Old LV track pic.

[devilmaster]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/from.ed/2006/jul/24/photos/P000080102.jpg

The more I look at, looks almost like a black and white pick of the bahrain track nowadays. ;)

[nrc]

Where was that located - within Vegas, I mean.

[Al Czervik]

Where was that located - within Vegas, I mean.

Caeser's parking lot, IIRC

[KLang]

Isn't that Caesars in the upper left?

[nrc]

Isn't that Caesars in the upper left?

Wow. If that's the old Caesars tower then that puts the track around where the Forum Shops and the Mirage are now.

Ok, that's The Sands on the bottom left, which I think is where the Venetian is now, so that checks.

Link to a satellite shot of this area now. (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Las+Vegas,+NV&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=36.119625,-115.171866&spn=0.010053,0.020084)

[KLang]

http://www.lasvegastouristbureau.com/images/maps/strip_map.gif

I first visited Vegas in the early eighties. It is just mind boggling how it has changed. IIRC the Mirage was the start of the building boon.

[formulaben]

Wow. If that's the old Caesars tower then that puts the track around where the Forum Shops and the Mirage are now.

Ok, that's The Sands on the bottom left, which I think is where the Venetian is now, so that checks.

WOW is exactly what I said too. Man, look at how the strip has changed!

[oddlycalm]

Thanks for the great pic Steve. You guys are on the money on the location BTW. Caesar's parking lot and the vacant desert next door is exactly where it was. Not many vacant lots out there these days.

People bitched because it was F1 and the track wasn't Spa, the Nurburgring, or Suzuka but most of us would give our left whatsoever for that road course to be there today as we contemplate a bumpy street race downtown around the glamour of the porn shops and bus station.

oc

[devilmaster]

as we contemplate a bumpy street race downtown around the glamour of the porn shops and bus station.

oc

We should call it the Warlock! GP

j/k ;)

Anyways, that was in today's LV Sun newspaper. I was reading to see how the community sees the announcement.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sports/2006/jul/24/566611646.html


And in the lonely cool before dawn You hear their engines roaring on. But when you get to the porch they’re gone.

When he wrote “Thunder Road,” Bruce Springsteen was referring to the boys Mary sent away. But he could have been foretelling the future of open-wheel auto racing in Las Vegas.

There are a lot of burned-out Chevrolets haunting the dusty beach roads of our auto racing past. Only most of them don’t have fenders.

First to come was Formula One, to a parking lot at Caesars Palace in 1981. It was first to go in 1982.

“You can’t hold a Formula One race in a bloody car park,” the great Jackie Stewart once told me.

Second to come was Championship Auto Racing Teams, also to a parking lot at Caesars Palace, albeit with fewer turns and better-known drivers — do the names Mario Andretti, Al Unser and A.J. Foyt ring a bell? — in 1983. It was second to go in 1984.

Apparently, you can’t hold an Indy-car race in a bloody car park, either. Third to come was the Indy Racing League, to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1996. It was third to go in 2000.

It took five years for attendance to dip so low that not even the Speedway could find a way to make money on an open-wheel race. Fourth to come was Champ Car, the remnant of the once proud CART series, to LVMS in 2004. It was fourth to go in 2005.

In the 2004 race, teammates Sebastien Bourdais and Bruno Junquiera staged the most exciting duel in LVMS’ 10-year history. Too bad nobody saw it. Most of the crowd left after the NASCAR truck race.

Fifth to come will be the second coming of Champ Car, to a temporary downtown street circuit next spring. The sanctioning body has a five-year contract with the city to turn the streets, avenues and parkways bordering Fremont Street into the world’s fastest taxi lane.

The Vegas Grand Prix will probably be fifth to go in 2012.

Don’t get your fireproof coveralls all in a bunch, Champ Car fans. I’m one of a dwindling number of American motor sports enthusiasts who still believes that real race cars don’t have doors. It’s just that our city’s history for supporting Indy-style racing is as checkered as the flag at the end of the race....

[msvphoto]

That photo brings back some memories...

The first F1 race I attended. Miserably hot (like 114 degrees f), no coolers, etc. allowed in the stands, no free water sources--had to stand in line to purchase beverages. Overall not a very good fan experience :flame:

But, it was F1, I was young, and still had a blast seeing Mario's last F1 drive (in a Ferrari no less).