HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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NOVEMBER 2012
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ILLUSTRATION BY DRAGON76
75
The 1991 U.S. Grand Prix, you could say, abounded
in ironies. For one thing, though the temperature in
downtown Phoenix topped 80 degrees, the 15-turn
street track was lined with ads for an Italian clothing
concern called Iceberg. For another, this cacophonous
high-speedaffair ranpast amortuary—something that,
given the event’smeager turnout, prompted a local col-
umnist toquipthat “amanreportedlysatup inhis coffin
and asked what was going on. Told it was the Grand
Prix, he lay back down again.” Indeed, the U.S. Grand
Prixwould be outdrawn that same week by an ostrich
race in nearby Chandler. Formula 1 organizers gave up
a er 1991, pulling out just three years into a five-year
contract. The ostrich race is still going strong.
Formula 1 racing returns to the U.S.
in its latest bid to crack this
stubbornly resistant market. The plan
is a study in paradox: In order to
win over America, F1 will stop trying
to appeal to Americans.
BY JOSH STEWART
TurningPoint?
the fan
