JWM - Volume 3, Issue 4 - (Page 56)

when Formula 1’s annual United States Grand Prix was held in the pastoral village of Watkins Glen, N.Y., it was hardly the sophisticated, corporatesponsored spectacle that such races have become. There were only a few places to stay or to eat in town. Inevitably, fans crossed paths with famous drivers—that was part of the fun. The night before the 1974 race, I was a 13-yearold racing fan eating dinner with my father. When I spotted Carlos Reutemann, the spirited Argentinian who drove for Brabham, playing video Ping-Pong at the bar, I bolted from my table midappetizer and challenged him. Reutemann beat me, just as he would beat all the other drivers the next afternoon to win the race. I didn’t care. The encounter left a memory that has stayed with me. I remembered that brush with celebrity—or what passed for a celebrity to a racing-mad 13-year-old—when I read that Formula 1 (F1) would be coming to Austin, Texas, last November. I hadn’t attended a U.S. Grand Prix since the event Ready, set . . . Miró Rivera Architects of Austin designed the Observation Tower, near right. Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Grid Girls lining up; Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso of Spain prepares to drive; Mexican fans supporting Sergio Pérez of Mexico; Pit crews at work. left Watkins Glen for a string of larger markets where it made little impact, most recently Indianapolis. That run began with much fanfare in 2000 and sputtered to an end seven years later. There hadn’t been a U.S. Grand Prix held since. For a long time, I figured there wouldn’t be another. Why bother? Formula 1 had failed in Los Angeles and Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Dallas. It had failed at tracks, on street circuits and even using a course built in a hotel parking lot. With attendance and viewership breaking records around the world, and new races in India, Singapore, Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, the sport needed the lukewarm American market less than ever. Yet it was returning for a last, best chance in one of my favorite cities. I had no illusions that I’d be running into any of the drivers over dinner, much less playing video games with them. Still, I knew I had to go. The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) was the inspiration of a handful of investors who wanted to bring a world-class sporting event to Austin. One of those investors was Red McCombs, a San Antonio auto dealer who previously owned the Minnesota Vikings, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets and understands how to market sports in the U.S. McCombs and his executives pitched the idea of yet another U.S. race to a skeptical Bernie Ecclestone, the Englishman who runs Formula 1 with supreme authority. They said the world had changed since the last F1 race in Indianapolis. Broadcasts on the Internet and cable television meant that U.S. fans could follow it week after week. “We used to drop in one week every year and disappear for the other 51,” Ecclestone agreed. “That killed us.” Austin is also near Mexico, where Formula 1 has a fanatic following. COTA promised that tens of thousands of Mexican fans would attend the race. And these COTA organizers were ready to build a permanent American track specifically for a Grand Prix, which had never been done before. Most importantly, no city needed its race to succeed as badly as Austin did. From a college town and seat of state government, Austin has matured into the 13th-largest city in America, the home of Dell, Whole Foods Markets, and the South by Southwest Conferences & Festival. Yet it remained unknown abroad. What better way to raise its reputation than an event seen in more than 180 countries, by an CirCuit of the AmeriCAs ; opposite pAge: © Keith rizzo/CirCuit of the AmeriCAs (2), © Ker robertson/getty imAges, © mArK thompson/getty imAges B ack in the 1960s and ’70s,

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JWM - Volume 3, Issue 4

Jwm - Fall 2013
Contents
JW Experts
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
Distinctive Products, People, Ideas & Style
Well-Being
Food + Drink
Visions of Sugarplums
The Portal
Austin at the Starting Line
Details, Details
The Tastes of the Year
Not So Private Lives
JW Experience
My Passion

JWM - Volume 3, Issue 4