Round 14: Grand Prix of Portland, Portland International Raceway. Sept 11-12
After a three week gap the IndyCar series resumes at Portland, which was cancelled last year because of the coronavirus. Portland as a race venue, returned to AOWR in 2018 after an 11 year hiatus, having previously been part of the CART/Champ Car schedule from 1984-2007.
Portland International Raceway is part of the Delta Park complex, on the former site of Vanport, which is just south of the Columbia River. The venue hosts ICSCC, SCCA and OMRRA road racing as well as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and SCCA autocross events.
The city of Vanport was hastily built by Henry Kaiser in 1942, to house World War II shipyard workers. With a population of more than 40,000, it was the second largest city in Oregon at the time and the largest public housing project in the USA. Vanport lay between the contemporary Portland city limits and the Columbia River, on reclaimed lowlands and protected by dykes. Tragically, after weeks of heavy rain, the dykes failed at 4.17pm on Memorial Day, May 30, 1948. A 10 foot high wall of water rushed in killing 15 people, flooding the entire city and destroying all the buildings. With no prospect of Vanport being habitable, it was abandoned.
In 1960, the city of Portland bought the land from the Army Corps of Engineers for $175,000. Racing enthusiasts saw the potential of the land and the Portland Rose Festival Association was persuaded to sponsor a race and so the Rose Cup was born, with its first running in June 1961. The race has been an important part of the Rose Festival ever since.
However, racing on the old city streets was dangerous, with drivers leaving the track unexpectedly or colliding with leftover concrete foundations or even finding themselves driving into ponds! Under threat of losing the Rose Cup races, as many of the sanctioning bodies refused to back races due to the deteriorating roads, the track was finally paved in the 1970s.
Funded by a $100,000 loan arranged by the Rose Festival Association from four banks, all of the monies were paid back by 1973 and the facility has operated as a commercial enterprise ever since, generating a profit for the City of Portland and meaning it requires zero funding by the taxpayer.
In 1975, the track changed its name from West Delta Park, to Portland International Raceway and hosted the third round of the Trans-Am Series, the premier series of the Sports Car Club of America, which was won by John Greenwood, driving a Chevrolet Corvette, who went on to win the championship that year.
On June 17, 1984, Portland hosted the fifth round of the CART PPG/IndyCar series, Stroh's 200 Miles, though for nearly its entire existence, the title sponsor of the race was G.I. Joe's sporting goods and auto parts store. It was won by Al Unser, Jr, in a March 84C-Cosworth DFX, driving for Galles Racing. The race became a perennial on the calendar, up until the last race as a Champ Car event on June 10, 2007, which was won by Sébastien Bourdais, in a Panoz DP-01-Cosworth XFE driving for Newman/Haas/Lannigan Racing. The race was notable for two things. It was the first standing start in Champ Car history, with all 17 cars getting away from the grid and there were caution periods.
Like many tracks on the IndyCar calendar, Portland has undergone a number of changes.
In 1984, prior to hosting the fifth round of the CART/PPG IndyCar series, the track underwent some $800,000 worth of improvements. Most noticeably was to the track itself, with the addition of a chicane, known as the 'Festival Curves', toward the end of the main straight, while a permanent pit lane and paved paddock area was installed for the first time on the infield. Elsewhere, Victory Boulevard was widened and concrete barriers and fencing were installed along the inside of its entire length. The final turn was also repaved and widened near the new pit entry road. The entire front straight, Vanport's Cottonwood Street, was also repaved. The changes increased the track length to 1.967 miles (3.165 km).
By 1992, the speed of the CART race cars need to be slowed and the Festival Curves were reconfigured into a much tighter chicane and paved in concrete. The Festival Curves were again modified for the 2005 season, with the second turn widened and made faster to try and alleviate the traditional first lap pile-up.
In 2008 PIR went through a further track renovation, with a complete resurfacing with new asphalt and the reconfiguration of Turns 4 to 7. The fence on the inside of turn 6 was moved to provide a better sight-line, while Turn 7 was sharpened, to slow cars down prior to entering the back straight. FIA-specification curbing was also installed around the track which opened in its new form on February 23, 2008, with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Some trivia:
Driver with most wins: 3, Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr.
Team with most wins: 8, Newman/Haas Racing.
Original Track layout 1966-68:
Track layout 1971-1983:
Track layout 1992-2004:
Track layout 2008 to date:
Lap record:
Will Power, September 1, 2018. 57.2143, 123.577 mph (198.877 km/h).
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevy Indy V6
Verizon IndyCar Series
Previous race:
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...Bvalue%5D=2243
Previous Pole:
Colton Herta, 57.8111. 122.302 mph (196.825 km/h)
Harding Steinbrenner Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI19R Indy V6
Previous winner:
Will Power
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevy IndyCar V6
Laps: 105
Distance: 206.22 miles (331.878 Kms)
Race Time: 1:58:43.
Speed: 104.225 mph (167.733 Km/h)
Fastest lap: Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing, lap 42. 59.0022 sec. 119.833 mph (192.852 km/h)
Cautions 3
Laps 18: 1-11, 14-16, 98-100.
Broadcast:
NBC. Sept 12, 3:00pm ET, 7:00pm UTC, 8:00pm BST
Sky Sports F1, 8:00pm BST