You may know the name Bernie Ecclestone, or perhaps not. Ecclestone is the famed, and sometimes loathed, CEO of Formula One. He was born in St Peter South Elmham, near Suffolk, England. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Bexleyheath, Kent, now a part of Greater London. Ecclestone left school at the age of 16 to work at the local gasworks, and pursue his hobby of motorcycles. His passion for racing helped him achieve careers in F1, and eventually taking the reigns of the world renounced sport. Since then his life has been shrouded in controversy – from being called a Nazi to having every race fan, driver, team leader and snack stand employee hate his guts.

Why should we be so mad at Ecclestone? And why does an organization like Formula One need his so badly?

Bernie’s Safety Issues

Ecclestone has come under fire at various times during his career for safety violations – whether it be tires, track inspections or the very care of his drivers. In October, 2004 he and British Racing Drivers’ Club president Jackie Stewart were unable to come to terms regarding the future British Grand Prix, causing the race to be dropped from the 2005 season calendar. Since then similar disagreements have lead to the cancellations (though all temporary) of various racing events, including the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Safety has also been an issue with Bernie’s haters – Ecclestone saw 14 of 20 cars refuse to race in the 2005 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The seven teams refusing to participate stating concerns over the safety of their Michelin tires, requested rule changes and/or a change to the track configuration. Despite a series of meetings between Ecclestone, Max Mosley, and the team principals, no compromise was reached by race time, and Ecclestone became an object of the public’s frustration at the resultant six-car race.

Earlier this year in Singapore, the F1 chief executive said he and the FIA were “happy” with the Yeongam circuit, despite it not yet passing its final inspection that was originally due to take place weeks ago. “It’s not good. It should have been inspected maybe six weeks ago,” Ecclestone told BBC pundit Eddie Jordan during an interview on Sunday.

“It was inspected but it wasn’t passed,” he added. Ecclestone admitted that delaying the inspection so late – with it now set to take place after the forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix – was unusual for a new circuit.

Ecclestone’s Personal Life & Effect on Formula One

In 1997, Ecclestone was involved in political controversy over the Labour Party’s policy on tobacco sponsorship.
The political organization had pledged to ban tobacco advertising ahead of its 1997 General Election victory, supporting a proposed European Union Directive banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship.

At this time all leading Formula One Teams carried significant branding from major tobacco brands. The Labour Party’s stance on banning tobacco advertising was reinforced following the election.

In February 2000, he said that women would never excel in Formula One, stating “she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. … What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.”

On Friday, 17 June 2005, Ecclestone made American headlines with his reply to a question about Danica Patrick’s fourth-place finish at the Indianapolis 500, during an interview with Indianapolis television station WRTV: “She did a good job, didn’t she? Super. Didn’t think she’d be able to make it like that. You know, I’ve got one of these wonderful ideas that women should be all dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”

In a Times interview published in July 2009, Ecclestone said “terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people able to get things done.” According to Ecclestone: “If you have a look at a democracy it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries — including this one”. He also said that his friend of 40 years Max Mosley, the son of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, “would do a super job” as Prime Minister and added “I don’t think his background would be a problem.”

This followed a widely publicized F1 scandal where Mosley was videotaped with several dominatrices dressed as Nazi soldiers.

Why Ecclestone is Good for F1

Bernie Ecclestone might be good, for all the trouble he causes, as a way of drawing attention towards F1. There is an old advertising saying, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Formula One might be one of the best known sports across the globe, but the biggest market has yet to really grab attention – The United States. F1 ranks up with Soccer in The States. But when Ecclestone speaks, he sometimes causes trouble, and that trouble gets him onto the news and in website headlines. You won’t head F1 results on the evening news, but you will hear about Bernie and Max Mosley getting spanked by Nazi sex-workers. Causing a little controversy is great for F1 in the end, and Ecclestone excels at it – love him or hate him.

Source: World Car Fans | Wikipedia

Silverstone – the site of Formula One’s first Grand Prix event, just signed a 17 year deal to being it back to the UK. Whether or not the British Grand Prix would ever find a new home was about as uncertain as whether or not the Canadian Grand Prix would come back to Montreal. Now, after months of debate, in-fighting and rumors, an agreement has been reached.

President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club & Silverstone’s owner Damon Hill came to an agreement on where to host this prestigious racing event with Formula One Hot-head Owner Bernie Ecclestone. Originally, Donington Park was to be the setting for 2010′s British Grand Prix. But according to reports promoters failed to secure proper funding and lost all rights to host a race. Silverstone, a former airstrip that held the original Grand Prix in 1948 & first Formula One race in 1950, is back on track (no pun intended) for at least five years.

Welcome to Automopedia’s worst of the week – we take a look back at some of the more embarrassing auto news stories from around the globe – and these past 5 days were a dozy!

Bugatti Veyron Goes for a Swim

Someone did not inform this Bugatti driver their new roadsters don’t float. The lake crash of a $1.6 Million Dollar luxury sports car had automotive enthusiasts shouting “Mama Mia!!” – The accident occurred in Southeast Texas – which leaves us with about 1.6 million redneck jokes to make, oddly enough. According to one local news report: “The man, who refused to give his name, was looking at real estate in Galveston. About 3 p.m. a low-flying pelican distracted him as he traveled north on Interstate 45 just south of the hurricane levee near Omega Bay. The man jerked the wheel, dropped his cell phone, and the car’s front tire left the frontage road and entered a muddy patch, which foiled his attempt to maneuver away from the lagoon.”

Bob Lutz Resurrects Buick Regal

Rendering Credit: Tagline

The same company that axed all Pontiac production in favor of Buick (HA!) announced this week Regal will be back, along with a 335 horse power edition AND a wagon variant, for sale within a year. Yes, they are trying to recapture the youth market, via Bob Lutz, and Buick. Yeah, it makes sense to them – we’ll just sit back and watch it all crumble.

Still No Deals for F1

Finally in this week’s fail boat – F1 & Bernie Ecclestone get no respect lately – first off, pretty much every major auto maker pulls out of F1 races, and now the 2010 British Grand Prix may be scrapped. Montreal has already lost out on a race this year and possibly next – after several grand prix bids collapsed, the F1 chief execs have been locked in apparently stalled negotiations about the commercial terms of a long term contract. Safe to say if F1 news keep stumbling in this direction we will all have to start watching more NASCAR. Please, don’t let that happen.