Unmitigated Extravagance and Big Bucks for Austin at F1 Weekend

I’m not and have never been a fan of any kind of auto racing, be it Nascar, The Indy 500, Formula 1 or Demolition Derby. Hence, I was not excited when the breathless announcement was made several years ago that Austin would play host to a Formula 1 race.

But the sheer glut of excess and massive cash that comes to Austin for this event dwarfs any other festival we have. I was dining at one of our more upscale steakhouses last year during the first Formula 1, and adjacent to us was a large table of obviously affluent Europeans who were avid Formula 1 fans. They also didn’t hesitate to order 4-5 bottles of vintage Harlan Estates and DRC in the course of running up what had to be at least a $20,000 tab.

A friend who is a regional manager for a medium-priced chain of hotels said they were getting $800 a night for a room that normally goes for $99.

And so it went. It was a bonanza for both high-end restaurants and burger joints as well. My friend who owns Wild Bubba’s out near the track simply couldn’t believe his revenues for the weekend.

CK Chin of Swift’s Attic wrote an hysterical Facebook post today about the self-importance and enormous egos of our international visitors. I didn’t see that, but then again our exposure to the race crowd was limited to that one downtown dinner. This year we’re completely staying away from the circus and hitting some of our favorite little joints out in the burbs. Hopefully the mania will not have spread that far.

But race fan or not, when I’m wrong I admit it. I had no idea the F1 event would be as powerful and cash-centric as it’s become. While non race fans may be somewhat inconvenienced, the hospitality sector of our fair city will rake in huge and much needed revenues (given the somewhat sluggish recovery from the summer). And to those who fork out more huge bucks for the privilege of watching some cars go by their section for about 5 seconds every eight minutes or so, God bless ’em.