Four Left Turns for F1

I was greeted this morning by an article from F1 Fanatic about oval racing for F1.Read the whole article here. I highly recommend it.

I think Keith Collantine brings up a great point for US involvement in F1. If they really want to succeed as a popular form of racing in America, running on an oval is the way to go. Whether we like it or not, the road racing is the USA is a niche racing market. The majority of racing interest is direct towards ovals. An F1 race on an oval would certainly get an IndyCar fan's interest, and likely NASCAR fans would be interested in the novelty of it.

An added benefit of using an oval from an American perspective is that we would see a greater deal of respect towards this type of track from both drivers and fans. To say that "just turning left" is easy oversimplifies what this type of racing requires. I've said this to others in the past that successful oval racing requires a slightly different skill set than road course racing, but nonetheless it deserves to be in a great driver's set of skills. To me that's why I think most highly of guys like Mario Andretti who have been very successful in several disciplines and numerous styles of racing. It's a range that is too seldom seen these days (Montoya may be the last of them right now). It could have an added effect of having older drivers like a Barrichello try IndyCars (or at least the 500) after their F1 careers have run their course in the vein of Emerson Fittipaldi. That would bring a better profile internationally to IndyCars, as it would not just be the F1 reject bin.

But where would they race? The amount of speed an F1 car can generate eliminates high banked tracks like Daytona, Michigan, and Texas from consideration. Besides, a low banked track is an easier transition for oval newbies (see last year's Milwaukee race for proof). That being said, Indy would be an obvious pick: clearly F1 ready, low banked, historical, and could show off the real speeds of these cars. Pocono is one on my radar, since the uniqueness of the track is the most similar thing to a road course. Plus since it's fairly close to NYC the F1 powers that be would be able to tap into the national media easily not to mention allow the muckety mucks to spend time there.

I don't think it will ever happen though. There would have to be some technical changes for the cars, not to mention enough Eurosnobs who don't get this kind of racing. Still, if they ever want to really break into to the US again it would be the best option.