Formula One None is a farce; the supreme form of motorsports in the world, my ass!

Michael Schumacher wins his first Formula One victory, of the season, at the sixth annual U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, on June 19, 2005. This was likely the least enjoyable of Schumacher's 84 career Grand Prix victories and surely the least deserved. For much of the first eleven events, of this nineteen race F1 season, the performance of Schumacher and Ferrari can best be described as mediocre. To me, that's one of the most unbelievable stories I have seen in 51 years of following motor sport. When you consider that Ferrari won fourteen (of eighteen) Formula One races in 2004, with Schumacher taking thirteen of those wins, the downturn in performance by the "prancing horse" seems too much to comprehend.

Jarno Trulli qualifies for pole position, on June 18, 2005, for the sixth annual U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis. This was the first Formula One pole for the Toyota team, but Trulli's lap, of 1:10.625, did not break the existing track record. Toyota has stepped things up in F1 qualifying, but in races they still look a long way from that cherished first victory to me. I have been driving Toyota passenger cars (Celicas and Camrys) since December 1978. They have all been great cars. But the "chicken shit" way Toyota is running away from the Indy Racing League, with their tail between their legs, after getting their ass kicked by Honda, really embarrasses me. I don't want to drive a car manufactured by a bunch of "chicken shits," who want to take the easy road to low tech NASCAR. I think my next automobile will be a Honda. That S2000 roadster always turns my head - although I doubt if I can afford one.

Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren - Mercedes was the second fastest qualifier for the sixth annual U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, as shown in this photo, taken at the turn ten hairpin, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on June 18, 2005. Under normal circumstances, Raikkonen looked a likely winner at "Indy" to me. The Finn has to be considered Fernando Alonso's primary threat for the World Championship - if you really can call it that. At times, this year, Raikkonen and McLaren - Mercedes looked like they could "sweep the Formula None" table. But other times, the Finn and his team appears to crumble under pressure. In the meantime, Alonso and Renault roll merrily and consistently along to the World title - if you can really call it that.

World Championship (if you really can call it that) points leader Fernando Alonso has won five races (Malaysia, Bahrain, San Marino, Nurburgring, France) in the ten events he has competed in (not counting his aborted start at Indianapolis), during the 2005 season so far. Alonso was practicing for the sixth annual U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, on June 18, 2005, coming through turn thirteen, when I took this photo. Is the young Spaniard, who won't turn twenty four until the end of this month, the next legend in Grand Prix racing, along the lines of Fangio, Moss, Clark, Stewart and Schumacher? It is starting to look that way to me.

It was the twenty fourth time I attended a World Championship Formula One Grand Prix. That includes ten trips to Watkins Glen, from 1967 through 1979; three trips to Mosport, for the races in 1971, 1973 and 1974; the tedious pseudo races through narrow, downtown Detroit streets, from 1985 through 1988; a flight to Montreal to see Nigel Mansell race in his World Champion season and during the past six years, I have attended the U.S. Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. June 19 was possibly the last time I will go to a Formula One race - - - but maybe not.

When I began writing this piece, after coming home from the mess at the Speedway, on June 19, I was pissed off. I could have given a damn less if I ever watched another Formula One race, for the rest of my life. I disliked and mistrusted everything pertaining to the series!

In the days since, my mood about the fiasco, at the sixth Grand Prix at IMS, on June 19, has lessened in intensity. In other words, life goes on and it seems to me there is probably better than a fifty percent chance that Formula One will race at the Speedway, at least one more time. There may only be 40,000 to 50,000 fans to watch next year's race (if there is one), but my intuition tells me the circus will come back to town - along with all the clowns.

With Michelin offering to refund the cost of 100,000 tickets, purchased for the F1 race, and distribute 20,000 free for next year's event (if there is one), some of the anger, expressed by racing fans here in the area, and around the world, has subsided. But this is still a sore that hasn't quite healed and Michelin really needs to offer more.

Attorneys, in class action suits, are telling their clients not to accept ticket refunds because they are also entitled to compensation for travel expenses, etc. You have to love those "legal eagles" don't you, a bunch of cockroaches, running around society, spreading disease.

The bullshit that Formula None pulled on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on June 19, was nasty. I felt very indignant, at the time, that we had all been cheated by racing's international biggies. The Indianapolis community reacted with rancor. It was the talk of the town, on WIBC AM 1070, for days.

This incident reminded me somewhat of the 1995 "Brickyard 400," when NASCAR made a late afternoon decision to start the race, in a span of fifteen minutes, after day long rains postponed action at the Speedway. That particular decision caught several thousand fans off guard, including myself. I did not get to my seat, at the north end of the backstretch, until lap 49, for the second "Brickyard 400," which saw the Intimidator Dale Earnhardt take the black RCR Mr. Goodwrench Chevy number 3 to victory, in NASCAR's second visit to the Speedway.

I felt lazy and didn't get up in time to see the start of the Grand Prix of France, on July 3, and when I did finally get up to watch, I dozed off. I taped the race on VCR, and eventually watched it. The young Spanish "phenom," Fernando Alonso, led at Magny-Cours, from flag to flag, and appears to be well on his way to winning the 2005 World Championship - if you can really call it that.

The same thing happened with the Grand Prix of Britain, although the goings on at Silverstone are usually among the highlights of any Formula None season for me, since I love the traditions of the British race. I watched Juan Pablo Montoya take his first win for McLaren - Mercedes, and the fifth of his Formula None career. But my focus was blurred and my attention span was short. I found myself doing such mundane chores as ironing clothes and vacuuming the carpet.

Juan Montoya, during the formation lap, for the sixth annual U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, on June 19, 2005. If Montoya would have started the race and won, it would have been the first time a driver has won at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in two different events, with the possible exception of one of the winners of the "Brickyard 400" having won the IROC race, which used to be held at the Speedway. The "Indianapolis 500" winner, in 2000, has had a frustrating season in 2005. The Colombian watched McLaren - Mercedes teammate Kimi Raikkonen win three F1 races (Spain, Monaco, Canada) and gather much more attention so far. Montoya's first win for McLaren, and the fifth win of his F1 career, last Sunday, at Silverstone, had to be a source of pride and pleasure for Juan Pablo.

I didn't lose much money on the U.S. Grand Prix myself. My ticket was cheap and I had a great time on Saturday June 18, with my Nikon D70 digital SLR camera, shooting about 250 racing images. I have had a ball with the D70, since I purchased it in January. I did not even shoot any film during F1 weekend, at the Speedway.

I love being able to come home and download my race photos, from a day at the races, on to my computer. The digital images I get, with the D70, have a different personality from the prints I take using my conventional Nikon film cameras. Perhaps the images, on film, have more clarity than the digital shots. But the photos I shoot, with my Nikon D70, are more dramatic than those taken with print film.

There is a disadvantage, in image quality, when I reduce the pixels, of the jpegs taken with the D70. The image resolution drops about two thirds. I have no choice however. Otherwise the photos would not fit on a standard html page. I think the digital photos compare favorably with the pictures I shoot, using my Nikon N80, Nikon FM2 and Nikon FE2, when those film shots are displayed on a browser. But the digitals could be better and as soon as I figure out how to make them better, they will appear that way on this web site.

The strong feature, from digital photography, comes when you print on high quality glossy photo paper. Microsoft automatically fits the image to the page and there is no resolution lost. There has to be some html tag that will let you do that. For instance, I use height and width tags to display an image size, but even though the image is actually 1000 x 1504 pixels, I only display 400 x 600 and lose a lot of resolution. If there is a web developer out there who knows how to correct this, please send me an email.

I don't believe digital photography is anywhere near where it is going to be yet. But I have crossed that line, from SLR cameras using film as the medium, to digital. I will still shoot film and convert the images to jpegs for this website. However, every photo I have posted on Bob Jennings' World O' Racing, since the start of May 2005, was taken with the Nikon D70. I think that will be the trend from this point forward. I shot eight rolls of print film, during the 89th "Indianapolis 500," on May 29. But I also shot 550 plus images with the D70.

The D70 feels good in my hands! I must really be hurting. It's been so long since I have felt a woman that now I get excited holding an SLR camera. Geez, I need to do something about that - and soon.

My initial concern, on June 19, was that Tony George and the fine folks, at IMS, would be blamed for the mess at the U.S. Grand Prix. For the most part, it's been just the opposite. I think people understand that George and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were the biggest victims of all, from the failure of Michelin, the FIA and the Formula One teams to come to an agreement that would have allowed the race to go on, as planned.

Why didn't the FIA let IMS put the chicane in turn thirteen? A chicane doesn't get it for me, but at least the race could have gone on as planned. The Speedway offered to do it and could have constructed a suitable configuration change in less than an hour.

There were the usual sour grapes. Long time CART apologist David Phillips wrote the following, which was posted on Speed TV website, on June 21, 2005.

Lessons from the USGP David Phillips

So the Indianapolis Motor Speedway "feel(s) as victimized as the fans" in the wake of Sunday’s United States Non-Prix which saw 14 cars withdraw from the race owing to safety issues with their Michelin tires. According to IMS Chief Operating Officer Joie Chitwood, to say the Speedway is "disappointed" at its "inability to have control over (the) actions" is "an understatement."

At the risk of kicking the Speedway when it’s down, right now several million disenfranchised fans of American open-wheel racing are probably thinking, if not saying aloud, "How does it feel?"

After all, a fair number of them probably felt "victimized" when they showed up at Phoenix and Indianapolis in 1996 expecting to see Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Rahal race, and, instead, found they’d paid good money to watch Paul Durant, Fermin Velez and Jim Guthrie do battle in quest of the inaugural Indy Racing League title.

Doubtless, those same fans were also more than a little disappointed at their "inability to have control over (the) actions" of IMS president/IRL founder Tony George over the years as he steadfastly refused to seriously entertain good-faith efforts from Ford, CART and an assortment of team owners to re-unify American open-wheel racing even as the rough beast of NASCAR found its hour had come ’round at last.

But perhaps there is a silver lining to the cloud cast upon the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the U.S. Grand Prix and Formula 1 as a whole by Sunday’s events. For surely the management of the Speedway (and by extension, the IRL) now understands what it’s like to be a pawn in a purely political game played by Brahmins so insulated from reality as to have forgotten a fundamental tenet of professional sports: the sport and its fans are bigger than any one individual, organization or agenda. And those who lose sight of that risk inflicting incalculable harm on the sport. And, ultimately, themselves. Checked the price of Michelin stock lately? How about ticket availability for an Indy 500 that, once upon a time, was a guaranteed sell-out?

It remains to be seen whether Formula 1 can rehabilitate itself in the United States. For a start, drivers, officials, Michelin and its teams could dispense with the word "sad" in future platitudes about Sunday’s events in favor of a more appropriate term. "Disgrace" and "shameful" come to mind.

More than that, there needs to be a quick and genuinely empathetic response from Formula 1 grandee Bernie Ecclestone, FIA boss Max Mosley and, of course, Michelin and its teams, to the fans who invested their time and money attending the ’05 U.S. Grand Prix. The time, of course, is irretrievably lost, but not the money. Beyond a mere refund, there needs to be a public and generous acknowledgment of the fact the fans were jobbed. In a sport whose bosses play penny ante poker with Krugeraands, free (or at the very least, deeply discounted) tickets for the ’06 U.S. Grand Prix (assuming there is one) would be a step in the right direction; but only if paid for by Michelin, its teams, Bernie and/or the FIA rather than a Hulman-George family which was blameless in this case.

For the braintrust of the IRL (and Champ Car for that matter) could learn a lesson from last weekend; one that might jump-start the rehabilitation of American open-wheel racing. To wit, while the legitimate business interests of Tony George, Paul Gentilozzi, Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven must be taken into account, they shouldn’t automatically take precedence over the interests of the sport itself. And just as George has been excoriated for spurning past efforts to bring the two series together, so should Messrs. Kalkhoven, Forsythe and Gentilozzi be called on the carpet for dismissing (however sympathetically) recent reunification efforts as driven more by nostalgia rather than pragmatic, hard-headed business motives.

In their egomaniacal drive to consolidate power and line their coffers with still more dollars, dinars, euros and yuans, Messrs Ecclestone and Mosley seem to have lost sight of the fact they are the stewards of Formula 1’s incalculable legacy; a legacy that includes not just win-at-any-cost drivers like Senna and Schumacher, but real sportsmen like Fangio and Moss - the latter of whom was sickened by Sunday’s events, being one of the few to describe the situation as a "disgrace."

Similarly, in his efforts to concentrate all power in American open-wheel racing at the corner of Georgetown and 16th - and in their efforts to create a financially viable Champ Car World Series without the Indianapolis 500 - George and Three Amigos risk losing sight of the fact they too are stewards of a rich legacy; one dating back nearly 100 years, to which men from Frank Lockhart to Greg Moore have given their lives and countless fans have given their hearts and souls.

The flurry of media attention, letters to editors and website traffic that attends any hint of a reconciliation between Champ Car and the IRL is, in my opinion, indicative of an untapped reservoir of enthusiasm and, yes, even good will, that still exists for American open-wheel racing. And just as Ecclestone, Mosley, Michelin and the rest of the Formula 1 community would be well advised to put aside their collective hubris to make amends with America’s fans, so would Forsythe, Gentilozzi, George and Kalkhoven do well to remember that, despite the great damage done in the past decade, American open-wheel racing is still bigger than all four of them combined.

And wouldn’t it be wonderful if George and the Three Amigos told Formula 1 to stuff it and invited the ’05 USGP ticket holders to be their guests at a double-header weekend on the IMS road course next June featuring the IndyCar Series and the Champ Car World Series? It’s a wildly impractical idea, of course, not least of which because George has a huge investment in the U.S. Grand Prix while Forsythe and Kalkhoven own Cosworth; thus neither party is in a position to go to war with Formula 1. Still, it would be a wonderful way of sending a signal to American open-wheel racing fans - be they aficionados of F1, Champ Cars or Indy Cars - that they actually matter. It’s high time someone did.

Sometimes, when I read stuff from David Phillips, I find him to be irrelevant, because he fails to understand the difference between the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car Series in 2005. I mean, anyone, with any sense, knows the IRL is on a much higher level these days than the remnants, left from the glory days of CART. It's sort of like comparing Triple A baseball to the majors, if you will. Phillips is another one of those guys who is still carrying a "hard on" for Tony George, for squashing their precious CART era in Indy car racing.

Give it up David Phillips! It's done. There were 50,000 people watching, at Kansas Speedway, when Danica Patrick won her first Indy car race pole position. There were some empty seats visible, at the 1.5 mile oval on race day, but not many, from what I could see on the ESPN telecast. It looked like near capacity, for the IRL race, to me. Curt Cavin estimated 60,000, at Kansas Speedway, on July 4, in The Indianapolis Star, on July 4, 2005. That seems about right and Curt Cavin cuts no slack when it comes to race crowds.

By the way, if the comments I hear are true, Kevin Kalkhoven must be hallucinating. Reunification talks, between the IRL and the Champ Car series, broke down again because Kalkhoven, Jerry Forsythe and company expect fifty percent control of any enterprise, arising out of any merger of the two competing groups. That makes Kalkhoven and Forsythe look as naive and stupid as Bernie Ecclestone is arrogant.

If racing fans are completely honest with themselves, contemporary Formula One is a sad comparison to what it once was. Young fans can be excused for their lack of understanding. They weren't around in the days when Grand Prix racing was sheer magic. But they need to realize that in 2005, F1 just ain't that good anymore! There is no Formula One race in the world that can hold a candle to the "Indianapolis 500" or any other Indy Racing League event on the schedule, for that matter.

Even at it's arguably worst venue, through the streets of St. Petersburg, the IRL had nine lead changes in its April event. Although I am not going to take the time to go through Formula One statistics, for the first eleven races of the 2005 season, I am confident the total, in that category, for the first Indy car series road race, compares favorably with the entire F1 schedule run so far this year.

You want to make comparisons. Look at the IRL race, at Kansas Speedway, on July 3, and put it up against the Formula One race, earlier the same day, at Magny-Cours. We are talking about Fernando Alonso leading from flag to flag, in France, versus .0120 seconds separating race winner Tony Kanaan and second place Dan Wheldon, for the sixth closest finish in Indy Racing League history. To make things even more one sided, in favor of the Indy cars, add third place finisher Vitor Meira, who was only .0242 seconds behind winner Kanaan.

There is no comparison! The Indy cars put on a far better show than Formula None every time they take the green flag.

If I were Tony George, I would call Bernie Ecclestone, after meeting with IMS attorneys, tell the dwarf king of Formula None thanks but no thanks for 2006 and I would also advise "majordomo butt hole" to expect a multi-million dollar law suit for damages - unless.

Unless - Formula None cleans up its act. That means no more bully tactics, by Ecclestone, over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It also means that Bernie, Max and the boys help out in the marketing end, about which Ecclestone (see below) criticized IMS so freely last month, in the local Indianapolis media.

I have a terrific suggestion about marketing F1 in the U.S.A. Fans, in this country, like to be close to their racing heroes. It's time to remove the multiple level of security between the god-like heroes and their fans, that Ecclestone has created.

The Indy Racing League provides drivers for autograph sessions, at most of the tracks, where they compete, including several times in May in Indianapolis. What's wrong with Michael Schumacher and the other guys doing the same thing, in the Pagoda plaza, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on what has come to be known as "pit walkabout" day, the Thursday before the U.S. Grand Prix? Yes, I know "Schumey" makes a "gazillion" dollars a year, but then perhaps the seven time World Champion needs to understand where all that money comes from - first and foremost - it comes the fans who pay to watch him race.

On June 19, if I had made the call, it would have been to a local judge, at 1 PM Sunday, to issue a lien. Then I would have brought in hordes of local law enforcement. It would have been fun to see some of Indiana's finest intimidate Bernie and his buddies. Ecclestone likely would have understood that, since he has been pushing the world around for more than twenty years. The gates to the garage area, at the Speedway, would have been locked. Then my attorneys would have told Ecclestone, the FIA, and all ten Formula One teams that their racing cars and equipment was impounded until there was a settlement in the courts or suitable compensation for all the misery, the entire bunch of F1 "ass wipes," put 100,000 racing fans through.

Over the past four weeks, since the mess at the Speedway on June 19, the only sincere regret I have heard from anyone, associated with F1, was the shock and remorse expressed by David Coulthard.

I have always liked David Coulthard. I wish D.C. would blow off Formula One and race Indy cars next season. I think the Scot would be an instant success with the right team. David, they don't appreciate you in F1 anyway. Come over here and do some real racing. I could see myself cheering for Coulthard in the Indy Racing League. It would be pretty cool, I think.

Blow off the Red Bull F1 team! I hear you have a new contract, for 2006. D.C., those Red Bull cars have the prettiest paint jobs in motor sports. But they aren't going anywhere, pretty cars and all. If "Indianapolis 500" winner Dan Wheldon grabs the rumored bait and takes over for Jenson Button (why would Button want to go back to Williams?) at BAR - Honda, Coulthard is a perfect fit for the Andretti - Green team.

During the telecast of the Grand Prix of Britain, on Speed TV, Bob Varsha commented that David Coulthard has signed a more lucrative contract with Red Bull, for next season, than this year. DC received a raise. So I guess it's a pipe dream of having DC come to race in the Indy cars, but it would be cool.

I would think the opportunity of winning, in one of the three major racing series in the world, would be preferable to being content with merely earning points, but then I am not David Coulthard.

Radio transmissions broadcast during the Speed TV telecast, of the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, revealed that David Coulthard asked Red Bull "team principals" to let him compete in the race, while he was on the formation lap.

Who do I blame for June 19? Formula One, Ecclestone. Michelin, the F1 teams are all to blame for the fiasco on June 19? I blame them all!

If a CART fan writes again to tell me their fool's tale that Tony George should not have formed the Indy Racing League, I am going to remind them what happened with Formula One on June 19.

For those of you who don't remember, newly elected CART CEO Andrew Craig threatened Tony George and the Speedway with a boycott of the 1995 "Indianapolis 500," in a meeting at Indianapolis mayor Steve Goldsmith's offices, in January 1994. Craig told George that CART would consider an "Indy 500" boycott if plans for the inaugural "Brickyard 400," to be held that August, were not abandoned. Two months later George announced the formation of a new Indy car series.

How long would it have been before CART tried to pull the same trick that took place at the sixth annual U.S. Grand Prix, on June 19 ? How long CART fans would it have been?

I looked at the CART (oops Champ Car) race at Milwaukee (boring), on CBS. Nice crowd - huh? I think 12,000 is overstating things Robin. The Lolas all looked vintage 1995 and how about the side pods, without much sponsorship signage? Robin Miller used to poke fun at the Indy Racing League cars without sponsor logos. Even Paul Tracy's car was pretty barren, with the only sponsorship I could see on his car, coming from team owner Jerry Forsythe's firm Indeck. Some ski lodge sponsored Tracy's car in Cleveland.

I looked at part of the CBS telecast of the Champ Car race, at Burke Lakefront Airport, in Cleveland. The estimate I saw was 50,000 at Richmond International Raceway, for the IRL, on Saturday night June 25, and 40,000 at the Cleveland race the following day.

One thing seems more apparent every year when the Indy cars go to RIR. The race, on the 3/4 mile tri-oval, is becoming one of the more successful events on the Indy Racing League calendar. Each year the crowd gets bigger and the International Speedway Corporation people open up more grandstands to walk up ticket buyers. Starting in 2001, with the first IRL race in Richmond, there has always been a nice crowd and it keeps growing. Perhaps RIR is going to be Bristol, for the Indy cars, and maybe one of these summers, the place will sell out for something other than NASCAR.

While Richmond is on the rise for the Indy cars, Cleveland appears to be going in the other direction. I can't swear to it, but it looked to me as if there were fewer bleachers along the main stretch, at Burke Lakefront, than there used to be. I remember the three times I went to Cleveland, for the CART race, in 1983, 1990 and 1991. Back then, 65,000 to 70,000 fans was the norm. So there is obviously another U.S. event that is shrinking for Champ Car.

Surely Kevin Kalkhoven doesn't really expect fifty percent does he? That can't be right.

It's been way too long since I got "snarky." Has it really been two years since Don and Walt gave us anything new to listen to, when they released the "Everything Must Go" cd and then toured across the country?

Speaking of CART (oops Champ car), I admit that I am somewhat intrigued by 23 year old A.J. Allmendinger, who finished second to winner Paul Tracy, both at Milwaukee and Cleveland. Maybe we can bring Allmendinger to the IRL next season. I like that 1950s flat top crew cut hair style and the youngster's name - A.J. Allmendinger. It has a certain ring to it.

I have watched Bernie Ecclestone transform the wonderful sport of Grand Prix racing into an over priced, over regimented, over played version of what it used to be, explicitly so the tiny dictator can line his pockets with gold. Do you think Ecclestone gives a damn about the 100,000 fans who were cheated at the U.S. Grand Prix? Don't believe it. It's likely that Bernie and company were already trying to figure out how to move his race to the streets of Las Vegas, on June 19.

100,000 fans, which represents the smallest crowd to witness the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, in its six year history, came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on June 19, 2005. The Formula None community let down the faithful badly and I anticipate the series will have problems assembling as large a crowd, in the United States, again for a long time, regardless of where it runs.

Go ahead Bernie. Move your piece of shit so called World Championship to Vegas. Let that silly looking mayor Oscar (whatever his name is) be the one who gets screwed. What you got ain't that good anymore anyway!

On Saturday, June 18, Ecclestone criticized Indianapolis Motor Speedway for marketing efforts for the U.S. Grand Prix. Take a look at this article, which appeared in The Indianapolis Star, on June 18, 2005.

United States Grand Prix

F-1 boss to IMS: Promote race more

Ecclestone says, 'You can move into town and you can't tell there's an event going on.'

By Curt Cavin

curt.cavin@indystar.com

Bernie Ecclestone said Friday he believes Indianapolis Motor Speedway is failing itself and, more importantly, the U.S. Grand Prix by not promoting this weekend's race more aggressively.

The Formula One chief said the Speedway, which has hosted the Indianapolis 500 since 1911, still hasn't learned how to market an event, particularly the race that will be held for the sixth time Sunday.

"You can move into town and you can't tell there's an event going on, and that's the problem," Ecclestone said. "It's not promoted even in Indianapolis, let alone somewhere else. It should be promoted aggressively, and they've understood that at all the places where Formula One has been successful.

"They don't seem to get behind that here. They're used to people wanting to buy tickets. That's not really the way to go anymore."

Speedway president Joie Chitwood said the company markets at an appropriate level of aggressiveness for "the parameters we have to function under."

Chitwood cited a crowded sports market that includes two other major events on the Speedway's oval track.

Ecclestone said local marketing won't affect F-1's decision to return next year. He expects to sort out details for the 2006 race with Speedway CEO Tony George this weekend. The tentative date is June 25.

The decision to return will be George's, Ecclestone said. The Speedway's primary form of revenue is ticket sales, which means a crowd of 120,000 (the 2004 crowd estimate) doesn't cover the estimated $15 million the Speedway pays Ecclestone's company to stage a race. Ecclestone also receives all the proceeds from television broadcasts, the paddock club and title sponsors.

It's the Speedway that's suffering, not us," Ecclestone said.

Chitwood would not comment on whether the Speedway makes money on the USGP.

"We think this event is good for our company," he said. "It fits our business goals."

Ecclestone said he doubts there is enough money in Central Indiana to support three major races. In addition to the 500, the Speedway will host NASCAR's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Aug. 7.

"That's why you've got to bring people in," Ecclestone said. "I thought that was the point of being here."

Bernie, I have news for you. Other than China, how many of your races draw 100,000 fans? Maybe the F1 crowd at Monza or Suzuka approaches 100,000 fans, but then maybe they don't either. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has sold more tickets over the past ten years then you have at all of the F1 events combined, during your reign as Formula None's big turd, figuratively speaking that is. When I write figuratively speaking, I mean big. Turd is literal.

Ecclestone runs his series like the military. Schedules come off like clockwork, but the circuits where Formula One competes are sad, antiseptic imitations of what they were in the glory years of Grand Prix. Sponsor accommodations and pit facilities are more important to Bernie than the challenge to man and machine that racing courses should present.

Technology has prevailed and costs have run rampant. However as arrogant as Ecclestone is, don't let him fool you. He is concerned about the future of the sport he hijacked in the early 1980s, at least in terms of his personal interests.

Bernie may not realize his empire is crumbling, a house of cards that is about to collapse. But then, Bernie is well into his seventies and maybe he's losing it. Perhaps Alzheimer's disease is settling into that old Beatle mop top head. Perhaps he doesn't see the challenge to his leadership, from all of the current auto makers (except Fiat and Ferrari) participating in F1, known as the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC).

Actually, the thought has occurred to me more than once, since June 19, that the boycott of the USGP, by the Michelin shod teams, was an early shot fired by the GPWC crowd in the coming war. Thanks guys for your consideration. Couldn't the opening salvo in your civil war have been fired somewhere else?

I hear that "Euocrap" blab about how superior Formula None is. I hear it so much that it makes me want to vomit. The series has evolved into a laughable example of what total arrogance and selfishness brings.

I haven't been enthusiastic about Formula One since Nigel Mansell was driven from the series, after winning the World title in 1992.

Millions and millions are spent on the racing cars in Formula One. Many of the world's automotive giants are involved in the series. F1 fanatics, from all over the world, paint their faces in the colors of their favorite teams. Each time F1 driving heroes appear in the line of vision of their countrymen, huge flags and banners wave furiously and the star struck supporters experience ecstasy. "Bowel movement Bernie" issues his commands and proclaims the superiority of his prize possession, like the spoiled pampered, little rodent he is.

I remember when Bernie Ecclestone bought the Brabham team, from Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac, after the 1971 season. I watched Ecclestone build his power base among fellow Formula One team owners, during the 1970s, and organize and lead his fellow team owners in a power struggle against the FIA, then known as FISA, in the early 1980s. For a while, at the start of 1981, it appeared that Grand Prix racing would split into a two series environment, like Indy car racing did ten years ago.

Ecclestone's opponent was J.M. Balestre, who headed the FIA at the time. Balestre was a bumbling idiot, and Bernie was able to fool the Frenchmen into submission and gain commercial rights to Formula One. F1 became a cash cow and a lot of people grew very wealthy, most notably our little gremlin Ecclestone, under the current regime.

Along the way, however, Formula One (or Grand Prix racing as it used to be affectionately known) lost its innocence, and for me, much of its enjoyment. My interest in Formula None was waning when Nigel Mansell captured my attention, in the Dallas Grand Prix in July 1984. Had it not been for Nigel's quest for the World title, I probably would have become essentially disinterested in the F1 circus twenty years ago.

In previous times, the second most important weekend of the year, after Memorial Day weekend and the "Indianapolis 500," came in early October, when I would make the long trip to Watkins Glen to see the Grand Prix of The United States. Those were wonderful days!

The crisp Autumn air, the beautiful red, orange, yellow and green fall foliage, the smell of smoke from camp fires, on the hillsides surrounding the 3.4 miles and eleven corners of the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Course, in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York; it was a quaint location for what was, thirty years ago, a beautiful and charming sport.

Back then, teams could paint their cars in any way they wished and bring as many entries as they could manage. I remember seeing teams, like BRM, field as many as five cars in the Grand Prix of the United States at Watkins Glen. Ecclestone would not even allow the new British American Racing team to paint their two cars, in the colors of different cigarette brands, during BAR's debut season in 1999.

If a driver forgets to mount the steering wheel, after climbing from an F1 car, he gets fined several thousand dollars. What is that about and why? It's almost like a wonderful sporting competition has become an exercise in compulsive discipline. Maybe it's just me, but I do not understand that kind of motivation.

Actually Bernie Ecclestone appears to be slipping. I notice when I look at the jpegs I took, during Formula One weekend, that teams now mount different colored TV camera shields on top of the air boxes, on their cars now. I can't believe Bernie allows that. Maybe he doesn't know it's happening. You can't see the numbers on a F1 car, because they are so small, but Lord Ecclestone will not permit different paint jobs on two cars entered by the same team.

I knocked down three bottles of Fosters and two shots of Wild Turkey 101, when I first wrote some of the paragraphs of whatever I'm writing. It was the end of a 3 1/2 day July 4 holiday weekend. I was holding on to the weekend as tightly as my 59 year old arms would permit. Those paragraphs smell like whiskey and beer. But as I took one last swig on the bottle and killed the Turkey that remained at the bottom of the plastic glass, I felt like it was time to get funky.

That is when it really gets fun. It is when every phrase I type makes sense and it isn't a chore to find words and I don't have to read what I have already written, for the sixty seventh time, to make sure it's what I really want to express.

"I'm rolling into the bar at Joey's
They're getting ready to close
And here she comes very "Kiss Me Deadly"
My life, my love, my third hand rose
Flash ahead to a yummy playback
Just you and me in a room
Double dreaming a page at a time in the Green Book"

Sadly the freedom didn't last long enough. Bitsy was sprawled out on the floor, behind my chair, as I wrote, exhausted from her twenty four hours with the departed wife (it's almost like a parental custody thing), and ready for me to scoop her up and carry her fluffy, eleven pound fuzzy, black (with white trim) body to bed; my dog daughter, like the child I never had. Jinsong gave Bitsy a bath, so my "teddy bear" will be that much softer.

My little furry canine darling, who doesn't turn one year old until August 3, already has acquired the human characteristics of her gender. In her own doggie way, Bitsy was working on my common sense and telling me I had to work the next day and needed to go to bed.

In the October glory days, at Watkins Glen, you could pay $1.00 to walk through the Kendall garage. That would take you down the middle of the building, with all the Formula One teams working on either side. Can you believe that? It's true. I did it October after October.

During most of my trips to the Glen, the Grand Prix of the United States was one of, if not the, final races of the season. While the mechanics worked on the cars, they often tried to sell team souvenirs to the passing fans. There were tee shirts and ball caps, but they had been worn by the team. There were also old race tires, shattered nose pieces (I'm serious) and other damaged pieces of F1 race cars.

I particularly remember my final trip to Watkins Glen, in October 1979, with Tim Pendergast. We were able to take a close look at the Ferrari numbers 11 and 12, which carried Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve to first and second place in that season's World Championship. It was surprising to see the rough finish of the fabrication, on the title winning Ferrari V12, and splinters on the side pods. I'm serious. Tim and I actually saw that, in the Kendall garage, at Watkins Glen, in October 1979.

Tim Pendergast accompanied me to the sixth U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, on June 19, 2005. I feel badly that I invited him to come with me to the race and I apologized to Tim, when we left the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, twenty eight laps into the race.

With the exception of Ferrari, BRM, Matra (Simca) and later in the 1970s, Renault and Brabham (Alfa Romeo), most of the premier teams of the day carried the venerable three liter Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine (circa 1967) behind their drivers. It was Lotus - Ford, March - Ford, Tyrrell - Ford, McLaren - Ford, Surtees - Ford, Shadow - Ford, Williams - Ford, Parnelli - Ford, Penske - Ford, Hesketh - Ford, Ligier - Ford, Wolf - Ford and so on. There wasn't a thing wrong with that either.

The racing was good and the cars were close in performance. During some years, Formula One was so competitive, such as during the second half of the seventies, that different teams would be superior at different circuits. Legends were numerous during the classic era of Grand Prix racing; Clark, Hill, Stewart, Rindt, Fittipaldi, Lauda, Hunt, Andretti, Scheckter, Villeneuve, Jones. The supporting cast was full of talent too. Dan Gurney, John Surtees, Jacky Ickx, Ronnie Peterson, Carlos Reutemann, Clay Regazzoni, these were all regular winners as well.

It was a neat time! The lack of direct involvement by the world's automakers, except for Ford Motor Company and Fiat, wasn't that big a deal. Technology still came at a rapid rate. It was the period when aerodynamics became the major component to F1 success, with wings, wedge shapes and then ground effect tunnels coming to the fore.

The major difference between then and now is that up until the early 1980s, Formula One was a sport. Today, it is a business. There could not be a more stark reminder of that sad fact than the debacle, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on June 19.

But it is what it is. I am what I am, not what I was in the mid 1970s, when I was going to Watkins Glen, New York, in early October, to see the Grand Prix of the United States. There's no use in crying about what was and no longer is.

I won't buy Michelin tires now, even though I think they are a decent product. In the final analysis, the mess, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was probably brought on by an honest mistake in the composition of the tires the French company provided for the U.S. Grand Prix. The big problem occurred with the way the parties involved dealt with that problem.

During the four weeks I have been putting this "commentary" together, emotions have gone up and down like one of the classic Grand Prix circuits of yesteryear. As I wrote, when I began preparing this, I was so mad I did not care to ever watch Formula None again. Then Max Mosley jumped all over the Michelin shod teams and summoned team principals to FIA headquarters to receive their punishment, for their refusal to race at the Speedway. Next came penitence from Michelin, with offers to refund all 100,000 ticket holders, who suffered from the tire maker's screw up, and an offer to give away 20,000 tickets for the seventh U.S. Grand Prix, if F1 returns next summer. So, like most everyone else, my bad feelings mellowed a bit.

But now the FIA is stepping back from its earlier condemnation of Michelin and the seven teams who ruined the race on June 19. Apparently Bernie and Max have come to realize the golden goose may fly away in 2008, with GPWC stealing Formula None from under Ecclestone's nose.

That pisses me off again. However, as time passes, so does the importance of what occurred on June 19. Rather than let the story become more stale, I will wrap things up here.

With the exception of the second U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, in September 2001, the event has been an annual Ferrari party. The 2001 race, which came on the heels of the terrorist attacks, on September 11, saw a drop in the size of the crowd, from 200,000 plus fans, who attended the inaugural event one year earlier, to 175,000. The 2001 race was a true contest however, with Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Juan Montoya and Mika Hakkinen sharing the lead before the Finn beat Michael and David Coulthard to the checkered flag.

After the most dominant season in Formula One history, in 2004, who would have thought Ferrari and Schumacher would be left so far behind by both Renault and McLaren? The prospect of a great fight between Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Schumacher, Jenson Button and Jarno Trulli loomed on June 19, 2005. I was more excited for this year's USGP, than at any time since the first race, in September 2000. There were 99,999 other fans who felt the way I did.

Unhappily, the Formula None gang did not care enough, about the people who came to see their show, to come on stage, so to speak and give their performance. What a bunch of selfish assholes! The six car parade that capped the travesty, of June 19, was so sad that Tim Pendergast and I could not bear to watch. We left the Speedway after 28 (of 73) laps.

1998 - 1999 World Champion Mika Hakkinen is shown approaching turn eleven, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, on the way to victory, in the second U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, on September 30, 2001. This was the final win, of the twenty Formula One victories, captured by the great driver from Finland. In several ways, I feel as if Hakkinen was the most recent honest behind the wheel competition to Michael Schumacher, until the 2005 season.