Indycar racing returning to Belle Isle!

[Whitehouse]

http://jalopnik.com/5849030/indycar-...its-belle-isle

There's more Chevy news today coming out of the big GM backgrounder in Detroit. The bowtie-badged brand today announced a multi-year agreement with Penske and IndyCar to bring professional motorsports back to the Motor City for the first time in four years.
The first Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix will be held June 1-3, 2012 at the 2.1-mile Raceway at Belle Isle Park road course.

It'll be one of four races to be held during the weekend. In addition, there'll also be:

· The Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Challenge where Chevrolet Daytona Prototypes and Camaros will compete in the first GRAND-AM Rolex Series race held on Belle Isle

· The Cadillac V-Series Challenge at Belle Isle, where Cadillac CTS-Vs will compete in the second Pirelli World Challenge series race held on Belle Isle

· The Firestone Indy Light Series race, featuring the rising stars of open-wheel racing

That'll bring some life to the city!


Someone inhere should keep an eye out on the developments around the circuit.

Wiki Detroit Indy Grand Prix.

[stromberg2]

I hope that other manufacturers participate and not just GM.

Stromberg2

[Detroitej72]

I'm glad they scrapped the Labor Day date and moved it back to the beginning of June.

[EastsideAl]

Good. Glad to have it off the Labor Day weekend too. And It'll be nice to finally have some actual use for all of that butt-ugly concrete they poured all over our park. If this thing fails again [[and I'm not necessarily wishing for that...) I hope Penske, GM & their friends at least have the courtesy to chip all that stuff up and get it the hell out of there this time.

[BagAJellyDonuts]

Good. Glad to have it off the Labor Day weekend too. And It'll be nice to finally have some actual use for all of that butt-ugly concrete they poured all over our park. If this thing fails again [[and I'm not necessarily wishing for that...) I hope Penske, GM & their friends at least have the courtesy to chip all that stuff up and get it the hell out of there this time.

Well at least that butt ugly concrete makes it that much easier when the "concerned" visitors dump their garbage all over the island.

[Downriviera]

This sure puts a damper on all the excitement of Indy Car coming back to Detroit. One of the most horrific crashes I've ever seen. Thoughts and prayers to his wife and kids.

[lilpup]

yet the possibility of such a wreck is one of the primary factors in drawing fans and viewership to high speed track racing - go figure

[EastsideAl]

A wreck of the kind that killed Dan Wheldon would basically be impossible on Belle Isle, where average speeds for even the fastest laps are barely over 100mph. Not to say someone couldn't get hurt, or even killed, since racing is and inherently risky activity, but it is significantly less likely. And the kind of holocaust we saw yesterday on the banked high-speed oval in Las Vegas simply could not occur here.

You should also keep in mind that, despite yesterday's tragedy, racing deaths are comparatively rare these days. Wheldon's was the first death in an actual Indy Car race since 1999. Many drivers had reservations about racing on that track again [[it hadn't been used for Indy Cars since I believe 2000) and it turned out, sadly, that they were right.

[Whitehouse]

Berny Ecclestone is over 80 and perhaps his marbles start to run amock in his brain. But come on, next year in Texas on a brand spanking new circuit the Formula One is returning to the US of A.


And now this news.... New Jersey in 2013???!!

[canuck]

Izzaboud time da Formula One ding gets its nuts ovah here in Joysey. Baddabing.

[PeachLaser]

Wish the American Le Mans Series would be there! Hope they return in 2013.