I'm curious as to how popular F1 currently is in the United States especially since there is no race in the US at the moment and the failing of US F1 to show up on the grid for the 2010 season.
It's rare to see any F1 coverage on anything other than the Speed Channel here. ESPN usually doesn't even touch it. Instead, we have the infinitely more trashy NASCAR.
Can someone explain to me why watching drag races is fun? To me it seems like a competition of getting the most and richest sponsors who can then finance the largest and most advanced engine, which get destroyed after 5 seconds.
^^^^Indycar is going strong, especially after unifying w/CART. Saw a race at GI Raceway in Sonoma, CA last year. The cars are not at the tech level of F1, but they still go very fast and handle incredibly. Fun series, but NASCAR reigns supreme in the states. What I miss in the US is coverage of the WRC. All I get are reruns intermittently on an HD channel, way after each event. FI is being covered on the Speed Channel btw this year, complete w/pre and post-race interviews and commentary, so there's at least that for F1 fans.
Yeah, F1's been getting some decent live coverage on Speed, with our own commentators using the International feed, but it's not exactly a series that interests many viewers around here. I think the emphasis on technology over competition on the track hasn't helped matters, even if that's starting to change, and furthermore, there's not really anyone I think you could get your average American racing fan to identify with and cheer for.
NASCAR's definitely the most popular racing series in the US, with coverage from national networks FOX and ABC, along with ESPN, but even its popularity is beginning to wane as the races become less exciting. NASCAR seems to think this downturn has to do with all their penalties over rough or aggressive driving, and have pretty much told the drivers they can take the gloves off and race as hard as they want on the track. I'm not sure that's the real issue at hand as much as the excessive length of the races and similarity of the ovals on the schedule, since they've been cutting down on classic tracks for newer ovals, but I'm not NASCAR.
Indycar's the most exciting series of the three this season, as far as I'm concerned, and they've helped that by getting away from an oval-dominated schedule to a schedule that has a good mix of road/street courses and ovals. Sadly, its popularity is not what it used to be, and the damage from the CART/IRL split is still obvious as teams and drivers struggle to find sponsors. It's suffering from lackluster coverage, too, since it's relegated to a lesser cable network (Versus) for many of its races. The major races do get shown on ABC or ESPN, though, so there's a chance it could rebound and challenge NASCAR given enough time and excitement. I sincerely hope it does.
As much as I am a NASCAR fan, I really hate the circus that the US channels have turned it into. 20 out of a 24 hour day on SPEED is NASCAR. NASCAR Tech, NASCAR Preformance, NASCAR Raceday, NASCAR HUB, its just all these stupid shows with washed up drivers and crewmen. I'd love to see a bit more F1 on Speed, or some of the other Euro racing series.
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