The group organizing the Verizon IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Boston has "earned approval from the Oklahoma City council to attempt to gain an open wheel race there," according to Brant James of USA TODAY. Sportserve LLC consultant Joe Mattioli, whose firm is operating the Boston race, said that they "were granted exclusive rights on Tuesday to develop plans for a race" in OKC, "perhaps as early" as '18. The effort is "being made independent of IndyCar and remains in its nascent stages." Mattioli said that the exclusive rights "expire in about a year." He "expects a limited liability company to be formed within the next month." Among the many steps will be "identifying a suitable race area and hiring a track designer to devise the course." Mattioli said that two sites have "been identified, but a final proposal would not necessarily involve city streets." Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles said that he "looked forward to aiding" Mattioli and Sportserve CEO Mark Perrone, but noted that OKC's location -- roughly 200 miles from Texas Motor Speedway -- "could be problematic" (USATODAY.com, 4/17).
HOT BED: In California, Louis Brewster writes unlike recent years, yesterday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the "final IndyCar Series event of the year in Southern California." There have been 14 seasons of two open-wheel races in Southern California since '97 -- one in Long Beach and another at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. SoCal is a "hot bed" of IndyCar racing and "has been for a very long time." The area "demonstrated it can handle two races a year," but there "will be those who will immediately disagree, citing a very poor crowd of 20,000 last June" for a race in Fontana. But to "be fair, it was the fourth different date for an ACS IndyCar race in four years, with races in September, October, August and June" (INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN, 4/18).
