F1 needs Las Vegas race to crack US market, says Busch

A plan is being worked on to get a race in Las Vegas within the next few years, with Bernie Ecclestone eager to add a second race in America alongside its current home in Austin.

Busch, who was born and lives in Las Vegas, believes that getting the right location for another United States Grand Prix is key.

“Austin was the American dream; you build it and they will come,” he said, when asked by Motorsport.com about the idea of an F1 race in Vegas.

“It worked, but it is difficult to get returns, and people to come again and again and again.

“The way you get multiple returns is in the tourism industry, and that is what Vegas is known for – you have tourists there who are always going to be coming.

“That group you have in year one can be a completely different group in year two. I’ve heard that view from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The ticket sales they say are 60 percent from outside Nevada and California, so you get the tourism.

“And that is what makes it popular, as you get the seats filled every year. A deal like this [Las Vegas GP], it is probably a five-year deal minimum and you have year one, and it then gets bigger and bigger and bigger.”

IndyCar split

Busch believes that F1’s popularity in the United States is still suffering from the negativity that single-seater racing got when IndyCar and ChampCar split – and NASCAR’s popularity boomed.

“I think there is that small synergy there but at the same time, NASCAR did the right things to promote itself,” he said.

“We have 38 race weekends a year, we see 80-100,000 fans every weekend, the cars are on track, the drivers are accessible, and it is just a different system.

“So NASCAR in America, the fans want it right in front of them all the time. They don’t want to have to deal with the politics or the difficulty of trying to actually see a driver.

"They want to make sure they are there to try to get an autograph, not just to see a guy.”