labor day weekend – Adam's Auto Advice

Andretti Claims the Baltimore Grand Prix could be “The premier street event in the world”

Baltimore city's Board of Estimates last week officially confirmed that Michael Andretti and Andretti Sports Marketing along with Race On will be organizing the 2012 Baltimore Grand Prix, making many IndyCar and American Le Mans racing fans happy.

In a press event that officially made Mr. Andretti and his company the organizers of the 2012 Baltimore Grand Prix, which takes place on the streets of Baltimore, he commented that the race has the potential to be the “premier street event in the world.” Whether the Labor Day weekend race will actually live up to that expectation will require a lot of planning on Andretti's part.

According to the Baltimore Business Journal Andretti Sports Marketing is trying to pull this race together as quickly as possible with only a few months to go. Tickets are set to go on sale in a week on May 28th, 2012. They will be available on Ticketmaster and a new website the company has setup to sell tickets and provide information about the event.

They have also taken steps to setup a Facebook page and Twitter feed to keep fans informed and connected with the 2012 Baltimore Grand Prix.

The previous organizers of the Baltimore Grand Prix, Downforce Racing, did not even manage to sell tickets or find vendors to put up seating. The company that put on the race in 2011, Baltimore Racing Development, went bankrupt and was not able to pay the city and state taxes and fees. So both racing companies contracts were canceled for these reasons.

This left the door open for Andretti and Race On to step in. Race on is a local company that is partnering with Andretti Sports Marketing to run the race. The people involved with Race on are Gregory O'Neil and JP grant, who plan to operate the race for the next five years. (That is if Race On and Andretti Sports Marketing successfully puts on the 2012 Baltimore Grand Prix.)

“This is a world class city,” said Grant when talking about Baltimore. “It deserves a world class event.”

Grant firmly believes that the 160,000 people who spurred $47 million in economic spending far outweighed the city not making any money on the massive event last year. The city seems to feel the same way if they are prepared to sign a new contract and deal with the immense headaches of putting on a major street race again.

Other tasks that Andretti hopes to accomplish include finding a title sponsor for this year's race. Mr. Andretti is hopeful but not 100% certain they will able to locate and find a title sponsor this year, bu for 2013 they are very confident a title sponsorship is possible.

It seems the “Race is On” for Andretti Sports Marketing and Race On to get the race ready in time.

The Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix, a Successful Racing Weekend for Everyone

Baltimore had an amazing 3-day Labor Day weekend with the Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. It had everything you could ask for. huge crowds, good food, checkered flag-girls, tons of media, and a whole lot of fast cars.

In the Izod IndyCar series Will Powers won the Baltimore Grand Prix in a stunning victory. He came out early in the race commanding the track over his rivals and won with 10+ second lead. The win wasn't a complete surprise as he lead the pack during practices. Second place runner up was Oriol Servia, who felt his name helped him in the humble city of Baltimore (Oriol translates from Spanish meaning Oriole. Passing Camden Yards must have been good luck!) He came from a 14th place start. Third place runner up was Tony Kanaan, who rallied from a 27th place start and recovered from an interesting accident where he flew over Helio Castroneves during the warmup session.

In the American Le Mans series Guy Smith won the in LMP1 class, Kyle Marcelli in LMPC, Wolf Henzler in GT. An accident where he lost one of his tires during a qualifying lap could not keep Jeroen Bleekemolen from winning in the GTC class. Amazingly he jumped out of his car grabbed the tire put it into his car and drove into the pits to get it installed. Luckily nobody was injured and nor was Jeroen's Porsche 911 GT3 racing car. A great win for Jeroen!

It's clear this was a great event for Baltimore. “We've set the stage to make this a staple event for Baltimore and the region…We had 160,000 fans over the 3 days.” commented Jay Davidson president of Baltimore Racing Development, the private company that oversaw the planning for the Baltimore Grand Prix. “Baltimore has a successful event to build upon for next year and for years to come.” exclaimed Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, The Mayor of Baltimore. Scott Artherton president of the American Le Mans series added, “For a first time event. Honestly it could not have gone better.”

Many drivers commented on how great the weekend went. Will Powers winner of the Baltimore Grand Prix noted, “That was the best podium ceremony of my career!” Other drivers lauded the event as well. “I couldn't believe the incredible number of fans who came out all three days. Street courses are always a good way to draw a good crowd, and the way the circuit was laid out… reminded me of the huge events we've had at places like Surfers Paradise, Long Beach, and Toronto… I know we as drivers loved racing in Baltimore.” said Helio Castroneves on ESPN.com. Tony Kanaan, third place runner up, “It's a beautiful track, bumpy and interesting.” Oriol Servia “This track is a challenge for both drivers and engineers… I think it is fun.” Scott Artherton on all the positive feedback from drivers, “Race car drivers are the first ones to offer up an opinion. Normally it is not constructive and normally it is not good.”

Fans were extremely pleased with the event as well. “It's awesome. I go to a lot of these races, Long Beach, St Petersburg, Indianapolis. Top-notch street course for sure!” said Peter Romero, an Albuquerque Lawyer and immense race fan. “This could be the second crown jewel in the IndyCar circuit…This venue is nicer than Long Beach. It's crazy! It's a perfect storm for a street course.” referring to all the hotels and accommodations located around the track. Many other fans and spectators were equally pleased and enthusiastic about the weekend.

Even with all the delays on getting the track open on Friday for practices, issues seemed to get resolved for the rest of the weekend. “It's part of the growing pains of dealing with a new track and new race.” said an Andretti Autosport team member whom I spoke with about the delays. The general confusion among the staff seemed to be resolved as the weekend went on as well. Everything was smoothed out by Sunday.

This was the first big racing event for the Mid-Atlantic region since Washington DC had a Grand Prix race in 2002. IndyCar and American Le Mans feel this is a market that needed to be tapped and judging from the crowds, they could not have been more right. It was truly amazing the sheer number of people all weekend.. The energy was sky-high everywhere. The event was blessed with great weather, as it came after Hurricane Irene and before an immense amount of rain in Baltimore the following week. The fans, drivers, media, and policy makers of Baltimore have spoken and many hope racing will be here for a long time to come.

Win Baltimore Grand Prix Tickets

Do you want to go to the Baltimore Grand Prix? Well you are in luck! Mr. Tire is giving away 250 pairs of tickets to the 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix for Friday September 2nd. All you need to do is fill out and submit your information on the online entry form. Then you could win tickets to the event. You better hurry to enter as the sweepstakes ends August 22nd, 2011.

There is a catch. You can enter if you reside in Delaware, Washington DC, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia. If you live in other states… sorry you are not eligible. I assume most people within the specified entry states are most likely the majority of people who would be attending the Baltimore Grand Prix anyway.

The winners will be notified by email on August 24th. So don't make any plans for Labor day weekend if you enter. Remember this is big event for Baltimore. If you win some tickets I hope to see you there!

To enter visit: http://www.mrtire.com/grandprix/