MAY 29, 1995

Las Vegas gambling on a GP again!

IT seems that suddenly there are plenty of American promoters interested in Grand Prix racing at the moment. In addition to projects at Brandy Station, Virgina; Miami, Florida, and Staten Island, New York, we now hear of an attempt to get a Grand Prix back in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Formula 1 visited Vegas back in the early 1980s, racing in the car park at the Caesars Palace casino, but the race was never a success, despite hosting the World Championship showdown between Nelson Piquet and Carlos Reutemann in 1981.

We hear that the new plan is for a circuit to be laid out using existing streets on the outskirts of the city.

The proposal is being pushed by American promoter Tommy Baker, who plans to use Long Beach GP supremo Chris Pook to organize the event. The project should be taken seriously as F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone recently flew to the USA to discuss the idea of a race in 1996.

Ecclestone may yet be convinced to take the race to Miami where we understand promoter Ralph Sanchez is offering a very tempting deal to Ecclestone. Sanchez is proposing that Ecclestone hire his facility and organize the entire event himself.

One way or another, however, it seems very likely that there will be an American GP again soon - which has to be good news for F1 fans in the United States.