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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Open-Wheel’s Long Odds In Vegas
Open-wheel and Las Vegas have a long, storied, and mostly unsuccessful history together, which makes Sunday’s IndyCar finale even more intriguing.
Open-wheel's last turn in Las Vegas--on the city streets with Champ Car--was a hit with teams and drivers, but a failure when it came to attendance and finances... (LAT)
Open wheel racing and Las Vegas have a long, storied, diverse and mostly unsuccessful history together, which makes Sunday’s finale in the IZOD INDYCAR series even more intriguing.
From Jimmy Bryan’s dominating drive on the dirt at Las Vegas Park in 1954 to Bobby Unser’s victory on a road course in the desert in 1968 to Tom Sneva’s triumph around Caesar’s Palace in 1984 to Richie Hearn’s lone win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1996 to Will Power’s initial win on the downtown street circuit in 2007, Indy cars have made many attempts at making Vegas part of the family.
It’s always been good racing but bad business as the promoters usually lost their behinds.
Here’s a quick synopsis of the races in Sin City.
SILVER STATE CENTURY: Las Vegas Park, a horse track built in 1953 off what is now Paradise Road, only lasted a year but it managed to stage a 100-mile Triple A race in ’54 won by Bryan. According to SPEED SPORT NEWS, Frank Sinatra posed in the DA Lubricants Special during a race promotion at the Sands Hotel & Casino, it somehow jumped out of gear and was heading for the swimming pool when Leroy Warriner jumped in, hit the brake and rescued the leader of the Rat Pack.
STARDUST GRAND PRIX: After pole-sitter Dan Gurney crashed, Unser beat Mario Andretti to the checkered flag at the 3-mile Stardust International Raceway. It was the second round of a 28-race schedule in ’68 and the first and only appearance at this road course. “That was a long time ago but, as I recall, nobody showed up to watch and it was probably just as well because I don’t think there were any grandstands,” recalled Unser with a chuckle. “The Stardust Casino was just probing, trying to get people to come to town for different events but we never went back.”
CAESARS PALACE G.P.: A road course in the parking lot of Caesar’s Palace was originally built for Formula One, which staged two forgettable and poorly attended races in 1981 and 1982. CART took over in ’83 and Andretti scored the victory. The track was changed to a roval (an all-left hand turn oval/road course) for 1984 and Sneva punted Al Unser into the wall to get the win and a one-fingered salute from the 4-time Indy winner. The crowds were estimated at 25,000, which were better than F1 drew but not enough to keep going.
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: The 1.5-mile oval opened in 1996 with a 300-miler for the Indy Racing League. Hearn drove into victory lane in front of what would prove to be the largest crowd to ever (62,000) for Indy cars. Eventually the track tried the fall, the spring and a couple night races during the next four years but to no avail – attendance kept getting worse until the plug was pulled after 2000.
CHAMP CAR AT LVMS: Champ Car tried to revive interest at Bruton Smith’s oval in 2004 and 2005 by piggybacking with NASCAR trucks. There may have been 20,000 to watch the trucks but they were mostly gone by the time the green flag waved at 9:45 p.m. There were all gone after a 15-lap caution period to try and get the running order correct. Sebastien Bourdais won both years.
CHAMP CAR DOWNTOWN: In 2007, the finest street course ever drawn up in North America was erected in the old downtown section for Champ Car’s season opener. It had fast corners, a tunnel like Monaco, a jump, a long straightaway and a couple braking zones. The mayor was gung ho but nobody else in Vegas embraced the idea. Oh yeah and it was held on Easter Sunday. There were less than 8,000 grandstand seats and they might have been half full to watch Power’s impressive win. The promoters lost millions and canceled an encore performance in Phoenix.
So that brings us to this weekend, where INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard is not only bucking history, but renting LVMS from Smith and promoting the race himself.
“I was more comfortable going with a market I knew,’’ said Bernard, who made lots of friends in Vegas with his week-long winner at the Tomas & Mack Arena for the Pro Bull Riders’ circuit from 1994 to the present.
“And I wanted us to have a vacation destination with the proper backdrop for a great race. So this is either going to be my strength or my demise.”
But the man who has nearly brought INDYCAR’s bottom line to the break even point in less than two years has worked hard to make sure he doesn’t suffer the same fate as past promoters.
Sure, he gave away 50,000 tickets to any fans supporting other races during this season, but Bernard secured plenty of financial support for his budget. Honda is the presenting sponsor and he also got associates from Verizon, Fuzzy’s Vodka, APEX, the Las Vegas Visitors & Convention and MGM Grand Resorts.
And he got The Strip to close for 10 minutes on Thursday night so all 34 cars entered in Sunday’s race could road down Las Vegas Blvd. between the Tropicana and Flamingo.
“Our sponsors stepped up big time as did Las Vegas and we’ve sold almost all of the 121 suites,” he continued. “MGM has 14 properties and offered good deals on rooms plus throwing in two free tickets.
“Of course we’re not depending on ticket sales and I think we’re going to come in right on budget.”
Bernard’s original idea to help draw a crowd was offering $5 million to any non-Indy driver who could win Sunday’s race. Kasey Kahne and Alex Zanardi were interested but only if Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi provided cars, which didn’t happen since they’re battling for the title again. X Games hero Travis Pastrana also had interest before breaking his foot.
So now Dan Wheldon and a fan could split $5 million if the two-time Indy 500 winner can come from last to first on Sunday afternoon.
Bernard still wants to run a Friday road race around a casino followed by a Sunday show at LVMS but thinks that probably couldn’t be feasible until 2013 or 2014.
His immediate goal is to get a decent crowd and TV rating on ABC while going up against the National Football League in a city that traditionally only supports NASCAR.
“I’d love to see 60,000 but I guess I’d be happy with 40,000,” he admitted.
With oval tracks vanishing from the schedule because no promoters want to take the risk, Bernard was asked if Vegas and self-promoting was a template for the future?
“I want to see what happens, what worked, what didn’t and then re-evaluate,” he replied. “I think the city wants us to be successful and I guess we’ll know by Sunday night.”
Robin Miller brings 40 years of experience to his role as SPEED.com's senior open-wheel reporter, and serves as a frequent contributor to SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.
From Jimmy Bryan’s dominating drive on the dirt at Las Vegas Park in 1954 to Bobby Unser’s victory on a road course in the desert in 1968 to Tom Sneva’s triumph around Caesar’s Palace in 1984 to Richie Hearn’s lone win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1996 to Will Power’s initial win on the downtown street circuit in 2007, Indy cars have made many attempts at making Vegas part of the family.
It’s always been good racing but bad business as the promoters usually lost their behinds.
Here’s a quick synopsis of the races in Sin City.
SILVER STATE CENTURY: Las Vegas Park, a horse track built in 1953 off what is now Paradise Road, only lasted a year but it managed to stage a 100-mile Triple A race in ’54 won by Bryan. According to SPEED SPORT NEWS, Frank Sinatra posed in the DA Lubricants Special during a race promotion at the Sands Hotel & Casino, it somehow jumped out of gear and was heading for the swimming pool when Leroy Warriner jumped in, hit the brake and rescued the leader of the Rat Pack.
STARDUST GRAND PRIX: After pole-sitter Dan Gurney crashed, Unser beat Mario Andretti to the checkered flag at the 3-mile Stardust International Raceway. It was the second round of a 28-race schedule in ’68 and the first and only appearance at this road course. “That was a long time ago but, as I recall, nobody showed up to watch and it was probably just as well because I don’t think there were any grandstands,” recalled Unser with a chuckle. “The Stardust Casino was just probing, trying to get people to come to town for different events but we never went back.”
CAESARS PALACE G.P.: A road course in the parking lot of Caesar’s Palace was originally built for Formula One, which staged two forgettable and poorly attended races in 1981 and 1982. CART took over in ’83 and Andretti scored the victory. The track was changed to a roval (an all-left hand turn oval/road course) for 1984 and Sneva punted Al Unser into the wall to get the win and a one-fingered salute from the 4-time Indy winner. The crowds were estimated at 25,000, which were better than F1 drew but not enough to keep going.
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: The 1.5-mile oval opened in 1996 with a 300-miler for the Indy Racing League. Hearn drove into victory lane in front of what would prove to be the largest crowd to ever (62,000) for Indy cars. Eventually the track tried the fall, the spring and a couple night races during the next four years but to no avail – attendance kept getting worse until the plug was pulled after 2000.
CHAMP CAR AT LVMS: Champ Car tried to revive interest at Bruton Smith’s oval in 2004 and 2005 by piggybacking with NASCAR trucks. There may have been 20,000 to watch the trucks but they were mostly gone by the time the green flag waved at 9:45 p.m. There were all gone after a 15-lap caution period to try and get the running order correct. Sebastien Bourdais won both years.
CHAMP CAR DOWNTOWN: In 2007, the finest street course ever drawn up in North America was erected in the old downtown section for Champ Car’s season opener. It had fast corners, a tunnel like Monaco, a jump, a long straightaway and a couple braking zones. The mayor was gung ho but nobody else in Vegas embraced the idea. Oh yeah and it was held on Easter Sunday. There were less than 8,000 grandstand seats and they might have been half full to watch Power’s impressive win. The promoters lost millions and canceled an encore performance in Phoenix.
So that brings us to this weekend, where INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard is not only bucking history, but renting LVMS from Smith and promoting the race himself.
“I was more comfortable going with a market I knew,’’ said Bernard, who made lots of friends in Vegas with his week-long winner at the Tomas & Mack Arena for the Pro Bull Riders’ circuit from 1994 to the present.
“And I wanted us to have a vacation destination with the proper backdrop for a great race. So this is either going to be my strength or my demise.”
But the man who has nearly brought INDYCAR’s bottom line to the break even point in less than two years has worked hard to make sure he doesn’t suffer the same fate as past promoters.
Sure, he gave away 50,000 tickets to any fans supporting other races during this season, but Bernard secured plenty of financial support for his budget. Honda is the presenting sponsor and he also got associates from Verizon, Fuzzy’s Vodka, APEX, the Las Vegas Visitors & Convention and MGM Grand Resorts.
And he got The Strip to close for 10 minutes on Thursday night so all 34 cars entered in Sunday’s race could road down Las Vegas Blvd. between the Tropicana and Flamingo.
“Our sponsors stepped up big time as did Las Vegas and we’ve sold almost all of the 121 suites,” he continued. “MGM has 14 properties and offered good deals on rooms plus throwing in two free tickets.
“Of course we’re not depending on ticket sales and I think we’re going to come in right on budget.”
Bernard’s original idea to help draw a crowd was offering $5 million to any non-Indy driver who could win Sunday’s race. Kasey Kahne and Alex Zanardi were interested but only if Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi provided cars, which didn’t happen since they’re battling for the title again. X Games hero Travis Pastrana also had interest before breaking his foot.
So now Dan Wheldon and a fan could split $5 million if the two-time Indy 500 winner can come from last to first on Sunday afternoon.
Bernard still wants to run a Friday road race around a casino followed by a Sunday show at LVMS but thinks that probably couldn’t be feasible until 2013 or 2014.
His immediate goal is to get a decent crowd and TV rating on ABC while going up against the National Football League in a city that traditionally only supports NASCAR.
“I’d love to see 60,000 but I guess I’d be happy with 40,000,” he admitted.
With oval tracks vanishing from the schedule because no promoters want to take the risk, Bernard was asked if Vegas and self-promoting was a template for the future?
“I want to see what happens, what worked, what didn’t and then re-evaluate,” he replied. “I think the city wants us to be successful and I guess we’ll know by Sunday night.”
Robin Miller brings 40 years of experience to his role as SPEED.com's senior open-wheel reporter, and serves as a frequent contributor to SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain.
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