Las Vegas group eyes F-1 race

Tuesday, March 24, 1998 | 8:38 a.m.

A local group moved one step closer to bringing Formula One racing to Las Vegas as the United States Grand Prix formally submitted to Clark County a proposal to build an 18-hole championship golf course and a 2 1/2-mile F-1 circuit.

United States Grand Prix is one of three entities bidding to build a public golf course and "an additional compatible recreation component" on 160 acres of BLM land on The Strip near Russell Road. The deadline for bids was 3 p.m. Monday.

Tommy Baker of the Las Vegas-based USGP said his group's proposal was the only one submitted to the Clark County Department of General Services that incorporated an F-1 track as part of a proposed $60 million complex.

The economic revenue an F-1 race could have on the city has been placed as high as $200 million, and that's not including the exposure Las Vegas would receive from worldwide television coverage.

"We have a 100-plus page response, documenting our position and Formula One's position and our lenders' position (spelling out) what we're prepared to do," Baker said. "We're obviously the only people bidding on that property who are saying we'll build a golf course with a race track."

Baker, who has been trying to bring a Formula One race to Las Vegas since 1995, said he expects the Clark County Board of Supervisors to announce in May which group will be awarded the development contract.

Baker said the 18-hole golf course would be open for public play, with Clark County residents receiving preferred times and rates, and would be designed and developed by OB Sports, Inc. OB Sports locally manages Angel Park Golf Club, The Legacy Golf Club in Green Valley and three courses in Mesquite.

If Baker's group wins the bid to develop the land, he said the UNLV golf team would have use of the course for tournaments, qualifying matches and practice rounds.

In USGP's proposal, Baker said the F-1 circuit would be incorporated in the design of the Grand Prix Links golf course and would be used only once a year, for a proposed season-ending United States Grand Prix.

"There are a lot of behind-the-scenes planning on how to integrate a Grand Prix circuit in with this golf course," Baker said. "It's going to be one spectacle of a golf course.

"We're spending, what I understand to be something in the range of triple what you would normally spend for a golf course. We'll have a ton of water and lakes because a lot of the environs we're creating for the golf course will double as corporate hospitality spots when you have the race."

Baker said that FIA, the sanctioning body for Formula One racing, is behind the project and would grant Las Vegas a race if the circuit is built. There have been published reports that FIA also is interested in San Francisco, Dallas and Road Atlanta as possible sites for an American F-1 race.

"We have a tentative time frame in which we have to prove (to FIA) that we have the support of Clark County," Baker said. "Some time during the month of May, we need to hear from (the county) that we tentatively have this deal. As long as we fulfill that timeline, then Formula One wants to work with us on this project."