Edmonton Indy Back for 2011

Photo Credit: Dana Garrett

The State of INDYCAR Event announcement confirmed that there will be two races in Canada for 2011. Track promoter Octane Motorsport Events, local businesses and the INDYCAR series have all come together to bring back the event which almost ceased following a dispute on land usage at the Edmonton City Center Airport. Agreeing to run on a different, newly-renovated part of the track.

Awaking the great prarie City Center Airport of Edmonton with a sound other than turboprop and jet aircraft, the sound of internal combustion engines echo as auto racing events brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to the grounds. Holding CASCAR races through the 1990s, major league open wheel racing was first staged on the temporary street course in 2005. Original staged with Champ Car, INDYCAR took over the race in 2008 perserving it as the only Canadian race date of the season.

Two years later, the future of the Edmonton Indy race was put into question as Octane Motorsport Events (the group behind the current Formula 1's Canadian Grand Prix) became the new promoter for the event. Grandstand changes and a debt carried from previous event arose as sticking points of many Edmonton Indy naysayers heading into the 2010 event. Despite this, the 2010 Edmonton Indy event resulted in a great on-track spectacle as a late-race blocking manuveur performed by Helio Castroneves resulted in a heated scene immediately following the event.

Receiving a July 24th date on the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series schedule, track configuration is unknown at this time. It is also uncertain if the Firestone Indy Lights or the long-time mainstay NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will accompany the IZOD INDYCAR Series.

Goodbye to the Edmonton Indy

Photo Credit: Chris Jones

Canadian open wheel racing fans have been punted into the tire barrier this week news concerning one of two IZOD IndyCar Series race venues above North America's 49th parallel has surfaced. Late Tuesday night on November 2nd, it was announced that talks between Edmonton city council and the race's promoter Octane Racing Group have broken down.
Edmonton city council, led by newly-reelected incumbent major Stephen Mandel, voted in July of 2010 to enter talks with Octane (who intended to take over event promotion duties from company Northlands) in order to run this major motor race weekend through 2013 at the Edmonton City Centre Airport. Complications set in when the present 1.96 mile temporary race circuit would become unavailable since the airport preferred to have the occupied runways open for air transport. Intent on relocating to a portion of the airport which is unused, this area also required a sizable investment to refurbish for the 2011 Edmonton IndyCar race event. Requiring a total 5.5 million dollar commitment from the government for the City of Edmonton, the race was discontinued for 2011. According to the City of Edmonton, the Indy race weekend had lost 9.2 million dollars through the previous two years leaving further investment in the event less than appetizing.

Following the news of the talks between the Octane and the City of Edmonton, an unnamed source within the IndyCar Series responded "We are disappointed that the city and the promoter were unable to reach an agreement on the venue changes. It's unfortunate that in a time when IndyCar is experiencing momentum and growth, the city would want to miss out on the opportunity to be part of it. We've enjoyed our time at Edmonton as the fans there truly embraced Indy car racing.”.

With the date erased from the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule, the league has indicated a desire to replace this Canadian event. One rumour has indicated that Octane Racing Group (promoters for the Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal) could possibly work out a deal to run the series in Montreal.

At present time (Tuesday, November 9th), the website for the Edmonton Indy is still up and running having planned for the 2011 race which seems highly unlikely to happen in the future.