Grind

I came across the following article on the "Friends of F1 Austin Texas" Facebook page.

The Austin F1 page has proven a great resource for keeping abreast of the Austin F1 endeavor, and is one place where honest discussion of the challenges with that effort occurs with any objective intelligence.

Regarding the article, I do not know the writer.     I wanted to post a comment on his blogspot page, but it appears he has disabled the comment feature.     I don't know, maybe I'm an idiot and simply missed it, but I kind of get the impression that he's not encouraging anyone to chime in.

Therefore I'm relying on the power of the internet to do that here.     Here goes.

I'll admit straight away that I found Mr. Knight's article extremely annoying.      

Comments such as:

" . . . Americans are reawakened to Formula One.  . . . . So far, I can't say I've seen much interest." 
" . . . America's ticket buying public knows as much about the drivers as they do rugby stars, and that the U.S. media has precious little access  . . . to build name recognition here" 


appear designed simply to reinforce a myth that there is no market for F1 in the US.


Contrary to this assertion, there is no shortage of interest in the return of the United States Grand Prix.     Specific to F1, Americans do not need "reawakening."     Hiring "ambassadors" will not address the real challenges facing the effort in Austin.     If ticket sales are falling short, it's not due to a lack of interest . . . it's due to missteps on behalf of CoTA management.

How do I know?     If hotel accommodations are any measure, almost every hotel room in Austin is booked . . . by US F1 fans.    I can testify that if one did not get a reservation in place within first days of the original race date announcement, they did not get a room.    

It is only because the race date graciously shifted to November that allowed many to later find accommodations in the shuffle.     When one considers that many visitors from abroad may have not even tried to book because of CoTA's back assward approach to ticket sales . . . you get my point.  

If Mr. Knight's objective is to take issue with CoTA, I've no complaint.     I've already voiced my concerns here and at times participate in the discussion on the "Friends of Austin F1" Facebook page.    

If Mr. Knight's objective is to further the false belief that F1 can not work in the US, then I've got a major beef.

Over the years, I've grown weary of repetitive suggestion in the media that the problems with F1 in the US have anything at all to do with the ticket buying public.     I even wonder at times if certain pundits in the US motor sport media are somehow afraid of F1 being successful here?  

The truth is that the American F1 fan has long needed a venue worthy of the sport.     Given the run of wretched street circuits followed by the failed mickey mouse effort at Indianapolis, there has not been a F1 race in the US which provided anyone a chance to witness these incredible cars and drivers perform at their normal, absolute limit.

Tavo Hellmund's vision for a purpose built circuit outside of one of America's more pleasant and fun places to visit had the potential to right that wrong.    It was never going to be easy, but certain aspects of CoTA's approach since Hellmund's departure have merited question if not outright concern and criticism.  

Austin's fortunes hinge not on PR ambassadors nearly as much as they do CoTA's ability to serve their customer base . . . thousands of US F1 fans.     Perhaps it is time that those in the motor sport media did the same.