Will USF1 be a Best Buy?
Not much is known about the new Formula One team based in America’s south east. In fact the teams website still announces “coming soon” six months after the teams official announcement on February 24.
The team is fronted by Haas CNC Racing technical director Ken Anderson - keep that name and connection in mind - and journalist Peter Windsor, that they prefer to employ American drivers and Windsor has said a prototype may be ready for testing late this year.
Back to Anderson, when he was employed by the Haas NASCAR Sprint Cup team its primary sponsor was the American electrical goods retailer Best Buy.
See where I’m going with this?
But wait you say Best Buy’s huge electronics warehouses are not seen outside America, fear not my friends I have the answer to that conundrum.
Last year Best Buy, in a deal that cost £1.1bn, bought a half share of the U.K’s Carphone Warehouse with the intent to bring Best Buy type superstores to the UK and Europe and branded as Best Buy.
So, going back to the suggestion in my title will USF1 be sponsored by Best Buy?
But wait, there’s more.
Michael Arrington, a writer for the website TechCrunch, says he has had a meeting with Best Buy executives in Palo Alto, Ca. on some related techy things.
Lo and behold who should he run into but, YouTube founder Chad Hurley who was meeting with the Best Buy team along with the execs from USF1 - or USGPE as Bernie suggests is legal.
Hurley is “the big investor” in USGPE said Best Buy Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge, and it looks like Best Buy is also looking for ways to get involved in the project. There are also rumors that YouTube will sponsor the car.
So, there you have it, my rumor of the week. Best Buy and possibly YouTube being primary sponsors of USF1.
If I were a betting man I’d lay cash on Best Buy if given the right odds.
If YouTube gets involved I pity them because as soon as some fan or anyone associated with the team posts an unauthorized video Bernie’s video/image Nazis will be out in full force.
NOTE: The opening of the first Best Buy stores in the UK has been delayed until the first quarter of next year.
Did the youtube guys keep a stake in the company when they sold to google. I assumed they sold all of their interest.
How about BMW? Reading between the lines of Peter Sauber’s statement you get the feeling he never had a chance of doing what Brawn did with Honda.
Yeah, I read Sauber’s statement, he’s none too happy about getting the FIA shaft. He should be used to it though.
I think u-tube was sold in it’s entirety but I’m not sure.
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