So it looks like the people trying to build a Formula One race track in Austin, Texas, have been taking negotiation tips from the NBA.
[Formula One boss Bernie] Ecclestone said last week the sides have “forgotten to talk to each other.”
In case you haven’t been following the story (like most people who live in Austin), here are the two sides; On side one, the billionaire Circuit of the Americas officials who won’t move construction on a 130,000 to 140,000-seat race track forward until they have a contract from Formula One to stage the race in Austin next year. On the other is Formula One itself, who made a surprise announcement in 2010 that Austin would host “the return of the U.S. Grand Prix on the first track built specifically for Formula One”, kept pushing back the schedule and eventually (and somewhat randomly) announced a different race to take place in New Jersey in 2013. Meanwhile, the people of Austin are being asked to take their money and throw it into a gigantic dirt hole which will eventually be filled back up with dirt and driven over in normal cars.
Instead of reaching any sort of working agreement, both sides seem set on topping each other with racing-jargon press statements.
The Associated Press left a telephone message seeking comment from Hellmund. A statement from [former race driver Tavo] Hellmund’s Full Throttle Productions said: “It is the responsibility of Circuit of the Americas to bring it across the finish line. For the sake of everyone, we are hopeful that they can reach an agreement with Formula 1.”
We hope to drive the point home by putting our athletes indy car and having them race to finish the track, right, everybody?
Austin is a great place to live, but our sports and entertainment organizers need to tighten up. First we lose Danzig over some French onion soup and now we’re going to lose our track because you’re forgetting to talk about it? What’re we, Moody?
[via SI.com]
