No United States Grand Prix in 2009

Somewhere in the history of this blog I predicted that Formula One would lose all the ground it gained from seven years of Grands Prix if it pulled the USGP from Indianapolis.

I must've been right, because if it weren't for a small blurb in the USA Today sports section last week, no one would've known that the FIA finalized its 2009 Formula One schedule and left the United States Grand Prix off of it.

Nary a word was spoken in Indianapolis about the issue.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway released a statement that read something like 'we would like to have Formula One return in the 2009-2011' time frame. I'm going to call bullshit on this. The fact of the matter was neither Tony George, nor Bernie Ecclestone went out of their way to negotiate in the media, as has been the case in the past. If discussions had reached a point where the deal was a concession away, someone would've gone to the press with some piece of information as a tactic of negotiation. If negotiations were indeed happening between the two parties, it looks as if it did not get far in the process. Otherwise we would've known.

(And by the way, I'm still upset that IMS tried to make up for the loss of F1 with MotoGP. I could care less about MotoGP. Why not at least have an IRL race on the road course or something? Throw us 4-wheeled, left-and-right-turning race fans a bone already.)

With each year the prospect of a USGP in Indianapolis becomes more remote. Any casual F1 fan gained in the last seven years has surely been lost by now, and if not, they'll be lost by this time in 2009 for certain. The further removed the casual fan gets from Formula One, the less appealing sponsorship of the GP will be for companies. Especially US ones, because who wants to advertise to the remaining group of F1 fans, which a niche group of gearheads anyway? Well, besides BMW, Lexus and Mercedes.

If the USGP is to happen, it needs to find a major sponsor ready to throw oodles of cash at George and Ecclestone. I don't think a US company fits that criteria, but I have to believe an global company might. I'm thinking specifically about a company like InBev, the Belgian beer company that owns many of the major world beer brands and recently tried to acquire Anheuser-Busch for a cool $65B. InBev's actions clearly show how much it wants a major US brand as a global brand, as well as a formidable entry in average beer segment. InBev isn't in the US to just dabble in the import beer segment with Stella; it wants to battle the big boys.

So why not a global sponsor, Mr. George? Have you at least made the call?

The call would go something like this: "InBev, we like what you're doing, and we want to give you the value proposition of a lifetime. We'll have your brands plastered all over our speedway -- don't worry about the Foster's signs -- and we'll send your message out to all of the world. How about the Stella Artois United States Grand Prix? Or perhaps the InBev United States Grand Prix by Budweiser? Sound good? For the low low price of the sanctioning fee cost, it could be yours ..."

Or something like that. Maybe InBev wouldn't work considering Foster's is the official beer of F1, but I think you get the idea: global company with a global brand that wants to play for keeps in the US.

Make it happen, Tony. Make it happen. I'm getting restless.