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The San Jose Grand Prix was an annual
street circuit A street circuit is a motorsport racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor races. Airport runways and taxiways are also sometimes part of street circuits. Facilities such as ...
race in the
Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...
in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. The race had three different title sponsors over the course of its three-year existence, being known as the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose in 2005, Canary Foundation Grand Prix of San Jose Presented by Taylor Woodrow in 2006, and the San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway in 2007.


The track

Initially the track was designed to run near
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
, circling around the
SAP Center The SAP Center at San Jose (originally known as San Jose Arena and the HP Pavilion at San Jose) is an indoor arena located in San Jose, California. Its primary tenant is the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League, for which the arena h ...
. However, due to higher than expected costs for street repairs and improvements, among other concerns, race organizers moved to a course running directly through downtown. The course began on Almaden Boulevard running northerly along the southbound lanes of the road crossing VTA light rail tracks at San Carlos St. Just before reaching Santa Clara Street the course reached turn one, an abrupt hairpin that caused the drivers to double back in the southbound direction along Almaden Blvd again in the opposite direction of normal traffic. The course then turned east along Park Avenue at turn two. Turn 3 took the drivers on to Market Street passing
Plaza de César Chávez The Plaza de César Chávez is an urban plaza and park in Downtown San Jose, California. The plaza's origins date to 1797 as the ''plaza mayor'' of the Alta California, Spanish ''Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe'', making it the oldest public sp ...
through the shallow chicane of turns four and five again crossing the VTA light rail track. The course then turned right on to Balbach at turn 6. At the final turn 7 the course again turned right back on to Almaden Blvd. The entrance to the pit lane was also at turn 7. The course was the shortest and tightest track on the Champ Car schedule the three years the San Jose Grand Prix was run.


Event history


Inaugural event

The inaugural event was held July 29–31 in 2005. As the newest addition to the world series, the San Jose race was expected to raise interest in racing in
Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
. Although the Champ Car World Series was the main event, a number of other races were also held. Additionally, a week of fairs, music, charity events and promotional activities also supported the Grand Prix. The title event of the inaugural Grand Prix was held at 2:00 pm PST on July 31, 2005. It was race #8 of the 2005 Champ Car World Series. Other races included the
Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includ ...
, the
Toyota Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...
, the
United States Touring Car Championship United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
, and the
Historic Stock Car Racing Series The Historic Stock Car Racing Series (HSCRS) is an auto racing organization based on the west coast of the United States that was founded by San Jose, California businessmen John Davis in 1994 with a mandate to register, preserve, restore and con ...
. The weekend also featured the
Formula D Formula Drift (also known as Formula D) is a United States-based motorsport drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that int ...
Drift racing competition. On race weekend, many critics, including several drivers, criticized the track for being too narrow, too bumpy and dangerous. Some drivers even jokingly compared the track to a
motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competiti ...
track, and somewhat-seriously complained of headaches after several laps. Several modifications were made to the track following initial practice and qualifying sessions, including adding a
chicane A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
to the front stretch and moving a grandstand to make room for a bigger run-off area. Still, the crossing of the VTA's light rail tracks on the course actually caused the Champ Cars to bounce and become slightly airborne in a high-speed area of the track. On race day, the Champ Car race was largely a battle of survival, as half the starting field failed to finish the race, most due to crashing on narrow portions of the track, or mechanical problems caused by the bumpy rail crossings. There was also little on-track passing in the Champ Car race, although many of the support races did see quite a bit of on track passing. In the end, the event was still considered a success, as official attendance reports showed over 60,000 fans on race day, and total 3-day attendance exceeded 150,000.


2006 changes

As a result of the poor quality of racing in 2005, organizers of the San Jose Grand Prix promised that the track would be improved in the future in order to keep the race. For the 2006 event, there were several changes made to the Downtown San Jose Circuit. The biggest change was a pit road/frontstretch swap which put the start finish line closer to the premium Gold seating section, which was obstructed in 2005 by the palm trees on the Almaden Boulevard median. The swap also removed the chicane placed just before the rail crossing, making the stretch from Balbach to the Toyota Hairpin a straight shot. The proceeding left turn onto Park Avenue was widened to allow for more passing. The track at the second rail crossing along Market Avenue was leveled so that there would be no issue of cars 'taking off' again. The right turn from Market onto Balbach was also widened to create another passing opportunity. The San Jose Grand Prix organizers also had to deal with the decision of the owners of the CCWS to not renew their marketing agreement with the Trans-Am Series and the failure to attract the return of the United States Touring Car Championship. Once the Grand Prix had secured an appearance by the
Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young ...
USA series, organizers focused the rest of their budget on off-course attractions to further increase attendance. Their efforts were not successful, as revised attendance figures indicated a paid attendance of 83,248, a substantial decrease from 2005.


2007 event

For the 2007 event no on-course changes were made to the track other than general upkeep. However off the course some changes were made which included moving the luxury boxes from atop the main "gold" level seating grandstand at the start/finish line on Almaden Blvd, to track level on the inside of the course on Park Avenue. Also additional general admission seating was added to the course along Almaden Blvd. On March 9, 2007 San José Grand Prix President Dale Jantzen announced that
Redback Networks Redback Networks provided hardware and software used by Internet service providers to manage broadband services. The company's products included the SMS (Subscriber Management System), SmartEdge, and SmartMetro product lines. In January 2007, the ...
, an Ericsson company, would be the title sponsor of the 1.443 mile, seven-turn downtown temporary street circuit in 2007, the "Redback Raceway". The event was known as the San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway. Prior to the race on July 24,
Ryan Dalziel Ryan Dalziel ( ; born 12 April 1982), is a Scottish professional racing driver. Dalziel has seen the most success in his career in the United States, racing in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class and the Champ Car World Series, and winning t ...
, driver of the #28 DP01 for
Pacific Coast Motorsports Pacific Coast Motorsports was a racing team owned by Tyler Tadevic. Team history It was founded by Tadevic in 2003 and has competed in the American Le Mans Series, Champ Car Atlantic Series, and Rolex Grand-Am series. In 2007 it moved to the Ch ...
suffered a broken collarbone while training on his bicycle Tuesday morning. As a result of the injury, Dalziel missed the San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway. Dalziel consulted with Dr. Terry Trammell in order to determine his eligibility for round ten of the Champ Car World Series at Road America.
Mario Domínguez Mario Domínguez (born December 1, 1975, in Mexico City) is a Mexican racing driver. He has competed in the CART and CCWS Champ Car series and later the IndyCar Series. Early career Domínguez first began racing in 1987 driving go-karts. H ...
was announced the next day as his replacement for San Jose. Race events were held from July 27–29. On course the 2007 event featured races run by the
Historic Stock Car Racing Series The Historic Stock Car Racing Series (HSCRS) is an auto racing organization based on the west coast of the United States that was founded by San Jose, California businessmen John Davis in 1994 with a mandate to register, preserve, restore and con ...
,
Formula D Formula Drift (also known as Formula D) is a United States-based motorsport drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that int ...
drift competitions,
Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young ...
,
Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...
and the marquee running of the
Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...
. Friday and Saturday featured qualifying for the Champ Car race, with Sebastien Bourdais winning the provisional pole on Friday. However the 2007 San Jose Grand Prix pole sitter for the Champ Car race was Justin Wilson from the UK with a run of 49.039 on Saturday. The race was won by Champ Car rookie driver
Robert Doornbos Robert Michael Doornbos (; born 23 September 1981) is a Dutch former racing driver who also competed with a Monégasque licence. He has been test and third driver for the Jordan and Red Bull Racing Formula One teams, as well as driving for M ...
from the Netherlands. The Champ Car Atlantic race was won by
Jonathan Bomarito Jonathan Bomarito (born January 23, 1982) is an American professional racing driver from Monterey, California. After much success in karting and two years driving in Grand-Am Cup, Jonathan Bomarito moved to Formula Ford 2000 USA in 2003 and won ...
. Final attendance figures released for the Grand Prix showed mixed results when compared to 2006. 3-Day paid attendance was down slightly as was attendance on Saturday to 81,538. However overall attendance was equal to 2006 with about 120,000 people visiting the race over the course of the race weekend. And Sunday race day attendance was actually up slightly from 2006 according to race organizers.


2008 event

The 2008 San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway was going to be held on July 25–27, 2008. However, on September 11, 2007 it was announced that the race was canceled and the Northern California Champ Car race would be moving back to
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...
. That event was later canceled in February 2008 when Champ Car World Series ceased operations and was merged into the
Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...
.


Attendance


Past winners


References

{{Champ Car tracks Champ Car races Champ Car circuits Defunct motorsport venues in the United States Motorsport competitions in California Motorsport venues in California Sports in San Jose, California