The following year, Giuseppe Bacciagaluppi, then president of the Automobile Club of Milan and chairman of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, invited Duane Carter, competition director of USAC, to attend the second running of the Italian Grand Prix on the new circuit. The two discussed the similarities between Monza's new oval and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which also held a round of the 1957 Formula One season, the Indianapolis 500. Although the 500 counted as part of the championship, only a few Europeans attempted to participate in the event since the formation of the World Championship. Ferrari's Alberto Ascari in 1952 was the only European competitor to actually qualify for the race. Bacciagaluppi and Carter believed that an oval race held in Europe instead of the United States could attract Formula One teams, and USAC and the Automobile Club of Italy began work on making such an event possible.