Okay race fans, don't get your hopes up too high picturing Danica Patrick hoisting up the winner's trophy after a Grand Prix style IRL victory on the streets of Baltimore. We had our hopes stoked in the early 1990's when local investors saw great possibilities erecting a world class race track that could host NASCAR, IRL, and other series either in White Marsh off of where MD-43, White Marsh Blvd. has been extended to Middle River or near Arundel Mills in between Baltimore and Washington close to the Baltimore/Washington Parkway.
Racing in Baltimore makes sense. The city has plenty of attractions to support race fans and is within a day trip from the north, as Yankees fans gladly flock into Camden Yards or from NASCAR's power base in the Carolinas.
Environmentalists and former Governor Paris Glendenning would have nothing of it smashing any plans of building a real racing facility. Those investors pulled out and helped invest in what would become the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
Ah, but an IRL Grand Prix? The cost to the city would be minimimal, no permanent construction required, and downtown hotels, restaurants, and entertainment facillities not enjoying the roar of the race cars half as much as the "cha-ching" of their registers ringing up sales, and likewise the State of Maryland gets its six percent sales tax on every transaction.
What's not to like?
Here's the article from today's Baltimore Sun. Can it happen?
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