My name is Jay Davidson. I am the COO of Baltimore Racing Development, LLC. I am working with a number of talented people to bring an internationally televised open-wheel street race sanctioned by the Indy Racing League to Baltimore. I will be blogging to update on our progress and hope to initiate discussions on racing in general (Indy, Nascar, F1 etc.). We will be inviting Indy drivers and others to introduce themselves to our community through charmcitycurrent.com.
For those of you who don’t know, the Indy Racing League is a series of races throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan (hopefully Brazil) etc., on oval tracks (i.e. Indianapolis and Homestead) , road courses (i.e. Watkins Glen, Sonoma) and temporary street circuits (i.e. Long Beach, Toronto, St. Petersburg). The most famous race on the circuit is of course the Indianapolis 500 which is the largest sporting event in the United States in terms of attendance. The series had formerly competed with the Champ Car Series until Champ merged into the IRL in 2008.
The series has a number of household names like Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti. The cars that would race on the streets of Baltimore are the same cars that race at the Indy 500. We expect speeds approaching 185 miles an hour on Pratt Street and elsewhere. Street races like the one we are proposing are 4 day festivals that typically include a series of races, concerts, beach volleyball, go-kart races etc. They have a significant economic benefit to the cities that host them.
I look forward to a conversation with you all about our efforts and racing generally. Jay
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Thank you very much for your interest, Johnsie!
The best thing to do is vsit our website. There’s a volunteer application you can fill out. Start there and our volunteer department will be in touch.
Thanks again!
Hello Jay,
I am a parent of high school students and two middle school students I see that you have a form for volunteers, not sure if you are aware but the students must earn service learning hours for graduation My children have earned all of theirs but the could earn more would they be able to volunteer? Please contact me 443 531 9811 Johnsie Perks
Superb details!!
Thanks for reaching out Larnell. I attended the race in St. Pete in 2008 and thought it was great. Jay
I currently living in St. Petersburg, Florida. I am from the great city of Baltimore which I love and miss. I can honestly say that the race that is held here is a wonderful and exciting event even if you are not a race fan. It’s a week of great events that brings thousands of people to St. Petersburg, it’s a lot if fun and a great economic boost also.
Yes. Once we get sanctioned, we’ll post descriptions.
Please follow us on FB and Twitter. We will be having happy hours at local restaurants that participate in our Founders’ Club. It would be great if lot’s of folks show for these events…….
All of those volunteer opportunities are for when/if we get the race. What could people do to help make it happen? You really need to get as many people onto your Facebook page to help spread the word, and show the IRL that Baltimore wants it.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111137933039&ref=search&sid=1270853906.3360283158..1&v=info
The Ravens have about 60K Facebook fans. You should shoot for at least 10k.
Supporter of Indy Racing in Baltimore here….
For the volunteer opportunity, will there be descriptions of each task/position included on the BRD website at some point?
Example: http://www.vegasgrandprix.com/volunteer/
Thanks for the interest in the race! Here’s a link to our volunteer application if you would like to get involved.
http://www.baltimoreracingdevelopment.com/volunteer.html
This would be an awesome event to see in Baltimore. Is there anything the general public can do to see it happen?
Great idea. I remember, years ago, how much business was generated in Miami by the crowds watching race cars roaring through downtown, the sound of their thudding engines bouncing off the waterfront skyscrapers.
But in Baltimore the potholes really will have to be fixed first…