I'm a big fan of racing.  I raced for five years so I speak from some experience. But F1 racing has no place in Austin, TX. As was quoted in a recent "Winding Road" article, "(F1) is a Glamour sport." "A parade for the rich and famous." And the Austin American-Statesman nailed it in their Wed., May 26th article "Why would an Austin project succeed where others haven't?"

Austin’s Culture:

Austin rewards local events, creative events (art, music, film). Austin is about helping the little guy, the small/local business.  Affluent events have never done well in Central TX.  For example, look at the Hills Country Club Senior Golf Tour event that never amounted to anything. The sponsors eventually pulled out because so few people attended. That same event would have been very successful in NY, CT, NJ. Look at the recent affluent Art City Austina few weeks back. It only attracted 1/4 of the attendees they expected. Most vendors said they will not be back. But these big money events do very well in certain cities. And events that do well in Austin, like a local Armadillo Christmas Bazaar may not do well in other cities.  This F1 event would be much better served in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles or Dallas. Not only will Austin's local culture reject it, but Texans will generally reject it too. 

Texans Culture:

Texans love NASCAR, which is a "Good ole American Sport." But Texans will not come out in large numbers for a sport that is 100 percent foreign drivers.  And neither will neighboring states of LA, OK, AR. So where are these 300,000 people coming from if it's not Austin, not TX, and not a neighboring state? Did you know there isn't one American driver in this F1 league?  The F1 facing league is very different from the popular NASCAR racing circuit.  

F1’s history in the US:

F1 failed in NY in 1981 and failed in Indianapolis in 2007. If it failed in the car racing capital of the world, Indianapolis, how is Austin going to make this work? 

On the finances:

I understand that Austin according to media sources is not expected to pay anything "directly" for this. But realize the amount of time, effort and opportunity cost for Austin. This will practically monopolize Austin’s resources for 2 years when we should be focusing on other local issues (plumbing lines, phone lines, electrical lines, hotel rooms and transportation needs, security needs, other logistical needs to get in-and-out of this event need to be planned with city representatives at the planning table. Code enforcement that City of Austin will be working to make sure this project is done up to code). And TX has committed up to $25M as an incentive to the private company that will be paid back to Austin for it’s trouble. So up to $25M will be coming from Texan’s pocketbook as an “investment.”

And yes, the gamble is that Austin (and TX) will see a fair ROI because of sales tax of visitors coming to TX.  There are some good reasons for F1 in TX like it'll bring some jobs and international flavor/tourism. But overall, this is not a wise fit for Austin.  Austin can find a much better fit in another project that is a better fit with our culture. We should let this project go to another city where it's a better fit.