Man On A Mission
I, John-Pierre Rivera, am about to embark on a one-man mission. I don’t know why it took this long for me to figure it out. To see the light, to finally fulfill the true mission of this blog. I am perfectly clear on what needs to be done.
There’s a prelude to every journey and maybe I just needed a bit of time to figure it out. To find my voice, set the groundwork sort to speak. Rome wasn’t built in day now was it?
I have spent the better part of two years (my short blogging career) with really no direction except to inject a bit of my American opinion and insight into the F1 conversation. I’m not interested in journalism per se; my goal has always been to find the smaller parts of F1 that could use a little more light pointed in their direction. The things that no one else is talking about, the issues that really interest me as an avid fan. At minimum to come at things from a different angle. Hopefully I have accomplished this to some degree. 🙂
Now I am ready to refocus my attention, my perspective, my irreverence (ha ha) and my post ending quips to a slightly more admirable cause. I have been feeling a bit patriotic regarding the recent posts about America, the fact that Austin is such a success, Alexander Rossi is waiting to make his debut, Conor Daly is on the fast track to F1, the strong likelihood of a race in New Jersey, and even the whisper of an F1 race in Long Beach (a forty minute drive for yours truly). I have decided that in addition to my shameless propaganda for Fernando Alonso, my constant lobbying about Lewis Hamilton being just as good if not better than Vettel at qualifying and of course my never ending complaining about Christian Horner, the Red Bull machine and Vettel’s (but as I have stated many times, he is a hell of a driver) machinery, I will also be doing everything I can to promote F1 here in the states, and giving Alexander Rossi as much copy as one blogger can.
In the process of publishing the Rossi interview it became clear to me what an incredible opportunity we have to support such a worthy talent and at the same time get America excited about F1. Maybe I was even a little inspired by his single-minded devotion to making it in F1.
The solution to the American riddle that I refer to so often is now quite clear to me. It is a numbers game pure and simple. The more Americans that know about F1 and that there is an American driver (hopefully two) in the sport the more they will support it.
So with that said I am starting my mission right now, this very moment. Consider this a call to arms, except with no arms. I am making a plea to all racing fans in America to tell a friend, hell, tell ten friends, make like a Jehovah’s Witness and spread the good word –Formula 1 has a home here in the States and in Rossi we have a driver that can compete at Formula 1’s level. Let’s get on this bus and see where we end up. It might take some time, but don’t all worthwhile causes take time?
Would it not be great for America if we had a presence, a real presence again in F1 like in the Mario Andretti days? If we were not just spectators for the greatest racing formula, but also participants? We can do it, I know we can. Tomorrow 22 cars will practice with that mesmerizing sound, that exhaust note, that song like no other, the chorus so beautiful that to hear it is to hear God (okay I might have gone a little overboard on that last one.) But to hear an F1 car is to hear something that you will never forget, we can all agree on that.
Also tomorrow in the first free practice our own American driver, the one that I have been going on and on about, Mr. Alexander Rossi, will be assuming the driving duties for the Caterham F1 team. He is fresh off a win in GP2 at the Abu Dhabi circuit and he is the goods. I am asking you all to tune in and watch if you can. If you can’t, pretend you are watching it (just go with me on this one), tweet about it, FaceBook it. Tell everyone you see tomorrow that there is this guy driving a racecar, an F1 racecar, and we should support him because he is America’s next great racing hope. Also he will be the lone American in a pack of 15 Europeans, four Latin Americans and two Australians, all of whom are pretty used to America not giving a damn about this racing discipline. I could almost grant Europe the upper hand since they are our forefathers but Latin America? Australia? Even Mexico has TWO drivers fer chrissake. We’re going to let Mexico and Australia outclass us? No, I didn’t think so. Add your voices together and maybe we can jump start America and get us back to the sharp part of the grid.
-jp- (and remember Rome was not built in day)
AmerF1can 
JP, you are soooo right.
An American driver to pull us all in.
I’m on the wagon (F1 that is).
Ed
Go Team USA!
Hey you guys finally have some bike talent on the way up again too with Josh Herrin signing up for Moto2 (with the Caterham Moto2 team, though I’m guessing you will already have heard of them as they are in some little sport no-one has heard of – F1 😉 )
Perhaps you should make it an all USA all motorsport hurrah, it may all time itself to come good at once!
hey Lisa
i have been MIA for a few weeks had to catch up on some other things. Im so impressed that Tony Fernandez and Caterham are supporting junior formulas. hope your holidays are rocking… by the way marquez winning the championship in his first year, not even Sebastian Vettel claim such a feat. talk about perfect timing to come into the sport with Honda… your thoughts???
HI there JohnPierre, hope you had a most awesome birthday! (Your most recent post suggests the answer is yes!)
Since then it has been announced that Brit Gino Rea will ride for the first American Moto2 team, so there will be a U.S. rider and a team present in the paddock for 2014 now, nice!
Thoughts…when Vettel dominates there is an air of boredom to what should be the greatest motorsport spectacle on the planet, something which despite his greatness at the sport I find quite unforgivable. Compared to, say, the dominance of Michael Schumacher, his era had more ‘edge’ as he could turn on the pantomime villain and punt off a much loved rival and instantly up the ante for spectators.
Then there’s Marquez. There is no doubting the teens talent, or his aggression. He has learned by studying the best (he watched videos of Rossi at Laguna and then passed him by emulating his infamous move on Stoner for goodness sakes!) and has every opportunity to be the new best, the benchmark, the future.
And that is my only problem. With Lorenzo being the only recent exception heading straight to Yamaha (but also straight to hospital with a concussion so bad he didn’t know which country he was in!!) he has arrived in MotoGP on the best bike currently available.
I could be wrong, but I feel he probably wouldn’t have broken all those records if he had been sent off for an apprentice year at a satellite team first, though he is so good he surely would have forced some podiums and maybe even a win.
I would love to have seen how he would have fared on the LCR Honda or Gresini Honda first! For all we know Stefan Bradl may have been the record breaker with the same opportunities.
Marquez may be a talent, but his little brother Alex is already looking like being a BIGGER talent, one to watch for the future, if Marquez remains at Honda until his brother works his way up from Moto3 you could have team Marquez to contend with in a couple of years.
That really could be championship dominance in action (sorry for the long post!)
Hey Lisa
great comments as usual. I can’t even think about marquez having a faster younger brother. wow. and by the way i like reading what you have to say. so the longer the posts the better. 😉
Thanks, in that case, for your interesting blog posts in the first place – they start some great conversations!
Little Alex Marquez is certainly one to watch, fast like his brother but more refined and a bit less crazy already!