Meadowlands Grand Prix

The Meadowlands Grand Prix was a CART IndyCar race held at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey from 1984 until 1991. The event was the first major auto race in the New York City metropolitan area since the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup,^[1] and came with high expectations, including the potential of rivaling the Indianapolis 500 in stature, and crowds of up to 60,000.^[2][3]

History

In 1982, Formula One announced a race in the New York City area for the 1983 season.^[4] However, the race, which was to take place in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, was first postponed, then canceled.^[5] At the same time, CART and the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with the help of Long Beach promoter Chris Pook, announced a race for the 1984 season.^[2] The race would take place on a 15-turn, 1.682-mile (2.707 km), temporary road course set up in the parking lots around Giants Stadium.

The inaugural event's purse of $536,000 made it the richest race in CART history apart from Indianapolis.^[6] The race carried high expectations, was televised nationally, and came on the heels of high-profile successes at former Formula One events in Long Beach and Las Vegas. A crowd of 50,000 was expected.^[3] During practice and qualifying, drivers criticized the tight nature of the course.^[7][8] The race began on a damp track, and Mario Andretti led all 100 laps to win.^[9] Despite the rainy weather, 34,388 spectators watched the race.^[6]

The 1985 event saw better weather and better attendance, but still fell short of expectations.^[10] The organizers signed a 3-year contract to continue the race, but the circuit's parking lot nature, giving neither the park-like setting of a natural terrain road course nor the atmosphere of a downtown street race, began to draw criticism from drivers and journalists.^[11] In 1988, officials changed the layout to a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) semi-oval layout in an attempt to improve sight lines for spectators, and the race attracted a record 45,025.^[12] In addition, new race sponsor Marlboro offered a $1 million bonus for any driver who could win at the Meadowlands, Michigan, and the Marlboro Challenge in Miami in the same season;^[13] no driver would ever win the bonus.

Despite the new layout and increasing purses, attendance dipped and the race failed to turn a profit.^[14] The promoters considered moving the event to Washington, D. C., Miami, or Englishtown, New Jersey. The race was eventually scheduled for 1992 on a circuit in Manhattan on the roads surrounding the World Trade Center and West Street. The race was postponed until 1993 then cancelled due to cost and conflicts between sponsor Marlboro and Mayor David Dinkins' anti-tobacco advertising policies.^[5][15]

Race winners

Year	Date	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team	Race title	Report
1984	July 1	Mario Andretti	Lola	Cosworth	Newman-Haas Racing	Meadowlands Grand Prix	Report
1985	June 30	Al Unser, Jr.	Lola	Cosworth	Doug Shierson Racing	Meadowlands United States Grand Prix	Report
1986	June 29	Danny Sullivan	March	Cosworth	Penske Racing	Chase Grand Prix at the Meadowlands	Report
1987	June 28	Bobby Rahal	Lola	Cosworth	Truesports	Meadowlands Indy	Report
1988	July 24	Al Unser, Jr.	March	Cosworth	Galles Racing	Marlboro Grand Prix at the Meadowlands	Report
1989	July 16	Bobby Rahal	Lola	Cosworth	Kraco Racing	Marlboro Grand Prix	Report
1990	July 15	Michael Andretti	Lola	Chevrolet	Newman-Haas Racing	Marlboro Grand Prix at the Meadowlands	Report
1991	July 14	Bobby Rahal	Lola	Chevrolet	Galles Racing	Marlboro Grand Prix	Report
[16][17]

ARS/Indy Lights winners Year Date Winning Driver 1986 June 29 Fabrizio Barbazza 1987 June 28 Didier Theys 1988 July 24 Jon Beekhuis 1989 July 16 Mike Groff 1990 July 15 Paul Tracy 1991 July 14 Eric Bachelart [18][17]

Trans-Am winners Year Winning Driver Winning Car 1988 Hans-Joachim Stuck Audi 200 quattro [19] IMSA GT winners Year GTO Winning Driver GTO Winning Car GTU Winning Driver GTU Winning Car AAC Winning Driver AAC Winning Car 1990 Robby Gordon Mercury Cougar XR-7 David Loring Nissan 240SX Clay Young Chevrolet Beretta [20]

Race notes

• 1988: Al Unser, Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi battled at the end. The two cars touched and Fittipaldi veered into a bank of tire barriers. Unser, Jr. went on to win. The following year at Indy, the two would be involved in another late-race duel.
• 1989: Bobby Rahal scores his only victory of the 1989 season. It was the lone victory for the "short stroke" Cosworth, and the 153rd and final race win overall for Cosworth in Indy car racing. The race was halted 5 laps early due to heavy rains and standing water on the course. Rahal held off points leader Emerson Fittipaldi for the victory.
• 1991: Bobby Rahal snaps a 34-race losing streak and wins his first CART race in nearly two years to the day of his last win (1989 Meadowlands Grand Prix). It would be the final Meadowlands Grand Prix.

References