Grand Prix of Miami (Indycar)

The Grand Prix of Miami refers to an intermittent series of American open wheel races held in South Florida dating back to 1926. AAA held one board track race in 1926, and then the facility was destroyed by a hurricane. The popular CART IndyCar World Series debuted in the Miami area in the mid-1980s with a street circuit at Tamiami Park, then returned to race at Bicentennial Park in 1995.

From 1996-2009, Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the Indy cars on the 1.5 mile oval. The CART series participated from 1996-2000, then the event was switched to the Indy Racing League for 2001-2009.

An additional Champ Car race was held for a brief time at Bayfront Park from 2002-2003.

Fulford-Miami Speedway

In 1925, Carl Fisher (who built the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909) was developing Miami Beach and envisioned the Miami area as the winter auto racing capital of the world. Fisher built Fulford–Miami Speedway, the world's fastest 1-1/4 mile board track in nearby Fulford. The outstanding features of the track were the 50 degree banked turns, which required a speed of at least 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) to keep the cars from sliding down into the infield.

On February 22, 1926, the first Championship Car race in South Florida took place at the facility. A crowd of 20,000 spectators saw Peter DePaolo win the 300-mile (480-km) race, the first and only major race ever held at the speedway.^[1]

Later in the year, the track was destroyed in the hurricane of September 17, 1926. The site of the oval is now occupied by the Presidential Country Club.^{[citation needed]}

Tamiami Park

Modern American open wheel racing in the Miami area dates back to 1985. In that year, the CART series began racing on a temporary street circuit in Tamiami Park a small outdoor sports facility in the nearby suburb of University Park. The race lasted through 1988, and on two occasions (1987 and 1989) included the CART Marlboro Challenge all star race.

In each of the fourth years it was held, it served as the CART season finale. The inaugural event in 1985 featured a famous championship battle between the father-and-son duo of Al Unser, Sr. and Al Unser, Jr. With Danny Sullivan leading in the waning laps, Unser, Jr. was running third, and for the moment, mathematically was going to clinch the championship points title. His father Al Sr. was charging in 5th place, and needed to move up to 4th in order to clinch the title for himself and Penske Racing. Despite personal misgivings about potentially robbing his own son of a championship, Al Sr. passed 4th place Roberto Moreno with only a handful of laps remaining, and held on to the checkered flag. By finishing 4th, Unser, Sr. beat his son in the championship standings by one point.

Race winners

Season	Date	Race name	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team
1985	November 10	Beatrice Indy Challenge	Danny Sullivan	March	Cosworth	Penske Racing
1986	November 9	Nissan Indy Challenge	Al Unser, Jr.	Lola	Cosworth	Shierson Racing
1987	November 1	Nissan Indy Challenge	Michael Andretti	March	Cosworth	Kraco Racing
1988	November 6	Nissan Indy Challenge	Al Unser, Jr.	March	Chevrolet	Galles Racing

American Racing Series (Indy Lights) history

Season	Date	Winning Driver
1986	November 9	Fabrizio Barbazza
1987	November 1	Jeff Andretti
1988	November 6	Tommy Byrne

Bicentennial Park

In 1995, race promoter Ralph Sanchez brought open wheel racing back to Miami. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, Sanchez began redeveloping a devastated area of Homestead, Florida, into the Homestead Motorsports Complex. From 1983–1994, Sanchez had promoted very successful IMSA and Trans-Am races at Bayfront Park and Bicentennial Park along Biscayne Bay.

Sanchez revived the Bicentennial Park circuit for one season as a CART race, while Homestead was still under construction. The Bicentennial Park circuit was a semi-permanent circuit which featured purpose-built roads in the park area, along with a temporary segment taking it out on Biscayne Boulevard near the entrance to the Port of Miami.

For the 1995 event, the circuit was run in the opposite direction as it had previously been contested. This was to prevent drivers who had raced there in previous years from having an experience advantage. The race was won by Jacques Villeneuve, and was the 1995 CART season opener.

Less than three years after the CART race in 1995, the layout of the Bicentennial Park circuit was partially razed for construction of American Airlines Arena.

Race winners

Season	Date	Race name	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team
1995	March 5	Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami	Jacques Villeneuve	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	Team Green

Indy Lights

Season	Date	Winning Driver
1995	March 5	Greg Moore

Atlantic Championship

Season	Date	Winning Driver
1995	March 4	Patrick Carpentier

Homestead–Miami Speedway

Grand Prix of Miami (Indycar)

IndyCar Series
Venue	Homestead-Miami Speedway
First race	1996
First ICS race	2001
Last race	2010
Distance	300 miles (482.803 km)
Laps	200
Previous names	CART Champ Car Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota (1995–2000) IRL/IndyCar Infiniti Grand Prix of Miami presented by 123.com Americatel (2001) 20th Anniversary Miami Grand Prix (2002) Toyota Indy 300 (2003–2005) Toyota Indy 300 Presented by XM Satellite Radio (2006) XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 (2007) GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 (2008) Firestone Indy 300 (2009) Cafés do Brasil Indy 300 (2010)

The Homestead–Miami Indy 300 was an IndyCar race held at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida from 1996 to 2010.

In 1996, after construction was complete at Homestead Motorsports Complex, CART debuted at 1.5-mile oval with a 200-mile (320 km) event. At the time the layout was a flat, rectangular "mini-Indy" configuration. In 1997, the race was lengthened to 225 miles (362 km), and the configuration was reconstructed to be a traditional oval shape. For each of its years through 2000, the race served as the CART series season opener. CART also used the facility as their venue for "spring training" (off-season testing).

In 2001, the event switched to an IRL Indycar Series event. It was also lengthened to 300 miles (480 km). From 2002–2008, the race served as the IndyCar Series season opener. In 2007–2008, the race was held as a night race. After a schedule reorganization, the race was moved to become the season finale for 2009 and 2010 IndyCar Series season. The 2009 race went without a caution, and set a race record average speed of 201.420 mph. The 2010 race was the last IndyCar event at the track in the foreseeable future.

On March 26, 2006 driver Paul Dana suffered fatal injuries in the warmup session before the race when he was involved in a high-speed collision with Ed Carpenter at over 215 mph (346 km/h). The race went on as scheduled, but Dana's teammates withdrew from the race.

In 2007-2010, the IndyCar Series race was part of the Speed Jam, a twin-race combo weekend with the Rolex Sports Car Series.

Past winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
CART Champ Car history
1996	March 3	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	133	199.5 (321.064)	1:51:23	109.399	Report
1997	March 2	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Swift	Ford-Cosworth	147	220.5 (354.86)	1:38:45	135.478	Report
1998	March 15	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Swift	Ford-Cosworth	150	225 (362.102)	1:33:39	144.339	Report
1999	March 21	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Mercedes	150	225 (362.102)	1:38:54	136.671	Report
2000	March 26	Max Papis	Team Rahal	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	150	225 (362.102)	1:22:01	164.788	Report
IRL IndyCar Series history
2001	April 8	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	300 (482.803)	2:01:12	148.508	Report
2002	March 2	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	300 (482.803)	2:08:16	140.325	Report
2003	March 2	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	G-Force	Toyota	200	300 (482.803)	1:57:06	153.71	Report
2004	February 29	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	200	300 (482.803)	1:57:56	151.094	Report
2005	March 6	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	2:05:28	142.033	Report
2006	March 26	Dan Wheldon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:46:14	167.73	Report
2007	March 24	Dan Wheldon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:48:07	164.825	Report
2008	March 29	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:44:04	171.248	Report
2009	October 10	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:28:28	201.42	Report
2010	October 2	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	300 (482.803)	1:52:09	158.905	Report

Indy Lights Atlantic Championship Season Date Winning Driver Circuit 1996 March 3 David Empringham Oval 1997 March 2 David Empringham Oval 1998 March 15 Shigeaki Hattori Oval 1999 March 21 Mario Domínguez Oval 2000 – 2002 Not held 2003 March 2 Mark Taylor Oval 2004 February 29 Phil Giebler Oval 2005 March 6 Travis Gregg Oval 2006 March 26 Jeff Simmons Oval 2007 March 24 Alex Lloyd Oval 2008 March 29 Dillon Battistini Oval 2009 October 9 Mario Romancini Oval 2010 October 2 Brandon Wagner Oval Season Date Winning Driver Circuit 1996 March 3 Tony Ave 1.4-mile (2.3 km) infield road course 1997 March 1 Anthony Lazzaro Infield road course 1998 – 1999 Not held 2000 March 25 Dan Wheldon Infield road course March 26 Buddy Rice Bayfront Park Bayfront Park Location Miami, Florida, USA Opened 2002 Closed 2003 Length 1.15 mi (1.85 km) Turns 13 The CART series returned to the Miami area once again in 2002. The Grand Prix Americas was a joint CART/ALMS weekend, which revived a part of the original 1983 Bayfront Park course. A 1.387-mile (2.232 km) circuit utilized park roads and extended onto Biscayne Boulevard and 3rd and 4th Streets. In 2003, the layout was changed to drop the 3rd/4th Street loop and added a section on Biscayne Boulevard along the north end of the park. The race briefly provided two annual open wheel races in the Miami area. The IRL's race at Homestead was in the spring, while this race was held in the fall. Race winners Season Date Race name Winning Driver Chassis Engine Team 2002 October 6 Grand Prix Americas Cristiano da Matta Lola Toyota Newman/Haas Racing 2003 September 28 Grand Prix Americas Mario Domínguez Lola Ford Cosworth Herdez Competition Atlantic Championship Season Date Winning Driver 2003 September 28 Michael Valiante See also Grand Prix of Miami (sports car racing) Notes Works cited ChampCarStats.com References ↑ {EAE02472-475F-463D-BBF8-B6DF1FBE20F1} Images of Fulford Speedway ↑ Galpin, Darren. "Tamiami Park track info". Tracks Around the World. Retrieved 11 January 2010.  v t e Tracks of the Champ Car World Series (1979-2007) Ovals Atlanta California Chicago Gateway Homestead Indianapolis Las Vegas Loudon Michigan Milwaukee Nazareth Ontario Phoenix Pocono Sanair Texas Trenton Road courses Cleveland Edmonton Laguna Seca Mid-Ohio Montreal Mont-Tremblant Portland Riverside Road America Watkins Glen Street circuits Belle Isle Caesars Palace Denver (Civic Center) Denver (Pepsi Center) Detroit Hawaii (cancelled) Houston Las Vegas Long Beach Meadowlands Miami (Bayfront Park) Miami (Bicentennial Park) Reliant Park San Jose St. Petersburg Tamiami Park Toronto Vancouver International Assen Brands Hatch EuroSpeedway Mexico City Monterrey Motegi Rio Rockingham Surfers Paradise Zolder v t e Races of the IndyCar Series Ovals Fontana Indianapolis Iowa Milwaukee Pocono Texas Road & Street Courses Baltimore Barber Detroit Houston Indianapolis Long Beach Mid-Ohio St. Petersburg São Paulo Sonoma Toronto Former Atlanta Charlotte Chicagoland Dover Edmonton Gateway Homestead Kansas Kentucky Las Vegas Michigan Motegi Nashville Nazareth New Hampshire Phoenix Pikes Peak Richmond Surfers Paradise Walt Disney World Watkins Glen