Motor Sports
Las Vegas has become an internationally known motor racing locale having hosted the elite Formula One racers at Caesars Palace and the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) for Indy racers in the early 1980s. Las Vegas was also the home of the famed "Mint 400" Desert Race from 1968–1987 run in the unforgiving Nevada desert outside Las Vegas. Nearly 100,000 spectators lined the 100 mile (160 km) loop to view the 500 plus off road racing vehicles. Sponsored by Del Webb's Mint Hotel and Casino, the event was the largest and richest event in the sport. The technical and safety inspection was held on famed Fremont Street and became one of the major must attend sporting events in Las Vegas history. The race ended when Del Webb organization sold the Mint Hotel to the adjacent Horseshoe owned by the legendary Binion gaming family.
Over the years, Vegas was the host for the Caesars Palace Grand Prix.
The CanAm races 1966–68 were held at the old Stardust Raceway and were officially called the Stardust Grand Prix.
In July 2006, the Las Vegas City Council approved a 2.44-mile, 14-turn, counterclockwise street circuit in the downtown area for a Champ Car event slated for April 6–8, 2007.
Read more about this topic: Sports In Las Vegas
Famous quotes containing the words motor and/or sports:
“This biplane is the shape of human flight.
Its name might better be First Motor Kite.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“There be some sports are painful, and their labor
Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters
Point to rich ends.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)