When Formula One sent Emily Prazer to Las Vegas in 2021 to explore how the organization could bring the international racing circuit to the Strip, her first call was to Lauralyn Sandoval, a vice president with gaming equipment provider Aristocrat and the wife of former governor and UNR President Brian Sandoval.
The two women met more than a decade ago at the French Open in Paris, when Prazer was a tennis marketing executive and Sandoval — then Lauralyn McCarthy — was associated with charitable organization Cancer Research Racquet. They have been friends ever since.
The British-born Prazer, then the head of commercial development and race promotion for F1, planned to pitch the Formula One business model used in cities and countries around the world to Nevada government and tourism officials, the business community and resort operators.
