Grand Prix of Cleveland

Grand Prix of Cleveland
IndyCar/CART/Champ Car
Location Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
41°31′2″N 81°40′59″W / 41.51722°N 81.68306°W / 41.51722; -81.68306Coordinates: 41°31′2″N 81°40′59″W / 41.51722°N 81.68306°W / 41.51722; -81.68306
First race 1982
Last race 2007
Most wins (driver) Danny Sullivan (3)
Emerson Fittipaldi (3)
Paul Tracy (3)
Most wins (team) Penske Racing (6)
Most wins (manufacturer) Lola (8)
Reynard (8)
Circuit information
Surface Concrete
Length 2.106 mi (3.389 km)
Turns 10

The Grand Prix of Cleveland was an Indy car event in the CART series, held annually at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio. The race celebrated its milestone 25th anniversary in 2006. The race was most recently held in 2007. After the 2008 open wheel unification, the 2008 race had to be cancelled. Attempts to revive the race have not yet come to fruition.[1][2][3]

Normally a fully functioning airport year-round, Burke Lakefront Airport was shut down for the week leading up to the event each year, requiring careful maintenance of the runways in order to keep them safe for cars at high speeds. Even so, drivers regularly note the race was one of the toughest to drive in the Champ Car series as the track, designed for aircraft and not lightweight race cars, makes for a bumpy ride where grip is paramount. The first turn was often the trickiest and most accident prone parts of the race. Many drivers have been eliminated from the race due to this turn.

Throughout its history, the race was very popular amongst fans, as the long, wide, runways (much wider and longer than typical natural road courses and other temporary circuits) allowed for side-by-side racing, fast speeds, and superb passing zones. The layout and overall flatness of the circuit also allowed a view of nearly the entire course from the grandstands.

No other active airport in the United States hosted such an event at the time, which made the Grand Prix of Cleveland unique in all forms of American motorsport.

History as a CART/ChampCar race

Originally known as the Budweiser Cleveland 500, it was first held on July 4, 1982 as part of the CART series. Kevin Cogan started from pole position, however to the delight of the Cleveland crowd, local rookie driver Bobby Rahal (from nearby Medina) won the race.

From 1982 to 1989, the race was held on a 2.48-mile layout.[4] In 1990, the track configuration was abruptly changed. After practice, several cars were experiencing problems in a bumpy section in turns one and two. Prior to the start of the race, the track was slightly reconfigured, eliminating the left-right combination of turns one and two. The main straight was extended towards the location of what was turn three, which then became turn one. The new layout measured 2.369 miles, and the segment eliminated became instead an extended exit to the pit road. The new layout was then adopted permanently. In 1997 the track length was remeasured to 2.106 miles without visible changes on the layout. The current layout is known for its turn 1 "vortex" at the start of races - after the green flag dropped, drivers would fan out on the wide concrete to gain position and then arrive at the corner sometimes five or six cars abreast, and all at once be "sucked" into the apex of the corner, frequently resulting in multi-car crashes at or just past the corner and leading to cars retiring before completing a single lap of the race.

The event's name has changed several times over the years to reflect naming rights sponsors of the race, however from 1984 the event has been principally known as the Cleveland Grand Prix. The name was switched around in 1992 to Grand Prix of Cleveland and has remained the same since.

In 1990, a round of IROC XIV was held as a support race, won by Martin Brundle. Formula Lightning also participated as a support race in the mid-1990s.

Budweiser retained naming rights through 1994. Cleveland-based pharmacy chain Medic Drug owned the rights from 1995 to 1999, Marconi (now Telent plc) from 2000 to 2002, and US Bank owned them from 2003 to 2007. The full name of the 2006 event was Grand Prix of Cleveland presented by US Bank.

In 2007, it was announced the race would continue at Cleveland through to 2012.[5] However, the race did not return in 2008 with the merger between the Champ Car and IndyCar.

2006: 25th anniversary

The 25th running of the Grand Prix of Cleveland was held in June 2006. As well as the Champ Car race, scheduled support events included Champ Car Atlantic, Formula Ford 2000 and Touring Challenge for Corvettes. It was commemorated by a painting of memorable grand prix events, with the background being every winning car entering the first turn.

Indy Racing League controversy

The Cleveland Grand Prix nearly went to the IRL in 2000, but the plan was eventually scuttled. CART officials elected to drop the race from the schedule after a dispute with the promoter over the sanctioning fee.[6]

On June 29, 1999, it was announced that the race would switch alliances and become an event on the Indy Racing League schedule for 2000. The original course layout would be transformed into an oval configuration approximately 1.2 miles in length. A three-year initial contract was signed. The decision was not well received by fans. Weeks later, however, it was determined that construction necessary for the oval configuration would require FAA approval, and the city deemed the improvements excessive and not enhancing to the airport. On September 9, 1999, Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White announced he was withdrawing his support of the project, and the IRL dropped the event. In 2000, the race returned as a Champ Car event on the original course.

Past race winners

Season Race Winner Winning Car Winning Team Report
1982 United States Bobby Rahal March-Ford-Cosworth TrueSports Report
1983 United States Al Unser Penske-Ford-Cosworth Penske Racing Report
1984 United States Danny Sullivan Lola-Ford-Cosworth Doug Shierson Racing Report
1985 United States Al Unser, Jr. Lola-Ford-Cosworth Doug Shierson Racing Report
1986 United States Danny Sullivan March-Ford-Cosworth Penske Racing Report
1987 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi March-Chevrolet-Ilmor Patrick Racing Report
1988 United States Mario Andretti Lola-Chevrolet-Ilmor Newman/Haas Racing Report
1989 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Penske-Chevrolet-Ilmor Patrick Racing Report
1990 United States Danny Sullivan Penske-Chevrolet-Ilmor Penske Racing Report
1991 United States Michael Andretti Lola-Chevrolet-Ilmor Newman/Haas Racing Report
1992 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Penske-Chevrolet-Ilmor Penske Racing Report
1993 Canada Paul Tracy Penske-Chevrolet-Ilmor Penske Racing Report
1994 United States Al Unser, Jr. Penske-Ilmor Penske Racing Report
1995 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Reynard-Ford-Cosworth Team Green Report
1996 Brazil Gil de Ferran Reynard-Honda Jim Hall Racing Report
1997 Italy Alex Zanardi Reynard-Honda Chip Ganassi Racing Report
1998 Italy Alex Zanardi Reynard-Honda Chip Ganassi Racing Report
1999 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Reynard-Honda Chip Ganassi Racing Report
2000 Brazil Roberto Moreno Reynard-Ford-Cosworth Patrick Racing Report
2001 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti Reynard-Honda Team KOOL Green Report
2002 Canada Patrick Carpentier Reynard-Ford-Cosworth Team Player's Report
2003 France Sébastien Bourdais Lola-Ford-Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing Report
2004 France Sébastien Bourdais Lola-Ford-Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing Report
2005 Canada Paul Tracy Lola-Ford-Cosworth Forsythe Championship Racing Report
2006 United States A. J. Allmendinger Lola-Ford-Cosworth Forsythe Racing Report
2007 Canada Paul Tracy Panoz-Cosworth Forsythe Racing Report

Broadcasting

Year Network Lap-by-lap Color commentator(s) Pit reporters
1982 ESPN Bob Jenkins Larry Nuber Gary Lee
1983 ESPN Bob Jenkins Larry Nuber Gary Lee
1984 ESPN Bob Jenkins Larry Nuber Gary Lee
1985 ESPN Bob Jenkins Larry Nuber Jack Arute
Gary Lee
1986 ESPN Bob Jenkins Larry Nuber Jack Arute
1987 ABC Al Trautwig Sam Posey
Bobby Unser
Jack Arute
1988 ESPN Bob Jenkins Johnny Rutherford Gary Lee
Larry Nuber
1989 ESPN Paul Page Johnny Rutherford Gary Gerould
Jack Arute
1990 ESPN Paul Page Derek Daly Gary Gerould
Lyn St. James
1991 ESPN Paul Page Derek Daly Gary Gerould
Jon Beekhuis
1992 ESPN Paul Page Derek Daly Gary Gerould
Jon Beekhuis
1993 ABC Paul Page Sam Posey
Bobby Unser
Jack Arute
Gary Gerould
1994 ABC Paul Page Sam Posey
Bobby Unser
Jack Arute
Gary Gerould
1995 ABC Paul Page Sam Posey
Lyn St. James
Jack Arute
Gary Gerould
1996 ABC Paul Page Danny Sullivan Jack Arute
Gary Gerould
1997 ABC Bob Varsha Danny Sullivan Gary Gerould
Jon Beekhuis
1998 ABC Bob Varsha Danny Sullivan
Tommy Kendall
Jack Arute
Gary Gerould
1999 ESPN Paul Page Parker Johnstone Jon Beekhuis
Rick DeBruhl
2000 ABC Paul Page Parker Johnstone Gary Gerould
Jon Beekhuis
2001 ABC Paul Page Parker Johnstone Gary Gerould
Jon Beekhuis
2002 CBS Bob Varsha Derek Daly Ralph Sheheen
Jon Beekhuis
2003 CBS Bob Varsha Tommy Kendall Derek Daly
Calvin Fish
2004 SpikeTV Rick Benjamin Tommy Kendall
Derek Daly
Jon Beekhuis
Calvin Fish
Bronte Tagliani
2005 CBS Rick Benjamin Derek Daly Ralph Sheheen
Jon Beekhuis
2006 CBS Rick Benjamin Derek Daly Jon Beekhuis
Cameron Steele
Michelle Beisner
2007 CBS Rick Benjamin Jon Beekhuis Bill Stephens
Cameron Steele

Lights/Atlantics winners

Season Series Race Winner
1987 American Racing Series Belgium Didier Theys
1988 American Racing Series Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio II
1990 American Racing Series Canada Paul Tracy
1991 Indy Lights United States Mark Smith
1992 Indy Lights France Franck Fréon
1993 Indy Lights United States Bryan Herta
1994 Indy Lights United States Eddie Lawson
1995 Indy Lights Canada Greg Moore
1996 Indy Lights Brazil Gualter Salles
1997 Atlantic Championship Canada Bertrand Godin
1998 Atlantic Championship Canada Kenny Wilden
1998 Indy Lights Brazil Luiz Garcia, Jr.
1999 Indy Lights Republic of Ireland Derek Higgins
2000 Atlantic Championship United States Buddy Rice
2001 Atlantic Championship Brazil Hoover Orsi
2002 Atlantic Championship United States Ryan Hunter-Reay
2003 Atlantic Championship United States A.J. Allmendinger
2004 Atlantic Championship United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel
2005 Atlantic Championship Netherlands Charles Zwolsman
Netherlands Charles Zwolsman
2006 Atlantic Championship United States Graham Rahal
United States Graham Rahal
2007 Atlantic Championship Brazil Raphael Matos

References

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