Austin woman surprised with gift from COTA track to commemorate late husband
AUSTIN, Texas - A South Austin woman received a surprise of a lifetime from the Chairman of the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) on Thursday afternoon.
"This is an original core from turn 12," COTA Chairman Bobby Epstein said.
"Oh my goodness, this is so cool," Lisa Weinberger said.
Weinberger said Turn 12 means everything to her. It’s where she and her husband sat during the first race held at COTA.
"This picture, which is one of my favorite pictures of all time, with my husband, was at Turn 12 in 2012 at the first Formula 1 race," Weinberger said.
She said the track was one of the selling points to get her husband to move to Austin from Chicago.
"My husband would never have agreed to move to Austin if there wasn't a track," Weinberger said.
Lisa’s husband, John Weinberger, was a racer and car dealer.
"He fell in love with cars," Weinberger said.
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When he passed in 2020, his wife drove his victory lap at COTA, and she said Turn 12 was, "The place where I spun him out in the hearst."
She’s now created a space dedicated to him, a replica of the COTA track.
"We're trying to be part of the community, and this is Austin, and this is the community, and to see it embraced like this is beyond what we'd expect, but we hope 20 other people want to do it soon," Epstein said.