulten Park, coming down towards the hairpin on the extended version of the track, oil leaking from the car got on the back tyres as i broke the back just came round and i went sideways up the car in front and rolled twice before coming to a hault, needless to say the team weren't impressed even though it wasn't my fault and thus i was given the boot, but hey ho these things happen now im just a desktop warrior on racing sims because of money.

So yeah its really an acheivement really seeing these drivers put up with it, obviously theres been more than a few incidents when drivers have lost it live on tv over the radio to their team on the pitwall, makes for great viewing when that happens lol feel the venom of an angry racing driver!

Maybe right now. Indy built the infield F1 road course in the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway just for F1. It did okay for a couple years, then the tire fiasco that pissed off a lot of people who spent their hard earned money for a great race, and afterwards it was starting to come back. I was at the last race there in 2007 and the place was hopping and pretty crowded.

The problem in the US isn't that we hate F1, it's that we can't afford Bernie's prices to go to the races. Bill France who owns the Indy Speedway had to keep the race tickets fairly affordable to draw larger crowds. For the '07 race I bought a three day general admission pass for $75 plus camping fees which was great for me. There were higher priced grandstand seats, but generally it was affordable. Bernie is money hungry and didn't like his cut of the till so he pulled out of Indy.

After that, and the politics that go into F1 I could care less if they race in the US. We have plenty of other motorsports and I'll gladly pay to see IndyCars and ALMS on a road course any day. I would still love to see the Aussie V8 Supercars though!

You have to give him credit for his early days in charge of Formula One but as they say absolute power corrupts absolutely and Bernie Ecclestone is -in my opinion- no exception to that saying. I think he is as twisted as a corkscrew. I truly believe he is the kind of arsehole that gives other arseholes a bad name, and the sooner he gets his come-uppance from the European courts over his "alleged" corruption and dodgy dealings then the better it will be for motorsport in general and Formula One in particular. I hope they jail the little turd and throw away the key.

No offense intended, and just my two bits...

I think it is as hard for the US to like F1 as it is for Europe to like NASCAR rowdy-rounds. There is something within each that culturally that attracts or repels, depending on the individuals perception. There are people in both locales who like the "other" format, so it is not absolute. If we can decipher why each culture is partial to their own football, then we can probably answer the F1 in USA question.

As much as I love NASCAR and drag racing, road racing will always be my first-love in racing, with Sports/Proto/GT being first followed by F1. But F1 now reminds me more of world politics than racing, in spite of some very good events in the past couple of years. Before that, sorry, but to this Texan it was a screaming bore and a conga line lap-after-lap, permeated by incidental and occasional passes. Also maybe because I'm an old phart, but while F1 is much much safer now, it is also much more boring with the pregnant karting tracks.

I was much more distraught about the Austin's tracks problems not because of F1 but because of the possible loss of the Aussie V8 Supercars. Hell, throw NASCAR and F1 out and make the V8 Supercars the standard!

Funnily enough, I love F1 and Nascar but V8 Supercars leaves me cold.

As Stewart said i love f1 and Nascar, i think the thing is with V8's for me is there isn't enough coverage of the series over here to properly enjoy it, i'm always on the internet having to find it online and it just kills it, if they showed even delayed broadcasts of the races on say MotorsTV then id probably have more of an affection for it.

Certainly driving the rFactor V8's is enjoyable! and i can't fault the sound of the engines either! i just want to be able to see more of the action!

I'm the rare Texan who can't stand NASCAR (Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks), I love FIA GT Racing and it's a shame it never comes here. I hope the Austin track might attract some good races.

I am not opposed to seeing the IndyCar and ALMS guys doing some road courses.

I hope the Grand-Am Series will make it to Austin at some point. Even though it is owned by NASCAR (Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks) I have come to enjoy watching this series and even have a friend who races in the Continental Cup which is a sub-series. He's got a drive for the upcoming 24hrs of Daytona with the Dempsey team.

I used to love F1 and was at all the Indianapolis races from day one not to mention the Canadian GP's in Montreal. After the US got cancelled and Montreal in 2009 for that season i just decided I had had enough of Bernie and his politics of greed. I'm slowly regaining my interest so I hope the new Austin track works out. I might even make the trip to check it out. Meanwhile I am loving the ALMS which I know from some inside sources is having troubles (only 4 LMP1 entries last season) and the Nascar owned Grand-Am is starting to do well.