NFPA Journal - July/August 2013 - (Page 44)
CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS
investment firm, and his partners
included Billy Joe “Red” McCombs, a
San Antonio car-salesman-turnedbillionaire who’d once owned the San
Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota
Vikings. Suffice to say the track wasn’t
exactly a dirt-surface, demolitionderby-on-Sundays affair; it would be a
state-of-the-art facility designed to join
the international Formula One circuit,
the glamorous and immensely expensive form of racing that presides atop
the motorsport food chain. (A recent
article in The New Yorker described F1 as
“the caviar to NASCAR’s Cheetos.”) By
May 2010, the owners of the yet-to-bebuilt track, called Circuit of the Americas, had signed a 10-year contract
with Formula One, with construction slated to begin by the end of the
year. The track would be under Lee’s
jurisdiction, and he looked forward to
working on the project. A racetrack, he
figured, would be a nice change from
the usual diet of warehouses, truck
terminals, and apartment complexes.
It didn’t take him long to figure
otherwise. Through the early months
of 2011 and into the spring, as the
planning process and preliminary
construction stages ramped up, Lee
and his staff began to realize what
they were up against. For starters, the
track was no run-of-the-mill NASCAR oval, but a hilly, twisty, 3.4-mile
(5.5-kilometer) circuit with seating
and viewing areas located strategically
around the route, including a permanent grandstand, temporary bleachers,
and grass seating areas. There were
pit and garage buildings and other
structures, along with a futuristic,
251-foot [76-meter] observation tower
that could host 100 people. There was
the 15,000-seat Austin360 Amphitheater for concerts and other live events,
and the possibility of a hotel, conference center, and more. The price tag
for all of it hovered in the hundreds
of millions of dollars. There was also
the track’s earnest estimate of as many
44
NFPA JOURNAL JULY/AUGUST 2013
Photographs: COTA
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2013
NFPA Journal - July/August 2013
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Loud + Clear
Allied in Safety
Front Burner
Firefighter Fatalities in the United States, 2012
Fire Analysis + Research
Section Spotlight
What’s Hot
Looking Back
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