i've never heard of anybody going to indy because the racing is good. the only justification i've ever heard was "it's closer than laguna seca".
at least cota is an actual, non-flat roadcourse.
i'm expecting austin to be a good event.
I would expect Austin to be a good event also...and COTA looks like a promising course, although I'd want to see how the bikes actually run there, because some of the Tilke tracks that are F1 and bikes, they racing isn't quite the same...( in terms of how the corners are attacked and some of the specific racing lines )
and I completely agree with the "closer than Laguna" thing...Indy is more accessable to a greater cross section of people travelling by personal vehicle...Austin will see a different cross section of fans willing to fly in due to more infrastructure to support those that want to see an event and not have to deal with the level of vehicular logistics like what you have to do with Laguna...
the unfortunate thing with Indy ( IMHO) is that the event started just as the bottom started to drop out of the economy...and I am betting that a vast number of recreational motorcyclists who have a cursory interest in racing and a potential will to go see a live racing event like this, all of the sudden weren't spending any money or didn't have that casual spending cash sitting around like they used to....I know I went to the 1st Indy event and would have gone to more, except $$$ got tight really fast for me...and while I would love to go to COTA for the GP event for comparison....there is no earthly way I can even remotely justify it much less consider it...