F1 in Austin? Someone Might Tell the Mayor

So much bluster about Bernie's announced 2012 F1 race in Austin, Texas, and so little actual information. SpeedTV is reporting that the "City of Austin and Austin Chamber of Commerce officials were unfamiliar with race organizers’ plans".

Odd. Seems that you'd want to let these folks in on the secret if you actually wanted construction permits.

With just a handful of Texas dollars know to be available for track construction (at this point), someone will have to appear from the wings with $250M-$300M in hand to make this happen. I'd like to meet this person and buy them a $4 gin and tonic.

They'll have to buy land, design, contract, and build a world-class F1 facility in something like 11 months. You'll need a few months to actually run some laps on the track before the Gran Prix.

Add to the mix all of Austin's political environmentalism, and I don't see this happening. What I do see happening goes something like this: USGP announcements continue to move forward, pressure continues to mount on the Austin planning group (much like it did on Donnington), Bernie will reiterate that F1 will never return to Indianapolis (much like Silverstone), and eventually the Austin plans will implode and the USPG will return to Indianapolis, where -- surprise! -- there happens to be a world-class F1 course already (just like Silverstone).