Thank You, St. Petersburg … The 21st annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding is in the books!
Lasting memories were made along the scenic downtown St. Petersburg waterfront starting on Thursday, Feb. 27, in North Straub Park with the INDYCAR Party in the Park and the 5K Run, featuring a record 1,276 registered runners and walkers. Then, the anticipation of another NTT INDYCAR SERIES season culminated with 27 cars taking the green flag last Sunday on the Albert Whitted Airport runway and diving for position into Turn 1.
The track build team did a tremendous job once again from start to finish. As of 8 p.m. last night (March 7th), all concrete blocks and fencing have been removed from the City of St. Petersburg streets … exceptional!
Jim Tario led the project which began February 10th, and 25 days later it all has been put back into storage. Tario was joined by equipment operators and workers Weston Bell, Kris Boatwright, Nathan Long, Spencer Prill, Dave Schwall, and Nathan Young. Additional operations leadership came from Craig Kersey with support from his team Chad Seufert, Deven Keady, and Ben Valentine. A massive thank you also goes to Stepp's Towing and Heavy Transport and Ring Power for their role in making it an efficient process.
The grandstand team led by Christopher Kersey and Paul Alterio with support from Jordan Sipes and Jordan Strohl, also is in the final stages of teardown of the reserved seating and suite structures. Fantastic crowds filled them throughout all three days.
Also, a special thanks to the approximate 500 volunteers who help make the event happen each year providing assistance in numerous different specialty areas. Click to watch a special video saluting these passionate supporters.
Finally, we are extremely proud and grateful for the continued collaboration with the City of St. Petersburg, Mayor Welch and his incredible staff - a special thanks to Tony Leno, Shawn Drouin and Greg Mitchell for their support of the build. We also wish Chris Ballestra a blessed retirement as he exits his city development role with St. Petersburg soon. He has been a great ambassador and supporter of the Grand Prix.
THANK YOU, FANS … THANK YOU, ST. PETE!
