Haven't been following this thread, but from a local perspective,
Bernie hasn't made many friends here this week by saying that the event
should be better attended and that the poor marketing here was the
cause (not the F1 attitude of excellence, driver access, etc., etc.) --
and he belittled Danica Patrick (!!!).
Interesting commentary in much more depth at:
> http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/17688/
There is already rumor of ticket refunds (though IMS has already
officially said to register complaints with Michelin, the FIA & F1
Management -- Uncle Bernie, himself!!!!!), but the damage is done.
There was an article on the front page of the Indianapolis Star this
morning which lamented that this F1 thing just wasn't catching on here
and that only about a fifth of the folks at the race come from Indiana.
That said, this year's attendance was apparently the highest ever
(first year may have been bigger). This type of political behavior
certainly won't sit any better with the locals, than when Michael S.
blatantly let Rubens by for the win a few years back.
Kinda seems like billion dollar Championship Wrestling in a way....
Warming up my television for Mr. Despain's take.
Brett Johnson
On Jun 19, 2005, at 6:13 PM, Joe Curry wrote:
> I was referring to your suggestion that the trouble was caused by the
> F1
> people rather than the FIA. Bernie made it abundantly clear that he
> had
> nothing to do with the decisions that were made.
>
> Joe
|