Group Heading F1 Race In N.Y. Names Tom Cotter President, Dennis Robinson COO

Cotter lives in N.C., but plans to rent an apartment in N.Y.

The F1 Grand Prix in New York-New Jersey today named longtime motorsports exec TOM COTTER President. He will manage every aspect of the event from logistics and security to public relations and sales. He will report to LEO HINDERY, the race's promoter and director, and initially will oversee a staff of five people. The staff is expected to swell to 20 and there will be a host of contractors hired by the time of the race in June '13. Cotter, who retired after selling his marketing and communications firm, the Cotter Group, to Clear Channel, said, "I feel I left my career with a comma. I decided this was a way to end my career with a period or even an exclamation point." In addition to hiring Cotter, the race group named former New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority CEO & President DENNIS ROBINSON its COO. In a statement, Hindery said, "It is vital that we have a leadership team that is highly respected in motorsports, and in running major sporting events in the region, and that understands and respects our overriding responsibilities to the fans, the people of New York and New Jersey, the teams and the drivers. Tom Cotter and Dennis Robinson are the best possible choices to fill these roles." Cotter, who is a resident of Davidson, N.C., plans to rent an apartment in N.Y. and spend four to five days working out of the race's offices in Manhattan. He plans to attend F1 races in Australia, Monaco, Valencia and Montreal in the coming months. Cotter: "I'm going to go to as many F1 races as I can and try to learn everything about turning a city into a race track for the fastest cars in the world. The challenge here is there's no time for a dry run. It's got to be perfect out of the box." The F1 Grand Prix of America, as the race will be called, has a 10-year agreement to host races beyond '13. The 3.2-mile race will be run on existing streets in Port Imperial, Weehawken and West New York, N.J., along the Hudson River and at the top of the Palisades, with the N.Y. skyline as the backdrop.