Next year Formula 1 will go to Las Vegas to organize a Grand Prix. The track, which will pass through the Strip, will be surrounded by the most emblematic casinos of the city of Nevada: the MGM, the Wynn, the Bellagio… and also the Caesars Palace, which is already familiar with F1. In fact, the championship has already tried an experiment in Las Vegas, next to this same casino. It was in the early 1980s and the results weren’t really conclusive.
While relations between FOCA, the manufacturers’ association led by Bernie Ecclestone, and FISA, an FIA satellite led by Jean-Marie Balestre, were increasingly tense, a war ended up breaking out in the middle of the season. 1980. This led to the creation at the end of the year of a 100% FOCA pirate championship, the World Federation of Motor Sports. On the proposed schedule, 15 official events, including one in New York and one in Las Vegas!
If the New York Grand Prix never saw the light of day when FOCA and FISA buried the hatchet by signing the first Concorde Agreements in early 1981, the one in Las Vegas was indeed organized. Ecclestone was aware of the possibilities on the juicy American market and the abandonment of Watkins Glen, considered too dangerous, was the perfect opportunity for the Grand Argentier to treat himself to a circuit in town in a famous place. A formula still used today: Singapore with its marina, Baku with its castle, Miami with its Hard Rock Stadiumetc.
It is therefore next to Caesars Palace, one of the first major casinos on the Strip, that a 3.6 km circuit has been erected. The track was not very interesting from the point of view of piloting: completely flat and tortuous because located on the huge parking lot of the casino, it had 14 innocuous turns. Only the fact that the circuit rotated counter-clockwise posed a certain challenge for the drivers since it put more strain on the neck muscles.
The departure in 1981
The first edition concluded the 1981 season and therefore had to decide between Charles Reutemann, Nelson Piquet and Jacques Laffite, with all three men potentially winning the world title. Reutemann was the best placed in the championship with his one point lead over Piquet while Laffite, six points behind, was the big outsider.
The race turned to the advantage of Piquet, yet more frail than his two adversaries and who even fell from exhaustion at the finish. A favorite time, Laffite was the victim of the strong degradation of his Michelin tires while Reutemann, who started in pole position, completely missed his race. In fact, the atmosphere within the team Williams had become suffocating when Reutemann disobeyed instructions asking him to let his teammate Alan Jones, in Brazil, pass. Ironically, it was the same Jones who won in Las Vegas on the day of the Argentinian driver’s big defeat…
But to seduce the fans and fill the stands, a dream setting is not enough, you also need a good circuit. The first Las Vegas Grand Prix was a disaster for the casino, which lost millions of dollars. And even though ticket prices were lowered the following year and stars such as Diana Ross were invited to increase the cachet of the race, nothing might stop the bleeding.
As a result, the Las Vegas Grand Prix was scrapped following two years, with F1 falling back on Detroit, which shares much stronger ties to the automobile than the city of gambling and boxing matches. The CART ventured into the parking lot of Caesars Palace between 1983 and 1984, transformed for the occasion into a flat oval. But even Mario Andretti, Al Unser or Rick Mears, icons in the land of Uncle Sam, failed to attract spectators. Alas, the owners of the casino have definitively abandoned any idea of car racing on their land, which served as a construction site for the Mirage and the Forum shopping center.
Diana Ross with Michele Alboreto, the race winner, and Keke Rosberg, the 1982 World Champion
