On tap this week:
- Bernie strikes again
- Button deserves better
- Danica's time up?
- So long double points
- Quote of the Week: NASCAR's boss on domestic violence
- NASCAR dodges a bullet
There's no doubt that Formula One's commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone transformed a mom and pop sport into an international powerhouse.
While many point to Ecclestone's bank account and the sport's global reach as proof of his business acumen, the reality is that F1 has been heading in the wrong direction for years. There was steep growth three decades ago when he took the commercial reins, but it's becoming increasingly easy to argue that his model has proven unsustainable.
The sport now leaves traditional venues and turns to places like Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, China, Russia and next year Azerbaijan that will happily pay $50-million to buy some legitimacy through F1. Ecclestone's F1 also obliges fans to pay exorbitant ticket prices and his leadership style has created an F1 that is insular, elitist, and out of touch.
Maybe it's time F1 realized that times have changed and a more responsive leadership is needed to get the sport back on the right track.
Nothing could hammer that fact home more than Ecclestone's comments last week about not needing to attract young fans to the sport. He said they can't afford to buy a watch from F1 sponsor Rolex or sock their money away with its other big backer, UBS, so he'd "rather get to the 70-year-old guy who's got plenty of cash."
Unfortunately, counting on septuagenarians for financial stability might be a fantastic plan for an 84-year-old, but it's certainly not a viable long-term business plan for F1.
Random Thoughts
It looks like 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button could be starting his final grand prix on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
Without a confirmed contract and the 2015 seats at his McLaren team looking more and more likely to go to Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen, Button's exiting the F1 without any recognition of his contribution to the sport for the past 15 seasons seems to be a distinct possibility.
It's also a sad commentary on the state of the sport when one of its legendary teams contemplates sending a former world champion packing after five years without allowing him a swan song.
Always a thoughtful driver who was generous with his time, the classy and approachable Button deserves far better. Should McLaren announce a 2015 driver line-up that doesn't include Button either at the last minute or after the season, fans will have been robbed of a chance to recognize one of the sport's stars for his accomplishments and thank him for the great performances that thrilled many over the years.
Canadian F1 fans have the 34-year-old to thank for making the rain-suspended 2011 F1 race in Montreal unforgettable for all the right reasons. Button's almost unbelievable victory in the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix came despite a collision with his teammate Lewis Hamilton, a drive-thru penalty for speeding behind the safety car, a flat tire after another collision with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso that dropped him to last place with 32 laps to go, and a dumbfounding six pit stops.
On top of it all, Button earned the win with an exciting late race duel with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and seized the day when his rival made a mistake on the final lap that opened the door to his victory.
Button's disrespectful treatment reminds many of the way Rubens Barrichello — a veteran of 19 seasons and 322 grands prix who played a key role in six constructors championships — left the sport without any recognition of his career or contributions due to his Williams team not committing to its 2012 drivers until after his final start, which happened in his home race in Sȃo Paulo, Brazil.
Ironically, one of the drivers lamenting Barrichello's unceremonious exit from F1 at the time was Button.
"As we all know, when we're travelling around, you don't sit still for a second, so the years go by very quickly and as long as the hunger is still there, which it obviously is with Rubens, it's great that he still wants to race," Button said.
"I really hope he gets a drive next year — I hope he's racing next year because otherwise we've missed a really big party on Sunday night."
By the Numbers
With another lacklustre NASCAR Sprint Cup season going in the books for Danica Patrick, it's difficult to see her main sponsor Go Daddy sticking around for much longer.
After a first-season blitz by NASCAR and its broadcasters to highlight just about everything Patrick did, she has been less visible this year. Her results over the past two seasons also don't help. With an average finish of about 24th this year, Patrick's second full NASCAR Cup season has been a case of out of sight, out of mind. She finished 28th in points this year, one place worse then her rookie season.
Although Go Daddy was on her Andretti car as a minor sponsor when Patrick won the 2008 Japan 300 in Motegi, she has never excelled racing under its bright green colours. In fact, only two drivers have delivered wins to Go Daddy as a primary sponsor and both are Canadian: Ron Fellows, who scored a victory in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide NAPA 200 in Montreal, and IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe's three wins under its banner in 2013.
Results aside, despite attracting lots of attention to the brand since Go Daddy became her primary sponsor in 2010, it's debatable whether or not the company's involvement in NASCAR continues to support its goals.
The Internet business services company dumped James Hinchcliffe after the 2013 season despite his success, because it had "re-focused our resources to grow our business internationally, enhance products to help small businesses grow and add technology talent."
Essentially, it felt a racing sponsorship didn't fit into its new business model and it follows that NASCAR would fall into the same category. But Patrick's fans shouldn't worry, there's no doubt another sponsor will quickly snap her up and keep her in the Cup series.
Technically Speaking
All indications are that the controversial double points season finale will not return in 2015 and the F1 scoring system will go back to every race bringing a maximum of 25 markers for a win.
The gimmick was universally panned by fans when it was proposed before the 2014 F1 season and many rightfully worried it would play too large a role in determining the world champion.
Fans might want to see the bright side of the equation, because F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone originally sought to have the final three races count for double points. That would have meant a drive could have theoretically made up a 150-point advantage — the equivalent of six race wins — in the final three grands prix.
Quote of the Week
"Well, we are watching that case carefully. It's under review by law enforcement and others, and they have not made a decision on that regarding Kurt. So, until they make some judgments on that investigation, it wouldn't be right of us to just intervene before they've even gotten the investigation completed. So, that's our position. We'll respect their process. It's in their hands."
— NASCAR chairman Brian France responding to a question about a call from California Congresswoman Jackie Speier to suspend Kurt Busch after domestic assault accusations against the Stewart-Haas driver were filed in a Delaware court.
The Last Word
It's a good bet that there was a huge sigh of relief in NASCAR's Daytona head office Sunday night when Kevin Harvick beat fellow Chevy driver Ryan Newman to the 2014 Sprint Cup title by a few car lengths.
After tinkering with the 10-race Chase for the Cup playoff this year to put even more emphasis on winning, NASCAR came dangerously close to seeing a driver go home with the championship after scoring a grand total of zero wins in 36 races this year.
Despite Brian France telling reporters on Friday that he'd be fine with that because "any format that we've ever had always has the possibility that somebody might win the championship without winning an event," the reality is that a non-race winning champion would blow a giant hole in the new knockout-style Chase format.
Even without the embarrassment of having a winless champion, victories really didn't matter much when it came to choosing the final four. Two of the four title contenders were the winless Newman and Denny Hamlin, who last tasted victory in early May, both made while Brad Keselowski's two Chase wins and season high six overall were not good enough to get him to the showdown.
Perhaps Keselowski can find some solace in the fact that he's not the biggest loser when it comes to the Chase. That honour goes to four-time champion Jeff Gordon would have been celebrating his seventh NASCAR title on Sunday had the series never instituted the Chase a decade ago. Under the old points system, Gordon would have won the championship on total points in 2004, 2007 and 2014.
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Jeff Pappone