Grand excuse for a party

Monday, April 9, 2007 | 7:43 a.m.

What was once an impossible dream and then a logistical nightmare turned into eardrum-splitting reality Sunday afternoon. With the exception of cab drivers who failed to heed detour signs and hotel guests who booked late checkout times and had their paths altered by speeding race cars, the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix through downtown streets was a huge success.

The sprawling grandstands and pit suites on either side of the main straightaway on Grand Central Parkway were roughly half-filled. But the general admission stands on the downtown side of the temporary 2.44-mile circuit were jammed. The downtown parking garages were transformed into massive five-story viewing decks teeming with race fans and curious onlookers. And virtually every nook and cranny along the course had dozens of spectators in them who marveled at the speeds of the low-slung Champ cars and cleared their sinus passages with king-sized whiffs of methanol exhaust fumes.

This might have been the one event where the wrong side of the tracks - at least judging by the price of tickets - was the right place to be.

Tickets along the start-finish line cost $58.34, a bargain by NASCAR standards. If you had binoculars, you could watch the CEOs do business in the suites across the track and admire the hour-glass shapes of their companions. There were times Sunday when the paddock looked like the beach at Ipanema.

Downtown, across the Union Pacific railroad tracks that split the course in two, it was mostly T-shirts and cutoffs. But fans who did their homework quickly discovered the parking garages, where you could get an unfettered view of the track and a shrimp cocktail for 99 cents. Or absolutely free, if you are allergic to shellfish.

As for the race, it was pretty uneventful, which meant it was the perfect excuse to drink mass quantities of beer out of large plastic footballs.

The race

Two words not normally associated with Las Vegas - Will Power - became inextricably linked to the city's auto racing history.

The Australian driver with the quirky name cruised to an easy victory Sunday in the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix when misfortune befell pre-race favorites Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy.

After overcoming a minor miscue during his final pit stop, Power's biggest problem was keeping focused on the task at hand in the closing laps of the 1-hour, 45-minute event.

"The toughest part of the race was probably the end when you just want it to end," he said. "There's no one pressuring you, there's no one to attack. You're just sort of cruising around hoping nothing is going to go wrong."

Nothing did, and Power sailed to a 16.787-second victory over rookie Robert Doornbos. Tracy finished third in his hometown race after a fueling problem early in the race ruined his chances of winning.

Bourdais, the three-time series champion, started 16th in the 17-car field and charged to third place in 24 laps before a flat right-front tire derailed his run. Six laps later he exited the race after making contact with the guard wall in Turn Four.

View from the pool

Steven Fair took the spongy orange ear plugs from a Golden Nugget engineer. "They're loud," the 9-year-old said. "That's good. And they screech a bit on the turns."

Bill Fair, a 44-year-old pilot, hoisted Steven on his shoulders and walked from Turn 5 to Turn 6.

At a bar in the Four Queens, electrician Mike Henkle, 52, heard the engines whine outside as he watched the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix on a flat-screen television.

"TV has the better view," he said. "I'll finish this beer, then walk around and see what I can find."

Brian Horan, and a brother and two friends from Minnesota, stood at the edge of the Fitzgerald's pool, at ground level on the inside of Turn 9, wearing only swim trunks and shades, and sipping beers.

They booked rooms at the hotel when one heard Minardi Team USA had reserved the entire top floor.

"Beats my day job," said a smiling Horan, a 34-year-old emergency-room doctor in Fresno, Calif. "But it's just as noisy."

Down on the street

Business seemed slow for the scalpers circulating through the crowd Sunday in downtown Las Vegas, hawking race tickets and pit passes.

Instead, many fans were content to catch a glimpse of the Vegas Grand Prix from street level, peering through fencing at official "designated viewing areas" or staking out spots along the temporary course but nowhere near the grandstand.

Outside the Triple George Grill on Third Street, spectators marveled at the "blur of colors" generated by the race cars as they roared by on Ogden Avenue.

Some snapped photos on digital cameras. Others strategically held their cell phones aloft - "Get ready, here they come" - to give the lucky person on the other end an earful of triple-digit decibels.

Fans assembled along Fourth Street - by an alleyway right around the corner from the store hawking "Souvenir's" (sic) - were afforded a decent view of the race as it sped toward the left-hand turn at Ogden.

And they got more than just a blur: A chorus of "ooohs" rang out in response to one of defending circuit champion Sebastien Bourdais' multiple miscues involving a punctured tire.

Once you left the course, the buzz from the race didn't extend very far down east Fremont Street. Inside the El Cortez casino, it was business as usual - although the guy handing out religious pamphlets out front was wearing earplugs.