Detroit Grand Prix (IndyCar)

For the Formula One event, see Detroit Grand Prix.

Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit

Location	The Raceway on Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan, USA 42°20′10″N 82°59′44″W
Corporate sponsor	Quicken Loans
First race	1982
First race	2007
Distance	164.22 miles (264.286 km)
Laps	70
Previous names	Detroit Grand Prix (1982-87) EniChem Detroit Grand Prix (1988) Valvoline Detroit Grand Prix (1989-1991) ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix (1992-1998) Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit (1999-2001) Detroit Indy Grand Prix Presented by Firestone (2007-2008) Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix Presented by shopautoweek.com (2012) Chevrolet Indy Dual In Detroit Presented by Quicken Loans (2013)
Most wins (driver)	3 drivers tied (2)
Most wins (team)	Penske Racing (4)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Reynard (6)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt/Concrete
Length	2.36 mi (3.80 km)
Turns	14
Lap record	1:10.3162 (Scott Dixon, Dallara DW12-Honda, 2012, IndyCar)

The Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans is a weekend of professional auto racing held at the Renaissance Center and later the Belle Isle in Detroit, United States. It has been held from 1989–2001 and from 2007–08, restarting in 2012. It has headlined the CART open-wheel series in the first era and the IndyCar Series in the latter, supported by feeders such as the Indy Lights and Formula Atlantic and top-level sports car series such as the Trans-Am Series and the ALMS. It has been held in June, after the Milwakuee and before the Portland.

Open wheel racing in Detroit dates back to the 1920s–1950s, when AAA held the Detroit 100 at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Speedway. AAA also held one five-mile (8 km), non-championship race at Grosse Pointe in 1905.

Formula One

Main article: Detroit Grand Prix

The current race has its origins dating back to 1982 when it was a Formula One World Championship event held on the Detroit street circuit encompassing the Renaissance Center. The original circuit was 2.493 miles (4.012 km) with seventeen corners, and proved to be even slower than Monaco. The rough, demanding, course even included a railroad track crossing and mimicked Monaco, with a tunnel on the main straight. While officially the Detroit Grand Prix, it also has been referred to as the United States Grand Prix East, because there were multiple Grands Prix in the U.S. at the time. By the time of the 1988 race, FISA, the governing body of Formula One, had declared the street circuit's temporary pits were not up to the required standard and for 1989 the race was planned to be moved to Belle Isle, a city park in the Detroit River, but an agreement could not be established. Instead, in 1989 Formula One left Detroit permanently, and the U.S. Grand Prix moved to Phoenix.

The Detroit Street Circuit does however hold a special place in Formula One history. In 1983, Italian driver Michele Alboreto drove his Tyrrell 011 to victory in the US Grand Prix East in what would prove to be the 155th and last ever F1 win by the legendary Cosworth DFV V8 engine.

CART

For 1989, the race in Detroit was replaced by a CART event. Instead of moving the race, CART utilized a slightly modified version of the street circuit, eliminating the chicane on the main straight (something the F1 drivers had been calling for since the first race in 1982). The race was held on this 2.52-mile (4.06 km) layout for three years. Beginning in 1992, the race was moved to the previously planned temporary course on Belle Isle. The first layout measured 2.1 miles (3.4 km). After a subtle reconfiguration, and due to CART remeasuring all circuits in 1997, the track then measured 2.346 miles (3.776 km).

The event, along with the Michigan 500, provided two CART races in southern Michigan annually.

The 2000 event saw young Brazilian Hélio Castroneves score his first Champ Car victory for Marlboro Team Penske. After his victory lap, he stopped on the frontstretch and climbed the catch fencing in an apparent effort to share his joy with the spectators. Helio became known as "Spider-Man" because of this celebration, which has been repeated in his later victories.

From 1984–2001, the SCCA Trans-Am Series held a race in support of the Detroit Grand Prix. The Motor City 100 was often regarded as the most important event of the Trans Am schedule.

Demise

Even though the track was a temporary street course, it became known as The Raceway on Belle Isle. It was widely criticized for its narrowness, poor access, and its overall uncompetitive nature. Participants also disliked the facility because of its lack of paved areas for support activities. Paddock areas were often muddy and unable to accommodate the teams.

After 2001, CART chose to drop the race from the schedule.

IndyCar revival

In 2006, Roger Penske spearheaded talks to revive the race for 2007 as part of the ALMS and IndyCar Series schedules. Penske had recently experienced tremendous success as head of the Super Bowl XL Detroit Metro Host Committee. On September 29, 2006, it was announced that the Detroit Indy Grand Prix would return as the tenth race of the ALMS's 12-race season and penultimate race of the IndyCar Series' seventeen-race schedule.

To improve access to the track, a park-and-ride system, similar to what was used at Super Bowl XL, was implemented. Further paddock and track work was completed before the race. The 2007 event attracted a strong crowd, and was considered a success. It was held again in 2008.

On December 18, 2008, the scheduled race for 2009 was canceled. The ongoing automotive economic crisis, and its impact on the Detroit-area was the primary reason. Roger Penske did not rule out a return in the future.

On September 20, 2011, race organizers gained approval from Detroit City Council to use the updated track and support area on Belle Isle. On October 11, 2011, it was announced that the race would return starting in 2012. The event returned to its 1998-2001 layout starting with the 2013 race.

Past winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
Grosse Pointe dirt oval
1905	August 8	Webb Jay		White	White steam engine
AAA Championship Car history (Michigan State Fairgrounds dirt oval)
1928	June 10	Ray Keech		Miller	Miller
1929	June 9	Cliff Woodbury		Miller	Miller
1930	June 9	Wilbur Shaw		Smith	Miller
1931	June 14	Louis Meyer		Stevens	Miller
1932	June 9	Bob Carey		Stevens	Miller
1932	September 10	Mauri Rose		Stevens	Miller
1932	June 11	Bill Cummings		Miller	Miller
1949	September 11	Tony Bettenhausen		Kurtis Kraft	Offenhauser
1950	September 10	Henry Banks		Moore	Offenhauser
1951	September 9	Paul Russo		Russo/Nichels	Offenhauser
1952	August 30	Bill Vukovich		Kuzma	Offenhauser
1953	July 4	Rodger Ward		Kurtis Kraft	Offenhauser
USAC Championship Car history (Michigan State Fairgrounds dirt oval)
1957	June 23	Jimmy Bryan		Kuzma	Offenhauser	100	100 (160.934)	1:14:47	80.232
CART Champ Car history (Renaissance Center)
1989	June 18	Emerson Fittipaldi	Patrick Racing	Penske	Ilmor-Chevrolet	62	155 (249.448)	2:02:11	76.112	Report
1990	June 17	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ilmor-Chevrolet	62	155 (249.448)	1:49:32	84.902	Report
1991	June 16	Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske Racing	Penske	Ilmor-Chevrolet	62	156.24 (251.443)	1:57:19	79.455	Report
CART Champ Car history (Belle Isle)
1992	June 7	Bobby Rahal	Rahal/Hogan Racing	Lola	Ilmor-Chevrolet	77	161.7 (260.23)	1:58:20	81.989	Report
1993	June 13	Danny Sullivan	Galles Racing	Lola	Ilmor-Chevrolet	77	161.7 (260.23)	1:56:43	83.116	Report
1994	June 12	Paul Tracy	Penske Racing	Penske	Ilmor	77	161.7 (260.23)	1:52:29	86.245	Report
1995	June 11	Robby Gordon	Walker Racing	Reynard	Ford	77	161.7 (260.23)	1:56:11	83.499	Report
1996	June 9	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	72*	151.2 (243.332)	2:00:44	75.136	Report
1997	June 8	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard	Mercedes	77	161.7 (260.23)	1:52:45	86.047	Report
1998	June 7	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	72	168.912 (271.837)	1:41:17	100.052	Report
1999	August 8	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	Reynard	Honda	71	166.566 (268.061)	2:02:24	81.643	Report
2000	June 18	Hélio Castroneves	Penske Racing	Reynard	Honda	84	197.064 (317.143)	2:01:23	97.401	Report
2001	June 7	Hélio Castroneves	Penske Racing	Reynard	Honda	72	168.912 (271.837)	1:53:51	89.008	Report
IndyCar Series history (Belle Isle)
2007	September 2	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	89*	186.544 (300.213)	2:11:51	83.841	Report
2008	August 31	Justin Wilson	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing	Dallara	Honda	87*	182.352 (293.467)	2:00:11	89.911	Report
2009–2011: Not held
2012	June 3	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	60*	124.2 (199.88)	1:27:40	85.012	Report
2013	June 1	Mike Conway	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara	Honda	70	164.22 (264.286)	1:48:45	90.753	Report
	June 2	Simon Pagenaud	Schmidt Peterson Hamilton HP Motorsports	Dallara	Honda	70	164.22 (264.286)	1:56:15	84.906

• 1996, 2007, & 2008: Race shortened due to time limit.
• 2012: Race shortened due to 2 hour delay for track repair with darkness approaching and concerns over whether the patched track would survive the remaining distance.

Atlantics/Lights winners

Atlantic Championship
Season	Date	Winning Driver
1983	June 5	Josele Garza
Indy Lights
1989	June 18	Ted Prappas
1990	June 17	Tommy Byrne
1991	June 16	Eric Bachelart
1992	June 7	Adrián Fernández
1993	June 13	Steve Robertson
1994	June 12	Steve Robertson
1995	June 11	Robbie Buhl
1996	June 9	Tony Kanaan
1997	June 8	Tony Kanaan
1998	June 7	Airton Daré
1999	August 8	Derek Higgins
2000	June 18	Jonny Kane
2001–2011: Not held
2012	June 2	Gustavo Yacamán

Trans-Am Motor City 100 winners

Year	Driver	Car
1984	Tom Gloy	Mercury Capri
1985	Elliott Forbes-RobinsonA	Buick Regal
1986	Wally Dallenbach, Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
1987	Scott Pruett	Merkur XR4Ti
1988	Hurley Haywood	Audi Quattro
1989	Greg Pickett	Chevrolet Camaro
1990	Scott Sharp
1991
1992	Tommy Archer	Dodge Daytona
1993	Dorsey Schroeder	Ford Mustang
1994	Bill Saunders
1995	Ron Fellows	Chevrolet Camaro
1996	Dorsey Schroeder	Ford Mustang
1997	Tommy Kendall
1998	Paul Gentilozzi	Chevrolet Camaro
1999	Brian Simo	Ford Mustang
2000	Paul Gentilozzi	Jaguar XKR
2001

^A Winner Wally Dallenbach, Jr. was disqualified due to car being underweight.

Circuit maps

• 
  The Renaissance Center course utilized from 1982–1991
• 
  Belle Isle course used from 1992-1997, 2007-2008, and 2012

External links

• http://www.detroitgp.com
• http://www.champcarstats.com