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Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Wiki Information
The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
is an IRL IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida. The race will be televised on Versus.
Racing in the St. Petersburg area dates back to 1985. The SCCA Trans-Am Series held a race on a downtown waterfront circuit from 1985-1990. Local residents and businesses complained about noise, and the event was put on hiatus. Racing in the Tampa Bay Area also included an IMSA race at the Florida State Fairgrounds. But it only lasted two years (1989-1990).
In 1996-1997, the St. Petersburg race was revived on a course around Tropicana Field. Along with the Trans-Am Series, support races included U.S. FF2000, World Challenge, Pro SRF, and Barber Dodge. The event was well-received, but the course was considered unsatisfactory. The event went again on hiatus for several years.
In 2003, the event was revived once again. The race was first run as a Champ Car event in 2003. It utilitzed a modified version of the original 1985-90 waterfront circuit.
For 2004, however, the event was cancelled due to a dispute between the promoters. When the race returned in 2005, it switched to the IndyCar Series, and marked the first non-oval event for the Indy Racing League. Starting in 2007, the race weekend was expanded to include an ALMS event.
It was announced during 2008 race that Andretti Green Promotions, the organization that owns and operates the event, signed a contract extension with the city of St. Petersburg through 2013, and city officials hope to extend it through 2014.
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GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG TICKETS
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Past winners
| Season
| Date
| Winning Driver
| Chassis
| Engine
| Team
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| CART World Series history
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| 2003
| February 23
| Paul Tracy
| Lola
| Ford-Cosworth
| Forsythe Racing
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| IRL IndyCar Series history
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| 2005
| April 3
| Dan Wheldon
| Dallara
| Honda
| Andretti Green Racing
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| 2006
| April 2
| Hélio Castroneves
| Dallara
| Honda
| Team Penske
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| 2007
| April 1
| Hélio Castroneves
| Dallara
| Honda
| Team Penske
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| 2008
| April 6
| Graham Rahal
| Dallara
| Honda
| Newman/Haas Racing
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| 2009
| April 5
| Ryan Briscoe
| Dallara
| Honda
| Team Penske
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Firestone Indy Lights Series
| Season
| Date
| Winning Driver
| Chassis
| Engine
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| 2005
| April 3
| Marco Andretti
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| 2006
| April 1 (1st race)
| Raphael Matos
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| April 2 (2nd race)
| Raphael Matos
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| 2007
| March 31 (1st race)
| Alex Lloyd
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| April 1 (2nd race)
| Alex Lloyd
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| 2008
| April 5 (1st race)
| Raphael Matos
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| April 6 (2nd race)
| Richard Antinucci
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| 2009
| April 4 (1st race)
| Junior Strous
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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| April 5 (2nd race)
| Junior Strous
| Dallara
| Infiniti
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American Le Mans Series
Overall winner in bold
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| Season
| LMP1 Winning Team
| LMP2 Winning Team
| GT1 Winning Team
| GT2 Winning Team
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| LMP1 Winning Drivers
| LMP2 Winning Drivers
| GT1 Winning Drivers
| GT2 Winning Drivers
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| 2007
| #1 Audi Sport North America
| #6 Penske Racing
| #4 Corvette Racing
| #62 Risi Competizione
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Rinaldo Capello
Allan McNish
| Sascha Maassen
Ryan Briscoe
| Oliver Gavin
Olivier Beretta
| Mika Salo
Jaime Melo
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| 2008
| #2 Audi Sport North America
| #7 Penske Racing
| #4 Corvette Racing
| #71 Tafel Racing
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Marco Werner
Lucas Luhr
| Timo Bernhard
Romain Dumas
| Olivier Beretta
Oliver Gavin
| Dominik Farnbacher
Dirk Müller
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| 2009
| #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing
| #15 Lowe's Fernández Racing
| No entry
| #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports
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David Brabham
Scott Sharp
| Adrian Fernández
Luis Díaz
| No entry
| Patrick Long
Jörg Bergmeister
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SCCA Trans-Am
- 1985 Willy T. Ribbs
- 1986 Pete Halsmer
- 1987 Scott Pruett
- 1988 Walter Röhrl
- 1989 Irv Hoerr
- 1990 Chris Kneifel
- 1996 Ron Fellows
- 1997 Tommy Kendall
- 2003 Scott Pruett
IMSA (fairgrounds)
- 1989 Price Cobb
- 1990 James Weaver
Course
The Streets of St. Petersburg course is a street circuit connecting existing roads with one of the two landing strips of Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg, Florida. It also dips into the parking lot at Progress Energy Park.
First bayfront course
The original 1985 Trans-Am course utilized a similar layout to the course used today. At the end of Bayshore Drive, rather than diverting off to the airport runways, the course circled around 5th Avenue Southeast around Bayfront Arena, and the start/finish line was located just south of the paddock (the parking lot of Bayfront Arena). In addition, the old course traveled further up Beach Drive Northeast, all the way to 5th Avenue Northeast. 5th Ave. NE was a very narrow segment. The course came south down Bayshore Drive Northeast, and passed by The Pier.
Tropicana Field course
The second course at Tropicana Field was located about a mile west of the waterfront location. The circuit used the roads around the perimeter of the parking lot of the stadium.
Second Bayfront course
When the course was reconfigured, the northbound segment turned at Central Avenue instead, and did not go as far as the The Pier. The pits and main straight were moved to the airport, and a paddock area was paved next to the runway. The Albert Whitted park was reconfigured/relocated, and the entire course layout was repaved.
The proposed Rays Ballpark is situated inside the confines of the current course layout and may disrupt or require changes to the track in the future.
thumb to 1991thumb to 2000
Telecast History
CART & IRL races
| Season
| Date
| US TV Channel
| Lay-by-lap
| Driver Analyst(s)
| Pit Reporters
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| 2003
| February 23
| SPEED Channel
| Bob Varsha
| Tommy Kendall
| Unknown
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| 2005
| April 3
| ESPN
| Todd Harris
| Scott Goodyear
| Jack Arute, Dr. Jerry Punch, & Jamie Little
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| 2006
| April 2
| ESPN
| Marty Reid
| Scott Goodyear & Rusty Wallace
| Jack Arute, Dr. Jerry Punch, & Jamie Little
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| 2007
| April 1
| ESPN
| Marty Reid
| Scott Goodyear
| Jack Arute, Vince Welch, & Brienne Pedigo
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| 2008
| April 6
| ESPN
| Marty Reid
| Scott Goodyear
| Jack Arute, Vince Welch, & Brienne Pedigo
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| 2009
| April 5
| Versus
| Bob Jenkins
| Jon Beekhuis & Robbie Buhl
| Jack Arute, Robbie Floyd, & Lindy Thackston
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References
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