Austin's Circuit Of The Americas track jumped another major hurdle this week by getting the approval of the Austin City Council, paving the way for the State's $25 million dollar annual funding payout. And all this effort seems to be paying off as yet another race series has announced a contract for Austin to host their event at the new track.

The Australian motorsport championship V8 Supercars will be heading to the all-new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas after a five-year deal was announced on Friday. The V8 Supercars race will be broadcast by cable network SPEED televising both 200km races live throughout North and South America. What is a V8 Supercar you ask? Check out the V8 Supercars site at http://www.v8supercars.com.au/ and find out!!!

That didn't take long. The first of what will probably be many lawsuits has been filed over Austin's Circuit of Americas Formula 1 track. The suit which seeks to block the use of $25 million in state tax dollars from the economic development fund, seems to be a minor speedbump on the roadmap the massive F1 PR machine is following.

The suit was probably to be expected, and probably was, but if it ever reaches a jury it will be tough to find a Texan that hasn't been reached by either the news or the advertising. And it's not halting construction, as the trucks are still rolling at the building site. For F1 to get state funding the City of Austin must approve the state's F1 deal. The bigger question remains, however, and that is - in the end will Austin screw up this unique opportunity? It would be tough but possible. Austin is not Dallas, Houston or San Antonio. In fact it's not like any other major city in the United States, except for maybe San Francisco. The environmental lobby here is strong and has apparently been caught off guard. But this year the bugbear is the education lobby, also strong in Austin, and fuming over statewide budget cuts and massive teacher layoffs. They feel, and with some justification, that it's wrong to give F1 $25 million when the state can't afford to pay for it's education system. They are right. And they are wrong. The economic development fund was set up to do exactly this, attract business to the State of Texas. If they don't give it to F1, they won't turn around and give it to the education system. The money won't be returned to the general fund. It will be used to attract some other business to Texas. In the end this suit won't stop the track from being built, it doesn't even ask that, and the track will probably be built before it ever sees a court. And it's probably just the first of many to come. What do you think of Austin's Circuit of the Americas track? Should public money be used? Will you go when it's open? Let us know!