Streets of Miami

The Streets of Miami refers to four street circuits set up in the Miami-area. Four distinct sites have been utilized over the years:

• Temporary street course at Bicentennial Park & Bayfront Park: IMSA (1983-1985)
• Temporary street course in Tamiami Park (CART, 1985-1988)
• Semi-permanent street course at Bicentennial Park: IMSA (1986-1993), CART (1995)
• Temporary street course at Bayfront Park: Champ Car and ALMS (2002-2003)

Courses

Bayfront Park circuit 1

IMSA debuted in Miami on the first temporary street circuit in 1983. The 1983 event was deemed a quagmire as torrential rains plagued race day. Few fans stuck around, and the race was halted after only 27 laps due to standing water on the course. After losing a million dollars on the effort, promoter Ralph Sanchez refused to give up after only one running. The race returned as a tremendous success in 1984.

This IMSA course was the site of filming of an episode of Miami Vice, guest starring driver Danny Sullivan.

Tamiami Park

In 1985, the CART series began racing on a temporary street circuit in Tamiami Park, a small outdoor sports facility in the nearby suburb of Tamiami. The race was held in late-October/early-November, and served as the season finale. In 1987-1988, the short-lived CART all-star exhibition race, the Marlboro Challenge, was also held at the Tamiami circuit, in conjunction with the main event. The races did not enjoy the same interest or attendance that had been experienced by the annual IMSA races in the spring. After 1988, the Tamiami Park race was discontinued. As of 2007, subtle remnants of the course are still visible.

Bicentennial Park 1

Geoff Brabham in the Nissan NPT-91 about to take the checkered flag at the conclusion of the 1992 Miami Grand Prix on the Bicentennial Park circuit.

For 1986, the IMSA circuit was shifted slightly north to a new semi-permanent layout in Bicentennial Park, along Biscayne Boulevard. The race enjoyed tremendous popularity and continued through 1993.

Bicentennial Park 2

In 1995, race promoter Ralph Sanchez brought open wheel racing back to Miami. He had already begun construction on the Homestead Motorsports Complex (now known as Homestead-Miami Speedway), where the race would be, but the track would not be completed until later in the year. For 1995 only, CART held a race on the original Bicentennial Park circuit, on Biscayne Bay, formerly used by IMSA from 1983-1993. It was, however, run in the opposite direction to prevent drivers familiar with the circuit from having an experience advantage. The course wound through roads surrounding the current site of AmericanAirlines Arena and traversed down Biscayne Boulevard. As of 2009, some of the course layout remains intact.

In 1996, CART debuted at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. In 2001, the race switched to the Indy Racing League, and is now known as the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300.

Bayfront Park circuit 2

For 2002-2003, CART returned to Miami for a short-lived race on a third distinct street course. The layout was located in the same vicinity of the 1983 IMSA Bayfront course.

Past winners

A current photo of Biscayne Boulevard shows subtle remnants of the Bicentennial Park circuit (left)

Season	Date	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team
CART Champ Car history (Tamiami Park street course)
1985	November 10	Danny Sullivan	March	Cosworth	Penske Racing
1986	November 9	Danny Sullivan	Lola	Cosworth	Penske Racing
1987	October 31	Bobby Rahal	Lola	Cosworth	TrueSports
1987	November 1	Michael Andretti	March	Cosworth	Kraco Racing
1988	November 5	Michael Andretti	Lola	Cosworth	Kraco Racing
1988	November 6	Al Unser, Jr.	March	Chevrolet	Galles Racing
CART Champ Car history (Bicentennial Park street course)
1995	March 5	Jacques Villeneuve	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	Team Green
CART Champ Car history (Bayfront street course)
2002	October 6	Cristiano da Matta	Lola	Toyota	Newman/Haas Racing
2003	September 28	Mario Dominguez	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Herdez Competition

IMSA history (Bicentennial Park street course)

The large fountain was featured in the second Bayfront circuit.

Season	Date	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team
Budweiser Grand Prix of Miami
1983	February 27	Al Holbert	March 83G	Chevrolet	Holbert Racing
1984	February 26	Doc Bundy Brian Redman	Jaguar XJR-5	Jaguar	Group 44
Löwenbräu Grand Prix of Miami
1985	February 24	Al Holbert Derek Bell	Porsche 962	Porsche	Holbert Racing
1986	March 2	Bob Wollek Paolo Barilla	Porsche 962	Porsche	Bayside Leven Racing
Grand Prix of Miami
1987	March 1	Elliott Forbes-Robinson Geoff Brabham	Nissan GTP ZX-T	Nissan	Nissan Electramotive Engineering
1988	February 28	Price Cobb James Weaver	Porsche 962	Porsche	Dyson Racing
Nissan Grand Prix of Miami
1989	March 5	Geoff Brabham Chip Robinson	Nissan GTP ZX-T	Nissan	Nissan Electromotive Engineering
1990	October 6	Geoff Brabham Chip Robinson Bob Earl	Nissan GTP ZX-T	Nissan	Nissan Electromotive Engineering
Nissan Camel Grand Prix of Miami
1991	April 7	Raul Boesel	Jaguar XJR-10	Jaguar	TWR
Toyota Grand Prix of Miami
1992	February 22	Geoff Brabham	Nissan NPT-91A	Nissan	Nissan Performance Technologies
1993	February 21	Juan Manuel Fangio II	Eagle Mk III	Toyota	All-American Racers

Indy Lights/Formula Atlantic winners

Season	Date	Winning Driver	Series	Circuit
1986	November 9	Fabrizio Barbazza	American Racing Series	Tamiami Park
1987	November 1	Jeff Andretti	American Racing Series	Tamiami Park
1988	November 6	Tommy Byrne	HFC American Racing Series	Tamiami Park
1992	February 22	Russell Spence	SCCA Toyota Atlantic	Bicentennial Park
1995	March 4	Patrick Carpentier	Players Toyota Atlantic Championship	Bicentennial Park
1995	March 5	Greg Moore	PPG Firestone Indy Lights	Tamiami Park
2003	September 28	Michael Valiante	Toyota Atlantic Championship	Bayfront Park street course

See also

• GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300
• Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (another Florida street course race)