[Leica] The United States Grand Prix - this is a long post

[sethrosner at nycap.rr.com (Seth Rosner)]

Hello gang; it has been a while. I was scanning the archive and the above 
thread drew me back.

Some of you know that I raced a Triumph TR-3 during my Navy service and 
thereafter, a Porsche Super 90 coupe at Linas-Montlhery in France. I am an 
automobile racing nut and although I much prefer road-racing, I have 
followed most forms of motor racing since the early 1950's, have attended 
Formula One races at Watkins Glen, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Monaco, Monza, 
Spa-Francorchamps, Nurburgring, Reims, Rouen and Zandvoort.

P.S., Marc James, the U.S. Grand Prix has taken place at a fair number of 
different locations: Sebring, Watkins Glen, Detroit, Long Beach, I think 
Miami, but never, never at Lime Rock. P.P.S. how many know (I know Frank D. 
does) that in the early days of the modern world championship, the 
Indianapolis 500 counted toward the F.I.A. world driver's championship? 
Because its organizer, USAC, was the U.S. representative to the Federation 
Internationale de l'Automobile.

Now to the real reason for this post, the debacle at Indy last Sunday. It 
was clear to me on Sunday, watching and listening to the race report, that 
the culprit was Michelin (whose tires I have used with great satisfaction 
for many years). They supplied a tire that was unsafe in the circumstances 
of this race. All of the physical parameters of the race were well-known to 
all teams and suppliers. Michelin manufactured and delivered to its teams 
tires unsuitable to those conditions.

Let me ask you just what you think would have been the response of the 
Michelin-supplied teams if Bridgestone had supplied Ferrari with unsafe 
tires and had then asked Charlie Whiting of the F.I.A to allow the 
installation of a chicane to lower the speeds in turn 13 so that Ferrari's 
Bridgestone tires would not fail? And so that the speeds of all of the 
Michelin-equipped cars would be reduced to speeds that Ferrari could match? 
Give me a break!

Michelin screwed up and wanted the F.I.A. to bail them out. There was no 
Ferrari-driven cabal or comspiracy here.

Frank was absolutely right in writing that Whiting's decision was correct. 
The Michelin teams tried very hard with really outrageous commercial 
pressure to get the F.I.A. to violate its own rules. The fault lies with 
Michelin. The fault for the debacle lies with the Michelin-shod teams. They 
could have raced in turn 13 at lower speeds. Or they could have changed 
worn-out tires during the race and accepted the penalty for doing so. They 
chose to threaten and then grossly to embarrass the international racing 
community. Bad show.

P.P.S. Marc James, your gratuitous knock on U.S. soccer suggests that you 
have no idea about what is happening on the playgrounds of American schools. 
And why you persist in using raised-pinky effetist caricature language is 
beyond me. But your analysis of American attitudes toward G.P. racing is 
not.

Many of us Americans like most all forms of motor racing (tho' drag racing 
has zero interest for me). NASCAR has produced a phenomenal success because 
the public can identify with the cars on the circuits. While they are 
certainly far removed from the cars we drive, they look like our cars and 
they have pushrod V-8's like many American street cars. Millions of kids can 
dream of becoming NASCAR drivers and dozens and dozens actually can. Because 
while it is not inexpensive to run a NASCAR team, it is not a lottery 
number.

Formula One, on the other hand, will always be an elitist endeavor. There 
are presently only ten (10) teams racing in Formula One; there used to be 
eleven. That is it.
AND, the cost to run a team for a Formula One season is between a quarter 
and a half a BILLION dollars. At the low end budget of $250,000,000., you 
will not have a competitive car. Or a competitive driver.

Different ball games.

Despite which there was an enormous crowd at Indy last Sunday for the 
debacle. What that debacle will cost F-1 is anybody's guess. My guess is 
that F-1 will be back though it will take some time to recover from the 
wounds the Michelin teams inflicted on the enterprise.

My 2c.

Good to be back

Seth