Cleveland Grand Prix to return?

[zeitgeist57]

I did a summer internship in 1999 for IMG, which helped run this event in the past. Would be cool to see it come back as a shot in the arm not just for the region but for Indy racing...

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/06/indy-cleveland-airport-return-report/

[Versluis]

That would be pretty cool. Not familiar with the airport but with it being on the water it could give a pretty cool setting.

[zeitgeist57]

It was a great venue. Google "Burke Lakefront Airport" or even the old "Cleveland Grand Prix" to see how the track was laid out. What was awesome is that aside from the barriers, many of the grandstand seats gave an awesome view of most of the race.

 

I did ticket sales (mind you, this was pre-internet ) so I manned a phone and used a DOS-based software program to select seats for individuals as well as corporate viewers. It was very cool interacting with some of the global race teams as well as sponsors; while politics make everything interesting on a grand scale, I certainly interacted with great corporate/hospitality contacts.

 

Anyway, CR should be interested because if you haven't made it to Mid-Ohio, Indy or COTA in Texas, this would be a great and relatively local race venue to check out.

[Geeto67]

When I was a kid Burke Lakefront was a welcome oasis on our yearly family pilgrimage to Oshkosh for Airventure. Mostly because by the time we got there we all had to pee and were starving, but it was also the last big jump before the hop going over the great lakes in a single engined 1963 Mooney M20C. For some reason I think my father took us all to a race at BKL once too in the late 80's - I think it was champ/Indy but I might be mixing up memories with a trip to Watkins Glen for Formula 1.

 

Either way, I am all for more racing in Ohio and BKL can use all the revenue it can get to keep operating so it's a win for everyone.

 

On a not very serious note though - does anybody still follow champ/Indy car outside of the Indy 500? I haven't run into someone that claimed to know what was happening in the series in a long time. I know it must have fans because the grandstands are full but how big is the fan base lately? I tuned out during the whole IRL vs CART thing in the 90's and haven't looked back. Even now if you asked me about it I would probably ask "is Al Unser Jr still involved?"

[Versluis]

When I was a kid Burke Lakefront was a welcome oasis on our yearly family pilgrimage to Oshkosh for Airventure. Mostly because by the time we got there we all had to pee and were starving, but it was also the last big jump before the hop going over the great lakes in a single engined 1963 Mooney M20C. For some reason I think my father took us all to a race at BKL once too in the late 80's - I think it was champ/Indy but I might be mixing up memories with a trip to Watkins Glen for Formula 1.

 

Either way, I am all for more racing in Ohio and BKL can use all the revenue it can get to keep operating so it's a win for everyone.

 

On a not very serious note though - does anybody still follow champ/Indy car outside of the Indy 500? I haven't run into someone that claimed to know what was happening in the series in a long time. I know it must have fans because the grandstands are full but how big is the fan base lately? I tuned out during the whole IRL vs CART thing in the 90's and haven't looked back. Even now if you asked me about it I would probably ask "is Al Unser Jr still involved?"

 

I use to love IndyCar, but then found F1. I feel like IndyCar has taken a step back and their new aero kits are ridiculous. It seems the fan base is not as large as it use to be, but seems to still be a decent following. I would love to see more manufactures involved in Indycar and some new tracks that they do not go to currently. The oval racing is not interesting unless it is the 500, but that is my opinion.

 

Now that I watch F1 and then see IndyCar, F1 just seems way more interesting, faster, better tracks and better cars.