IndyCars – the Streets of Baltimore Paved in Debt
Posted: November 8, 2011 Filed under: Indycar Series | Tags: Baltimore Grand Prix, Indycar racing, Indycars, street circuits Leave a comment »
Ever notice Baltimore's flag looks like a checkered flag?
“I bought those one way tickets she had often begged me for, and they took us to the streets of Baltimore…”
(“Streets of Baltimore”, sung by Gram Parsons)
Baltimore municipal officials are expressing frustration with promoters of the city’s first-ever IndyCar race, the Baltimore Grand Prix. The organizers are $1.8 million in the hole, and that’s in a city that has never been flush in the best of times (disclaimer: Baltimore is the city of our birth – so no smack talking, thanks). The city is now threatening to pull the plug unless changes are made.
There is a saying that if you want to make a small fortune, start with a big one and then go racing. The same could be said of race promoters – sounds fun, if you like losing your shirt. To be sure, profits can be made and events like Long Beach have endured for almost 40 years. But those are exceptions, not rules, and cities like San Jose, Houston and Miami have found that even if you build it, and they come, there are no guarantees you’ll be racing next year.
We hope that Baltimore pulls through. The first event attracted about 160,000 fans to a city that had never held a car race. We spoke to several non-racing fans who attended, and they were thrilled to see IndyCars at close range. Unlike an oval or a purpose-built circuit like Sonoma, a street race emphasizes the visceral power that comes from being in close proximity to anything going 200 mph. If you can convince our family that IndyCar racing is exciting (no easy task), you’ve done something good for the sport.
