Grand Prix of Cleveland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Grand Prix of Cleveland is an event of the Champ Car World Series, held annually at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio. The 2006 race, held on June 25, marked the 25th anniversary of the event.

Normally a fully-functioning airport year-round, Burke Lakefront is 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. Even so, drivers regularly note the race is one of the toughest to drive in the Champ Car series as the track, designed for aircraft and not lightweight race cars, makes for a bumpy ride where grip is paramount.

No other active airport in the United States hosts such an event, making the Grand Prix of Cleveland unique in all forms of American motorsport.

1 History
2 Past winners
3 2006: 25th anniversary
4 External links

[edit] History

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 driver Bobby Rahal (from nearby Medina) won the race.

From 1982-1989, the race was held on a 2.48-mile layout. In 1990, the track configuration was abruptly changed. After practice and qualifying, several cars were experiencing problems in a bumpy section after 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.

The event's name has changed several times over the years to reflect naming rights sponsors of the race, however from 1984 the event has been principally known as the Cleveland Grand Prix. The name was switched around in 1992 to Grand Prix of Cleveland and has remained the same since.

Budweiser retained naming rights through 1994. Cleveland-based pharmacy chain Medic Drug owned the rights from 1995 to 1999, Marconi (now Telent plc) from 2000 to 2002, and US Bank has owned them since 2003. The full name of the 2006 event is Grand Prix of Cleveland presented by US Bank.

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 configuation approximately 1.2 miles in length. A three-year initial contract was signed. Weeks later, however, it was determined that construction necessary for the oval configuration would require FAA approval, and the improvements the city deemed excessive and not enhancing to the airport. On September 9, 1999, Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White announced he was withdrawing his support of the event. In 2000, the race returned as a Champ Car event on the original course.

2005 marked the very first year for the Face of Champ Car competition and Sarah Blanton was chosen as the very first Miss Grand Prix of Cleveland. Sarah went to Mexico city to compete against 5 other finalist for the title of Face of Champ Car for 2006.

Skylar Starks is Miss Cleveland Grand Prix 2006. She is the first African American in the world to win this title.

[edit] Past winners

Season	Race Winner	Winning chassis	Winning engine	Pole Winner
1982	Bobby Rahal	March	Cosworth	Kevin Cogan
1983	Al Unser	Penske	Cosworth	Mario Andretti
1984	Danny Sullivan	Lola	Cosworth	Mario Andretti
1985	Al Unser, Jr.	Lola	Cosworth	Bobby Rahal
1986	Danny Sullivan	March	Cosworth	Danny Sullivan
1987	Emerson Fittipaldi	March	Chevrolet-Ilmor	Roberto Guerrero
1988	Mario Andretti	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	Danny Sullivan
1989	Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske	Chevrolet-Ilmor	Michael Andretti
1990	Danny Sullivan	Penske	Chevrolet-Ilmor	Rick Mears
1991	Michael Andretti	Lola	Chevrolet-Ilmor	Emerson Fittipaldi
1992	Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske	Chevrolet-Ilmor	Emerson Fittipaldi
1993	Paul Tracy	Penske	Chevrolet-Ilmor	Paul Tracy
1994	Al Unser, Jr.	Penske	Ilmor	Al Unser, Jr.
1995	Jacques Villeneuve	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	Gil de Ferran
1996	Gil de Ferran	Reynard	Honda	Jimmy Vasser
1997	Alex Zanardi	Reynard	Honda	Alex Zanardi
1998	Alex Zanardi	Reynard	Honda	Jimmy Vasser
1999	Juan Montoya	Reynard	Honda	Juan Montoya
2000	Roberto Moreno	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	Roberto Moreno
2001	Dario Franchitti	Reynard	Honda	Mauricio Gugelmin
2002	Patrick Carpentier	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	Cristiano da Matta
2003	Sebastien Bourdais	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Sebastien Bourdais
2004	Sebastien Bourdais	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Paul Tracy
2005	Paul Tracy	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Paul Tracy
2006	A. J. Allmendinger	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	A.J. Allmendinger

[edit] 2006: 25th anniversary

The 25th running of the Grand Prix of Cleveland was held in June, 2006. As well as the Champ Car race, scheduled support events include 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.

[edit] External links

2007 Champ Car World Series
Newman/Haas	Forsythe	Minardi	Australia	PKV	RSPORTS	Coyne	Conquest	PCM
1 Bourdais 2 Rahal	3 Tracy 7 Dominguez	4 Clarke 14 Doornbos	5 Power 15 Pagenaud	6 Gommendy 21 Jani	8 Tagliani 9 Wilson	11 TBA 19 TBA	27 TBA	28 Dalziel 29 Figge
Las Vegas - Long Beach - Houston - Portland - Cleveland - Mont-Tremblant - Toronto - Edmonton - San Jose - Road America - Assen - Zolder - Surfers Paradise - Zhuhai - Mexico City - Phoenix