F1 dismisses worries of U.S. oversaturation while adding third stop in Las Vegas for 2023

Associated PressMar 31, 2022, 7:00 AM EDT
F1 three races America
Formula One
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LAS VEGAS — As F1 announces three races in America for next year, it’s instructive to review the last time Formula One ventured into Sin City for back-to-back Las Vegas races staged in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel 40 years ago.

The European-headquartered series raced in Las Vegas in 1981 and 1982, then packed up with little incentive to return — until the past five years. Then came new ownership, slick marketing, a Netflix docuseries and a historic championship battle that all helped F1 explode in popularity throughout the United States.

The United States will be the only country on the 2023 calendar to play host to three F1 races in one season following Wednesday’s announcement of a Saturday night race down the famed Las Vegas Strip. F1 has raced at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, since 2012, and in May it will make its debut in Miami.

Barring any surprises, existing races in Mexico City and Montreal will bring F1 to North America five times next season.

Is it too much for one market?

Bobby Epstein, president of COTA, believes there’s enough interest to sustain three U.S. races. He could barely draw 100,000 spectators over a three-day weekend five years ago; COTA had more than 300,000 last year and is already sold out for its October race.

F1’s first race in Miami this May sold out in one day.

“Before we opened, there was very little interest or awareness in America about Formula One because they had no presence here,” Epstein told The Associated Press. “The first few years, it’s hard to know if you have a bright new shiny object or you have something that people really love and come back for and aren’t just curious about.

“What you can’t buy is history and you can’t buy tradition. You have to make it and earn it. The crowds here have told us we’re absolutely doing something right.”

NASCAR is the top U.S. series and already races 13 miles away from The Strip at the oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. NASCAR last week made its second appearance at COTA.

IndyCar is the American version of F1 and the most diverse series in the world with its mix of road and street courses, as well as ovals. But the open-wheel series never has challenged F1, even as European drivers are now migrating to IndyCar.

F1 didn’t much focus on the U.S. until Liberty Media Corp. bought the rights to the series in 2017. The American company has since targeted U.S. expansion and received a massive boost from the Netflix docuseries “Drive To Survive.”

Season four dropped ahead of the F1 season opener this month and Netflix said the behind-the-velvet rope peek inside the series ranked No. 1 in 33 countries its opening weekend. ESPN, meanwhile, said viewership for Sunday’s race in Saudi Arabia broke the week-old record for the network and was ESPN’s largest F1 audience since 1995.

“The momentum of Formula One has been demonstrated over the last several seasons and we’ve seen that potential turn into a reality as we watch our fanbase really grow around the world, but especially here in the U.S.,” Greg Maffei, President and CEO of Liberty Media, told The Associated Press.

F1 will promote the event alongside Liberty, which is taking on the additional role because of its belief in the market. F1 signed an initial three-year contract for the race, but the exact race date was not revealed beyond that it will be a Saturday night in November on a temporary 3.8-mile street course that will utilize the iconic Las Vegas Boulevard.

“This is somewhat different for us in that we’re taking a larger role because of our belief in the opportunity and our belief in Las Vegas,” Maffei said.

Added Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of F1: “The best racing on the planet will be in the entertainment capital of the world. Formula One has huge momentum and we are growing around the world and the United States is a massive focus for us, there is no doubt about it.”

No other country hosts more than two races a season. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said the city expected 170,000 visitors on race weekend to account for 400,000 nights of hotel rooms and an estimated economic impact of half a billion dollars.

But as F1 chases the U.S. dollar, it does so with very little American representation.

Michael Andretti, son of 1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti, is desperate to land a two-car team and a $420 million takeover of the existing Sauber team collapsed late last year. Andretti since has applied for expansion to the 10-team grid.

He’d like to bring to F1 driver Colton Herta, the Californian who turned 22 on Wednesday and is an IndyCar title contender. Herta has signed a testing contract with McLaren and will be evaluated by that team later this year.

Maffei was quick to point out that F1 already does have an American team; Haas F1 is owned by American businessman Gene Haas, who operates part of the organization alongside its NASCAR operation in North Carolina.

But Haas was the worst team in F1 last year and Andretti has publicly called on Haas to sell the F1 team to him. Haas has refused to sell and through the first two races appears to be a much improved team.

Gene Haas was forced to drop both his Russian driver and the sponsorship Nikita Mazepin brought from his father’s fertilizer company following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two weeks before the season opened. The team has somehow emerged stronger and scored points in the first two races of the season.

F1 and Liberty agree the series needs more American representation – teams, drivers, sponsors, all of it – but Domenicali said it cannot be an artificial effort. F1 won’t admit a team owner just to further its growth in the U.S.

“It’s important, but it has to be real,” Domenicali told AP. “People are making a difference, they are the protaganist. But it has to be real, (the driver) has to be quick, because otherwise it would not work. It is a journey that is not easy to accomplish. It will take time, but for sure, is in our focus.

“From the commercial point of view, from the organizer, or promoter point of view who wants to develop the business in the U.S., an American woman or man driver would be very good.”

With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”