AUSTIN, Texas — The local racing community is giving a warm welcome to NASCAR, as drivers make their debut on the Circuit of the Americas track this weekend.
Helping to keep Austin on the map as a racing destination, thousands of people typically travel every year to the COTA track for Formula 1, but now NASCAR is attracting a wider fan base.
Bill Dollahite was a professional Ferrari and GTP driver for 25 years. For the past 15 years he has run the driving course Driveway Austin. He's also in the process of launching a high-end Grand Prix club.
"NASCAR brings in a huge demographic – not only people who loved Formula1 and MotoGP and sports cars. A lot of those people also like NASCAR," said Dollahite.
Dollahite speaks on how the local racing community is growing in Central Texas compared to when he started his company years ago.
"There's a growing group of amazing enthusiasts that have come here," said Dollahite.
KVUE also caught up with a local die-hard racing fan, Indy Guest. We asked him how he got his name.
"My mom is a huge racing fan. She missed the Indy 500 while giving birth to me, so she decided to name me Indy," Guest said.
He plans to be at the track all weekend long for the NASCAR event.
"NASCAR coming to Central Texas in general, I think this is a great scene and something I think should have been done a long time ago," he said.
Click here for tickets and a closer look at the schedule.
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