Grand Prix of Cleveland

Indy car event in the CART series
the tennis tournament

The Grand Prix of Cleveland was an Indy car event in the CART series, held annually at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The race was most recently held in 2007. After the 2008 open wheel unification, the 2008 race was cancelled. Attempts to revive the race have not yet come to fruition. 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. The race was very popular amongst fans, as the long, wide, runways (much wider and longer than typical courses) allowed for side by side racing, fast speeds, and superb passing zones around the entire track. The layout and overall flatness of the circuit also allowed a view of nearly the entire course from the grandstands. The track was less popular with drivers, as the runways were much bumpier than normal asphalt courses. The first turn, in which the runway narrowed and the cars turned at an almost 45 degree angle at the end of the front straight, was seen as one of the toughest in the circuit.

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. 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. Twice, in 1984 and 1990, a round of IROC was held as a support race. Formula Lightning also participated as a support race in the mid 1990s. In 2007, it was announced the race would continue at Cleveland through to 2012. However, the race did not return in 2008 with the merger between the Champ Car and IndyCar.

The event's name has changed several times over the years to reflect naming rights sponsors of the race. However, from 1984, the event's generic name was the Cleveland Grand Prix. The name was switched around in 1992 to the Grand Prix of Cleveland, and the race retained this name until its cancellation. Budweiser held naming rights through 1994. Cleveland based pharmacy chain Medic Drug owned the rights from 1995 to 1999, and Marconi (now Telent plc) from 2000 to 2002. Presenting sponsors included Cleveland based convenience store chain Dairy Mart from 1993 to 1995, Cincinnati based Star Bank in 1998, and Star Bank's successor Firstar from 1999 to 2001. Minneapolis based U. S. Bank, the successor of Firstar, held the presenting sponsorship from 2002 to 2006, with LaSalle Bank being the final presenting sponsor in 2007.

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.

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. 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.

The all time outright unofficial track record on the original circuit layout is 1:04.636 seconds, set by Mario Andretti in a Lola T89/00, during qualifying for the 1989 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland. The outright track record on the later modified Grand Prix Circuit layout is 56.417 seconds, set by Jimmy Vasser in a Reynard 98I, during qualifying for the 1998 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland. The official race lap records at the Grand Prix of Cleveland are listed as:

CategoryTimeDriverVehicleDate Modified Grand Prix Circuit: 3.389 km (1990–2007) Champ Car 0:57.508 Nelson Philippe Lola B02/00 2006 Grand Prix of Cleveland CART 0:58.473 Paul Tracy Lola B02/00 2002 Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Formula Atlantic 1:04.255 Andreas Wirth Swift 016. a 2006 Cleveland Formula Atlantic round Indy Lights 1:05.720 Sergio Paese Lola T97/20 1998 Cleveland Indy Lights round Trans Am 1:13.475 Scott Pruett Jaguar XKR 2003 Cleveland Trans Am round Formula BMW 1:16.483 Tommy Milner Mygale FB02 2004 Cleveland Formula BMW USA round Original Grand Prix Circuit: 3.999 km (1982–1989) Emerson Fittipaldi March 87C 1987 Budweiser Grand Prix of Cleveland Indy Lights 1:13.902 Didier Theys Wildcat Buick 1987 Cleveland Indy Lights round Trans Am 1:20.217 Scott Pruett Merkur XR4Ti 1988 Cleveland Trans Am round

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

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