SLEAZY BERNIE SIGNS PACT WITH AUTOMAKERS; F1 TO REMAIN EXPENSIVE AND BORING FOR YEARS TO COME

"F1 Supremo", as the Euro media calls him, Bernie Ecclestone, has somehow muscled some of the world's major car-makers into calling off their threat of creating a rival series. How ho hum. This happens every few years. Remember, Bernie is the guy who recently, out of one side of his mouth, harshly criticized the current and youngest F1 World Champion ever, Spain's amazing Fernando Alonso, for "not doing enough to promote the sport". The next day, Bernie opens the other side of his mouth to say, "Well, we haven't really told him what he's supposed to do". Quite the charmer, that Bernie!

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone (at left with wife) has signed an agreement with carmakers to end the threat of a rival series from 2008. Both Ecclestone and the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association confirmed that they had signed a memorandum of understanding after years of negotiation. The five carmakers are Renault, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Toyota.

The five, who all have teams in the championship, signed the document during the Spanish Grand Prix but Ecclestone, 75, had left the Circuit de Catalunya without putting pen to paper.

Ecclestone told the Autosport website: "We've now signed our part and it is now just a question of sending it to the lawyers. The negotiations have taken a while and we spent a lot of time discussing issues which were not real, honest issues. But now at least we have the (memorandum) and that will form the basis of the Concorde Agreement, once we get the FIA technical issues sorted."

A manufacturers' association spokesman confirmed that all parties had signed.

Ecclestone, one of the thankfully last of the great monied, drugged and jetsetting EuroTrash of the '60s, thus guarantees there will be no major rival to F1. The new A1 Grand Prix series, bankrolled by the owners of Dubai, will continue to be run in F1's "off-season" in F1 "off-countries". That series, by the way, has turned-out to be quite an exciting venture, and USA fans get to see the open wheel cars with some proven drivers on the gorgeous and challenging Laguna Seca track in central California.

With Bernie evidently firmly in charge, able once again, as he has time after time, to muscle major world corporations into doing things "his way", F1 is sure to become even more expensive, dominated by the most-monied teams (and nations), a series where only three or four drivers are capable of winning on any given race day, and where the rest of the cannon fodder, uh, we mean competitors, languish minutes and laps behind the leaders.

Is this true: Some say that Bernie got his seed money for creating and organizing F1 by his participation in what is generally known as the British Great Train Robbery. As friendly as Bernie is with Long Beach Grand Prix founder Chris Pook, the two of them combined could create enough sleaze and grease to keep several refineries open. Thank goodness Bernie and Pook were kept from achieving their big dream: Turning USA open wheel racing into a minor league for F1.