In news that the dead corpse of Ray Charles could have seen coming, it appears that both the Austin, Texas 2012 Formula One race is dead and with it, the racing facility the event was to have taken place at. This would also mean that the first ever Aussie V8 Supercar race would go down the tubes with it. The issue surrounds a $25-million dollar sanctioning fee that Formula One charges to hold one of their races. Initially the state government agreed to pony up the cash but recently, their attitude has changed and they have said that the $25-million would be paid after the event was held and it was deemed a success.
After that reached the ears of Formula One honcho Bernie Ecclestone, he bluntly told the press that he was very close to killing the race. He told reporters that the Texas contingent has until December 7 to secure a letter of credit that they have the $25-million or he will knock the race off the schedule.
There were apparently two groups of people in Texas involved in getting this event. One was a group called Full Throttle Productions. Those people were the ones actually bringing the event to Austin. The second group happens to be the people working on the Circuit of the Americas race track where the event was going to be run. That place is still some well formed dirt mounds at this point and after this donnybrook fired up, the 300 people working on the facility were sent home and told not to come back until they were asked to. The Circuit of the Americas group has ceased all construction until they are guranteed an F1 race next year. Unless some miracle happens and either they or Full Throttle Productions grabs $25-million from somewhere, the race is done.
There’s no word why the state government pulled a 180 on the deal, but we’re guessing that the upcoming presidential campaign and Texas governor Rick Perry have something to do with it. When you are sending teachers and policemen packing because the state is strapped for cash and you lay out $25-million to a guy with the worst haircut in the modern world, it is bad PR.
Oh, and giving New Jersey a race probably freaked the Texas crowd out some as well. Coming soon: Circuit of the Americas – The premier Rallycross venue in the universe!
Read more about this cluster-bleep at the link below.
I’m local to here. They have been reporting this on the news the past couple of days. News is reporting that Tavo Hellmund (Full Throttle) is best buddies with Bernie. Bernie says that Tavo breached the contract and nothing has been stated as to how it was breached. Tavo has not made any comments to media, and has been MIA during all of this. State of TX got word that no contracts so they backed out of upfront payment and will only pay after race is over. One giant nightmare and you would think that contracts would have been executed before broke ground, and adhered to.
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/sports/f1-track-construction-suspended
This was all a false dream to start with. I actually laughed out loud when i heard Texas was getting an F1 race. European egos mixing with Texas egos would be great but never happen. I love Formula 1, but ol Bernie needs that 25 million for his daughters property tax in California. Not to mention the bales of money he needs to burnsin his fire place in the castles he owns in Europe.
Midday Thursday, president of Circuit of the Americas, Steve Sexton, issued the following statement:
“We have been excited for and working towards a 2012 USGP race and now understand that Mr. Ecclestone is interested in moving the Austin race to 2013. We know the U.S. market is important to the teams and their sponsors and 2013 certainly allows time for the Circuit of the Americas to be ready.”
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/bulldozers-leaving-f1-work-site
Can you say Long Beach? That was the best thing to ever happen to that town. I would rather see F1 race there than Indy cars! Where’s Chris Pook when you need him?