Gossage said he was astounded Ecclestone and Formula One could not find
another date to host the race in Austin, which has proved a resounding
success.
“It wouldn’t have happened if they [the Austin circuit officials] had the
strength and the fortitude to stand up and say no.”
Ecclestone, not one to take this kind of public criticism lying down, hit back
at Gossage, and said logistics and different markets of the two forms of
motorsport meant the clash was not an issue.
“We’ve a small problem they [Nascar] don’t have – we have six jumbo jets to
move around all our equipment, and we have to find the most sensible way to
use them to do that.
“We have to be efficient, and bear in mind we may also encounter problems at
an airport. There are issues that can occur, but he and other people do not
realise these things.
“The race prior to the one in the US is in Russia, in Sochi. We’ve never
been before, and we have to get out of there and into Austin.
“That is probably a lot easier than trying to get into Brazil, and then
we have to get out of there (Sao Paulo) to go to Abu Dhabi. So he is
extremely lucky he doesn’t have to do what we have to do.”
The 83-year-old added: “I’ve also spoken to the people that run the race and
their position is that they believe the Nascar crowd is a different crowd to
Formula One, different people, different customers.
“At the end of the day they run a domestic series in America – we run a world
championship.”
Formula One will travel to Austin for the third time in November, after two
years in which the event, the track and the racing have all received a warm
reception.
The sport has spent years trying to rebuild its reputation in America after
the race at Indianapolis in 2005, which went down as one of the biggest PR
disasters in the history of Formula One. Only six cars started the race due
to tyre safety issues, as the Michelin runners could not go through the
famous banked section at full speed.