High Noon At The F1 Corral

Motorsport is perhaps the most unstable of all forms of professional sports. Not only are rules changes implemented on an annual basis (at a minimum) to keep up with advancing technology, but sanctioning bodies themselves regularly rise, merge with others, and fold. Although racing fans in the United States have enjoyed relative stability with NASCAR, which has been owned by the France family for its entire existence, other forms of stateside racing have not enjoyed similar stability. USAC at one time controlled most forms of motorsports, including the Indianapolis 500, but its influence has waned to the point where its major series is local dirt sprint tracks. Sports car racing has undergone countless changes in racing series, from Can-Am to IMSA to the current Grand-Am/ALMS split.

The racing world meltdown that received the most mainstream attention was the fissure of open wheel racing a decade ago, when Tony George, whose family owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, broke away from CART to create a new open wheel series. The Indy Racing League was, at its inception, intended to promote American drivers on American-style tracks (i.e., ovals) with costs kept in check by using spec chassis and engines. The American appetite for open wheel racing, however, was not hearty enough to support two top-level open wheel series. CART had the more technologically advanced cars, more interesting tracks and better drivers, but it did not have the Indianapolis 500, the only open wheel race that most casual sports fans will watch, if they watch any at all. The IRL had Indy, but it had inferior cars and drivers.

Over time, the IRL discovered that its business model simply did not make for interesting racing. Once the IRL added road courses and drivers from all over the world to its schedule, there was little to differentiate it from CART. But because the IRL had sole rights to the Indianapolis 500, the eventual fate of the two series was set. Last year, the two series unified. That is to say, the IRL drove CART out of business. Now, with fewer races, better teams and better drivers, top-level open wheel racing has the best chance for success it's going to have.

The situation is no different elsewhere in the world. Today, the racing world is on the verge of one of the biggest shakeups it has ever seen. The majority of the teams in Formula One, including the crown jewel, Ferrari, are engaged in a ultra- high stakes game of brinksmanship with its sanctioning body and the organization that owns the commercial rights to the series. The FIA typically tinkers with Formula One's technical specifications, but recently proposed a new level of control. Starting next year, the FIA has proposed that the teams voluntarily limit themselves to a development budget of $60 million for the year, but that teams would be allowed to exceed that budget. However, teams that adhered to the budget would be permitted technical advantages over the higher-spending teams. Teams representing major auto manufacturers such as Toyota, BMW, McLaren (Mercedes) and Ferrari (which is not a major street car manufacturer but is the heart and soul of Formula One), which routinely half a billion dollars or more a year on their teams, objected to the creation of a dual-tier championship. Formula One's self-proclaimed mission has always been to race the most technologically advanced that the engineers could devise. In the estimation of eight of the ten race teams, the Formula One governors want to turn Formula One into a mere spec series.

On the day the teams were required to state their commitment to the series for next season, the major teams have announced their intention to withdraw from Formula One and create their own series. Part of their motivation comes from the technical restrictions imposed by the FIA, but another part of their motivation comes from their desire to have greater control over the commercial rights of their product. The governing body and commercial rights holder usually win these fights, which arise with some regularity, usually because the teams cannot hold a coalition together. This dispute is different, because Ferrari is leading the charge. Ferrari, which is the only team to have competed in every season of Formula One since its inception, is the one team in Formula One cannot do without. In a major blow to the FIA, there is now word that Monte Carlo would not hold its race if Ferrari were not part of the field. Monte Carlo holds the same position in Formula One that Indianapolis holds over stateside open wheel racing. Without Ferrari, there is no Monaco. Without Monaco and Ferrari, there is no Formula One.

I share the view of many racing fans I have heard from that I would much rather see Ferrari and the other major teams compete at the highest level rather than in a contrived series with all teams using the same engines as the FIA suggested it wants in the future. Although the FIA holds contracts with the best tracks, with Ferrari in the fold the breakaway teams would presumably be able to secure the use of the most of those tracks, such is the allure of teh Ferrari race team.

The next few weeks will tell the tale. The battle for Formula One's soul barely registers a blip on the radar of the American sporting landscape (in part because the commercial rights holder idiotically wrote off both the Canadian and US grands prix this year), but for those who follow the sport, it is a clash of epic proportions.