The 'roar' of Indycars in Miami

In the 1980s real estate developer Ralph Sanchez helped promote Miami by bringing auto racing downtown. First, with the IMSA Camel GT series with a race held just outside the Port of Miami at Bicentennial Park in March and then with an Indycar race held at Tamiami Park in November. While the Camel GT race flourished, the Indycar race never drew as many fans. The Indycar race was held 1985-88 and featured the Marlboro Challenge, a short race featuring Indycar's top drivers from the season all seeking their share of a healthy prize fund.

The most-memorable Indycar race at Tamiami was 1985, when Al Unser beat his son to the championship by a single point. Here are a couple of articles previewing the race, as well as post-race coverage.



A lot of work was done to help promote the Indycar race, including this promotional video titled "Roar of Miami" and featuring David Hasselhoff of Knight Rider fame.


While Indycar stopped coming to Miami, the Camel GT race flourished until 1993. After that season the big and powerful GTP cars were replaced by a new formula that attracted few entrants. Camel money had dried up as well and budget cuts meant the IMSA series would not return for 1994. Ralph had already begun plans to use reclaimed land in nearby Homestead, devastated by a hurricane a few year's earlier, to build a permanent oval. For 1994, Sanchez hosted a Trans-Am race at Bicentennial Park and had hoped to have the oval ready in time for Indycar's return to Florida in 1995. It wasn't, which lead to a one-off visit by Indycar to downtown Miami. Beginning in 1996, open-wheel racers would regularly visit the Homestead-Miami Speedway; some year's both the CART Fed-Ex Series and the Indy Racing League making visits to the track. Champ Car also tried to revive downtown racing in Miami in 2002-03 but the new circuit was crammed into a small section of the city, offered little opportunity for racing or fan access, and was not successful.