Talents want to follow Verstappen: 'At the expense of American racing'

Many young American racing talents are choosing a career in racing open-wheelers. That's because of the growing popularity of Formula One in the United States. Former NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick, among others, is concerned about this.

The fact that Liberty Media wants to grow Formula 1 in the US is no secret. Recently, the arrival of the Las Vegas Grand Prix confirmed the third US GP. With a view to a bigger calendar, more races in the US and more street circuits, Liberty Media hopes to increase the popularity of the sport. That seems to be working out quite well, as drivers in other racing classes such as NASCAR and IndyCar are concerned about the increasing popularity. NASCAR driver Harvick says the Netflix series Drive to Survive has also contributed in large part to that.

Talents want to chase Verstappen

Harvick is a big fan of the series and has watched all the episodes, but at the same time the American also wonders if Formula 1 is not saturating American racing. His son, Keelan, is an up-and-coming karting talent and dreams of later competing against his big idol, reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen. NBCSports quotes Harvick as worrying, "I live close to the karting track and none of those kids want to drive IndyCar; they all want to race in Formula One."

"They all want to drive for Ferrari or Red Bull. I was talking to Jim France [CEO of NASCAR, ed.] about how we can make sure all those young talents whose dreams don't come true still become racers. How can we get the great ones among them to NASCAR." Harvick says it's much harder to go down the path of the "open-wheelers. The young drivers would have to go to Europe, and not everyone has the money to take advantage of such opportunities. Harvick closes disappointed, "In karting, they don't have the dream of racing in NASCAR and they don't have the dream of racing in the IndyCar Series."