Las Vegas Road Race Considered
Champ Car could hold a street race in Las Vegas in the future, according to series vice president Joe Chrnelich, who confirmed they are still researching the viability of holding an event on the famous Strip
It is more likely that the event would happen in 2007 rather than being added to next season calendar, however, because the series are still convincing casino owners that their business won't suffer as a result.
The Championship currently holds an oval race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway but did investigate holding a race in front of the Mandalay Hotel and Casino in 2004.
"We don't have anything definitive nailed down," Chrnelich told the Las Vegas Sun. "We've got a lot of work to do on that yet. At the moment, it's probably lower odds for 2006 as opposed to '07, but we haven't shut the door on 2006.
"The single largest issue is the casinos. How do you logistically ensure you don't somehow negatively impact the business of the casino, because any minute any customer is not in there playing is money lost? We have to demonstrate that we can bring in even more people as opposed to somehow prohibiting people from getting in or making it tougher.
"We have to figure out a way to help the city," Chrnelich added. "We'd ask them to invest in it as they would any street improvements but we have to find a way where they can make their money back. So, we're working on different formulas along that line, which is a partnership approach."
The series currently has a date scheduled next season for the city's oval, and it is not decided whether a street race would run in addition to the oval one, or would replace it altogether.
"We keep looking at it, to see how might it work," Chrnelich said. "And, secondly, what time of year would it be. Do we run it in combination with the oval? All those options are still on the table but clearly we're nowhere near a point where we say, 'yeah, we have a serious opportunity to do it right now.'"
The Formula One US Grand Prix was held without great success in the car park of Caesar's Palace casino in 1981 and 1982.
Rating the best drivers of the century so far
Autosport's Top 50 feature has been a staple of the magazine for the past two decades since its first appearance in 2002. Here are the drivers that have featured most prevalently during that time
The best motorsport moments of 2021
Motorsport produced one of its greatest years of all-time in 2021 despite a backdrop of ongoing COVID-19 challenges and an ever-changing racing landscape. Through the non-stop action Autosport has collected the finest moments from the past 12 months to highlight the incredible drama and joy motorsport generates
The racing comeback artists who resurrected long-dormant careers
Making it in motorsport can be tough, and sometimes drivers move elsewhere before their best chance arrives. Here are some of those who made it back
The hidden racing gem attracting ex-F1 heroes
It’s rarely mentioned when it comes to assessing the best national contests, but the Brazilian Stock Car series that reaches its climax this weekend has an ever-growing appeal. Its expanding roster of ex-Formula 1 names has helped to draw in new fans, but it's the closeness of competition that keeps them watching
The one-time Schumacher rival rebooting his career Down Under
Joey Mawson made waves in the middle of the last decade, beating future Haas Formula 1 driver Mick Schumacher - among other highly-rated talents - to the 2016 German F4 title. A run in F1's feeder GP3 category only caused his career to stall, but now back in Australia Mawson's S5000 title success has set that to rights
The lesson football’s would-be wreckers could learn from racing
OPINION: The greed-driven push for a European Super League that threatened to tear football apart is collapsing at the seams. Motor racing's equivalent, the football-themed Superleague Formula series of 2008-11, was everything that the proposed ESL never could be
The F1 and Indy 'nearly man' that found contentment in Japan
Having had the door to F1 slammed in his face and come within three laps of winning the Indianapolis 500, the collapse of a Peugeot LMP1 shot meant Japan was Bertrand Baguette's last chance of a career. But it's one which he has grasped with both hands
The female all-rounder who arrived "too early"
From Formula 3 to truck racing, Dakar and EuroNASCAR via a winning stint in the DTM, there's not much Ellen Lohr hasn't seen in a stellar racing career that highlights the merit in being a generalist. But she believes her career came too early...