The whole world lifted a brow when Armando Christian Perez, better known as the rapper Pitbull, announced he became the co-owner of the Trackhouse Racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. Turns out, the singer had bigger plans than winning NASCAR races alone.
Pitbull Aspires to Draw Diverse Audiences to NASCAR
When asked about his recent NASCAR ventures, the Cuban-American singer said that he was aiming to start a revolution and attract a more diverse audience to watch the races. “This is a movement,” he said and expressed his hopes to take the sport and create a culture around it. Pitbull’s decision to become a team owner comes just months after NBA icon Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin announced they were assembling a new team with Bubba Wallace as its driver.
Wallace was excited to hear Pitbull, too, had entered the world of NASCAR. He said he sees it as a positive thing for the sport because it shows other minorities that NASCAR is worth investing in, especially after guys like Jordan and Pitbull are doing it. He says the game is changing, and a revolution is likely on its way.
NASCAR’s Finally on the Map
Bubba and his colleagues share the same opinion: NASCAR is finally on the map in many new areas with new fans starting to root for the sport. According to Pitbull, it’s important to spread awareness, and he is doing it through the universal language of music. The official theme song for the 2020 Cup Series was made by the talented rapper.
The Grammy Award-winning singer has a clear focus — let everyone know that if you work hard for your dreams, you can achieve them. That’s what he did and what Daniel did (the driver for Trackhouse Racing), and what they want to show through their team’s performance. Will they succeed? We’ll have to watch and see.
The Formula 1 Calendar for This Year Was Recently Revised
Formula One had to revise its original 2021 race calendar because of various factors related to events around the world. The first race would normally start in Melbourne during early January, so the date for the Australian Grand Prix became a pressing issue when the year turned over. Formula 1 Management and the local authorities could not reach an agreement on a date due to the current events in Australia, so the race was postponed for November.
The Formula 1 Season Will Open in Bahrain on March 28th
With the Australian Grand Prix postponed, the start of the Formula 1 season was moved to March 28th, and the pre-season testing was scheduled to start in Bahrain, where the first race will also take place. Last year, F1 ran two races in Bahrain, as well as the Formula 2’s pre-season testing. The Spanish Grand Prix was also confirmed for a later date in the calendar.
Formula 1 and the Chinese organizers also could not come to an agreement for an April race, so the slot for that month went to the historic Imola circuit. In a statement, F1 said that the discussions with the authorities and promoters in China were ongoing, and the possibility for a race in the later season was still present. Still, with the only open slot being in May, that could end up being the final date for the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Final Nine Races Will Take Place in Just Eleven Weeks
Despite their promise to avoid having three races in a single month, Formula One has scheduled two such triple-headers almost back to back. The first three races will take place in three subsequent weeks respectively in Russia, Singapore, and Japan, with a two-week pause before the other three, which are scheduled to occur in the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil.
The busy schedule for the end of the season was also put in question when Brazilian news announced that Bruno Covas, the mayor of Sao Paulo, awarded the Grand Prix tender without going through the appropriate processes. Even though it is highly unlikely that another company would want to run such a specialized event, the process should have been done correctly through a public tender. Now, this line of events has place Interlagos under question as well, at least until the correct paperwork gets filed.