The Big Picture
Life after college is a weird, buffering screen between who you were and the person you’re trying not to become. Two UT grads, Julia Wezio and Maria Rodriguez, translated that buffering into the ATX Grand Prix Club: a fan collective that stages F1 watch parties around Austin, most notably at Inn Cahoots in East Austin. The group now claims thousands of social followers and hundreds of official members who gather on race days to watch races on large screens, try themed food and drinks, and trade postcards with custom artwork by Wezio.
What Changed
What began as occasional meetups has scaled to regular, named watch parties across multiple venues, reflecting a boom in U.S. F1 interest—average race viewership rose from 554,000 in 2018 to 1.3 million last year. The club expanded from living-room energy to curated activations: themed menus (Belgian waffles, Japanese whiskey cocktails), limited-edition postcards, simulated racing tournaments, and at least one branded activation with Red Bull that brought a full-scale show car to a meetup.
What's Next
As the Austin Grand Prix approaches, ATX Grand Prix Club plans at least two separate watch parties for the race weekend and will publish a guide to activations and special events around town. The group also organizes meetups for fans attending Circuit of The Americas—for example, last year members met at the Fan Zone near Turn 19 to hand out hydration packets and take group photos. The Austin Monthly story does not list specific dates, times, prices, or RSVP links for upcoming watch parties; check ATX Grand Prix Club’s social channels for exact event listings.
Wezio and Rodriguez built a fandom that doubles as a social life hack; you bring the fandom, they bring the friend group.