US Grand Prix – Phoenix (1989-1991)
As we travel back further into the mists of time it’s necessary to tap into the memories of a journalist whose memories of those bygone days, while equally foggy, can be jogged if supplied with enough alcohol. Welcome, Eric Silbermann, who takes back to the days when men were men and Honda actually won things…
©StuartSeeger
Every single US GP held on the Phoenix street circuit – an unimaginative layout with a succession of right-angle corners – was won by McLaren-Honda. It was a clean sweep, a 100% record, a trio of triumphs, a Grand Slam, un grand chelem. The team took all three of the pole positions and two of the fastest race laps.
There we go, I just thought Ron Dennis and the crew needed a bit of cheering up right now with a reminder of how well Honda served them back in the day. In 1989, all I knew about Phoenix was that the singer Glen Campbell’s girlfriend would just be getting out of bed by the time he reached the capital city of the state of Arizona. He’d probably need a cold one, given that daytime temperatures never drop below 20 Celsius and tend to hit a high of 40 to 41 from the months of June to August. Guess when the Grand Prix was held in ’89. Yep, you’ve got it – June! No wonder only six cars finished.
Ayrton Senna wasn’t one of them, having retired with an electrical problem. I was Honda’s press officer at the time and I recall the Brazilian was ‘a bit upset’. I watched TV while waiting ages for him to emerge from the motorhome and give me a quote. On the screen, I watched the massacre in Tiananmen Square taking place before my eyes. It rather put life in perspective and I didn’t bother waiting for Senna’s quote. The 1990 race was moved to the start of the year to avoid the worst of the heat, but you’d be forgiven for thinking you were seeing a mirage in the desert, when Pierluigi Martini popped in a qualifying lap good enough to put a Minardi on the front row for the first and only time.
None of this was enough to draw a crowd and the famous statistic is that, in 1991, a nearby Bird Festival, featuring Ostrich Racing, drew a bigger crowd in the F1 race’s final year. What a surprise; F1 with its head in the sand. Nine years later, F1 in the USA rose like a Phoenix from the ashes as we headed off to Indianapolis.
