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Written by:
David Phillips
06/18/2007 - 07:00 PM
Portland, Ore.
Though the race action was great, attendance in last Sunday's Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland was disappointing at best... (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos
There was open derision in the press room make that the press "double-wide" at Portland International Raceway a week ago Sunday when the official three-day attendance figure of 72,000 was announced for the Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Joe's. Who could blame the fourth estate for being a bit, er, skeptical. We had seen with our own eyes a modestly attended Friday under fair skies, then a rainy and thinly attended Saturday followed by a race day on which the bleachers along the front straightaway were at best one-third filled (this despite the fact that there are fewer seats there than in the halcyon days of the PPG Indy Car World Series when the Budweiser/G.I. Joe's Grand Prix of Portland drew a legitimate 45,000 on Sunday alone).
This being the final year of Champ Car's current contract with Mike Neely's Global Events Group, naturally there was much speculation about the future of the event. With Champ Car officials talking of "seven or eight" new venues vying for a spot on th '08 Champ Car World Series calendar, with news that Portland Mayor Tom Potter had at least floated a trial balloon about the prospects of a street race and with no more than 20,000 souls at PIR on race day, it would be no surprise if last Sunday was the final appearance of Champ Cars in the Rose City for the forseeable future.
Why has what was once the largest annual sports event in the Pacific Northwest come to this? Round up the usual suspects: the split between Champ Car and the IRL that has left fans confused ("Gee, where is Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti?"); the lack of a series title sponsor and/or manufacturers promoting the CCWS on a nationwide basis; ineffective (at least in terms of attracting fans) event sponsorship; a collection of drivers that apart from Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais nobody has ever heard of; scheduling the race the same weekend as the Rose Festival; spectator amenities that fall far short of an event aspiring to the national sports stage on par with, say, the NBA finals or the NASCAR and IRL races at Texas or, more tellingly, Pocono.
The Portland GP was once the largest sporting event in the Pacific Northwest, as this '99 shot attests. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos
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It's not just Champ Car. Portland was once a featured stop on the IMSA Camel GT schedule. Now, in wake of sparsely attended ALMS races the past couple of years, neither the ALMS or rival Grand-Am want anything to do with it. Of course, many of the problems that have beset Champ Car (split series, no major series sponsors, substandard facilities) have their corollaries on the sports car side
On the other hand, Champ Car now enjoys a virtual monopoly on the Pacific Northwest, a region with a population in excess of 10 million (including greater Seattle and Vancouver). One could say it's a double-edged sword, that there's a reason (see ALMS) why no other major auto racing events are scheduled in the region . . . but for the fact that NASCAR and ISC have been doing their damndest to get a speedway built near Seattle; but for the fact that the region is home to companies like Microsoft and Cray (as in super-computers), Nordstroms, Nike and Starbucks; but for the fact that, in the days of PPG, Honda and Toyota, Ford and Mercedes-Benz, KOOL and Marlboro, Miller Genuine Draft and Budweiser, Target and Kmart, Andretti and Unser nobody would have laughed at claims of a three-day crowd count of 72,000.
Frankly, it depends on the scope of Champ Car's horizons. If Champ Car is looking to make a quick buck on sanctioning fees, then by all means do a deal for early June with one of the new events vying for a place on the '08 calendar, and leave PIR to stage SCCA regionals and nationals.
If, however, the organization is looking long term, the folks at "West Lakeview Parkway South Drive" in Indianapolis should think long and hard about investing in rebuilding what was formerly one of the series' keystone events. (Better yet, if Champ Car and the IRL were to merge, the resulting organization would do well to consider long-term investments in key markets like the Pacific Northwest, the Inner Mountain West and the Atlantic Northeast. But I digress to dream....)
Then there's this, and it's found on page 304 of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Media Guide; right there where it says Howard Covey won the very first event of the AAA's inaugural national championship season on June 12, 1909 in a road race at Portland, Oregon. That and $1.25 will get you a cup of coffee these days or serve as a downpayment on a double decaf latte with a dash of cinamon at any coffee shop in sight of PIR. Still, for a series that likes to trumpet its historical linkages to the Andrettis and Unsers, Bettenhausens and Vukovichs, DePalmas and Chevrolets and entertains any hopes of recapturing some of its former glory that oughta count for plenty.
David Phillips is a Senior Writer for RACER magazine.
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