With 4 Months To Go, Will Grand Prix Race?

Is Charm City on the verge of losing a marquee event that brings world wide attention?  Julie Scharper's latest article in the Baltimore Sun is causing some anxiety.  Scharper joined The Norris & Davis Show this morning on Baltimore's 105-7 THE FAN, 'It's not really for me to say or make a judgement call about this city but it is surprising that a group that this city had endorsed so heartily could fall apart so quickly.'  Ed Norris responded humorously, 'You're a reporter.  You write down the facts and we'll place the blame.'

This all stems from the article stating that Downforce Racing, the promoter hand-picked by the city to manage the Baltimore Grand Prix, has failed to make any progress in marketing the event or selling tickets.

Listen to the entire interview here:

The city deemed Downforce Racing worthy of taking over the event after Baltimore Racing Development, the original organizers, collapsed due to financial reasons shortly after last season's event.

Baltimore politicians sang the praises of Downforce Racing after its leader, Dale Dillon, lent financial aid and leadership in the final, critical week's leading up to last year's inaugural event.  Besides Dillon, Downforce Racing comprises of Baltimore businessmen Dan Reck and Felix Dawson of Wilkes Lane Capital, an investment firm.

The Baltimore Grand Prix is scheduled to run 4 months from today.  Scharper says that there is still hope that the event will go off as scheduled, 'Indycar and the city are still negotiating.  The hope at this point is that Indycar will find a group that will be able to put this race on with people that have a lot of experience putting on these races.  And this group will come in, sign a new contract with the city.'