Detroit Grand Prix: A quick history from F1 to Belle Isle to downtown
Downtown racing may feel like a new phenomenon for many Detroiters, but the history of the Detroit Grand Prix actually stretches back decades.
If you want to get really historical, open-wheel racing in metro Detroit actually stretches back a century, back when Grosse Pointe hosted a non-championship event on Aug. 8, 1905. The winner of that race, by the way, was Jay Webb, who was born (1870) when there were only 37 states in the United States.
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But that's ancient history — let's fast-forward a bit.
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The modern edition of the Detroit Grand Prix started in 1982 and has had a bit of a bumpy existence (almost as bumpy as the downtown track itself). With a handful of starts and stops, open-wheel racing in Detroit could have ended as the result of many different events in the city's history.
But 43 years after the first downtown race, the Grand Prix is back as a fixture on the IndyCar calendar.
Here's a quick history of the many faces of the Detroit Grand Prix:
1982-88: The Formula 1 era
Believe it or not, the Detroit Grand Prix started out as an Formula 1 race, not an IndyCar race, in downtown Detroit.
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It was also arguably the least popular race on the F1 schedule at the time.
The 1982 Detroit Grand Prix, on a course that included Beaubien, Congress and Larned streets in addition to Jefferson and Atwater along the river, was marred by scheduling issues, rain during the qualifiers and crashes during the main event, partially caused by a bumpy track (a recurring theme for the downtown course).
The bumpy track, June heat and safety issues caused F1's governing body (FISA) to bow out of Detroit after the 1988 race, leaving the U.S. without an F1 race for the first time in 30 years.
It wouldn't take long for open-wheel racing to return to the city, however.
1989-2001: CART and move to Belle Isle
Walker Racing Team's driver Gil De Ferran, signs Wayne Ramocan's, 13, of Detroit, shirt of the Detroit Area Pre-college Engineering Programs summer PVP program, at the Grand Prix on Belle Isle, on August 5, 1999. The Paper Vehicle Program, is geared at introducing kids to the field of engineering.
Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), a predecessor (and eventual competitor) to IndyCar founded in 1979, brought a race back to downtown Detroit in 1989 and moved it to Belle Isle in 1992. Belle Isle hosted the race under CART until 2001, two years before the circuit folded.
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The Belle Isle race provided some advantages to drivers (like a less bumpy ride) and some disadvantages for organizers and fans, who now had to make their way to an island to watch the event instead of landing downtown.
The Belle Isle track lay dormant to open-wheel's biggest circuit as the sport reorganized itself in the early 2000s, but the Grand Prix returned to the island a few years later.
2007-19: Return to Belle Isle and doubleheader era
IMSA Sports Car Classic competitors drive by James Scott fountain during the Detroit Grand Prix on Saturday June 1, 2019, on Belle Isle.
IndyCar, the biggest current American open-wheel circuit, came back to Belle Isle in 2007 to a big crowd but shut down from 2009-2011 due to the recession and its economic impacts on Detroit.
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When the race returned to Belle Isle in 2012, IndyCar turned the Detroit Grand Prix into a doubleheader, for a while the only doubleheader on the circuit's schedule. That meant drivers had back-to-back races during race weekend, often driving in three races during a seven-day span with the Indianapolis 500 usually scheduled for the weekend before the Detroit Grand Prix.
The Grand Prix on Belle Isle had another pause in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic but returned to its doubleheader schedule in 2021. IndyCar returned in 2022 but dialed it back, turning the Grand Prix into a single race for its final event on Belle Isle.
2023-present: Return downtown
Alex Palou (10) drives on the Detroit Grand Prix race track during the NTT IndyCar Series qualifying in downtown Detroit on Saturday, June 3, 2023. Palou won his second consecutive NTT P1 Award.
After 32 years of pauses and Belle Isle races, the Grand Prix returned downtown with mixed results in 2023. Heat and a modest turnout for the refreshed event gave it a slightly muted feel for some, but organizers have been building up the event over the past two years to turn it into a staple of the IndyCar season.
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Though the downtown course retains its trademark bumpiness (making it once again one of the most challenging races for many IndyCar drivers), the race weekend has turned into one of Detroit's can't-miss annual sporting events and (for many) the unofficial start to summer in the city.
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Grand Prix: Quick history from F1 to Belle Isle to Downtown
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