Formula One has made a big impact on the United States and the popularity has been rising quickly in recent years. F1 has a thriving history in America, dating back to the 1950s in Sebring, Florida. The first grand prix here was in 1959, won by Bruce McLaren. This made him, at the time, the youngest grand prix winner in all of Formula One.
While this one grand prix was the end for Sebring in F1, the United States involvement in the sport was just getting started. From 1950-1960, Indianapolis Motor Speedway held a grand prix with a small, niche fanbase still overshadowed by the more popular US motor sports, IndyCar and Nascar. This small following kept up for almost 70 years, very slowly gaining traction and eventually getting a burst of fans when the F1 technology started to outperform some IndyCars. By the turn of the decade in the 1950s, the FIA (governing body of F1) decided that the track was unfit for the F1 cars and they decided to take it off the race calendar.
They held one grand prix in 1960 at Riverside International Raceway, but the event was a large financial failure and was quickly removed and replaced with Watkins Glen International in New York, which had more corners and 141 feet of elevation change, making it the perfect track for what Formula One was. They held the grand prix here for two decades, and the final race was held on October 5th, 1980. They removed it due to financial issues during the 1980s, and they stuck with the Long Beach street circuit, which started in 1976 and went on until 1983. Many Grands Prix happened in the 1980s, with the popularity of street circuits rising greatly. The Caesars Palace Grand Prix was held from 1981-1982, quickly switching to the Detroit Street Circuit from 1982-1988.
Around this time is when we saw some of the best car designs and the rise of the technology with amazing drivers all around, boosting the sports popularity and having it really make a mark in the United States. The temporary end to the American street circuits ended with the Phoenix Grand Prix, going from 1989-1991. Phoenix ended the street circuit era that lasted a whole 20 years.
This ended the races happening in the US until the turn of the century, and with the 2000s coming in, so did new tech that boosted F1 and its popularity, bringing it right back to the States. F1 returned to their old track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it was used up until 2007, which was the last we saw of the Motor Speedway, retiring the track for formula purposes. In 2010, the Circuit of the Americas was built in Texas, and just two years later F1 made its mark there and has kept it up since, and we aren’t seeing any plans to stop racing there yet. The large tower overlooking the track it was perfect for fans and other viewers.
Texas isn’t the only track in America that is still raced on, as the street circuits returned in Miami, Florida right next to the Hard Rock Stadium, and this brought thousands more people from the state into F1 and when you go to the Hard Rock, you can see some of the low curbs and track lines. With the increasing popularity and boost in funds for Formula One, they decided to re-open the Las Vegas strip to Formula One after 41 years, with the long strip being perfect for these brand-new cars to fly down at speeds over 215 miles per hour, or 345 kilometers per hour.
With all this history and solid funds and grounding for Formula One, the future definitely looks bright for Formula One fans in America and all around the world.
