Much about the general direction and future of a racing event can be found not in the first year, but the second. The first United States Grand Prix at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas was an unquestioned, smashing success, and seeks a respectable encore on par this time around (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, NBC and NBC Sports Live Extra).
With that in mind, we take a look back on the five most recent “seconds” for the USGP at its various venues.
2001: Indianapolis
Held on September 30, just more than two weeks after the September 11 tragedy, there was a true sense of unity and patriotism as a backdrop to the 2001 U.S. Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In a strategic chess match, McLaren and Mika Hakkinen beat Ferrari and Michael Schumacher at their own game. It was a popular triumph for the two-time World Champion, and the last of his career before a one-year “sabbatical” turned into retirement from F1. Schumacher was second with Hakkinen’s teammate David Coulthard third.
Three drivers on that grid, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, were set to race in the second USGP at Austin this weekend. That number now drops by one with Raikkonen’s back surgery taking him out of the cockpit.
1990: Phoenix
The race in the “Valley of the Sun” moved from its sweltering June date the year previous to March, to open the 1990 season.
Ayrton Senna won but the star of the day was Jean Alesi. Alesi harrowed and pushed Senna’s McLaren all race in a less-than-competitive Tyrrell, such was the nature of the 90-degree corner laden street circuit where all out horsepower was not as important as handling. Alesi finished second and his star rose in the F1 paddock, as he would move to Ferrari at year’s end.
Unfortunately for Phoenix’s race, it met its demise after the 1991 Grand Prix when a local ostrich festival drew more spectators. I wish I was kidding.
1983: Detroit
Detroit held a place on the F1 calendar from 1982 through 1988; the second race in Detroit was won by the late Michele Alboreto, scoring a win for a non-turbocharged Ford Cosworth, and the last for the Tyrrell team (which, believe it or not, is a precursor to the current Mercedes squad). 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg came second with John Watson third, ahead of a packed crowd of more than 70,000 spectators. Detroit was not called the “United States Grand Prix;” instead, it carried the “Detroit Grand Prix” moniker with more than one F1 race in the U.S.
1977: Long Beach
The 1977 United States Grand Prix West at Long Beach was the star turn for one of America’s greatest ever drivers on home soil. Mario Andretti captured the first and thus far only win for an American in the USGP with Lotus, over Niki Lauda and Jody Scheckter. A late-race pass on Scheckter’s Wolf-Ford netted Andretti the win, in one of the most memorable USGP moments.
1962: Watkins Glen
You have to go back more than 50 years to find the fifth “second” USGP, as the Dallas race in 1984 did not have an encore. The legendary Jim Clark won at Watkins Glen in 1962, another win for Lotus, ahead of Graham Hill’s BRM and Bruce McLaren’s Cooper. Rain threatened to interrupt the race but it stayed dry just long enough around the Finger Lakes region.
For the fifth time in 10 rounds of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season, the three riders at the top of the championship standings shared a podium and while those points tell one story, the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit tell a slightly different tale.Cooper Webb is peaking at the right time. – Feld Motor Sports
Chase Sexton has been all but perfect during the past 45 days with podium finishes in each of his heats and Triple Crown features. His only stumble during this period was a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis Main. Last week, Sexton was perfect with wins in both his heat and the feature, although he needed a little help from an Aaron Plessinger mistake to take the top spot on the podium at the end of the night.
Cooper Webb finished fifth at Houston and was beginning to worry ever so slightly about his position in the points. Prior to the race in Tampa, he told NBC Sports that it was time to win and like Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield fence, Webb went out and captured it. Following that race, Webb has swept the podium and earned the red plate two weeks ago in Indianapolis. At Detroit, he added two more points on Eli Tomac as the season begins to wind down.
Tomac struggled with a stiff neck at Indianapolis and after a modest third-place showing in Detroit, he revealed he was still suffering a little. Webb and Sexton have been able to close the gap on Tomac in the past 45 days, but one of the main reasons he is so close in the points was a pair of wins that started the year. Seattle is going to be important for the defending champion because Tomac cannot afford to lose any more momentum with seven rounds remaining.
It appeared Jason Anderson was turning things around. He earned his fifth heat win at Detroit, which was also his sixth consecutive race (including features) in which he scored a top-five. A fall in the Detroit Main dropped him a lap off the pace and sent him home with a season-worst finish of ninth, causing a ripple effect in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings.
Justin Barcia was a huge part of the show last week in Detroit. He swapped positions with both Webb and Tomac in the middle stage of the race, which allowed Sexton to close the gap. Barcia finished fourth in that race to earn his third consecutive top-five. He’s been outside the top 10 only once in the first 10 rounds.
Adam Cianciarulo had a great start to the Main. He led a couple of laps before losing a lap and slipping back to eighth in the final rundown. That run was strong enough to elevate him three positions in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit.
The NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings look at the past 90 days in the 250 class in order to have a balanced comparison between the East and West divisions and Hunter Lawrence has been all but perfect this year. At Detroit, he earned his fifth win of the season and kept alive a streak of podium finishes in six rounds. He tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 250 wins one week before the West riders take to the track for back-to-back races at Seattle, Washington and Glendale, Arizona.
Nate Thrasher is settling into a comfortable role as ‘best in class’. – Feld Motor Sports
The Lawrence brothers are dominating the points in each of their respective divisions, which means the remainder of the field is battling to be best in class.
In the East, that rider is Nate Thrasher, who beat Hunter in a head-to-head matchup in their heat only to finish second in the main when the majority of points were awarded. Thrasher seems to have accepted his position in the championship standings, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying for wins.
Haiden Deegan showed a lot of aggression in his heat last week. He threw a couple of block passes at his teammate Jordon Smith and set up a series of events that kept Smith from making the big show while Deegan settled into second in the preliminary. Deegan was unconcerned about how he raced his teammate and would not let a little controversy keep him from celebrating his second career podium in Detroit.
Jeremy Martin just keeps clicking off solid results. He won his heat last week by making a pass on Deegan and Smith while they were in the heat of their battle. Martin finished fourth in the Main, which means he continues to have only one finish worse than sixth in any of the features or mains.
Smith fell one position in the points standings, but the damage was even worse in SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit. Crash damage in his heat contributed to a last-place finish in that race, for which he earned minimal points. He was not able to advance from the Last Chance Qualifier after stalling his bike in heavy traffic.
250 Rankings
This
Week
Rider
Power
Avg.
Last
Week
Diff.
1.
Hunter Lawrence – E
[5 Main, 5 Heat wins]
90.43
1
0
2.
Jett Lawrence – W
[3 Main, 3 Heat wins]
90.30
2
0
3.
Nate Thrasher – E
[1 Main, 3 Heat wins]
84.00
5
2
4.
Cameron McAdoo – W
[1 Heat win]
79.80
9
5
5.
Haiden Deegan – E
[1 Heat win]
78.21
7
2
6.
Jeremy Martin – E
[2 Heat wins]
78.00
8
2
7.
Jordon Smith – E
[3 Heat Wins]
76.77
4
-3
8.
Levi Kitchen – W
[1 Main]
75.30
3
-5
9.
Mitchell Oldenburg – W
75.20
11
2
10.
RJ Hampshire – W
[4 Heat wins]
74.50
17
7
11.
Max Anstie – E
74.43
6
-5
12.
Tom Vialle – E
72.07
12
0
13.
Max Vohland – W
71.56
10
-3
14.
Stilez Robertson – W
[1 Heat win]
69.22
14
0
15.
Chris Blose – E
67.43
18
3
16.
Chance Hymas – E
67.10
15
-1
17.
Enzo Lopes – W
66.00
20
3
18.
Michael Mosiman – E
65.80
16
-2
19.
Pierce Brown – W
65.78
13
-6
20.
Phil Nicoletti – W
59.25
21
1
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).
