Who is watching F1? That Austin track is the shiznit!

[robino2001]

You can thank big Red McCombs. He's the money behind this thing, without him it would have shriveled up like Tavo's when Bernie pulled his contract.

Late to the party but one thing I noticed... I live in Austin but was in SA for F1 weekend. SA media covered the event pretty well - but EVERYTHING the SA media said was Red McComb's this, Red that, etc... this is his baby, he made it gold... etc. In the lead up to F1 in Austin, I don't recall hearing Red McCombs name once. I know he had a large hand in it, but it was funny seeing the extreme night and day difference in the two media markets.

[Biernutz]

I went to the race and had a great time. There were race fans from all 50 states and 42 foreign country's. I talked to fans from England ,South America Australia. They were renting cars ,staying downtown in Austin for most of the week and enjoying the night life. Everyone said the were having a great time and will be back as many times they have a race here. One of the Grand Prix drivers liked the area around Austin so much he bought a horse ranch in the area. Food vendors made money as the lowest cost hamburger cost $9. I paid $150 for a general admission ticket. That was the lowest cost ticket. Next year I will buy a higher cost ticket. The Attendance for Friday was 40,000 Saturday was 80,000 and Sunday was 120,000. I was there and I would believe the figures on the attendance. I have co-worker tried to rent a car for the mid week thru Sunday of the race weekend and was told all rent cars in central Texas were rented. This had to be a big money maker for the Austin area like SXSW. I am looking forward to the bikes in April and the Australian V8 super cars in May.

Red McCombs does not invest in money into losing sports investments.....He made tons of money when he sold the Spurs and the Vikings. I believe the track will pay it's way sooner than later because there was no major sponsors of the track and they were under the gun to just finish the track in time for the race. This will come along with more events other than auto races.

[CubanMustGo]

Michael Schumacher, the man who won more F1 championships than anyone in history, is the one who bought the 500-acre ranch.

Red got a lot of air time on Speed, because they're up on the whole story. I live in Austin, too; no doubt his role here was overshadowed by the Tavo-Epstein pissing match but he's the one who brought the bulk of the money to the table.

[lefty]

Meh ....



Average track