gain. Not content to let the IRL idiots run around the
Brickyard, he's brought the USGP home and will have them go
_backwards_ at Indy. How F1 can stand to be associated with
the man who allowed Eddie Cheever -- Cheever of all
drivers! -- to wins his first and only race at the Indy
500 is beyond me."<br><br>As the French say, the
enemy of my enemy is my friend. And Bernie and Max will
swallow hard and get into bed with Tony as long as doing
so allows them to poke a sharp stick into CART's
eye. That's what this is, from all POVs. Tony wants to
signal something to CART as well--that he'll do a lot of
stupid things before he admits defeat and makes peace
with the big boys who laughed at him when he nominated
himself the savior of open-wheel racing in this
country.<br><br>"But, as an old-time USGP fan (Watkins Glen, Long
Beach, Las Vegas, etc.),"<br><br>Don't forget my native
town, Detroit.<br><br>"it will sure be nice to have the
race "home again" for the Holidays! What to you
think?"<br><br>I think we need to apply a delicate balancing test.
On the one hand, Tony's USGP will provide more
racing. And More Racing is by definition a Good Thing. On
the other hand, I'm afraid that this could turn out
to be a big enough debacle to wreck F1's position
(such as it is) in the US for years, if not decades. I
don't think Tony's really prepared for the level of
control Bernie expects to wield over this race. Tony is
used to monopolizing the action and steering lucrative
concessions deals to his buddies. That won't happen with FIA.
I really wish I could be a fly on the wall when
Tony's marketing stooges demand that Schumacher et al.
spend a few hours signing autographs for any and all
comers every day in Gasoline Alley.<br><br>The silver
lining in all of this is that Tony could hemmorage money
on this sow's ear of a deal so badly that it might
offset the cash cow he's got with the Brickyard 400.
That might make him think twice about continuing with
his IRLevant series, and restore the 500 to its
former glory.