USA A1GP Franchise

Is the United States doing A1GP? Heard nothing so far.

I believe it will be - there are some deals done with various countries, but not announced yet.

They're going for a drip-drip approach to sustain interest.

well they are doing it far better than Premier 1 did, or TRAC for that matter.
but other than the Racing world in the US, will the population in general care? it seems a tough sell outside nascar...I should move to the UK

Is there just a aversion in the States to following sports anyone else in the world competes in? ;)

Ive often asked myself that Jester. :laugh: Having said that Americans are getting into European sportscar racing in quite a big way with things like the ALMS, not to mention Football, still a long way to go with both sports but Americans generally are IMO slowly becoming more involved with sports that everyone else watches and particapates in.

I really don't believe that we have an aversion to other folks sports, but as far as sports goes, we do have an awful lot of choices here, and the time difference is tough to, so its harder for non traditional American sports to get much play, but as Saleen said, things are changing. We do love the Olympics and we are beginning to catch the soccer, ooops, I mean football craze! The World Cup is getting alot of attention these days, not to mention F1, which is now getting some prime time TV slots.

Speaking of that, if America gets into A1GP, with a well known driver and the series takes off, we may well forget all about F1, which hasn't seen an American driver in far to many years. It seem's Michael Andretti cursed all future American drivers for F1! :laugh:

Speaking of that, if America gets into A1GP, with a well known driver and the series takes off, we may well forget all about F1,


Different time of year.

If A1 does well, it will help raise interest in single-seater racing generally among new fans - thus boosting F1 too.

Is there just a aversion in the States to following sports anyone else in the world competes in? ;)

Common misperseption. It goes both ways. For instance, I'm in New Zealand right now and I can't say kiwi's really follow any american sports at all. Almost nobody here knows what Nascar or the NFL is.

You have to remember with 300 million people in the worlds largest economy, we have a hard enough time keeping track of what is happening across 50 states, much less the world.

Is there just a aversion in the States to following sports anyone else in the world competes in? ;)

No there is not, but we just have so many choices, we like football.
:)

You're right, we don't get into many US sports. I find it hard to watch oval racing, would probably enjoy sitting down with someone from the US who could give me some insight - where are you watching Indy mountainstar? :)

I watched an interesting documentary on baseball the other day, and I can understand the appeal, and the way myths and heroes have emerged - still don't enjoy watching.

I like NFL, but the games are , I'm sorry, stupidly long due to all the stoppage. This seems to be TV's fault. It seems like too many of your sports are formatted to suit the broadcasters, rather than the other way around. ESPN must be at least 70% advertising!

Sorry, this is'n really on thread.

...but one last thing ; World Series of Baseball :?

Just read through this thread and would like to bring it back to the original question. Anybody know if someone has purchased or is looking to purchase franchise rights for the USA?

Does anybody know the cost?

USA has been added to the list of countries on the A1GP website - and officials from the experience expect a deal to be announced in due course.

Have there been any suggestions who the driver or team could be?

Have there been any suggestions who the driver or team could be?

I havn't heard a thing, but since you asked... ;)

Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Sam Hornish or Butch Leitzinger would be my choices.

As for teams, I'd love to see Penske take this effort on. He's a proven winner in everything he does. Maybe Ganassi also...

I have it from a solid source that Rob Dyson was looking at the A1GP franchise but that he passed due to the expense. I've heard nothing of any other potential buyers. I have exchanged emails with A1GP's franchise manager and head of global relations, but inspite of signing their NDA and providing personal information, they still have not sent me the franchise package.

Just heard from A1GP management the USA franchise has been purchased. So far they have not divilged who bought it but I'm trying to get it out of them. I'm guessing an official announcement will be out shortly.

Drivers: Vasser or AJ Allmendinger

I'm guessing Scott Speed or Marco Andretti. It really depends on ownership though.

Speed is going to F1 so he's out. Allmendinger has a solid career in Champ Cars and this would be a lateral or downward move for him. Vasser is simply too old. Marco is a possibility but with his name I don't think he's jumps into an unknown series with no history. I think our driver is most likely someone out of ALMP or Daytona Prototypes, like a Rob Dyson, or a complete unkown. Possibly someone with the speed who never made it to the top wrung because of politics. eg. Jon Fogarty or Memo Gidley.

What I really want to know is who is the team owner? How are they being funded and will it be a top effort?

I don't think it will be anything less than a top effort. 2 races in US and some big names recently announced as drivers ... I don't think they're going to want to be laming around at the back of what is now certain to be a big championship.

What I really want to know is who is the team owner? How are they being funded and will it be a top effort?

Dan Gurney? Don't know, but if John Surtees is at command of British A1GP team...

The A1gp schedule conflicts with ChampCar, IRL, and NASCAR schedules. Due to the linked nature of subordinate series that pretty much excludes Formula Atlantics, Infinity Pro, and junior NASCAR series (except backmarkers). Even Memo has a ride these days......

I'm afraid the driver will be a previously unknown kinda' guy. This would be a good opportunity for someone to make a name for himself (then most probably to be pulled up into a mainstream series).

SRF87: Vasser too old ? Ask the 18 ChampCar drivers he's ahead of (all younger, I might add).

Old Guys Rule (new slogan)

It doesn't have to be just one driver for the whole season, so in theory the US A1GP team could run a CCWS/IRL guy for non-clashing events and an up-and-coming youngster for the others.

Townsend Bell???

Townsend Bell........excellent choice. He'd probably clean up on the field.

I wonder if Tommy Kendall would fit in the car ? Another hard charger.

U.S.A.....U.S.A.....U.S.A....WOOP, WOOP, WOOP!!! (etc.)

The US rights were bought by Fredrick (Rick) Weidinger, from Great Falls Va. He's ex-CEO of Pontio Communications; into fiber-optic networks. MBA from Creighton University, co-owner of Kelly Racing (Hemelgarn of IRL). No word on any other staff.

Jeff Simmons is driving the USA car at Silverstone today

Presumably Weidinger will hook up with an existing team rather than start from scratch, though?

Who's Jeff Simmons?

A former IndyLights, Infinity Pro and IndyCar driver.

Well the US team lead the way at Paul Ricard testing, so that's a positive sign.