Ann Bradshaw, a journalist and press officer with three decades of experience in motor racing, and one of the most respected workers in the F1 paddock, follows the 2002 season in her post-race column, offering F1 fans an insight into the life of those who spend the GP weekend inside the paddock

Although the US Grand Prix has only been held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway twice before, it seems as though we have been going there forever. Indy is the spiritual home of motor racing in America, and so from the first moment I trod on that hallowed ground I felt this was the right place for the Grand Prix to be held.

My first visit was in 1999 while I was based in the States in Gainesville, Georgia and working with Panoz Motor Sports. I had dropped Tony George a line at the end of 1998 when I knew I was heading that direction to see if they needed any help. I immediately got a call from the wonderful Mai Lindstrom and was taken on board as a consultant. My first ever trip to Indianapolis was on a very snowy day in January, and as the plane circled over the track, before landing at the nearby airport, I was immediately impressed by the size of the place. Once on the ground, despite the thick snow, I was even more impressed and knew that seeing cars go round this circuit would be amazing.

At this point the Grand Prix circuit was just stakes in the snow so it was not that easy to work out what it would look like. Sadly I soon moved back to the UK and so didn't get the chance to see the work progressing. The first time I saw the place 'finished' was when I arrived in September 2000 for the first race, and again was working for Mai and the IMS. Despite the trip from hell - storms in Chicago sent my plane to Detroit, storms in Detroit kept it there, a journey by coach to Chicago got us there at 11pm to find the airport closed and the nearest hotel another hour's drive away, a 6.30am pick up by coach the next morning never happened, and finally a taxi ride and not taking no for an answer at American Airlines got me to the Indianapolis airport 24 hours late - I was happy to be back. The CD-ROM I had seen nearly two years before was now reality and there was no way anyone could complain about any of the facilities.

I was working with the greatest group of people - Mai, Fred Nation, Josh Laycock, Eric Powell, Father Joe Crowley, Paul Kelly etc. from the IMS and my great mate Stuart Sykes from Australia - and had an amazing time. I have to be honest and say that Indianapolis as a place to visit had never been high on my list. I had travelled through the outskirts on journeys from Georgia to Walkerton in Northern Indiana to visit friends, but the area had never seemed that enticing as it is rather flat. Once I got there I saw a different side of the area, with lovely lakes and restaurants alongside them, the impressive buildings in the centre of the city and, of course, Hooters.

It may seem strange that a female could rave about Hooters, as these restaurants are, I am certain, aimed mainly for men, but on my first visit I fell in love with the place. For the non-American audience reading this, let me explain: it is a restaurant chain where the main item on the menu is chicken wings, but the waitresses in their skimpy shorts and tops are the main attraction. The restaurants are also full of television screens showing all the sports channels, so you can eat wings, drink beer, be served by beautiful young girls and watch your favourite team on TV. I love chicken wings, but it is the Three Mile Island hot sauce that did it for me.

The area where the circuit is based, which is now officially known as Speedway, also has some great motorsport themed restaurants and one we visited regularly was Union Jacks. Obviously from the name, the place has a bit of a British theme and also some amazing photos on the walls of the days when Graham Hill and Jim Clark raced in the Indy 500.

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On this first visit to the race I was also exposed to other forms of US racing, and I was invited to sit on a radio show panel where I met the amazing character, Jack Hewitt, who is the king of sprint car racing. Jack was racing his car in the Hulman-Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds track, which is a one-mile dirt oval, and during the course of the radio show revealed he had a two-seater car.

He invited me to have a ride, which I would have loved to do, but sadly work precluded this. However, I took the opportunity to book a ride for a great mate of mine, British journalist Nigel Roebuck, who loves everything about the States and particularly sprint car racing. Jack was more than happy with this and I was so excited, as I knew for Nigel this would be the thrill of a lifetime.

The next night I was having dinner with some friends in Nigel's hotel and was delighted when he walked into the restaurant straight from the plane. I rushed up to him and could not wait to impart my news. He did go slightly white, and I then realised that he may have a yellow streak in him, as he started to make excuses about work. I would have none of that. I told him it was all sorted and that he was to come and see me the next day at the Speedway and I would give him all the information he needed. His fellow journalists, David Tremayne and Alan Henry, who were with him, were about as excited as I was until I told them that perhaps they could also have a ride.

To cut a very long story short, they turned up the next day, were given instructions on how to find the track and sent off. The three journalists who left with a fair amount of trepidation returned the next day with the biggest grins on their faces. They had had the best time of their lives, and the article Nigel subsequently wrote in Autosport brought that over very strongly. Jack is one of those drivers who loves what he is doing, and it seems is renowned for saying exactly what he thinks, and so track interviewers never know what to expect from him.

My favourite story from Nigel was of the guy who had gone in the car, and if his quote was anything to go by, was a little frightened. Nigel wrote about this in his Autosport article and the Jack reminiscence went: "I had one guy in the car and afterwards he said, 'I was in Vietnam - and I got shot twice. Tell you what, though, I'd go back to Vietnam before I'd get back in there again.'" All I can say is that if Jack had ever made it to Formula One we would have been in for some fun press conferences.

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While those of us in F1 are used to the cars racing in all weathers, we knew this was not the case at the IMS. Rain normally meant no running, but F1 is different and so suddenly the fans and local press stood a chance of seeing cars run in the wet at the Speedway. On the first two days the weather was bone dry and so the only excitement, apart from the cars themselves, was to see the IMS driven the wrong way 'round. As race day dawned, the rain came and gave the circuit a good dampening, and so in the warm-up for the first time many US fans saw high powered cars going around the famous Speedway in the wet. The rain abated after the warm-up but parts of the track were still wet enough for the top contenders to start the race on rain tyres.

The second year we got to the track it was all very familiar, but this time I was working for WilliamsF1, so I saw it from a different point of view. I enjoyed the race, despite the fact I wanted Juan Pablo Montoya to win and he didn't. He was without doubt one of the most popular drivers there, and obviously this was due to him having won the Indy 500 and raced in the CART series in the States for two years. Apart from the fans at the circuit itself, I got some sort of idea of his popularity when I accompanied him on two driver days during race week.

On the Tuesday we were in Houston for Compaq, and Wednesday in Indianapolis for BMW. The Houston day was held at the HQ of the computer company, and the employees all came out to see him. Then the following day part of the BMW driver appearance was a signing in Nordstrom's, a local department store in the middle of downtown Indianapolis. The queue of people waiting to get his autograph stretched out of the store and into the car park and what was planned to be just an hour stretched into nearly two, with Juan Pablo not wanting to disappoint any of the fans.

Last year was also a sad race as we said goodbye to two of the most popular people in the F1 paddock. These were UK television commentator Murray Walker, and McLaren's Jo Ramirez. Thankfully farewell parties were organised for both of them, Murray's in the F1 Paddock Club, and Jo's at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian Art in Indianapolis. Both were thoroughly enjoyable if sad affairs. As with such events speeches and presentations were made, and this was the first time I have ever seen someone speechless over being given a brick. IMS owner Tony George came along to Murray Walker's event that had been wonderfully organised by the ever-efficient F1 travel co-ordinator Lynden Swainston, and gave Murray one of the bricks from the original Brickyard. Very few things over the years have rendered Murray speechless, but this was one of them.

Sadly I was not to be at the race this year, and for me the biggest disappointment, apart from not seeing some good friends I have made when working for the IMS, is the food I shall be missing. I have already mentioned Hooters, but alongside this as a culinary delight are the donuts brought to the track every day by the local journalist Robin Miller. Robin is a lovely guy and a great writer who knows how to get to a girl's heart. On his way into the circuit every morning he would always stop at Long's Bakery for donuts and make sure I had a box of these amazing treats. Sorry Robin not to be there this year - do you think they would travel?

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Between Monza and Indianpolis I went off on one of my ETCC jaunts for BMW, and this time it was the Mediterranean island of Sicily for a race at the Enna-Pergusa circuit. I had not been there for 10 years since I was working with Labatts when they sponsored not only the WilliamsF1 team, but also Paul Stewart Racing in F3000. I am delighted to say some things had changed and this time there were proper pits and also a proper press office. I remember the last time I was there, the press office, which I reckon could seat about half a dozen of us, was part of the control tower and after the race the only way from the podium to the waiting media was via a window. The window was not very large, and the top three drivers - Luca Badoer, who is now Ferrari's official test driver, Emanuele Naspetti and Andrea Montermini - had to clamber through this and arrived in an unceremonious heap in front of us.

The circuit runs around a lake which is mainly dry. The story was that years back, the water used to lap the edge of the paddock, but after the clay was taken out, the water disappeared to leave just the odd puddle in the middle for the mosquitoes and snakes to live in. The new press office was spacious and, despite being cris-crossed by telephone wires that journalists kept tripping over, had good communications.

It is strange how things change and how our lives can alter. I was reminded of this when looking at an array of specimen credentials proudly hanging in the media centre entrance. There were the ones from the F3000 race in 1989 and the pass used to illustrate this bore the face of the then current FIA Press Officer. Pictured on these passes was none other than the Director of Ford European Motorsport Communications, Martin Whitaker.

This made me smile as I remember in 1985 when I left my job as head of press and PR for the RAC MSA (the governing body for motorsport in the UK), the person who took over from me was none other than Martin Whitaker. Now nearly 20 years later, I was back at this rather isolated track still doing PR for a team while Martin is one of the most influential people in the Ford motorsport hierarchy. Mind you, the people who have held this position at the RAC MSA in the past have had chequered careers, as the first one ended up doing a spell at Her Majesty's pleasure, and the second went on to manage top level racing and rally drivers. I am not quite sure what happened to me!

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On the subject of things happening, I was amazed at the outcome of the weekend's race. The opinion on Michael's motives seem split, with some people feeling he wanted to say thank you to Rubens for Austria, and others thinking he wanted to give the crowd a grandstand finish, but slightly misjudged it by letting Rubens over the line first. Whatever the reason, we have to be thankful that another Ferrari domination gave us something to discuss on a Monday morning, as recently the conversations regarding the weekend's race have been confined to a brief comment about how boring it was. We cannot say that about the weekend.

Sadly the boys at WilliamsF1 didn't make any friends - I would not have wanted to be Juan Pablo or Ralf when they went back to the garage after the race to discuss their coming together with Patrick Head - but the good thing is the team has secured the runner-up spot in the Constructors' Championship, even if the gap to Ferrari is enormous.

We now have to look forward to the final race of the season in Japan. Hopefully it will be a great race, as otherwise those of us who are planning to get up at 5am to watch it live will be most disgruntled.

About the author:
Ann Bradshaw - Annie - began her motor racing career as a teenager, helping out her brother in local rally races in England, where she grew up. In the 1970s she organised motor racing events in England, and was later the press officer for the RAC MSA - the motorsport governing body in Britain. In mid 1980s, she became press officer to team Lotus, where she worked with Ayrton Senna. Shortly after, she moved to the Williams team and was working there for several years, when once again she found herself working with Senna. She worked with Damon Hill after the Brazilian's death, and moved with the British Champion to Arrows. She also worked with the Panoz team in the United States, before becoming a freelance press officer, now working with Compaq and BAR among others. Annie joined Atlas F1 as a regular columnist in April 2002.