Phoenix explores street race option
The prospect of racing returning to the streets of Phoenix in Arizona have taken a step forward with the city council giving officers a green light to explore the options.
A sub-committe told Arizona Grand Prix - the group trying to create a Champ Car event in the city - that details such as how residents and businesses would be affected by a race needed to be explored. Costs of staging the event and infrastructure improvements would also need to be established said councillors, before voting 3-1 to allow council staff to begin the process.
The race promoters plan to invest $15 million to bring open wheel racing back to the city for the first time since 1991, when the F1 circus held the US GP there for the final time. Poor crowds and a general lack of interest in the race from the city's inhabitants killed off the race on that occassion.
Festival of motorsport
The new event plans to address that by creating a three day festival of motorsport focused on the Champ Car series. The proposed track would run around the Chase Field baseball stadium, which is the current home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the US Airways Arena. A small section of the course follows the same route past the Phoenix Civic Plaza as the orignial F1 course.
The main players behind the new bid are Brad Yonover and Dale Jensen, part owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns and the Dodge Theatre. They hope the city will see the race as an ideal way to showcase planned redevelopment of the Chase Field area.
However, the plan has met with opposition from nearby Phoenix International Raceway, which hosts NASCAR events on its oval course. Track president Bryan Sperber has appeared on several local television news bulletins, saying that a Champ Car event would not be the best way forward.
He said that if the focus was on highlighting downtown Phoenix, the city shouldn't be working with a "rinky-dink race (but) with NASCAR, the premier brand in motorsports."
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