ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In less than three weeks, some of the waterfront streets of downtown St. Pete will be transformed into a racecourse.
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be returning for its 22nd year from Feb. 27 to March 1. The 1.8-mile temporary street course has 14 turns and weaves around parts of downtown St. Pete, while also utilizing part of a runway at Albert Whitted Airport.
While work on the grandstands and part of the course inside the airport grounds has already begun, course construction affecting streets in downtown St. Pete begins on Monday.
Kim Green, with Green Savoree Racing Promotions, said it will take the team between 15-16 days to construct the course. That includes nearly 2,000 12-foot steel-reinforced concrete blocks that will be placed along the course, and 25,000 feet of chain-link fencing. Green said it will take Stepp’s Towing about 400 trips to haul all the necessary concrete.
Track setup took 75 days for the first race, and the group has gotten more efficient over time, Green said.
One of this year’s drivers, Nikita Johnson, 17, is from St. Pete and said the way the roads are constructed to drain rainwater makes the course even more interesting. He said the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is one of his personal favorites.
“It’s really tricky with the crests — we have a lot of crests here because we have to get the rainwater off,” he said. “It’s pretty hard because it sucks you into the corner, into the apex … so that’s a big thing here. There’s some interesting big bumps here that want to throw the car around.”
Construction on the course is expected to wrap up by Feb. 25. The races begin on Feb. 27 and run through that weekend.
New this year, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will also be competing. Those races take place Saturday, Feb. 28.
Angie Angers
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