American Motorsport Is Booming And Fans Have New Ways to Join In

American motorsports are enjoying a genuine boom right now. Formula 1 keeps setting television records. NASCAR keeps filling grandstands across the country. IndyCar has carved out steadier footing on national television too. A new American-built F1 team just joined the grid for the first time in over a decade.

If you’ve noticed more race coverage in your feed lately you’re not imagining it. The numbers back up what you’re seeing. So does the growing list of ways you can follow the action beyond simply watching it.

The Numbers Behind the Boom

Formula 1’s audience in the United States climbed 142% between 2018 and the end of last season, according to ESPN figures reported by Front Office Sports. Growth like that reflects a decade of expanding attention driven partly by a hit Netflix docuseries and partly by American race weekends becoming genuine events.

Individual races tell the same story. ABC’s broadcast of this year’s United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas averaged 1.5 million viewers, 14% higher than the year before and the twelfth viewership record set this season alone. You can now catch races in Austin or Las Vegas most seasons.

The calendar itself is changing too. New 2026 rules bring lighter cars, redesigned power units, smaller tires and a higher budget cap for every team, all aimed at tightening a championship battle that has been dominated by only a couple of teams for years.

An All-American Entry on the Grid

That expansion now includes an all-American entry. General Motors’ Cadillac squad received final approval to join the Formula 1 grid as its eleventh constructor, becoming only the second American-based team on the circuit after Haas. Veteran drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will pilot the car this season, giving Cadillac two proven names in its debut year. The operation runs out of technical centers in Indianapolis, Charlotte, Warren and Silverstone, England.

For longtime car enthusiasts this matters beyond the trophy case. It signals a domestic manufacturer betting real engineering budget on the highest level of global motorsport. It also gives American fans a hometown team to follow through a season already packed with storylines.

A New Way to Follow the Action

Watching from the couch is no longer the only way to stay close to a race weekend. Prediction markets, where you trade contracts on real-world outcomes rather than placing a traditional wager, have grown into a genuine part of sports culture. Trading volume across these platforms has surged over the past year as more fans discover them as an alternative to a standard sportsbook account. Motorsports are squarely part of that mix.

Polymarket is one of the larger platforms in this space, with active markets on race winners, podium finishers, pole positions, and full-season champions across F1 and beyond. If you want to look into how that works before trying it yourself, SBR's list of points on the current Polymarket signup offer walks you through the features and terms in detail. It explains the promo code needed to claim a $20 trading bonus after a $10 deposit and breaks down how prices move as real money shifts between outcomes. It also notes which states currently have access and outlines what verification looks like before you can withdraw. Signing up typically takes only a few minutes from a phone.

That last part is worth considering even if you never trade a cent. Prediction market prices are essentially a live, crowd-sourced probability on who wins, which makes for an interesting second screen during a Grand Prix weekend or a NASCAR playoff race.

Racing as a Lifestyle, From Monaco to Main Street

That kind of global crossover appeal is not new to racing culture. Enthusiasts have long treated the sport as a passport. Monaco’s Grand Prix weekend remains the clearest example of that pull each year. The Auto Channel's European bureau chief recently documented the tradition in a post-Monaco road trip, driving supercars from the principality toward Ferrari’s home turf in the days after the race. American buyers now chase a version of that same experience closer to home, with track-day programs and closed-course driving schools popping up outside major circuits on the calendar.

It's a reminder that motorsport fandom in the United States is catching up to a culture that, for decades, has treated racing weekends as a lifestyle event - from the cars people drive to the trips people plan around them.

Enjoy the Ride, But Do It Responsibly

However you’re choosing to invest, whether purely for fun, for longer-term profit, or a mix of both: the fundamentals stay the same. Research any platform before you sign up. Read the terms on any bonus before you claim it. Only risk money you can afford to lose. Treat bonus offers as a bonus rather than a reason to spend more than you planned. American motorsports have earned the bigger audience they are getting this year. That audience now has more ways than ever to join in. From the grandstand, the couch, a mobile app or a prediction market, you’re now sat right alongside the drivers, ready for that green light.