THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503120005
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN
STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 217 lines
IT COULD BE the mayor's grand vision.
The setting is a sunny day in Virginia Beach. Bleachers line key turns and select straightaways along city streets.
They're filled with happy tourists and locals who gladly have forked over thirtysomething dollars to see grand prix race cars roaring along.
Call it the Virginia Beach 500.
Yep, racing at the Beach.
Last weekend, while Beach residents awoke to news that Norfolk was courting the battleship Iowa as a tourist attraction for its struggling Nauticus exhibit, several Virginia Beach leaders were in Miami watching a grand prix auto race and thinking about the future of tourism.
If the idea sounds familiar, it is. In 1988 the city of Norfolk contemplated a similar idea and decided it was too costly. But when it dropped the plan, its backers headed east to Virginia Beach to make the same pitch, which again died for lack of interest.
Now, spurred by an ever persistent drive to promote tourism, the city is once again thinking about what it would take to host a race and how that might improve tourism.
``Ten years ago, Miami made the decision that they could no longer take their tourism industry for granted,'' said Councilman Linwood O. Branch III, who represents the Beach Borough and who made the trip south last week.
Taking advantage of its sandy beaches and endless days of sun scorched blue skies, Miami hoped its aggressive plan to promote tourism would attract a little more than sun-hungry visitors.
It did. The result, Branch said, is the 16,000-seat Miami Arena, pro hockey (Florida Panthers) and basketball (Miami Heat) franchises, a pro golf tournament called the Doral Open, the Lipton tennis Championship and grand prix racing, all of which are broadcast nationally on ESPN.
``They did not assume that because they have beaches and sunshine that everybody's going to come to Miami,'' Branch said. ``And now everybody's buying into it, the governments and the populace who get to enjoy events at these different venues.''
Virginia Beach is not in the running for a professional sports franchise, but the idea of a nationally broadcast auto race has struck a responsive chord with city planners in their on-going search for events to balance out the so-called ``shoulder'' months of April and October.
For now, it's just talk. The city has not even approached race organizers with a serious proposal. But if enthusiasm were all they needed, political leaders already would be selling tickets and setting up barricades.
``It was the type of event that you did not have to be fearful about having your child with you because someone might say or do something inappropriate,'' said Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, an early champion of city-based auto racing.
``I've come back with enthusiasm that it can be a positive thing, with the realistic expectation that it will take hard work and commitment from private sector to make it a reality.''
The team representing Virginia Beach read like a who's who of tourism. In addition to Branch and Oberndorf, who was accompanied by her husband, Roger, the group included Vice Mayor W.D. ``Will'' Sessoms, an at-large councilman; Chief of Staff C. Oral Lambert; Walter J. Wilkins, the owner of Bay Chevrolet-Geo, and his wife, Isabel; John Carr, of Tarmac America and Carr's wife, Ieda; Bill Reid, of Cellar Door Productions, and Jim Karides, a Virginia Beach certified public accountant.
The group planned to fly on an airline but problems with the flight forced the group to make the trip in Tarmac's company jet, Wilkins said. Roger Oberndorf took a later flight out of town.
Wilkins is a long-time supporter of grand prix-style racing, having once been a key backer of Norfolk's efforts. Wilkins, who said he dreams of having the race in the oceanfront area, said he was trying again because the timing is better now.
``Nationally, the sport is booming. Attendance is up. TV coverage is way up and sponsorship is way up, so much so that there are many promoters building permanent facilities,'' Wilkins said.
The promoter of the Miami race is building a permanent track in nearby Homestead. Roger Penske, of Penske Speedways Inc., and Kaiser Metals are building a racetrack in Southern California at a projected cost of between $65 and $75 million, Wilkins said. Bruton Smith, president of Charlotte Motor and the Atlanta Motor speedways, is building a $75 million track in Fort Worth, Texas.
``There is also a new track going up in Las Vegas and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is building a track at Disney World in Orlando, which is scheduled for its first race in January 1996,'' Wilkins said. ``For people to invest that kind of money, there has to be a return on it.''
How far Wilkins will go in championing the cause in Virginia Beach, either in time or money, is uncertain. It depends on what promoter is found and how much the city is willing to spend.
``We are trying to find a promoter who has a successful track record in other cities . . . I'm enthusiastic. I would spend as much time as necessary,'' he said.
Asked why the project failed in Norfolk, Wilkins said, ``The reason it failed was budgetary. I don't think the leaders were willing to commit the funds necessary for the project.
``Meyera called me about this. I had put my files away. She asked me for information on what it would take to get this going again,'' he said.
While the team may have enthusiasm, it may need a little more.
Competition among cities for any kind of professional sporting event is notoriously fierce, and even cities that win a franchise or sanctioned event can lose them quickly.
There is a long list of temporary street circuit races that have come and gone in the last decade, said Adam J. Saal, director of public relations for IndyCar, one of the nation's premier promoters of Indy car races and the company that promotes Miami's race. (The Indianapolis 500 is sponsored by the United States Auto Club.)
Columbus, Ohio; Niagara Falls, N.Y.; San Antonio, Texas, and several cities in Florida, including West Palm Beach, all once ran street races of one kind or another, he said.
``And all of those were well promoted, tightly organized events. But in many cases, the dollar returns were not enough to pay the debt accumulated for the race,'' Saal said.
``It's no small fee for these shows,'' he added. ``You must have complete safety systems, poles with fencing on the top of barricades, and you can't build until within a few days of the race and that usually requires overtime from the city. It's not insurmountable, but you're looking at $5 million and that's only the starting point.''
Because of the high cost, promoters are increasingly turning away from races run on city streets and holding them instead on closed tracks, which Virginia Beach does not have.
``It's not that it's been a concerted effort to turn away from street races, but these `temporary' races are incredibly expensive to run,'' Saal said. ``In many cases the municipal bill is more than a promoter is prepared to handle.''
The initial start up cost is not lost on the city, and it seems not to have dimmed enthusiasm.
``The start-up money for the race is steep because of concrete barriers,'' Oberndorf said. ``And you have to make sure the road surface is appropriate and you have police and fire overtime protection. You need a date and a location. You need an appropriate promoter and the private sector would have to come to the table to match it, dollar for dollar.''
Still, the thrill of roaring race cars as an added tourist attraction keeps the dreams spinning in the minds of beach planners.
``We are definitely looking to see if this is not an attraction that could be used in the shoulder season,'' Oberndorf said. ``We have not talked to the people who put the races on like the International Motor Sports Association or IndyCars. And I can't tell you that we have found a promoter, nor have we found a location for the race or even decided on a date.''
For every story of a failed effort, there are other successful events that make resort planners warm with glee.
``Long Beach wrote the book on city races,'' said IndyCar's Saal. ``They held the first one in 1975. It has grown into our top race, in terms of attendance. In three days they'll get 300,000 people.
``If done correctly and with the right mix of civic and private support, it can benefit a city. The economic impact of a successful street race is a lot of times greater than those communities that use permanent tracks.''
This year, for example, marks the 14th year for Cleveland's race.
Held at Burke Lakefront Airport, the race last year drew 150,000 to watch Indy cars traverse a 10-turn, 2.37 mile track in a 200-mile race.
This year, the race, which is sponsored by the Cleveland-based International Management Group, is expected to generate $19 million in revenues for the Ohio city. It will be broadcast on the sports channel, ESPN and ABC and seen in 125 countries.
Detroit holds an annual race on Belle Isle, a park near downtown. This 161-mile race is run on a 2.1-mile loop with 14 turns. It brings in an estimated $39 million to the Motor City.
Dana G. Rinehart, the mayor of Columbus, Ohio from 1984 to 1992, was a champion of that city's now aborted Columbus 500 street race.
``It was great for the city,'' said Rinehart, who now practices law. ``We got national publicity, the kind money can't buy. ESPN, they replayed it constantly. An enormous amount of money came into the community.
``You know the cars just don't fall out of the sky. The people came here and rented hotels, ate in restaurants, spent money. Plus, you had people who came here for the race.''
On the down side, he said, was the inescapable fact that several of the city's downtown streets were shut down for a weekend - a major inconvenience in a large, capital city.
``One of the challenges is you have to get businesses leaders to come together,'' he said. ``You can't pull an event like this off without support from the private sector.''
Rinehart said the race faltered when its chief sponsor, race promoter Jim Trueman, died unexpectedly.
The race also encountered opposition from City Hall and some segments of the community.
``But it was Trueman who was really the energy behind the race,'' he said. ``The race was just about to turn the corner on becoming profitable. When he died, it was a great loss for the community. The spirit just fell out of the race, and of course it was a tragedy for his family. But his death just painted the demise of the race.
``With these events, you need someone who is a mono-maniac with a sense of mission. When he died, there was no one to pick up the spirit and move it forward.''
The experience in Miami last week, though, clearly had an impact on the group from Virginia Beach.
``I just saw a lot of parallels to Virginia Beach,'' Branch said. ``Miami is an area that's on the move. It couldn't help but rub off on you to see what they're doing and to know that a lot of the stuff that we're working on works in other places.'' MEMO: Staff writer Karen Weintraub contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: ON THE COVER:
WHEELS OF FORTUNE
[Color Photo]
IndyCars take over the streets of Miami during practice for the
Miami Grand Prix on March 3.
Photo by Chuck Fadely
Miami Herald
``Ten years ago, Miami made the decision that they could no longer
take their tourism industry for granted. They did not assume that
because they have beaches and sunshine that everybody's going to
come to Miami. And now everybody's buying into it, the governments
and the populace who get to enjoy events at these different
venues.''
Councilman Linwood O. Branch III
Photo by AL DIAZ/Miami Herald
Michael Andretti, front right, pulls out of the pits during
qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix on March 3. A slightly slower
mode of transportation basks in the background.
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf
KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING by CNB