There's a breathless press release on the official Formula 1 Web site today heralding the return of F1 racing to the United States. The 2012 United States Grand Prix will be in Austin, Texas, yes, at an all-new purpose-built facility. Yep, purpose-built. The last F1 race on U.S. soil run on a purpose-built course was the 1980 U.S. GP at Watkins Glen. Running a race on the infield of the Indianapolis Speedway (above) doesn't count.

This all sounds like such, such good news for F1-minded car guys. But read the release a couple of times and you realize it's a little shallow. Both the City of Austin and the Formula 1 commercial rights holder have granted permission for a U.S. Grand Prix to be run here from 2012-2021. And F1 has even announced an official race promoter, one Full Throttle Productions.

Curiously absent is any mention of money — you know, some big company (or government) to underwrite the construction of a racetrack and all the stuff that comes with it. Perhaps Formula 1 hasn't gotten that far.

Something tells us if Los Angeles can't build a football stadium for the NFL, Austin is going to have an awfully hard time finding the money to build a racetrack for what amounts to a gentleman's motorsport with a niche following in the U.S. Put it this way: If this thing really does happen, we'll expect to see the U.S. F1 team — with a running car — at the ground-breaking for the purpose-built race facility.

Formula 1 via Autoblog, AutoWeek