JUNE 18, 2008

Jarno goes to Cambridge Junction

Between Detroit and Chicago, in what they call the Irish Hills, is a settlement called Cambridge Junction, home of an old tavern where stagecoaches used to stop. It is this crossroads that led to the construction nearby of Michigan International Speedway in 1968, a two-mile high-banked oval which has long been one of the most challenging tracks in the United States, with a crowd capacity of around 80,000.

Between Detroit and Chicago, in what they call the Irish Hills, is a settlement called Cambridge Junction, home of an old tavern where stagecoaches used to stop. It is this crossroads that led to the construction nearby of Michigan International Speedway in 1968, a two-mile high-banked oval which has long been one of the most challenging tracks in the United States, with a crowd capacity of around 80,000.

It is not the kind of place one expects to see a Formula 1 driver but last weekend Jarno Trulli snuck a visit to see his old F1 friends Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Speed.

It is probably no surprise given the internationalization of NASCAR that older F1 drivers will be looking in that direction. David Coulthard popped up at the previous race in Dover and Trulli's appearance in Michigan were not coincidences. There may be no specific plans for the future, but certainly F1 people are looking.