It's like the patient, on life support already, has suddenly take a severe turn for the worse.
American racing fans' interest in the most sophisticated form of racing in the world has been tenuous at best. There has always been this difference between Europeans and Americans regarding some sports.
When it comes to tennis and golf, we all pretty much are in the same camp as far as the stars and events that are fan favorites.
But when it comes to things like "soccer or football?" or "Formula One (F1) vs. the various American major league series" it seems never the twain shall meet.
Last weekend in Indianapolis they may have pulled the plug on the ailing F1 in the U.S. patient. It's the most U.S. publicity F1 has gotten in a long time.
What happened was that 100 thousand fans gathered to watch 20 highly developed race cars and 20 of the world's best drivers compete on a road course at America's most revered racing shrine.
After the field took a warmup lap, however, 14 of the cars pulled into the pits and withdrew from the race.
Reporters who were there said many fans headed for the exits. Others stayed in their seats and booed and threw trash onto the front straightaway.
It seems that the 14 withdrawals were using Michelin tires and the other six were on Bridgestones. A couple of practice accidents had convinced Michelin officials that their tires would not hold up to the stresses they would experience on the 13th turn.
The 13th turn is a high speed one, using the banking of the original Indy rectangle.
Michelin tried to get Indy officials to set up a chicane, a little left/right jog, to slow the cars down before 13, but the answer was “no”. They even tried to get the FIA to suspend its rule that requires teams to start on the tires on which they qualified.
FIA is a French acronym for International Automobile Federation, which sanctions F1 racing. They said “no”, too.
Michelin's deputy director of competition, Frederic Henry-Biabaud, told the Associated Press on Monday that they are not embarrassed about their decision, despite their regrets for fans and drivers. He said they were being professional and putting driver safety first.
The FIA has called representatives of the seven teams to a meeting in Paris June 29th to discuss the action and hand out punishment. Its spokesman has said that rather than pull out of the race, the teams on Michelins should have just slowed down for Turn 13.
The statement said that the rules "cannot be negotiated each time a competitor brings the wrong equipment to a race."
Joie Chitwood, president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, would not speculate to AP about whether an F1 date would occur next year, but noted it sets back their efforts to introduce F1 in America.
Other pundits are saying it's time to pull the sheet over F1 in the U.S.