Las Vegas approves plan for downtown grand prix race in April

Thursday, July 20, 2006 | 5:13 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - City officials have approved a five-year deal to host a Champ Car World Series race on streets around some of the city's oldest casinos.

The City Council unanimously approved a commitment Wednesday with a group called DDB Ventures to stage the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with the inaugural race set for April 8, 2007.

The Easter weekend event will represent the season-opener for the open-wheel cars, which are similar to Indianapolis 500 cars.

The 2.44-mile course will start and finish on Grand Central Parkway, a sweeping curve through a vacant former railroad yard the city has been marketing as a development opportunity.

Officials said speeds might reach 160 mph past pit lane, most grandstands and VIP viewing areas. Promoters projected a three-day crowd of 150,000.

"The council may be asked to temporarily suspend the speed limits on these streets," city manager Doug Selby joked.

The event is owned by movie producer Brad Yonover and Dale Jensen, a venture capitalist from Phoenix who owns about 25 percent of baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks and part of the NBA's Phoenix Suns.

The weekend will include preliminary races April 6 and 7, a professional boxing card, concerts and other exhibitions, Yonover said.

"This gives the city quite a one-two punch with the NBA All-Star Game (Feb. 18) and this race shortly thereafter," Mayor Oscar Goodman said. He did not include the NASCAR Nextel Cup race in March, which sells out the 156,000-capacity Las Vegas Motor Speedway north of the city.

Champ Car races were held at the speedway the past two years in September, but will not be held there this year.

The city has agreed to spend up to $500,000 and event promoters will spend another $1.3 million to improve streets along the grand prix course.

Promoters noted that there will be areas around the downtown Fremont Street Experience casino district where spectators will be able to see the race for free.

It will mark the first time a major auto race takes place on Las Vegas city streets and the first time in 23 years that one was held close to the Las Vegas Strip. Champ Car, formerly known as CART, held races in 1983 and 1984 on a temporary course set up in a Caesars Palace parking lot.