Sports
Mateschitz was known as a marketing specialist. His company is known for its advertising and as a sponsor for various types of extreme sports. In November 2004, Mateschitz bought the Jaguar Formula One team from its previous owners, Ford, and it was subsequently renamed Red Bull Racing. In September 2005, Mateschitz joined forces with his close friend and former F1 driver Gerhard Berger, and purchased the Italian-registered Minardi team from its Australian owner Paul Stoddart. The team was renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso meaning Red Bull in Italian. In 2010 Red Bull Racing won the Formula 1 Constructors Championship and Drivers Championship with Sebastian Vettel. In 2011 the team won their second and in 2012 their third consecutive constructors championship. Sebastian Vettel became a three-time world champion in 2012 by winning 3 championships in a row for Red Bull Racing.
He also owned a NASCAR team called Team Red Bull which fielded two Toyota Camrys for drivers Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and a Toyota Camry for driver Cole Whitt in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.
In late 2004, he bought the former Formula One circuit A1-Ring, renaming it the Red Bull Ring. The circuit opened in May 2011 and hosted a round of the 2011 DTM season. Mateschitz states that there are no plans for it to return to the Formula 1 calendar. Mateschitz plans to set up a testing site for the automobile industry at the Austrian race circuit. There are already very far developed plans, but residents of the area object.
He also planned to create an Avionautik Akademie in Zeltweg jointly with the Austrian Army. He has his own hangar, where he keeps his collection of old planes, including the last ever Douglas DC-6B to be produced, which once belonged to Marshal Josip Broz Tito. He also sponsors the World Stunt Awards, an annual fundraiser to benefit his Taurus Foundation, which helps injured stunt professionals.
In April 2005, he bought the Austrian football club SV Austria Salzburg and in March 2006, he bought the American soccer club MetroStars; both clubs were subsequently (and somewhat controversially) renamed for his famous drink, as Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull New York, respectively. In 2007, Red Bull founded Red Bull Brasil, a soccer team based in Campinas, Brazil. The team was promoted to the 2nd division of the São Paulo championship in 2010, the most competitive state championship of the country. In May 2009, he founded a German football club called RB Leipzig and was named as owner. Since 2012 he is also the owner of the German hockey club EHC München which also changed its name into Red Bull München.
He also owned Seitenblicke, Austria's top society magazine, but avoids the celebrity circuit and watches most Formula One races on TV despite owning two teams.
Read more about this topic: Dietrich Mateschitz
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