Not a yes, but not a no. Davidson had another motive, also. He figured that the racetrack grandstands just might do double duty as seating for an outdoor concert stage like the ones he controls at Pine Knob and Meadow Brook. So much for the history. The Detroit Grand Prix is a disappointment on Belle Isle.
Attendance is low and the course is too slow.
The News' motor sports writer Angelique Chengelis suspects that something may be cooking to move the Grand Prix again. The fair sported a big-league lineup of entertainment attractions all 14 nights last summer without incident. The biggest obstacles to these ideas, in the end, may not rest with the fair at all. More likely, they would reside with Detroit officials, who too often have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and even felt good about it. Pete Waldmeir's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in The Detroit News.