Waukegan Mayor Robert Sabonjian has the pedal to the metal working on getting some sort of motorsports road race to his city next year or more likely in 2011. The Hound hears all those Waukeganites backing the mayor: "Go, speed racer, go!"
Sabonjian and city minions appear farther along the trail than most originally thought. They have a map of the 1.9-mile course which uses the Amstutz Expressway (or is that the Bobby Thompson Expressway which state Rep. Eddie Washington, D-Waukegan, unilaterally christened two years ago?) and downtown streets. Anybody check with the County of Lake, which has a pretty large presence in Waukegan's downtown for their input? They've also had preliminary talks with race organizers and they have a steering committee, Waukegan Grand Prix LLC.
What they don't have is money. Estimates run between $12 to $15 million for the initial rally; about a $9 million ante every year after. The bet is the seed money will generate millions more. Other cities have done it and been successful. It is within the realm of possibility for Waukegan.
So far, the city's populace has been eerily silent on the topic. Perhaps they're stunned or they haven't caught up to speed on what the impact could be on the city both in quality of life issues and financial gain or loss. Or they are a silent majority, riding in the back seat with the new mayor on this issue.
The Hound like's Sabonjian's attitude about landing any sort of road race: "We can be world class, but we have to do it right." So for right now, it's full speed ahead!
Why don't you do some research on CART and IRL and what host cities pay for them to race there. In most cases, less than 500K and many times zero investment on behalf of the city with the exception of general street repairs (under 100K). Hopefully our greenhorn mayor isn't going to commit tax dollars/bonds to underwrite an event that other cities negotiate for nearly free. The racing promotors usually keep 100% of the revenue to the event with the cities getting sales tax revenue. The glitch? Seed money. With the economy still in a recession who is going to pony-up 10M to 15M for a private sponsorship? The mayor says now it's probably 2011. With the methodology that CART uses to evaluate host cities, it melds in metropolitan areas within 400 miles of the host city. Guess what? Detroit plans to go back to its grand prix (Belle Isle) in 2011. When Penske ran that even there, it was smooth. Problem is that they could not afford to sponsor it any longer but with a five year history, it has a good chance to compete with and knock the steam out of Waukegan. Also, ask any of these promoters about INAUGURAL grand prix events and they will tell you that they lose money and do not make the attendance goals. Subsequent years--with a few exceptions--require too much capital for the payback and that's why grand prix events come and go and travel and bump along from unsuspecting mayor to unsuspecting mayor. I believe that the News-Sun Opinions said it best with "no checkered flag for this idea".
THE HOUND SAYS: Well, Martha, sounds like Waukegan's "greenhorn" mayor needs your expertise. Why don't you volunteer and help the "unsuspecting" lad? Or take a cut like everybody else does for consulting?
Perhaps the citizens of Waukegan would have more to say if they had been informed of what exactly is going on. Don't you think it would be nice if the Mayor told the people of 'his city' what the business plan is and how this will all take place. For the good of the city??? Pleeezzzzz!!! How about some of those campaign promises like a City Manager? What happened to that? How about filling up all the empty store fronts on Genesee so that when these indy cars go racing by the many, many shoppers downtown can have a front row seat?
THE HOUND SAYS: Campaign promises, like race cars, sometimes go speeding by. The Hound thought one of Candidate Bob's campaign planks was open government. Guess it's not that open when taxpayers haven't been told of the business plan and how this is going to be financially feasible.
Seems that he's inherited his dear old dad's delusions of a 'Riviera of the Midwest'. It's a pipe dream and there just isn't the funding to finance something like an auto race. Every city has to cut back and face the reality of a long-term economic downturn. It's time to think of the long-term financial health of the city, and put down these grand schemes which end up wasting money and only benefit a very small number of people.
THE HOUND SAYS: Guess that reality hasn't hit home here, yet.