Round 16: Grand Prix of Portland, Portland International Raceway. Aug 30-Sept 1

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 16: Grand Prix of Portland, Portland International Raceway. Aug 30-Sept 1

Portland returns to AOWR 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, 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. Buildings went up quickly and soon Vanport had a population of more than 40,000, making it the the second largest city in the state of Oregon at that time and the largest public housing project in the nation. The city lay between the contemporary Portland city limits and the Columbia River, on reclaimed lowlands. Vanport was protected by a system of dykes which held the waters back. Tragically, after weeks of heavy rain, the dykes failed at 4.17pm on Memorial Day, May 30, 1948. A 10-feet high wall of water rushed in killing 15 people and within half an hour the entire city was flooded. When the waters eventually receded, all the buildings were destroyed, with no prospect of the remainder being habitable. After the debris was cleared away, the city 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 ws notable for two things. It the first standing start in Champ Car history, with all 17 cars getting away from the grid and there were caution flags.


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.

This year's race will be held in September on Labor Day weekend, promoted by Green Savoree Racing Promotions.

Some trivia:
Of the current crop of drivers, only five have previously raced at Portland.
Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan: 2002 G.I. Joe's 200.
Ryan Hunter-Reay: 2005 G.I. Joe's Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland.
Graham Rahal and Sébastien Bourdais: 2007 Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland.

Driver with most wins: Michael Andretti 3, Al Unser, Jr. 3
Team with most wins: Newman/haas Racing, 8

Track layout 1984-91:


Track layout 1992-2004:


Track layout 2005-07:


Track layout 2008 to now:


Lap record:
Justin Wilson, 2007 Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, June 8, 2007. 58.000, 121.903 mph (196.184 km/h)
RSPORTS, Panoz DP-01-Cosworth XFE. Champ Car World Series.

Last race pole:
Justin Wilson, 2007 Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, June 8, 2007. 58.000, 121.903 mph (196.184 km/h)
RSPORTS, Panoz DP-01-Cosworth XFE. Champ Car World Series.

Last race winner:
Sébastien Bourdais,
Newman/Haas/Lannigan Racing
Panoz DP-01-Cosworth XFE

Laps: 103
Distance: 202.292 Miles (325.557 Kms)
Race Time: 1:45:42
Speed: 114.816 mph (184.778 Km/h)

Cautions
0, lap 0.

TV Broadcast
Sep 2, 2:30pm ET.

[fieldodreams79]

Excellent Post #1 as ever

Looking forward to this one but I'll likely have to catch the replay as I'm actually going somewhere for a holiday for the first time in a long time.

[rwintle]

And thanks again for yet another excellent intro/background post.


In related news... Munoz in for Wickens in the #6 car:


https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...tland/3167403/

[mstets]

Great to see the return to a nice venue. None of my cars ever had a decent finish there but I can't hold that against the track. Hoping for a good crowd.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by rwintle

And thanks again for yet another excellent intro/background post.


In related news... Munoz in for Wickens in the #6 car:


https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...tland/3167403/

Good choice by SPM.

[mstets]

Interesting to see Marco fastest of the Andretti entries after two sessions at Portland. 4th overall behind Dixon (P1), Power, and Newgarden. Veach P5, RHR P7, Rossi P9. Harvey (P10) and King (P11) also going well. Hoping for an underdog to land on the podium, don't really care who.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by mstets

Interesting to see Marco fastest of the Andretti entries after two sessions at Portland. 4th overall behind Dixon (P1), Power, and Newgarden. Veach P5, RHR P7, Rossi P9. Harvey (P10) and King (P11) also going well. Hoping for an underdog to land on the podium, don't really care who.

Maybe it's his weekend!! Probably not

Welcome, BTW

[EffectiveSprinkles]

I watched some of it, a lot of people will find it entertaining but to me that was just a complete mess. Not much to do with racing in my opinion.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

I watched some of it, a lot of people will find it entertaining but to me that was just a complete mess. Not much to do with racing in my opinion.

I missed the race, so why was it a complete mess?

[Nick Woodbury]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

I watched some of it, a lot of people will find it entertaining but to me that was just a complete mess. Not much to do with racing in my opinion.

It was a tremendous race. Incredibly entertaining (save for the heavy incident at the start).

[JHamilton]

There was a caution during the final pit cycle which jumbled everything up. Nevertheless, there was terrific racing throughout the field and a big crowd. I like Taku as well, so all smiles over here. Dixon's luck and drive was great too.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

There was a caution during the final pit cycle which jumbled everything up. Nevertheless, there was terrific racing throughout the field and a big crowd. I like Taku as well, so all smiles over here. Dixon's luck and drive was great too.

Was the caution necessary, or was it one of those cautions those unnecessary ones?

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Was the caution necessary, or was it one of those cautions those unnecessary ones?

I believe it was Ferrucci coming to a stop on the outside of the racing line. So the answer is 'No' but not necessarily Indycar's fault. I'll be interested to hear your take on the race when you have a chance to watch.

[sceptic]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Was the caution necessary, or was it one of those cautions those unnecessary ones?

Not at all necessary.
But at the same time, the only driver disadvantaged by it really was Chilton.

[mstets]

Disappointing not to see a penalty for Veach , who caused the first lap caution even though he escaped without damage. This was surely "avoidable contact". I like Veach, just think that he was responsible for the indecent.

[gert]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Was the caution necessary, or was it one of those cautions those unnecessary ones?

Not really necessary IMO, but indycar does throw a yellow when a car is sopped on track, so not unexpected.

At least they waited until everyone had the chance to make a pitstop.
(Chilton chose not to stop, but that's up to him)

[mstets]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

There was a caution during the final pit cycle which jumbled everything up. Nevertheless, there was terrific racing throughout the field and a big crowd. I like Taku as well, so all smiles over here. Dixon's luck and drive was great too.

Agree. According to the live feed, there were several cars that made 10+ passes. I've looked for passing data in the past, but doesn't seem to be available after the live feed has ended.


Nice win for Taku, I'm a bit surprised to learn it's only his third.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by mstets

Agree. According to the live feed, there were several cars that made 10+ passes. I've looked for passing data in the past, but doesn't seem to be available after the live feed has ended.


Nice win for Taku, I'm a bit surprised to learn it's only his third.

Yep, but his first two were the best you can have.

[NaBUru38]

The car was on the outside of a corner. A truck had to pick it up. A full course yellow was necessary in my opinion. As gert says, race control waited until everyone took a pitstop.

[Mekola]

29, 29. Guess WHO used Number 29 for McLaren in 1978.
And not precisely in USAC...
Dammit.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mekola

29, 29. Guess WHO used Number 29 for McLaren in 1978.
And not precisely in USAC...
Dammit.

Nelson Piquet and what is the significance?

[bjohnsonsmith]

So far, I've watched the Fast Forward, 30 minute highlights of the race and of course that won't do the race justice.

Of what I've seen it looked like a good race. Dixon must be thanking the IndyCar Race gods; how he came out of that first lap incident is bordering on the miraculous. The yellow after Veach went off, seemed totally unnecessary, considering he got back on track. It seemed to mess things up rather, for the rest of the field. Hopefully, IndyCar will post the full race soon.

[joeb]

Finally got to see the race today. Managed to not get any spoilers, and thought the race was decent. Not as good as the announcers made it out to be, but I enjoyed it. The first lap was unfortunate, and Dixon might be one of the luckiest guys on the grid. Don't know how he got out of there unscathed. Never thought Sato would win through the first 2 pit cycles, but more power to him for getting the fuel strategy right.

[gert]

Originally Posted by joeb

Dixon might be one of the luckiest guys on the grid

Lucky to get out of there relatively unharmed and outscore his rivals, yes.
But unlucky because he was involved in an accident that was not of his making.

If he had been stuck and retired on the spot, everybody would say how unlucky he had been.

So unlcuky and lucky at the same time.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by gert

Lucky to get out of there relatively unharmed and outscore his rivals, yes.
But unlucky because he was involved in an accident that was not of his making.

If he had been stuck and retired on the spot, everybody would say how unlucky he had been.

So unlcuky and lucky at the same time.

Good point, lucky and unlucky.

Also I just remembered my favorite part of the broadcast. During the race they interviewed Ed Carpenter because both King and Pigot were doing so well and asked if he would let these guys do all the running next season. To which Ed says, I'm not retiring!