lemans in philly

[den9]

my friend told me last year that american lemans offered philly to have a street course race i think this year, they obviously didnt accept the offer. did any1 ever hear this? i think it was for this year cuz they had some new street tracks this year.

anyway if there was a street course, how do u think they would lay it out? i would think the park way or something, would they patch up the streets or anything?

[NOPSTNS]

um, have u driven in philly in the past 50 years? the roads r pure hell. the dude must have been kidding. the entire northeast is known for bad roads so itll be a cold day in hell when a prestigous racing series ASKS to hold a race anywhere near here.

[WKderF]

actually actor / race team owner Paul Newman has tried SEVERAL times to bring circuit racing to philadelphia. the courses vary but most used kelly drive, the parkway, and i believe one variant used the vine street expressway & parts of I95. each time Paul Newman tries, he gets denied with reasoning that closing all the necesary streets would bring the city to an absolute standstill w/ traffic.


I for one would LOVE to see circuit racing in philly - but it aint gonna happen.

[den9]

the park way would be sick, u can watch from the arm museum, i think kelly drive would be cool but i dunno where they would loop back around. i can see 676 bein part of it.

i think it would be entertaining to see race cars flyin down south street and cobble stone roads

[doug]

I can vouch for this too, I remember hearing/reading about the idea.

[cburwell]

Originally Posted by WKderF

actually actor / race team owner Paul Newman has tried SEVERAL times to bring circuit racing to philadelphia. the courses vary but most used kelly drive, the parkway, and i believe one variant used the vine street expressway & parts of I95. each time Paul Newman tries, he gets denied with reasoning that closing all the necesary streets would bring the city to an absolute standstill w/ traffic.

I remember when he first did this years ago. I was psyched to go see some racing in the city!

I remember them siting traffic and the cost of prepping the roads as the reasons not to host the races. With the rising murder rate in the city, Philadelphia could use some positive publicity.

[cburwell]

Originally Posted by NOPSTNS

um, have u driven in philly in the past 50 years? the roads r pure hell. the dude must have been kidding. the entire northeast is known for bad roads so itll be a cold day in hell when a prestigous racing series ASKS to hold a race anywhere near here.

No matter where they go the roads/streets would have to be prepped for the races. It's not a matter of throwing up some barriers and curbing.

I would imagine that the host city and the racing league would work together to get the streets up to par. In either case repairs and modifications to the existing roads will need to be made.

[den9]

they would make so much money off this, they shut down the parkway for lots of events, live 8, 4th of july, bicycle racing.

plus they would get improved roads, i wonder if they would leave all the marks on the road from rubber. i wonder how much it would cost to run there tho? philly would bring it tons of money.

[cburwell]

I was thinking that they would make a good amount of money off of this as well. If they hosted multiple races over the years that would thin out the construction costs. I'm sure the wizards in the Philly government had a reason to say no.

[92dxman]

Paul Newman approached Philly about holding a street circuit race because he went to New York City about the idea and they flat out refused it because of how much of a massive traffic jam it would cause with all of the closures.

[DropTopChevy]

I remember hearing this and I'm pretty sure that the ben franklin parkway was going to be involved in the plans. It was like ages ago though

[twistedlanes]

WE should block off the streets at night like F& F and have our own Lemans races. Then well see what the city has to say about it. Paul Newman is the Sh** he's was like the Tom Cruise of his day. Too bad Tom Cruise doesn't have his own racing series. It could be called something like the Cruise Grand Prix.

[S4toSTI]

American cities seem to lack the insight that holding racing events within their city limits is a good thing. Cause monaco doesn't have any tourism or wealthy people right... wait a second.

[italianblaze]

[twistedlanes]

^^

[piknockout]

Would absolutely love to see this happen. An ALMS race that close would be great. Not to mention a few other race series would jump on as well for the weekend (i.e., Speed World Challenge GT and Touring Car...my two favorite series EVAR! ).