USGP

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R. J. Sorensen

Well-known member
Thought there was a GP race at COTA in Texas last weekend.

You'd never know about it based on local (Milwaukee, WI) media coverage. Nothing!

Home of the Milwaukee Mile (oldest operating track in the US) and neighbors with Road America. Thought there might be some mention.

Similar experience?

Read on-line it was a very impressive event.

RJS
 
I don't watch or read local media here in PA. Maybe the morning weather. Nor have I watched much national media as I'm still recovering from my election overdose.

I was pleased with everything I watched. I was real proud of what COTA and Texas pulled off as an American. In our recent world of negative politics, poor economy, etc. it was good to celebrate a big American achievement.

In the future, I will look for an opportunity to race there.
 
Seems to be same as I've heard elsewhere. you would think that F1 coming back to the states would get at least a few seconds of airtime on ESPN or the nightly news sports section. zippo. zilch. like it never happened.

Eveyrthing I heard about the event though was suberb. good racing, great facility, and the drivers loved the track. I think I saw more passing at this race than I have seen in the last six races put together.
(I couldn't make it myself.. just had LASIK on Friday and doc wouldn't let me go.. But I at least watched it on SPEED).
 
KXAN Channel 36 in Austin had at least 5 minutes of pre-race coverage on the news portion of the morning, noon, evening, and nightly broadcast for weeks leading up to the race. Sunday before the race they did an hour on what Formula 1 was and earlier in the week had an hour on the building of the track. Race morning they did a live 2 hours from outside turn 10 which had repeats of the content from the other two specials and John Bisignano as the expert commentator. (Bis may be a little out of touch with F1 though. He kept commenting on the sound the high reving V12 engines made.) The had one of the anchors downtown covering Fan Fest and all the activities you could participate in there. They did a good job at showing those unfamiliar with F1 what is was and were very enthusiastic about what they were doing.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with them being the local NBC affiliate.
 
I'm sure it had much more to do with them being in Austin and the fact the TX gubment spent a shload of taxpayer money to make the race happen. it's in everyone's best interest to make sure the track and F1 itself is a success in Austin.
don't get me wrong, I'm certainly glad they had the coverage, but it's easy-pickings for the local news people to join in. there are people from all over the world in Austin coming specifically for the race. it only makes sense to run with it and support it.

I don't watch much news (mostly because the only thing that makes news in Houston are how many people were shot, stabbed, beaten, burned, or blown up today), but I didn't hear anything about the race from the news or radio, just 150 miles away..
 
The other stations in town were lacking in coverage.

The preliminary reports on the collected sales/hotel/rental car taxes during the event far exceeded estimates despite the Naysayers of Austin Guild predicting little or no economic benefits to the area. The payments made by the Major Events Fund have been proven to have been a good investment.

On a side note: If you are planning to attend next year book you hotel now. The race is the same weekend as a UT home game.
 
Does anyone have any info on ticket prices? What I saw leading up to the race showed that you had to buy the rights to a seat and THEN by the ticket. It seemed like a pretty expensive proposition. When I went to the first F1 race at Indy the prices were reasonable.
 
"good" seats were going for about $500 for the 3-day pass, and there were plenty available without buying the season PSL ticket.
I think that was an initial trial thing, then when they realized they weren't going to sell enough tickets that way, they went to per-seat-per-day tickets.

even day of the race there were plenty of tickets to be bought on area car forums.

Any time I go to the race, I have a friend that lives about 10 min away with an open couch. If I'm racing there (i.e. March), I'll sleep in the trailer when the weather is nice. If I'm just up there for a race, I'll stay at Rob's.. simple. :)
 
Eeyore's birthday party is bigger.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeyore%27s_Birthday_Party
 
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