Here’s a few facts from when I was in Spain last year and the Austrailian GP was on TV that weekend and other rants and raves:
1) At the airport souvenier shop they had 2 walls full of Grand Prix paraphenalia and it was NICE stuff.
2) The newspaper had the first 17 pages of the sports section devoted to the F1 race that weekend (even my wife was impressed with that)
3) We could have gone to a bar that night to watch it live but probably would’t have found a seat since the place was packed with people watching the race.
We went to a karting track in Malaga next to the meditteranean and they had cinderblock garages/storage units you could rent. Above the mechanic’s shop and retail store they had a restaurant/deli where you could sit above the track and have a beer and watch the action on the patio or inside (I felt like we were in hog heaven! Of course we had many beers after renting karts and watching everyone else) Alonso’s photos were on the wall along with some other non F1 drivers. How could they afford to build such a beautiful place? I don’t know but if I could build a track I’d copy a lot of thier ideas, hint hint 8)
When IRL and CART kiss and make up then you’ll see some true racing, both road courses and ovals.
Remember, AJ Foyt won Indy 500, Daytona 500 and LeMans. Mario raced at Daytona along with all the other places he raced and both said that they learned their chops from racing midgets in the midwest. And Dan Gurney….
Those were stud American drivers. And in their days NASCAR racers had REAL headlights and not decals. :argue