Las Vegas race given green light
Single seater racing will return to Las Vegas next year, with a new street race on the edge of the famous 'Strip'.
Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously to allow DDB Ventures to proceed with a three-day “Festival of Speed”. The Vegas Grand Prix will be held in and around downtown Las Vegas April 6-8, 2007, as the opening round of the Champ Car World Series.
In addition to racing, the festival will include a major concert and championship boxing match.
The 2.4-mile, 14-turn street course that will include Ogden Avenue, Main Street, Casino Center Boulevard and Carson Avenue. A feature of the race circuit will be a fast-sweeping curve behind the Union Plaza, near the World Market Center and the Clark County Government Center, located on Grand Central Parkway.
“This will be a great weekend of world-class events for Las Vegas, especially for downtown,” said event organizer Dale Jensen, who is also a co-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and the Phoenix Suns National Basketball Association team.
Three day festival
“We look forward to presenting a world-class three-day festival that includes racing, concerts, additional sporting events and related expositions in and around downtown. We’ll entertain locals and visitors – not to mention attract international exposure – to one of the world’s most famous places.”
The festival is projected to generate an economic impact of about $76.7 million for downtown and surrounding areas of Las Vegas. An additional $3.8 million will be raised in state and local tax revenue.
“This particular event will bring color and excitement to downtown Las Vegas like never before,” said Bradley Yonover, who is a partner with Jensen in DDB Ventures, the company that owns the event. “With world-class auto racing and special events planned, the Vegas Grand Prix will be non-stop activity that will draw thousands to Glitter Gulch.
The last time top-class racing visited the city was in 1984 when the CART championship raced on a 'modified oval' course in the car park of the Caesars Palace Hotel. Formula One had used a road course at the same site in 1981 and 1982.
Downtown Las Vegas was also bolstered for several years by the Mint 400 Desert Race, a colorful spectacle that drew an estimated 400 off-road vehicles for tech inspection to Fremont Street each year.
“Las Vegas hasn’t seen auto racing like this since the old Caesars Palace Grand Prix in the 1980s,” Yonover added. “This is an ideal package that will draw people of all ages. It will become an annual must-see event for years to come.”
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