Friday June 2nd, 2000

Indianapolis and Monaco stand poles apart in motor racing.

But New World values came to Old World Monte Carlo on Friday, determined to woo the traditionalists of Formula One.

Indianapolis circuit president Tony George may be more used to the brash world of Indy racing but he is determined to make the return of Formula One to the United States a success, and he's promising cheap seats, the star spangled banner and an "American flavour".

The first U.S. Grand Prix since 1991 will be run in September at a newly-constructed circuit at the 'Brickyard', home of the Indy 500. George says he has already sold more than 200,000 tickets.

On Friday, he announced a sponsorship deal that should guarantee the grand prix a future, although George declined to say how many years the "multi-year" contract covered.

Mindful that the U.S. public is unfamiliar with Formula One after a nine-year absence, Indianapolis has cut ticket prices to as low as $30, less than half the admission at some European races.

"If we had priced it the way some of the European events are priced, I'd have been disappointed when we only had 30-40,000 people interested," George said.

The U.S. Grand Prix will be broadcast on sports channels but George said he was disappointed U.S. networks did not want to show it live.

He said the problem for Formula One in the United States before 1991 was that it had no fixed venue or regular date, so it was hard to build up a following. "Establishing some continuity of the date and having a home for it to come back to each year is what was lacking before."