Sunday race break: F1 is fun!

Hey fellow U.S. racing fans, F1 is fun!

I make the case for watching these magnificent machines maneuver road courses literally around the world in my latest Crazy Woman Driver column.

Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t abandoned NASCAR. It’s still my first racing love.

But I do have room in my heart for a little F1 romance. And it’s a relationship worth nurturing even though we Americans have to deal with time differences, TV access issues and new terminology (over steer and under steer vs. loose and tight).

Here are a couple of reasons to watch F1:

• The drivers: Think of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen as a Scandinavian version of Texas Terry Labonte. Sort of.
• The manufacturers: Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Enough said.

Plus, F1 has a really thrilling qualifying process, a fairer points system and those guys actually run in the rain.

You can check out all the reasons to give F1 a chance in the September issue of Owner Operator magazine. Just click the Crazy Woman Driver blurb there on the cover of the digital magazine.

Now I’m off to watch my tape of the F1 boys run at Spa-Francorchamps (per the time differences mentioned above), before settling in for an afternoon and evening of fendered fun from Richmond.

Links to my prior CWD columns here.

Tax break win, loss for NASCAR: The North Carolina General Assembly has extended a business tax break that benefits NASCAR.

The sales tax refund on aviation fuel used by motorsports teams was extended to cover fuel purchases made through 2010. The provision was designed to encourage NASCAR teams to remain based in North Carolina. Under the law, teams can get rebates on the state tax paid on aviation fuel used to fly them to and from events in other states.

Bill Davis Racing, however, lost its bid to claim other tax credits. The North Carolina Superior Court ruled that the NASCAR team was ineligible for job creation tax credits because its activities do not constitute manufacturing.