Suffering from Racing Withdrawal?

Race fans struggle to find racing in the off-season. The A1GP Series offers very exciting racing.

As the off-season for auto racing drags on, racing programming has become scarce. Speed TV has exhausted its supply of “Pinks” reruns and NASCAR award shows. What is a racing junkie to watch while waiting for the annual build up to the 2008 season?

Don’t fret race fans. I have found one of the best-kept secrets in all of racing. The A1 GP series has produced some of the best racing I have seen in years. I can hear American race fans grumbling about road racing and drivers with names that are unfamiliar. Granted, the drivers in A1 GP are not household names here, but the competition is exciting.

While flipping through the channels last week, I stumbled on the A1 race in Malaysia. The Sepang course is familiar to those of us who are Formula 1 fans. I did not catch the race from the beginning but after a few laps I was intrigued. The A1 GP boasts that it is the “World Cup of Motorsport.” Each participating country fields an identical car painted in their respective colors, so it was relatively easy to find your favorite country.
Team Switzerland grabbed a commanding lead just before the safety car was deployed because of an accident involving Team Canada and South Africa. The incident and the results of the race were not of importance for this first race. The most attractive facet of this race was the fact that drivers and teams from all over the world were competing in an auto race for world supremacy. Some of the teams were from countries that were not thought to be racing hotbeds. International race enthusiasts know of the accomplishments of drivers and teams from countries like Brazil and Germany. The A1 GP Series includes teams from countries like India and Pakistan. Yeah, I know, India produced a driver for Jordan F1 a few years ago named Nahrain Karthekeyian. Guess what, after being shunned by F1, he seems to have found a home in A1.

That is the beauty of the A1 series. It features teams that are new to the international racing scene and drivers that are soon to be stars in F1 or was once thought to be a hot commodity. These different agendas produce some very exciting racing. When drivers of varying talent are put in equal cars, the competition is very close. If you are suffering from racing withdrawal, find the A1 GP races in your local listings and treat yourself to some exciting racing.

"We the People" Team USA at Zhuhai in China courtesy of A1 GP website