Yesterday I had an informal meeting with Best Buy executives at the Fuse Capital offices in Palo Alto (Fuse is running a new Best Buy venture fund) to discuss the CrunchPad. Best Buy and Fuze have been big supporters of the project, and we had a good discussion of our plans going forward.
I also ran into YouTube founder Chad Hurley at the Fuze offices, who was meeting with the Best Buy team along with the execs from the new U.S. Formula 1 Racing team USGPE (previously US F1).
Hurley is “the big investor” in USGPE said Best Buy Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge, and it looks like Best Buy is also looking for ways to get involved in the project. There are also rumors that YouTube will sponsor the car.
USPGE, which was founded by Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, has 20 employees, is slated to make its Grand Prix debut in 2010. The car is being produced in Charlotte, North Carolina and may be finished by October 2009.
Image Credit: PSFK.com
I cant really see the USA ever having a strong formula 1 team. It is kind of a sport Americans dont really understand.
However, it is great to see them finally trying to sort out a team. But no chance they can compete with the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull.
yeah, formula 1 isn’t really our thing. it’s like soccer. long, boring and pointless.
bit like Techcrunch
touche.
touché
A soccer game lasts 90min, a formula 1 race cannot exceed 2 hours in length or the race will be ended at the end of the lap when that interval is reached. Both of these are shorter than 3 of the most popular US sports.
Baseball – ave length of game 2 and a half hours
Gridiron – ave 3 to 4 hours
Basketball – ave 2 hours, 15 minutes.
yea, nascar is better, cars going in a circale for 500 laps….
very intresting !
i wish i had that é button on my keyboard. Everything is just a little more sophisticated in Europe.
And guess what, in baseball players have fat belly.. and they call it sports.
don’t mess with baseball.
@Michael : Just press Alt + 1 + 3+ 0 , and you’ll got your é ( Alt + 138 : è , Alt + 133 : à ) .
As a french working on a QWERTY keyboard, i know about 20 of those, pretty useful.
As for the news, yep i don’t think USF1 will do good, except if they accept to recruit non US drivers, such a Sebastien Bourdais, who would do great on a team build around him (like in Newman Haas when he won his ChampCar titles).
Scott Speed would do a great too i guess, would be a good pair of pilot.
He realizes it won’t help him “down there” right?
I sold my corvette collection years ago after discovering this sad truth.
alt + e = é
It’s option-e + e on a Mac.
Looks like even the French default keyboard layout (AZERTY) doesn’t have a single key for the é:
http://en.wikip...d_layout#French
I love F1 and TC. Wait a minute… What does that say about me ?
Soccer?
You mean “Football”. We do actually use our feet in our version of the game
[cowers in corner]
We use our feet to move a ball: Football
They use their hands to throw an egg shape: Handegg
Handegg? More like handball.
Michael,
Formula one and soccer are the two most interesting sport with a speed factor. Not sure, how you are rating them as bore.
I guess if I have my own website, I can rubbish and trash anything that I don’t like or understand.
Thanks Michael for proving it (again!!)
There is no logic in that, it’s only a matter of imprinting. If you’re born in the US you’ll like US sports, if you’re born everywhere else you’ll like the sports of the rest of the world which has surprising homogeneity in liking both football (aka soccer) and Formula 1. The metric vs imperial units row is similar and people likes the food they had in the first part of their lives.
But this is not anything serious, it just something to chat and joke about.
After reading the first comments posted, for a few
minutes I thought that I had encountered a groupie of rather unsophisticated and biased individualss, but I am now beginning to think that
at least one of those involved was just putting on what I call a “Redneck Mask.” Please don’t assume anything at all, but I’ll be nice and let you know that I was born in Cuba, but attended a summer camp near Worcester, MA for five years, and later
went to prep school in Boston. I love both, NASCAR (Mostly the Sprint Series), and Formula 1
racing. I left Cuba in ‘61 (never with the idea of
moving/migrating to America, and returned a few
months later as a member of the Bay of Pigs Invasion Force. My brother (RIP) used to race as an
amateur in Cuba. He began importing into Cuba Castrol oil, and Norton motorcycles. When he was only 18, he brought into Cuba the first MG that touched Cuban soil. I can’t remember if it was a TD or a TF, I think.
I think tha it is great that the U.S. finally has a team to represent it, and I think that Danika Patrick would be a sensation racing F1, in every sense. America has had some excellent drivers that have raced in European-style circuits, such
as Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, and Shelby. By the way, didn’t Michael Andretti win in LeMans one year, driving a Ford? Blast it, my memory is beginning
to fade.
Respectfully;
Waldo (as my grandson calls me)
Long, Boring, Pointless=Baseball, American Football?
You obviously do not understand soccer. Because TV makes Baseball, NFL, and NBA (low hoops for giants) look appealing they are popular in the states. Soccer/Football rules MIKE.
Step outside USA and into the rest of the entire world and you will see. Latin America, Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Europe what they all crying for? SOCCER
F1 is an intelligent racing spot. Unlike Nascar round and round and round and round the same track. Come on MIKE stop being a hater
I grew up in the UK for part of my childhood, and I lived there in 2001. I played soccer for ten years as a kid. I get the sport. And it’s really, really boring to watch.
like nascar?
what as opposed to IRL and Nascar where F1 drivers go when they get their OAP bus pass (ie when they retire) and win the Indy 500
brave of them to build it in the states though rather than setting up shop in the UK.
The superbowl is quite probably the biggest peice of paint dry ive ever seen.
Its a shame soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Id also suggest F1 is above any US sport.
I am a big F1 fan. It is one of the biggest sports in the world and is extremely political. There is more to the sport off-track than on-track. Hurley is obviously also a fan and USGP do have some big names involved (notably Peter Windsor, who previously worked at Williams and other teams and more recently was the lead commentator on the Speed channel coverage).
I hope USGP is a success, and I hope they bring races back to the USA and that the audience here takes a liking to it. It is a whole level above local motorsport like NASCAR and Indy (to give you an idea of how much more skill there is in F1 than Indy – Sebastian Bourdais, who was a 4-time Champcar champion, moved to F1 and was probably the worst driver there, he lost his seat after 25 races or so. This from a guy who couldn’t be beaten in Champcar)
Yeah don’t agree on the Bourdais part.
Bourdais is a driven who need a team who’s paying attention to him. That was not the case at STR, appart from the fact that the car was the worst one on the grid.
I’m convicted that Bourdais can do great in a good/middle car if the team treat him right, like Newmann Haas use to do.
For sure it requires extra stuff to drive a F1, but we see clearly that the car and the team you’re in count a lot in the performance, easy to see how Alonso got trouble to make a name of himself this year with the shitty Renault his driving.
Bourdais’ team mate won a race last year. He’s just not good enough.
I’d pay 3K to see Barca versus Liverpool at Anfield.
In other words, I’d pay a lot to see a boring and pointless match
I don’t think fat guy like you have any understanding of any sports.
I don’t think fat guy like you have any understanding of any sports.
Except for the sport that people like u play, baseball.
well i don’t understand it either and i m not american. it’s all about perfecting the machines, with all the rules and regulations it’s become less of a talent and more of who invests the most. doesn’t sound very exciting to me
That part is exciting, every season requlations get stricter and machines more powerful, it’s mostly about the technology, I hope you understand this part.
It’s this type of mentality that keeps people from disliking those who are fond of the sport. If I was new to the sport and someone made a comment like this, I would probably not want to even get into it thinking everyone is just going to think I “dont understand it”.
So what? Maybe some people don’t like it or don’t follow it. Doesn’t mean people don’t want to learn about it or understand it. It’s an amazing sport to watch and awesome once you understand it. Let’s give people a chance here buddy.
Will be interesting to see if USGPE actually make it to the grid in 2010. There are accusations of foul play in the way the new teams were selected, and a complaint has been filed with the European Commission.
http://www.pitp...es_art_id=38607
this is widely known in the F1 news scene.
I think its great that there will be a us team and maybe there will be a us gp again.
I don’t think they will have problems finding sponsors for brands in the US that want worldwide exposure. F1 is huge worldwide and nascar is not etc
From my understanding there will also be a base in Europe.
Would these races be hosted at youtube?
No. BBC F1 has the broadcast rights.
In the UK.
Even in the UK there are still a lot of other rights floating around. We were offered a highlights package, team interviews, pre and post race driver, team owner and commentary interviews etc for a project we were working on for almost gratis.
Shouldn’t “Fuze” be “Fuse”?
yep
Any chance you are going to update us on the crunchpads progress soon Mr Arrington? Lots of people are interested
apparently our esteemed partners in Singapore are the ones who leak all the news on crunchpad.
Hope this saves the sport. Lots of drama recently including BMW Sauber’s pull out of F1.
is driving a car around in circles really a sport?
The circuits arent really round….unlike nascar and there is a whole lot more tech in these cars than nascar…..did I mention its BETTER than NASCAR. Good to see our generation of brands getting into F1!
oh, i agree it’s better than nascar. just about everything is better than nascar. watching the grass grow is better than nascar, for example. or staring at a wall.
Not if your wall has nascar projected onto it…
LOL so true!!! Unfortunately, F1 has devolved into a horrific parade nowadays as well. It’s almost completely predictable who will win the race just by looking at the pole position of the starting grid. Pathetic. F1 was truly spectacular back in 1994 or so when Ayrton Senna was racing but the cars were just too dangerous it had to be slowed down to avoid more fatalities. The “parade” effect has been present in the sport ever since.
Haha, Michael… that’s NASCAR like nyasha mentioned.
If you’re texting on your iPhone while driving for 5 second… you’ve driven about a football field.
If F1 drivers text while driving… it’s 20332769870493248324 football fields.
agree. worse than golf
Spoken like somebody who has absolutely no firsthand knowledge of either. But, that’s typical.
They’re sports – the elements/forces a driver & machine are subjected to for 2+ hours (in either F1 or NASCAR) would send the average person crying mommy. Add to that a prerequisite of machine-like agility & decision making if you intend on winning. Plus, add a healthy dose of killer instinct.
The problem with both are television takes the rawness away. NASCAR drivers look like they’re cruising around… you cannot SEE that the steering wheel is trying to rip itself out of the drivers hands and it’s 114 degrees in the car.
The more relevant question is – “are they entertaining TV”? your mileage may vary.
You obviously have never seen the workout regimen of an F1 driver. They are better athletes that 90% of “athletes” that play sports here in the US. The average person couldn’t do one lap in an F1 car at speed; their head would start flopping around from neck muscle fatigue, not to mention the 20 other things that wouldn’t be able to stand the force.
Additionally, F1 driver’s reaction times are probably better than any athlete in any other sport.
Is there any way to fix future blog posts so I don’t click Read More only to read:
Image Credit: PSFK.com
Nothing like a bit of the old
“Im here doing a deal” and the old “Oh wow fancy seeing you here doing a deal” and a bit of the good old “finding out about doing the good old F1 deal” before saying “lets have a drink of the good old brewskies”
So does this mean also that YouTube will be hosting F1 races also?
That would be nice, i’m getting bored of the copyright shit when you try to watch F1 related stuff after a GP…
NASCAR is boring all they do is go rounds and rounds. As an American I hated motor sports until I went to the south of France and saw the Monaco GP. F1 is a lot more interesting than NASCAR or even Indy Car.
YouTube host F1 races is cool
Why such the negative tone towards ‘the sport’ Michael? I actually am NOT a fan of car racing at all myself. Just seems to serve no purpose to be negative about it. There are a lot of people who love and enoy it – leave them alone.
If there’s a grid next year [there's a threatened walkout of 8 of 10 teams] , I hope these guys can make it. It’d be nice to have a dog in the fight. I hate answering the question “Who’s the US driver or Team?” Now that Scott Speed is out there isn’t even a single North American Driver let alone a U.S. driver.
Not to mention this may get geeks into racing and more than 3 people to discuss this with after watching a race.
There hasn’t been a chance of a walkout in a few weeks, and with a new Concorde Agreement having been finalized by all competitors (with exception of BMW Sauber AG; they’re allowed to sign later if they should somehow survive in some form) and the FIA last Saturday it’s now an impossibility as everyone is contractually bound to compete through the 2012 season.
Oh yeah, I could care less really; just something I noticed – wanted to throw in my thoughts.
Formula 1 when the big boys (BMW) are about to get out? If you have money to burn why burn petrol on top? Burn it elsewhere
BWM Bottled It because they wern’t wining
maybe not this year but they certainly did well in the past when providing engines to Williams…
but F1 is just SO last month…fuel burners will be dinosaurs pretty soon…so they focus on alternatives instead…smart moves will pay off better than fast moves…
This will do Formula 1 wonders. So far they have been close minded when it comes to publishing their content online.
Hopefully there is a bit of talk with Ecclestone, maybe YouTube will finally have the go ahead to publish some F1 coverage on the interwebs.
Ha they’re not opening up shit. Bernie is all about control and monopolization of the sport. It won’t be until he’s out that they’ll maybe get it and realize this single point of publication/broadcast mentality is not helping the sport grow.
David I disagree, there is no way a huge platfrom like YouTube will not be twisting Bernie’s arm. Maybe there will be an official F1 YouTube page.
YouTube wouldn’t get involved in one of the most popular sports in the world without some spin coverage on their site.
Pay per view spawning from YouTube which:
Simultaneously runs advertising based on IP location or registration, can be streamed through broadcast sites such as the BBC and SpeedTV, is connected with Live Chat functionality, and offers for alternate camera views, feeds data streams from the paddock and allows for users to model data streams and statistics to predict outcomes. Oh, and there’s wagering too.
I’m assuming that with a GOOG brand being involved the vehicle is carbon neutral?
F1 is a very very expensive sport. How much money Youtube plans to throw as sponsors counting the fact that they don’t make any?
Excellent point!!! Where’s this sponsorship cash coming from?
I strongly doubt Ecclestone will let YouTube show any of F1’s content. I expect to see some pretty cool USGPE content online thought.
Maybe, but it won’t be F1 races on youtube or any part of one. Getting online rights for F1in a territory (i mean legit, geo-blocked and paying for it) is impossible.
God doesn’t even email, for bernie’s sake!
i like
Is that a real car on a picture?
It’s on the Internet … it MUST be real!
While very few can achieve what race car drivers performs, motor assisted activity is not a sport.
When one lazy team member can win when he/she is part of a Team sports such as football, soccer, hockey, baseball, basketball… I guess you can call it a sport. But when one player relies only on his/her both physical and mental ability to beat the other… without contact! Now you have a true sport! Tennis is such a sport.
F1 does relies on both physical and mental ability to beat the other. If that is not a sport, then r u ready to sit there and think ur body will get without any harm those Gs??? easy to say sitting there right?
Its hard to imagine You Tube actually need more exposure or need to be paying F1 style premium for it.
Perhaps there’s a specific product or service that they think is best promoted this way. Otherwise it smells of..whats that word..when someone spends to legitimize ill-gotten gains?
The official name of the team is Team USF1.
When they originally revealed their plans under the name USF1 they were in violation of F1’s commercial rights holder’s policies regarding usage of “F1″ in a team name that is not officially a competitor.
As of the official acceptance of the team into the 2010 season they once again were able to use (and do) USF1.
Wait, is he owning the team or getting a share in the team?
And yes the team US F1 is pretty much expected for next year line up!
Who cares about the sponsor? I wanna know who will be the driver(s). Someone well known like Danica Patrick could really do wonders for the sport and bring in American audiences.
They’re looking specifically for American drivers, and while Danica has been looked at it’s pretty much acknowledged that it’s for different reasons than talent. She would bring a lot of press and attention to the team, but if it were based on talent alone she’s probably not at the top of the list.
I suspect that Scott Speed is on the short list, if not at the top, due to his prior experience in a Formula One car and his desire to get back to the top.
Wait, Whaaaa? American Formula One Team? A motor sport where excitement may happen? And drivers may exotically be named William, Robert and James rather than Billy, Bob and Jimmy?
Well, this may require the skill to drive in patterns other than circular laps, and in more than one direction, less then 500 times over! Are you sure Americans can handle this?
How on earth will you monetize on it? I mean, when people are fascinated with a sport you obviously cannot sell them hotdogs and beer. Maybe you can halt the race to a pace with a yellow flag out every 7 laps and pop up a screen with preroll contextual video layer ads? Yea, that’s it. Also rebrand it, American Formula, ot National Racing League, something that is not too international. Those damn foreigners are scary and different. Billy Bob won’t relate.
Did he buy BMW F1 divison?
Anyone who hasn’t experienced the thrill of road racing just doesn’t understand. Racers are true athletes with balls bigger than anyone I know that plays stick and ball sports. Just remember, it only takes one ball to play ___________. (fill in the blank; soccer, football, baseball….)
Just like MotoGP, even worst Formula 1 didn’t even race here in US, but MotoGP have 2 races. But funding a racing team is not easy and I’ll be surprise if he wins.
Wonder what kind of exposure youtube would get from this.
…a global one.
Absolutely. I love this.
Ayrton Senna’s death didn’t have an impact on F1 car speeds, it made security better for F1 drivers. That’s the main reason why Felipe Massa is alive after the accident recently.
And for those of you that said that F1 is not exciting or great, try watching it live to see these pilots going 5X against gravity and breaking from 250 km/h to 20 km/h in curves in 2.5 seconds.
If you don’t like riding karts then you don’t like racing, forget about F1 or any other racing sport. If you never tried it, then it’s about time.
http://f1teleme...e-american.html
Read this. Its about US drivers’ stint in Formula 1. It has not been so good!!
Erm… it’s the _founder_ of YouTube, not the owner (which is Google of course) that is investing.
And for god’s sake, this side of the pond (well, anywhere outside the US) it’s FOOTBALL, not SOCCER. You know, like the UK Football Association, UEFA etc.
Anyhow, with the news that Montreal is in negotiating to host a race next year, the Concorde agreement being signed, Max leaving and Bernie having his wrists slapped by CVC maybe things are finally on the up!
F1! Can’t wait for 2010. The USF1 (USPGE) underdog taking on teams who are more experienced and spend more. All we need is a good driver. Not sure they can pull from US ranks and be considered good GP drivers. They are more likely to try to get a name (Danica) to draw attention, and re-introduce US to GP at a mainstream level.
i live in Charlotte, NC. So deff gotta go and see what they are working on.
this is simply sweeet!! i would definitely buy a team if i had that money
! its worth it! on top, its passion!