Ever since I was a kid I‘ve loved fast cars. My dad took me and my brother to our first race back in 1971 at the Ontario Motor Speedway in California and I’ve been hooked on speed ever since…so to speak.

I grew up in Riverside, within a few miles of the famous racetrack – which is now a shopping mall – and I have plenty of fond memories from those days. I went to the Long Beach GP several times in my teens, and my wife and I were at the ill-fated USGP at Indianapolis in 2005 when only five cars took part due to safety concerns about tires.

The cars that race in Grands Prix are called Formula One. It’s by far the most popular form of motorsport in the world, and the second most popular sport over all, after soccer. Each race is watched by a bigger audience than the Super Bowl. Past Formula One champions include iconic names such as Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

F1 is the world’s most glamorous and exciting sport. The series spans the globe from China and Australia to Bahrain and Singapore; to the billionaire playgrounds of Abu Dhabi and Monte Carlo. In 2014, Moscow joined the schedule, this year, F1 returns to Mexico, and next year a race will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. Past races have come and gone in disparate locales such as India, Korea and Turkey.

The United States GP has been held in Austin since 2012 after being off the Formula One calendar for six years. From a business perspective, ignoring the world’s largest economy didn’t make much sense. That’s why F1 is taking another crack at the fickle U.S. market.

Most American sports fans couldn’t care less about Formula One, though. For various reasons the sport hasn’t gained a foothold with the masses here like it has in the rest of the world.

In many ways, it’s hard to justify my own love for the sport: everything about F1 runs contrary to my principles. It’s wasteful and environmentally unfriendly; it’s hugely expensive; it’s totally cut-throat – and it is elitist to its core. Formula One promotes some of the worst aspects of free-market capitalism, too: tobacco companies continued to sponsor F1 teams long after cigarette advertising was banned in other sports.

The series’ organizers had no qualms about visiting South Africa under Apartheid year after year – although they no longer go there – nor did they have any problems dealing with the brutal dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil or Spain throughout the seventies.

Bernie Ecclestone currently owns the rights to Formula One. He is one of the most vile and corrupt  – not to mention wealthiest – human beings on the planet. His tenure has predictably been riddled with scandal and invective. But he’s also responsible for expanding the sport’s popularity worldwide.

Some American fans would probably argue that F1’s appeasement of dictatorial regimes continues today with the Russian Grand Prix and Vladimir Putin and the repressive Arab nation of Bahrain.

But Formula One is also a showcase for the most sophisticated technology outside of the space program – and it’s utterly mind-boggling to watch live. TV cameras diminish the sensation of speed. It’s much more exciting in person.

There are several factors which could explain why F1 hasn’t taken off in the United States. Some are logistical: most of the races are broadcast exclusively on cable networks, most of which are not part of the ‘standard’ customer package. The events are also broadcast live, which means that many of the European races don’t come on until 4 or 5 in the morning, and the races from the Far East air at 2 or 3am, depending on which coast you live on.

Let’s face it: any sport that requires fans to wake up before the crack of dawn is not destined for mainstream success in America.

There are currently no American drivers or teams on the Formula One grid, which is a major stumbling block to the ongoing success of the sport in the United States. The last American F1 driver was the aptly named Scott Speed in 2008.

We need a home team to root for. This could all change over the next twelve months. Media coverage of F1 in this country may finally begin to catch up with the rest of the world.

The Haas F1 Team is slated to debut at the opening Grand Prix in 2016. If they make it, Haas will become the first American team in 30 years to tackle the sport. Based in North Carolina, they have also taken over Marussia’s former team base in Banbury in the UK – so they appear to be fairly serious.

No drivers have yet been signed as of September 2015. The crop of potential American drivers is frustratingly very small. California boy Alexander Rossi is the only US driver with a shot at grabbing a seat. He is currently competing in Europe and he has won races in F1’s junior class GP2. Whether he gets the seat or not depends on how much money he can bring to the team. One of the seats will certainly be occupied by Mexican Esteban Gutierrez, who used to drive for Sauber in F1 until he was fired for lack of results. He has backing from the richest man in the world, however – who also happens to be from Mexico – Carlos Slim.

That should pretty much guarantee him the seat, considering how expensive F1 has become.

One reason for America’s indifference towards Formula One is cultural. The country’s heart belongs to NASCAR – the second most popular sport after pro football. NASCAR has dominated the American motorsports scene for many years because of its savvy marketing strategy and ‘good old boy’ consumer appeal. And what could be more quintessentially American than a racing series which evolved from bootleggers trying to outrun the cops?

Still, for a hardcore road-racing fan like me, watching a bunch of hillbillies going around in circles for three hours is not exactly what I call great racing. It’s contrived and tedious: especially with all the yellow flags. I will grant you that the spectacle of NASCAR probably improves in direct proportion to the quantity of Bud Light consumed – but you couldn’t pay me to drink that swill.

Another major consideration relevant to F1’s popularity is the state of the economy. Ticket prices for F1 races are outrageously expensive. Everything about F1 is expensive. The cheapest grandstand seat in Austin will set you back 170 bucks. The whole package needs to be made more affordable and accessible to the average racing fan before the sport can truly thrive in this country.

The odds of any other form of motorsport gaining much traction in the USA are pretty slim. NASCAR is crammed down our throats on a weekly basis, while F1 gets ignored for the most part by the MSM.

Major newspapers don’t bother to print race results, and F1 is rarely if ever mentioned on local news or even on ESPN – the “Total Sports Network” – unless somebody dies.

Go figure.