DETROIT – Organizers of the Detroit Grand Prix are looking to move the race to Downtown Detroit in 2023.
The race has been held on Belle Isle for 30 years. The potential move is about giving greater access to the public and boosting businesses in Downtown Detroit.
“It will be for our city. Probably the biggest Downtown event our city will have seen since Superbowl in 2006, and that is cool,” Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Chairman Bud Denker said.
Read: Detroit Grand Prix proposes return Downtown in 2023: What track could look like
Denker is president of the Penske Corporation and said bringing the race back to Downtown for the first time since 1991 is about giving more people a chance to experience the race.
“Over half of our racetrack will be open to the public for free. You can’t do that on Belle Isle,” Denker said.
Getting the race Downtown by 2023 would require many road repairs. Race officials hope to work with MDOT and the city to get the roads fixed.
There are no plans for the partnership between the Belle Isle Conservancy and the Grand Prix to end.
“We’ve known that eventually, we would no longer have a Grand Prix and also felt that we owe that to our community to continuously wean ourselves off that funding,” Michele Hodges, the president and CEO of the Belle Isle Conservancy, said. “So we’ve been doing that.”
An important meeting with Detroit is set for Friday (Oct. 1).
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