A lone gunslinger trotted up the wooden stairs with rattling spurs and threw open the saloon doors. The conversation stopped inside; all eyes were on the mysterious figure in foreign territory.
Just a few years ago it was unthinkable that Formula 1 could pull off a cowboy act in the USA. This is NASCAR territory, and stock car racing has been the sheriff of this town for several decades.
But the motorsport history of this weekend was the showdown between the two series: Positioned head to head while racing in the same time zone, the duel could not be overlooked. The fact that it is an issue at all must serve as a bill for NASCAR.
Formula 1, which is becoming increasingly popular in this country, was on everyone’s lips. Anyone who followed the races on Sunday with a double-screen strategy had to be impressed by the contrasting images: One of a packed, 140,000-strong crowd on the Circuit of The Americas – the fans cheered so loudly that their voices were overheard the engines – and the other of a Kansas Speedway race so sparsely attended that television viewers could read the name of the track in their seats.
Sunday was a confluence of events that were a long time in the making. And while it’s awkward for NASCAR – though it may also be too late to change anything now – it’s worth investigating what led to this point.
It wasn’t long ago that the annual F1 race in the United States hardly caused a stir on the national scene. Sure, fans flocked to COTA in large numbers for their only chance to see their favorite F1 drivers in person. But even before the 2019 United States Grand Prix, NASCAR still received the greatest attention from American motorsport fans (the 2019 Cup Series playoff race was watched by 2.5 times as many US spectators as the COTA F1 race in this one Day).
The post The US growth of Formula 1 and the decline of NASCAR come together in one exciting weekend – The Athletic first appeared on monter-une-startup.
