The West Michigan Grand Prix was a weekend of professional auto racing held at the

Scott Brayton Scott Everts Brayton (February 20, 1959 – May 17, 1996) was an American race car driver on the American open-wheel circuit. He competed in 14 Indianapolis 500s, beginning with the 1981 event. Brayton was killed in practice after qualifying ...

Memorial Street Circuit in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. The first edition was held in 1998 and the final edition in 1999. The Grand Prix was sanctioned by

SCCA Pro Racing SCCA Pro Racing is the pro racing division of the Sports Car Club of America. SCCA Pro Racing was formed in 1963, the company is a fully owned subsidiary of SCCA. Current Championships Since the beginning in 1963 SCCA Pro Racing sanctioned vario ...

History

The West Michigan Grand Prix was first announced in 1997 by SCCA Pro Racing. As part of the promotion of the event three

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 ...

cars raced down Fulton Street. A

Ford Mustang Cobra The Ford SVT Mustang Cobra (also known as SVT Mustang Cobra, SVT Cobra, or simply as Cobra) is a muscle car/pony car model that was built in model years 1993 through 2004 by Ford Motor Company's Special Vehicle Team division (or SVT). The SVT ...

Oldsmobile Cutlass The Oldsmobile Cutlass was a series of automobiles produced by General Motors' Oldsmobile division between 1961 and 1999. At its introduction, the Cutlass was Oldsmobile's entry-level model; it began as a unibody compact car, but saw its greates ...

and

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

passed Grand Rapids mayor

John H. Logie John Hoult Logie (August 11, 1939 – August 4, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1992 to 2003, one of the longest-serving in the city's history. Early life and education Logie wa ...

waving the green flag. Alan Wilson designed the 13-turn track named after late

IndyCar Series 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 of ...

driver

. Brayton suffered a deadly crash during

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianap ...

practice in 1996. Before the inaugural Grand Prix weekend official pre parties were held at the

Grand Rapids Art Museum The Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) is an art museum located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, with collections ranging from Renaissance to Modern Art and special collections on 19th and 20th-century European and American art. Its holdings ...

and Van Andel Museum Center. The Trans-Am Series was the headline event of both West Michigan Grand Prix editions. The first edition saw 31 Trans-Am cars take the green flag.

Bill Saunders William Hardin "Navy Bill" Saunders (June 20, 1898 – March 13, 1950) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Colorado State Teachers College—now the University of Northern Colorado—from 1928 to 1 ...

won the race with a margin of victory of over 44 seconds. The largest field was that of the SCCA Spec Racer Ford Pro Series in 1999. 40 cars participated in the race. The fastest overall racelap was set by Todd Snyder in the 1999

Barber Dodge Pro Series The Barber Dodge Pro Series was a professional open-wheel auto racing series from 1986 to 2003. It was one of the first professional spec series for open-wheel racecars in North America. The races were primarily on road and street courses in Nor ...

. Snyder passed polesitter Sepp Koster for the lead on lap 17. Koster left a gap coming out of turn one and Snyder could pass him for the lead. Without backing from a major corporate sponsor the Grand Prix folded after 1999. Despite attracting more than 100,000 racefans both years, there were also complaints about the noise and the large number of streets which were closed. The track is now home to the Grand Cycling Classic, an event part of the

United States National Criterium Championships The United States National Criterium Championships are held annually and run by the national governing body, USA Cycling. The event has formerly been held at venues including Denver, Colorado, Downers Grove, Illinois, and Glencoe, Illinois. The 201 ...

Winners

Trans-Am

World Challenge T1/GT

World Challenge T2/TC

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Spec Racer Ford Pro Series

Keller Ford Vintage Grand Prix Race

References

External links

Official website (archived)
{{coord, 42, 57, 40, N, 85, 39, 20, W, region:US_type:event, display=title Motorsport in Michigan Motorsport venues in Michigan Sports venues completed in 1998 1998 establishments in Michigan Sports Car Club of America