The Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship announced today that they will not be in Detroit in August and instead will be doubling up their LA round in September to make sure the championship still has 10 rounds. An interesting turn of events and I’m curious to dig into what caused the Detroit fallout. Ford would have wanted to make a showing in their home town, but then again it is Detroit so maybe it was bound to fail anyway? Official Press Release is below.
RED BULL GLOBAL RALLYCROSS ANNOUNCES ADJUSTMENTS TO 2014 CALENDAR
LOS ANGELES, CA (July 10, 2014) — Red Bull Global Rallycross has announced an adjustment to its 2014 event calendar, effective immediately. Red Bull Global Rallycross Los Angeles, previously scheduled for September 19-20 on the Port of Los Angeles, will be extended to a three-day event, replacing the series’ round in Detroit scheduled for August 2-3.
Red Bull Global Rallycross Los Angeles will now serve as a doubleheader event, ensuring the preservation of the series’ 10-race championship. The race weekend will now kick off on Friday, September 19, while dual finals will be run on Saturday, September 20 and Sunday, September 21. Both events will be televised live on NBC.
In addition to the scheduled broadcasts, the series will run a 90-minute midseason recap broadcast on Sunday, August 3 at 4:30PM ET, which will include new and exclusive content to help showcase Red Bull Global Rallycross to its ever-growing fan base.
“Los Angeles has been the home of Red Bull Global Rallycross since the series was founded, and is home to some of our most passionate fans as well,” said Red Bull Global Rallycross CEO Colin Dyne. “By converting our round in Los Angeles into a three-day event and points-paying doubleheader, we offer additional value to our fans in one of our core markets, as well as creating additional championship intrigue for our fans watching at home on NBC. We remain committed to our fan base in Detroit, and we look forward to racing in the Motor City in 2015.”
The revised 2014 Red Bull Global Rallycross schedule is as follows:
- May 17-18: Top Gear Festival Barbados
- June 7: X Games Austin
- June 21-22: Volkswagen Rallycross DC
- July 19-20: Volkswagen Rallycross NY
- July 25-26: Red Bull Global Rallycross Charlotte
- August 22-23: Red Bull Global Rallycross Daytona
- September 19-20: Red Bull Global Rallycross Los Angeles I
- September 21: Red Bull Global Rallycross Los Angeles II
- September 26-27: Red Bull Global Rallycross Seattle
- November 5: Red Bull Global Rallycross Las Vegas
About Red Bull Global Rallycross
Designed to produce the fastest and most exciting racing in motorsports, Red Bull Global Rallycross pits small production-based cars against each other in door-to door racing featuring dirt, asphalt, and table-top jumps. With enhanced engineering and safety features, the cars produce 600 horsepower and can accelerate from 0- 60 miles per hour in less than two seconds, and can also withstand 70-foot jumps and other vehicle contact. For more information visit www.RedBullGlobalRallycross.com.
Bound to fail anyway? Hmm, way to make an ass of yourself. I’m dissapointed they couldn’t make it work.
Joe – First of all, I never said I didn’t want them to go to Detroit and that I wasn’t disappointed by it. If you have been following the news, you would know that Detroit is in Bankruptcy. Anything that costs the city any money must get approved by the lawyers handling the bankruptcy and all the city’s funds. Events like Red Bull GRC coming to town inevitably cost a city money in extra police, traffic changes, special public transportation for the event, etc. Granted a lot of those costs are recouped from taxes and fees from ticket sales and event tourism, but it is up to the administrators of Detroit’s bankruptcy to take that gamble. Additionally, if you’ve listened to our show and especially our coverage of IndyCar’s visit to Belle Isle in Detroit, you would understand where my comment comes from as they have not had the greatest attendance (which is sadly true of many IndyCar events of late). So between Detroit and it’s financial issues and a good bet that they won’t sell a ton of tickets, I’d say that’s probably the big reason they aren’t going there. Or it could simply have been an issue with the originally proposed venue deal falling through. Which is sad, because there are a bunch of old factories that would make for very interesting looking race courses (although probably too narrow).