wordplay by Jeremy Johnson
images by MLAPhotonix.com
In what is becoming a Mile High summer tradition, the 2006 CENTRIX Financial Grand Prix of Denver is racing back downtown August 11, 12 and 13. And unlike those boring NASCAR events that your uncle watches on television, the Denver Grand Prix promises to include food, music, and high-speed racing past staples of Denver landscape, as well as left AND right turns.
Rather than the typical NASCAR tracks where drivers make continual left turns, pushing and bumping each other into walls on their way to shifty, checkered wins, Grand Prix action – which is raced in tightly built and aerodynamically impressive Formula One cars – takes place on a track that weaves through the Auraria Campus and past the historic Tivoli building, as well as around the Pepsi Center and across the CityLights Pavilion.
The 2006 season is a big one for Denver racing fans as it marks the fifth season that Champ Car World Series has included the best city in the west.
“Over time the course has been tweaked to make it better,” said Rob Johnson, executive vice president and Grand Prix general manager. “The average person wouldn’t keep coming back if you put the same thing out there every year. It’s always changing and that’s what makes it fun for us.”
The three-day weekend event is one of 15 Champ Car events taking place nation and worldwide this season. Hosted internationally, The Champ Car World Series brings grand Pirx to Edmonton and Toronto, Canada; Mexico City, South Korea and Australia’s Gold Coast, as well as U.S. cities such as Long Beach and San Jose, CA. and Portland, OR. Locally, the state of Colorado is especially well represented in the race by a Loveland-based team called RuSports.
“Because we’re based in Colorado, we’ve developed great relationships with people that promote the race,” said RuSports Team President Jeremy Dale. “So in a way you do feel more attached to it.”
Started in 2002, RuSports was an early sponsor of the Series’ current No.2-seeded driver, A.J. Allmendinger, until personal differences led RuSports to drop the young American this past June.
RuSports now boasts one of the top-ranked racers in the circuit, a soon-to-be 27-year-old Brit by the name of Justin Wilson. RuSports also signed on 32-year-old Brazilian veteran and former Champ Car champion, Cristiano da Matta.
Wilson is three points behind Allmendinger as of July’s Toronto Series event, and will race against the American in Edmonton and San Jose before arriving in Denver in August. Wilson is still awaiting his first win of the season, but Dale remains hopeful of the you ng driver.
“There’s a certain amount of frustration there because there’s nothing like winning a race,” Dale said. “But he’s having a good season and we feel like, as a team, we’re in the thick of the championship.”
Racing statistics and gearhead interests aside, the Denver Grand Prix appeals to everyone; young and old, to the guys who have no idea what a piston is and the girl who doesn’t like to pump her own gas at the station.
On top of fast and furious race action, the city of Denver offers up their annual Grand Prix Street Party. The party includes food vendors and entertainment such as live music, Red Bull freestyle racing and even go-karts that allow the fans to experience the thrill of the track for themselves.
G-Love and Special Sauce will headline the musical side of the event on Friday, August 11 at the City Lights Pavilion for $14 with a Grand Prix ticket stub. The Samples will play a free event the following evening in Larimer Square.
So whether you have the need for speed or the need for a funky beat, the Grand Prix party weekend is bound to be the best in town.
“We’ve tried to give everyone something to do both without jeopardizing the integrity of the race – something at the track and way from the track – and that’s a neat combination,” Johnson said. “There’s just so much to do and so much see, you shouldn’t stay in just one spot.”
August 11th-13th
GPdenver.com