Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Two Florida cities interested in hosting CART races

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2001 | 11:18 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

While talks of bringing a Championship Auto Racing Teams race to Las Vegas have, once again, hit an impasse, at least two Florida cities apparently are clamoring to land a CART event.

Groups representing the cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa are pursuing a race as early as 2003.

According to a CART spokesman, the St. Petersburg City Council is scheduled to discuss a proposal from the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Inc. for a temporary street course event in that city in February, 2003.

The Tampa proposal is being handled by the International Racing Associates and the Birmingham, Alabama-based group is seeking to stage an event at a semi-permanent facility, the Tampa State Fairgrounds, also in 2003.

"We are extremely pleased that esteemed cities such as Tampa and St. Petersburg have an interest in adding a CART FedEx Championship Series event to enhance a sports landscape that includes NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball franchises as well as serving as a host for previous Super Bowls," said Mike Zizzo, CART vice president of competition and public relations.

"In addition to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area being a great market demographically, we have been interested in domestic warm-weather venues that would assist in bolstering the early part of our future seasons. Both of these fit into that mold."

Las Vegas Motor Speedway general manager Chris Powell, who has been talking with CART about a race for the 2002 season for the past several months, said Tuesday that there was "nothing new to report" about a possible race here next season.

Although CART added three new races -- Mexico City, Montreal and Denver -- to its 2002 schedule, it appears that not everybody is pleased with the direction in which the series is headed.

According to published reports, as many as nine track promoters have sent a letter to CART president and CEO Joe Heitzler demanding a reduction in their sanctioning fees and a guarantee of at least 18-car fields or they will pull out of the series.

The Honda Indy 300 in Surfers Paradise, Australia, finished second in race-day attendance with a crowd of 110,187.

In the United States, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach drew a race-day crowd estimated at 85,000 while the season-ending Marlboro 500 at California Speedway attracted an estimated 75,000.