The Austin, Texas paper on Wednesday afternoon (nearly midnight in the UK) posted a column about the potential U.S. Grand Prix that is definitely worth a read.
It’s in its entirety here.
And some excerpts:
As promised by the promoters of bringing F1 to Austin, our formerly little town is the talk of the racing world. Race announcer Bob Varsha gushed about the “ambitious announcement … to build a new permanent circuit in Austin, Texas, to hold the U.S. Grand Prix for 10 years beginning in 2012.”
“We certainly look forward to welcoming the world to Austin in 2012,” Varsha said over video of familiar local sites.
A short while later, we were treated to video of a fainted “grid girl” at the Istanbul track. I’m not sure what grid girls do, but it pays so poorly that they can’t afford much clothing.
“There you see the grid girl being carried away,” Varsha accurately reported.
Later, Varsha told us that colleague Will Buxton was “standing by with an interested spectator.” It was Nicole Scherzinger, yet another famous person I’ve never heard of. Check me on this, but I think she recently won a dance contest on “Soul Train” or something like that.
Buxton: “How excited are you about Formula One coming to America?”
Scherzinger: “Oh my gosh, it is? When?”
Buxton: “In 2012.”
Scherzinger: “Oh, that’s amazing. Well, I’ll definitely be there.”
[snip]
Back in the booth, an announcer (I can’t yet tell the difference between David Hobbs and Steve Matchett) said, “A difficult man to interview, our Bernard. … A little bit on the short side with the answers.”
There’s evidence as to why “our Bernard” opts to be “a little bit on the short side with the answers.” Being a little bit on the long side has gotten him in trouble. In general, it’s not a positive when the Wikipedia entry about you includes the headings “Women as ‘domestic appliances’ ” and “Hitler controversy.”
In 2000, he said a female driver would not fare well in F1, unless she was “a woman who was blowing away the boys. … What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.”
In 2005, while praising driver Danica 
Patrick for her fourth-place finish in the Indy 500, Ecclestone somehow steered his way to this: “You know I’ve got one of those wonderful ideas … women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”
He later apologized, and even later said it was a joke.
[snip]
And at some point, we’re going to have to decide if fronting up to $25 million in state money to help pay the Formula One fee for getting a race here is something we feel like we can do.
It sure looks as though this guy gets it.
After whatever the initial shock or enthusiasm we all felt, it definitely appears that reality is setting in. People are realizing they will have to deal with Bernie. People will check and see how poorly a number of races fare.
As we’ve said, we’re a long way from gathering on Sixth Street.
