History of the US Grand Prix: Ahead of the World Championship race in Austin – plenty of vicarious embarrassment in America

Thanks in no small part to the Netflix generation, Formula 1 has finally made its mark in the US: the Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) near Austin (Texas) has grown since 2012 and attracts more than 500,000 fans to the circuit every race weekend.

Formula 1 is sexy again in America, and ‘Formula One Management’ is capitalising on this with races in Miami (Florida) and a return to Las Vegas (Nevada).

For years, the premier class struggled in the New World. The legendary Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was part of the Formula 1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960, but always felt like a misfit – different cars, hardly any US drivers at the Grands Prix, and hardly any GP drivers at the 500.

Sebring (Florida) in 1959 and Riverside (California) in 1960 were flops due to poor organisation, funding and marketing. They remained one-off events.

It was not until Watkins Glen (from 1961 to 1980) that the United States Grand Prix found a home; when the state of New York failed to provide funding for modernisation, the Formula 1 circus moved on.

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Lotus-Star Jim Clark 1963 in Watkins Glen

Foto: Grand Prix Photo

The Long Beach Street Grand Prix in California (1976 to 1983) became a fixture, but then the Californians realised that IndyCar racing costs less and offers racing that is at least as good.

Beim Grand Prix USA-West in Long Beach 1979

Foto: Grand Prix Photo

A first outing in Las Vegas in 1981/1982: a disaster. More on that in a moment.

A street Grand Prix in Detroit at least lasted from 1982 to 1988, before it too came to an end.

Ayrton Senna in Detroit 1987

Foto: Grand Prix Photo

Events in Dallas in 1984 and in Phoenix (from 1989 to 1991): failures, bad luck and mishaps – more on that in a moment too.

For Formula 1 at Indy (but this time for real), the operators of the Motor Speedway splashed out a lot of money, but the time wasn’t yet right for the huge crowds of fans. It all came to an end after 2007.

The premier class didn’t find a new home until 2012 at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin (Texas), now one of the most popular World Championship races for fans and experts alike.

What many of today’s COTA visitors don’t realise is that we’ve actually had a Formula 1 race in Texas before, and Formula 1’s appearance in Las Vegas isn’t new either.

Las Vegas, the first: Formula 1 in a car park

First, Las Vegas: of all things, the 1981 World Championship finale took place in the huge car park of the Caesars Palace Hotel, where a characterless, Mickey Mouse-style circuit had been crammed in.

Las Vegas 1981: Carlos Reutemann wird gleich von Nelson Piquet überholt

Foto: Grand Prix Photo

At the time, three drivers were still in with a chance of becoming world champion: Williams driver Carlos Reutemann (49 points), Brabham driver Nelson Piquet (48) and Ligier driver Jacques Laffite, who arrived in Nevada with 43 championship points.

One problem for the drivers: the circuit ran anti-clockwise. Moreover, it was unusually warm for the time of year during practice. Piquet had to be treated by the physiotherapist who normally looked after the boxer Sugar Ray Leonard.

Reutemann secured pole position, with his Williams team-mate Alan Jones starting alongside him. The Australian and the Argentine were bitter rivals; Jones made it clear before the race that he would offer Reutemann no assistance.

In the race, Jones immediately took the lead, whilst Reutemann fell back straight away and returned from the first lap in fifth place. On lap 2, things went from bad to worse for Carlos: the fourth gear on his Williams had given out. When he was later overtaken by his World Championship rival Piquet as well, Reutemann was as shattered as his fourth gear. He finished only eighth.

Piquet had other problems: his neck was playing up. He managed to finish fifth, just 1.5 seconds ahead of Laffite – exactly the two points he needed to overtake Reutemann in the World Championship – and the Brazilian became World Champion for the first time.

The race a year later wasn’t any better either.

The car park in question was built over in 2003. Liberty Media’s new Formula 1 major shareholders are doing things better with the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix – the race will take place at night and incorporate the world-famous Vegas Strip. Spectacular!

Dallas 1984: Formula 1 melts

So what was it like in Texas?

We don’t know who gave the go-ahead for the daft idea of heading to Texas in July of all months for the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix debut. We only know that, with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees, the track began to disintegrate and had to be hastily patched up.

Beim Dallas-GP 1984

Foto: Grand Prix Photo

Quick-setting concrete was only part of the solution. Goodyear’s tyre engineers could scarcely believe their eyes when they measured the track temperature – 66 degrees! Williams driver Keke Rosberg coped best with the heat and won.

The third embarrassment when it comes to US F1 circuits: Phoenix.

It’s part of the bizarre history surrounding the three-year run of the Formula 1 race in Phoenix that a race featuring ostriches attracted more spectators than the Formula 1 World Championship race held in the same year (no, really!).

We weren’t at the ostrich race, mind you, but we were at the street Grand Prix, and so we know this: the turnout for the Grand Prix from 1989 onwards was truly embarrassing.

Phoenix 1989: Zuschauer? Mangelware

Foto: Grand Prix Photo

On top of that, the circuit was utterly unimaginative – a collection of 90-degree bends. The drivers were rightly turning their noses up at it.

Just how popular Formula 1 was back then was evident from my arrival. I stepped out of the airport building and, in good faith, asked the taxi driver to please take me to the race track.

We ended up at a greyhound track.