So it looks like the people trying to build a Formula One race track in Austin, Texas, have been taking negotiation tips from the NBA.

[Formula One boss Bernie] Ecclestone said last week the sides have “forgotten to talk to each other.”

In case you haven’t been following the story (like most people who live in Austin), here are the two sides; On side one, the billionaire Circuit of the Americas officials who won’t move construction on a 130,000 to 140,000-seat race track forward until they have a contract from Formula One to stage the race in Austin next year. On the other is Formula One itself, who made a surprise announcement in 2010 that Austin would host “the return of the U.S. Grand Prix on the first track built specifically for Formula One”, kept pushing back the schedule and eventually (and somewhat randomly) announced a different race to take place in New Jersey in 2013. Meanwhile, the people of Austin are being asked to take their money and throw it into a gigantic dirt hole which will eventually be filled back up with dirt and driven over in normal cars.

Instead of reaching any sort of working agreement, both sides seem set on topping each other with racing-jargon press statements.

The Associated Press left a telephone message seeking comment from Hellmund. A statement from [former race driver Tavo] Hellmund’s Full Throttle Productions said: “It is the responsibility of Circuit of the Americas to bring it across the finish line. For the sake of everyone, we are hopeful that they can reach an agreement with Formula 1.”

We hope to drive the point home by putting our athletes indy car and having them race to finish the track, right, everybody?

Austin is a great place to live, but our sports and entertainment organizers need to tighten up. First we lose Danzig over some French onion soup and now we’re going to lose our track because you’re forgetting to talk about it? What’re we, Moody?

[via SI.com]

Last we heard from Tamara Ecclestone, the elder daughter of Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone, she was bouncing back and forth between England and the U.S., undoubtedly helping her sister move her futon and George Foreman grill into her new $82 million dollar home in Los Angeles. But now she wants us to know that there is so much more to her traveling and spending and partying and spending and sleeping and spending.

She’s been preparing for her new reality show, “Billion $$$ Girl,” which will air on some network across the pond, and will allow her to show all of us that there’s more to her than being the attractive socialite daughter of a billionaire. That started with a photo shoot with famed photog Tyler Shields, who asked Tamara if she could get her hands on some loose cash.

Get ready to punch something.

Sheilds’ [sic, guvna] agent told The Sun: ‘Tyler asked if she could get hold of £1million and she said she already had it lying around. So he got her to lie in it naked.’

(Via the Daily Mail)

Now before we go casting stones, I should point out that her parents care very deeply about her financial well-being. In fact, Tamara’s mom always keeps her daughters grounded. You know, when she’s not loaning them $82 million for houses.

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Disclaimer: If your family has a history of high blood pressure or you are easily excitable and find yourself punching random objects, people or pets in dynamic fits of rage, maybe sit this one out. Because it’s a doozie.

Eighty-year old billionaire Bernie Ecclestone has built not only his fortune but his reputation by being the world’s foremost name in the sport of Formula One racing. For decades, and from the earliest days of NASCAR’s classier European cousin, Bernie climbed F1’s ladder of success beginning as a racer and working all the way up to his current reign as CEO.

Sure, he’s shown sympathy for Hitler and when Danica Patrick broke into racing, Bernie said that she should dress in white like all of the other appliances. But other than that, he’s been the brains of classic global financial success. Unfortunately, his daughters have signed on to represent the face.

In July, the U.S. was introduced to Bernie’s 23-year old daughter, Petra, after she borrowed $82.4 million from her mother, former Armani model Slavica, to purchase Aaron and Candy Spellings’ 57,000-sq. ft. mansion, “The Manor,” in Los Angeles. At the time, she said that she needed the massive estate so she could live in America and maintain the level of comfort that she was used to in Britain. However, that is not entirely true.

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