JUNE 11, 2005

Formula 1 and Las Vegas

They say that Las Vegas is a city that never sleeps and the same can be said for stories of an F1 race in the Nevada city. Formula 1 went to Vegas back in 1981 and 1982 but the event, held in the car park of the Caesar's Palace casino was a flop. In the 1990s Bernie Ecclestone went to great lengths discussing an event in the city, notably with casino mogul Steve Wynn of the Mirage company. There were plans for the race to be run on the famous Strip in Vegas but in the end the project was canned because some of the casinos believed it would hurt their business. There was then a plan to build a semi-permanent facility in a parkland setting just south of the Strip. This piece of land eventually became a golf course but both Ecclestone and Wynn remain keen on the idea and the news that once again Vegas is sniffing around F1 is no surprise. Las Vegas continues to boom and the casinos continue to try to find new events to bring in more people to play at the casinos. The emphasis in recent years has been very much on promoting family-friendly events and Formula 1 fits the bill perfectly in terms of that and in terms of the image of itself that Las Vegas wants to promote. The big problem as always will be finding someone willing to front up the kind of cash that F1 wants to host an event but if that hurdle can be overcome there is no reason why F1 and Vegas cannot get back in bed together and have a rollicking good time in the future.