The Meadowlands Grand Prix was a

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

race held at the

Meadowlands Sports Complex The Meadowlands Sports Complex is a sports complex located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The facility is owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). It is named for the New Jersey Meadowlands ...

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an inner suburb, inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 Unit ...

from 1984 until 1991. The event was the first major auto race in the

New York City metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

since the 1937

Vanderbilt Cup The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. History An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County, New York, Nass ...

, and came with high expectations, including the potential of rivaling the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

in stature, and crowds of up to 60,000. After only eight years, and two separate course layouts, the event proved to be unpopular and a money-loser. Both course layouts were criticized, and the event is generally regarded as one of the worst CART races in the series' history. Despite its negative legacy, the event holds some distinctions, including a notable late-race duel between Al Unser Jr. and

Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Fittipaldi won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with Team ...

in 1988, and in 1989 the milestone final victory for the Cosworth DFX/DFS.

History

In 1982,

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

announced a race in the

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area for the 1983 season. However, the race, which was to take place in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, was first postponed, then canceled. At the same time,

and the

, with the help of

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

promoter Chris Pook, announced a race for the 1984 season. The race would take place on a 15-turn, , temporary road course set up in the parking lots around

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...

. The inaugural event's purse of $536,000 made it the richest race in CART history apart from Indianapolis. The race carried high expectations, was televised nationally, and came on the heels of high-profile successes at former Formula One events in

and

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. A crowd of 50,000 was expected. During practice and qualifying, drivers criticized the tight nature of the course. The race began on a damp track, and

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and American open-wheel racing, IndyCar from 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964 to 1994 IndyCar se ...

led all 100 laps to win. Despite the rainy weather, 34,388 spectators watched the race. The 1985 event saw better weather and better attendance, but still fell short of expectations. The organizers signed a 3-year contract to continue the race, but the circuit's parking lot nature, giving neither the park-like setting of a natural terrain road course nor the atmosphere of a downtown street race, began to draw criticism from drivers and journalists. In 1988, officials changed the layout to a semi-oval layout surrounding

Brendan Byrne Arena Meadowlands Arena (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) is a closed indoor sports and concert venue located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. Since closing, ...

in an attempt to improve competition and sight lines for spectators, and the race attracted a record 45,025. In addition, new race sponsor

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...

offered a $1 million bonus for any driver who could win at the Meadowlands,

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, and the

Marlboro Challenge The Marlboro Challenge was an All-star game, all-star race in the Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART series race held from 1987 to 1992, sponsored by cigarette brand Marlboro (cigarette), Marlboro. After 1992, the race was discontinued, in part b ...

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in the same season; no driver would ever win the bonus. Despite the new layout and increasing purses, attendance dipped and the race failed to turn a profit. The promoters considered moving the event to Washington, D. C.,

, or Englishtown, New Jersey. The race was eventually scheduled for 1992 on a circuit in

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on the roads surrounding the World Trade Center and West Street. The race was postponed until 1993 then cancelled due to cost and conflicts between sponsor Marlboro and Mayor

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' anti-tobacco advertising policies.

Lap records

The fastest official race lap records at the Meadowlands Grand Prix are listed as:

Race winners

ARS/Indy Lights winners

Trans-Am winners

IMSA GT winners

Race notes

*1988: Al Unser Jr. and

battled at the end. The two cars touched and Fittipaldi veered into a bank of tire barriers. Unser Jr. went on to win. The following year at the

, the two would be involved in another late-race duel, this time with Fittipaldi winning. *1989:

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

scores his only victory of the 1989 season. It was the lone victory for the "short stroke" Cosworth DFS, and the 153rd and final race win for the Cosworth DFX/DFS in Indy car racing. The race was halted 5 laps early due to heavy rains and standing water on the course. Rahal held off points leader

for the victory. *1990: Michael Andretti led 105 of the 150 laps en route to victory, in a crash-filled race.

and

tangled and crashed on lap 41, while contender Arie Luyendyk later stuffed his car into a tire barrier trying to lap Dominic Dobson. Later Luyendyk missed the turn into turn one, and veered off onto an escape road. He infamously had to drive up an exit ramp and into the

parking lot to turn around and return to the race course. *1991:

snaps a 34-race losing streak and wins his first CART race in nearly two years to the day of his last win (1989 Meadowlands Grand Prix). It would be the final Meadowlands Grand Prix.

Notes

References

{{Trans-Am tracks Champ Car races Meadowlands Sports Complex East Rutherford, New Jersey Motorsport in New York City Motorsport in New Jersey Recurring sporting events established in 1984 Recurring events disestablished in 1991 1984 establishments in New Jersey 1991 disestablishments in New Jersey