When America realised it’s only a sport
Last Friday, not long after 1130 local time and around 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, the red-chequered flags ended the SRO GT4 Americas practice session around the 1.8-mile road/runway course in St Petersburg, Florida. Radios crackled bearing ominous news; cars trickled into the pits, drivers bemused; and the cars for the next session, sitting on a dummy grid ready to hit the track, were instead sent back to the paddock. It was all over.
On reflection, maybe it’s surprising that even five practice sessions – for USF2000, Indy Pro 2000, IMSA Porsche GT3, Indy Lights and finally that abbreviated GT4 session – had run before the day’s action dribbled to a standstill. Barely five minutes later, IndyCar confirmed that not only had the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg (along with its support races, naturally) been cancelled, but so too were the next three rounds, set for April at Barber Motorsports Park, the streets of Long Beach and the Circuit of The Americas. Finally, the coronavirus pandemic had caught the US motorsport scene with a devastating uppercut.
Some reeled at the news, but those with a more acute sense of the inevitable had already seen the blow coming, for there had been several ‘uh-oh’ moments over the previous
