Long whispered, oft alluded to and seldom denied, it is now official: the primary investor in USF1 is 33-year-old Chad Hurley. He is one of the trio of Youtube.com founders, and still the internet phenomenon's CEO despite selling a majority holding to Google in 2006 (shades of Bernie Ecclestone's modus operandi...). This week he exclusively confirmed to this column his interest in the first full-on US F1 operation in more than 40 years.
The Fine Arts graduate (in a previous life he designed Paypal's logo) first met team founders Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor when they did a series of commercial opportunities. And although Hurley freely admits to not being a petrol-sipping motorsport enthusiast - he was a Pennsylvania State standard marathon athlete - the concept of investing in a motor racing start-up operation certainly had its appeal.
Chad Hurley |
"There are so many reasons for my involvement. It was just a perfect storm of my personal interests, which are technology, design and sport.
"That's what first raised my interest in Ken, Peter and US F1," explained the user interface expert.