MIXED FEELINGS FOR AUSTIN

Formula One plants a flag in Texas

AUSTIN — Less than 15 miles from the state Capitol, and just down the road from Wild Bubba’s Wild Game Grill, Austin’s next big thing is rising from a sprawling patch of rock, clay and shrubs.

The Circuit of the Americas will not only put Austin, the selfproclaimed live music capital of the world, in the company of Monte Carlo, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and other international cities in the glamorous world of Formula One racing.

The track will also give Formula One a permanent presence as it once again tries to raise its profile in the United States, which last hosted a Formula One race in 2007. More than 120,000 spectators are expected for the inaugural race in November, for which three-day passes went on sale last Sunday. The next day, two-time champion Sebastian Vettel went for a test drive on 3.2-mile road course in West New York and Weehawken, N.J., that will host a Formula One race in 2013. And this weekend in Austin, where the biggest sport is University of Texas football, the Formula Expo at the convention center aims to introduce fans to the basics of Formula One through interactive exhibits, race car simulators, meet- ings with former drivers and show cars.

To some in Austin, though, screaming race cars and hordes of international glitterati seem out of character in the home of outlaw country music, impassioned environmentalists and a counterculture rooted in the hippie heyday of the 1960s and ’70s.

Keep Austin Weird adorns T-shirts, bumper stickers and barrooms. The popular mantra is observed so devoutly that after a homeless, cross-dressing peace activist named Leslie died in March, the City Council paid tribute with a moment of silence.

“I don’t think this is a good fit for Austin to have an event that has supermodels dripping off the arms of playboy millionaires hanging out all over town,” said former City Council member and environmental leader Brigid Shea, who made Formula One subsidies an issue in her recent unsuccessful campaign against Mayor Lee Leffingwell, a supporter of the project. “Most people in Austin don’t think that’s who we are. That’s more Dallas or Houston.”

Austin long ago outgrew its image as a tranquil college town to become a fast-growing high-tech hub. More than 1.7 million people