![]() “A big objective for us with this event is to drive tourism to the city of Chicago and based on ticket sales, we’re seeing that happening, and I would expect those numbers to continue to grow,” Giese said. Several sections of reserved seats are already sold out, according to the race website. Tickets range from $269 for two-day general admission to $3,000 for premium hospitality suites perched above the pit road at the Buckingham Fountain start/finish line. Grandstands, suites and clubhouses will spring up across the northern half of the course, while general admission will allow ticket holders to roam trackside at Hutchinson Field on the southern end. The course will start on Columbus Drive in front of Buckingham Fountain, taking in stretches of DuSable Lake Shore Drive and South Michigan Avenue as it winds around Grant Park. ![]() The weekend’s festivities include full-length concerts headlined by Miranda Lambert, the Chainsmokers and the Black Crowes. Speeds may top 100 miles per hour on straightaways, with slowdowns at turns and traffic bottlenecks, according to the race website.Ī separate Xfinity Series race is set for July 1. The Grant Park 220, a televised Cup Series race on July 2, will feature a 12-turn, 2.2-mile course, with NASCAR drivers navigating closed-off streets lined with temporary fences, grandstands and hospitality suites. He pointed to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, which began hosting Cup Series races when it opened in 2001, but has been idled since NASCAR acquired the 1.5-mile oval in 2019. NASCAR’s previous foray into Chicago does not necessarily bode well, Matheson said. You might get some racing fans, but what are you chasing away from that activity at the same time?” “I certainly wouldn’t want to be in downtown Chicago if they closed down the Loop to do that one race. “The big problem with any sort of open road race is that it’s wildly disruptive,” Matheson said. Enthusiastic boosters may also be discounting collateral economic damage, he said. A Formula 1 race can better span the red/blue divide with both fast cars and European sensibilities, he said.Īs street races gain traction in the U.S., Matheson questioned whether attendance will wane when the novelty wears off. ![]() Matheson said the NASCAR brand still carries a “Southern redneck” stigma that can be “a little bit toxic” in blue markets like Chicago. in 2019, does not disclose attendance figures, but it has sold out only three of its 15 Cup Series races this year, a spokesperson said. NASCAR, which became a private company upon completion of its $2 billion merger with International Speedway Corp. NASCAR even removed seats at some tracks so that events look less empty on TV. The stock car circuit has also seen declining attendance since peaking two decades ago. While national TV contracts, geographic expansion and increasingly sophisticated 200 mph race cars fueled growth, adding tracks in places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, half of NASCAR races still take place in the Southeast. In 1979, CBS televised the first flag-to-flag live coverage of the Daytona 500, elevating NASCAR to national prominence and making star drivers such as Richard Petty a household name. NASCAR held its first race on the sands of Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1948, spawning banked oval tracks across the south that made stock car racing a rabid regional sport.
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