F1: Chandhok Claims Texas Ties

Formula 1

F1: Chandhok Claims Texas Ties

Formula One driver Karun Chandhok has family in Texas....

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted May 27, 2010 Istanbul (TUR)

Karun Chandhok is looking forward to the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Karun Chandhok has revealed that in addition to being only the second Indian driver in Grand Prix racing, he can also claim a little Texas heritage – potentially making the HRT driver the nearest thing to a local hero at the US GP in Austin.

“I’m very excited to go there,” he said. “My mom’s from San Antonio and my grandparents still live in Texas, so I’d love to go there and have a race.”

“I think America is a more developed market than, say, India. It’s a similar thing; they are huge markets with untapped potential as far as Formula One and its partners are concerned.

“I think that to have a dedicated venue is a new thing. I guess Watkins Glen, so Bernie (Ecclestone, F1 chief executive) was saying, was the last time we had one. Maybe that’s what it needs, a dedicated Formula One site."

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEEDtv.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

Watch The Turkish Grand Prix Live! Sunday at 7:30 am Eastern on SPEED!