As F1 abandons European tracks, opportunity opens for IndyCar

In Dubai, Gary Meenaghan reported that Singapore is "only an example of recent decisions" that indicate F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone is still "searching for the winning formula that blends big money venues with breathtaking maneuvering." Many believe he "values the prestige and the pound more than he does the on-track action." Look at the '13 provisional calendar: For the second successive season, a track close to the sport's European base has been removed. Last year it was Turkey, which was "unconditionally loved, it seemed, by everyone except Istanbul's residents."

This year the European Grand Prix in Valencia was removed despite "having finally produced a race worth watching" in June when Fernando Alonso won from 11th place on the grid. Neither could "afford the fees that Asia and the Middle East can offer," and so the result is the sport's traditional hub "has never been as poorly represented on an F1 schedule for more than 40 years." THE NATIONAL

[Editor's Note: As AR1.com has stated on numerous occasions, there are a plethora of tracks around the world that can no longer afford an F1 race, but could afford an IndyCar race if IndyCar had the first clue on how to grow a global brand. We have published over the years 10, count them 10, articles on how IndyCar will not be able to grow out of the shadow of NASCAR in the USA because of the France family's monopolistic control of racing in America after Tony George split IndyCar in two and took it from the top to where it is today. It's now too late to break the France Family stranglehold on American motorsports. The damage to open wheel racing in the USA is done.

Some 10 years later and IndyCar is still miniscule because the powers to-be do not understand the global marketplace and the opportunity that exists outside the borders of their own country. How many more engine manufacturers would have signed up with IndyCar if it was a global brand? Look where F1 would be if it did not look to expand into the Middle East, Asia and now the USA (Texas and NJ). F1's expansion into the USA will just be something else to diminish the IndyCar product. The Indy 500 is a global brand, but the rest of the series clearly is not. Yet they hire mostly foreign drivers that could help IndyCar be a global brand. Ironic isn't it – a domestic series and a domestic focus with mostly non-domestic drivers?]