Posted on 06/20/2005 6:38:49 AM PDT by GulliverSwift
Sunday's events at the track left race fans from around the world shocked and angry.
News 8 talked to dozens of people and the common theme was that they may have came here as die-hard F-1 fans but they left not wanting to ever watch another race again.
Thousands of other fans shared that sentiment and were not shy about expressing their anger.
Most fans blamed the fiasco on F-1 rules, others on the company responsible for the faulty tires.
One fan explained his sentiment, "I drove all the way from Nashville with my boy and this is a terrible, terrible travesty. And we won't be coming back, renewing anything, and we're done with formula One."
Swat teams, sheriff's deputies, and dozens of state police were all on hand after the race started with plans in place in the event of a riot. Fortunately, fans staged non-violent protests.
Many were chanting, "Refund! Refund! Refund! Refund!" While others lined up outside the speedway administration building demanding refunds, "Somebody has to pay for the time and the money that we have spent. Some people have flown from around the world just to see this race and Americans as well," an outraged fan told News 8.
Others returned memorabilia for a sport they say they love no longer, "I want to return this t-shirt. I want my money back for it. I don't want to support F-1 anymore. This is a joke. This is a joke," one fan said.
Another fan agreed, "If they can't do the right thing, then cancel the race. Don't bring people in for something like this. This is stupid."
As for the future of F-1 racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Fans say don't hold your breath. Some fans think that after this contract's run out, it will not be here. They say next year's the last year and they think attendance will be down because of Sunday's events.
Speedway officials say no word yet on whether fans will get ticket refunds but one fan said even if that happens he's still never coming back
I'll bite..What happened?
Right. Two words: Baseball strike.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Formula One's bid to capture the American audience was crippled Sunday when only six cars participated in the United States Grand Prix. The other 14 drivers boycotted the event amid safety concerns with their Michelin tires....snip
http://www.newsvantage.com/perl/p/wed/bd/Acar-f1-united-states-gp.RIcF_FuJ.html? yqy
The other 14 cars, representing the seven teams that use Michelin tires, pulled off the track after the warmup lap because of safety concerns and a failure to reach a compromise that would have allowed them to compete.
Many people left the race and demanded ticket refunds.
"I came all the way from South America, from Bolivia, to watch this thing. But for me, this is the last time that I go to Formula One," said one man, who identified himself only as Gustavo. "I'm not only speaking for myself, but probably for a lot of people who come from different parts of the world to watch only six stupid people."
Another fan called it "an absolute outrage."
"I have been to this race every year they've had it here," fan Joe Huling said. "My brothers and I have followed Formula One since the '70s and have never seen anything as outrageous as this."
The cars that raced were the Ferraris of winner Michael Schumacher and runner-up Rubens Barrichello, the Jordans of Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan and the Minardis of Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher. All were running on Bridgestone tires.
Joie Chitwood, chief operating officer for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said track officials would look at the possibility of ticket refunds in the next few days.
Meanwhile, officials from the Grand Prix of Cleveland, part of the Champ Car series, said Sunday that they would honor tickets from the United States Grand Prix at their June 26 event.
___ NO BLAME:@ A subdued Michael Schumacher, who won his fourth U.S. Grand Prix with only token opposition by teammate Rubens Barrichello, admitted he had mixed emotions.
"Certainly today was a very unique Grand Prix, but to be honest, it wasn't in our hands," Schumacher said. "There's nothing we could have done. ... I don't know what their (Michelin) problem was, but it wasn't our problem."
Schumacher was aware that many fans were booing.
"But there were a lot of people yelling. There were still a lot of supporters there, being happy with what we did," he said.
The fiasco won't destroy F1 in the United States, Schumacher predicted.
"We've had good ones, we had a difficult one, and we'll have good ones again," he said.
___ NO COMPROMISE:@ Formula One put politics above sport, said Paul Stoddart, the team principal for Minardi.
"Nine of the 10 competing teams had agreed that in the interests of safety, a temporary chicane needed to be placed before the final turn," Stoddart said.
The idea was rejected by FIA President Max Mosley, and "in no uncertain terms, the teams were told that, should this occur, there would be no race," he said.
"I have complete sympathy with the Michelin teams and can take neither satisfaction from nor interest in this afternoon's race, if you can call it that," he said.
___ NO CELEBRATION:@ The happiest driver may have been Tiago Monteiro of Portugal, whose third place gave him his first F1 points and first podium finish.
Monteiro, who drives for Jordan, qualified 17th on Saturday and knew he didn't have a competitive car until the boycott eliminated almost all of the competition.
"We always hope for a crazy race, to get the points. But I would never imagine a situation like that," Monteiro said. "It is a sad race. It's a shame what happened, but I'm happy, really excited, myself."
___ TRULLI SORRY:@ Jarno Trulli, who would have started from the pole, called the withdrawal of the Michelin Seven a "shame for Formula One" but the only reasonable option.
"We all knew ... to run and finish the race was too dangerous," the Toyota driver said. "But that's life. Sometimes these things can happen. ... We have analyzed data, and Michelin has analyzed data. They felt we were in danger today, so it was as simple as that."
Trulli said he wasn't upset that Ferrari decided to race.
"Ferrari was right where they expect the rules were clear from the race director," he said. "That's the rules. If you cannot race, you do not race."
___ TIRE TURNS:@ The tire problem that limited Sunday's race to six drivers was caused by the banking in the final turn, which is Turn 1 of Indy's regular oval course but Turn 13 of the reconfigured road course used for the this race.
Michelin said going into that turn the only one that is banked puts added stress on the tires at high speed.
"The corner is not a corner," said David Coulthard, whose Red Bull Racing was one of the seven F1 teams that pulled out after the warmup lap.
"We come through the oval. ... It is an easy corner, but the reality is it takes a lot of stress in the tire. We are just not designed to drive those types of corners at these speeds."
Rubens Barrichello, whose Ferrari team uses Bridgestone, said he had no problem with the tires in practice or qualifications.
"We have in the past, but we've sorted them out," he said. "With the rules like they are, there will be a time when you bring a couple types of tires for the track. There will be times you get it wrong."
___ PIT STOPS:@ Red Bull was fined $3,000 because driver David Coulthard drove in reverse in the pits during practice Saturday. ... David Saelens of Belgium won Sunday's Porsche Michelin Supercup support race by 1 second over Alessandro Zampedri. Saelens also won the first Supercup race Saturday, his first victory of the season. ... Richard Philippe of Key Biscayne, Fla., won the second Formula BMW race Sunday, beating Tobias Hegewald of Germany by 4.2 seconds. Australian James Davison, who won the first BMW race Saturday, was 23rd, one lap down.
bum link above...this is OK
http://www.newsvantage.com/perl/p/wed/bd/Acar-f1-united-states-gp.RIcF_FuJ.html?yqy
14 out of 20 drivers went around the warm up lap then pulled off into the pits.
They were protesting the Michelin tires they were being forced to use as being unsafe, as there had been a number of wrecks in practice due to the tires failing.
So, only 6 drivers competed in the race.
Not even the michelin man can save them.
I predict that Michelin tires will be going on sale soon to boost PR. . .
Who was forcing them to use the tires?
I've read several news accounts and still do not know what happened, this is the poorest reporting I've read in a long time, it's simply horrid journalism
I was there. Im a life long race fan and Ive been going to the USGP since the first one at Indy in 2000. It was the most shameful thing Ive ever witness in professional sports.
I drove from MD, paid $105 for my ticket and $200 a night for a hotel room so I could watch six cars race. Worse, only TWO of the SIX cars had any chance of winning. I left after a few laps because my only way of showing my disgust was to make sure the TV showed empty seats.
It was a total, unvarnished sham.
They weren't protesting the tires, Michelin told them not to race on them. Unfortunately, Pep Boys doesn't carry F1 tires to replace them with. Michelin even flew in some different tires to try, and they failed in 10 laps like the others.
Sounds like a tire I won't be buying....
Ah..thanks..
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