UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

What: Vegas Grand Prix

When: Friday through Sunday

Where: Downtown Las Vegas

Tickets: $12-$175; 877-795-RACE or www.vegasgrandprix.com

Chris Kneifel, the man responsible for setting up the 12-turn, 2.44-mile street course that will be used in the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix, is no stranger to open-wheel racing in Las Vegas.

Twenty-four years ago Kneifel drove a Champ Car to an eighth-place finish on a five-turn modified oval that was set up in a Caesars Palace parking lot. He finished three laps down to race winner Mario Andretti in the first of two Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) races held at Caesars.

"In those days, if you came out of those races with a Top 10 (finish), you had a good day's work. You beat somebody for that position, I'll tell you that," he said. "Those were good days ... a lot of fun."

His memories of the 1.125-mile circuit, however, are not so fond.

"The track itself was not interesting and not particularly challenging," he said. "There were a lot of left-hand turns. It was kind of like a duck swimming in a pond with just the right paddle."

And Kneifel isn't the only person working with the Vegas Grand Prix who has ties to the Caesars Palace races of the early '80s - which included Formula One events in 1981 and 1982. Lance Shafer and Nate Jones, who are helping Kneifel set up the course, performed similar duties with the Caesars circuit. Marc Platt, who is in charge of event security for the Vegas Grand Prix, held the same post for the Caesars races.

Although the Champ Cars lasted only two years at Caesars, Kneifel said those races helped lay the groundwork for what now is the backbone of the Champ Car World Series: Downtown street races.

"Back in those days, with the exception of Long Beach, temporary street racing was in its infancy," he said. "You had Monaco and Long Beach and LeMans but, really, temporary street racing didn't exist in the early 1980s.

"If nothing else, the Caesars race was probably one of the building blocks in terms of bringing the event to the people."

Although he clearly has a bias, Kneifel said the circuit being used for the April 8 Vegas Grand Prix is among the best temporary street courses in use today.

"This circuit has the opportunity to be spectacular," he said. "It's going to be fast and it's going to be challenging ... and it's hugely wide compared to some of the tight confines of other temporary courses.

"I think it's going to be awesome."