ROAR OF ENGINES SET FOR DOWNTOWN; L.A. TO STAGE NASCAR EVENT.Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer Despite a $1.5 million loss last year, Los Angeles Marathon The Los Angeles Marathon is an annual marathon held in Los Angeles, California since 1986. It was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. The race starts at about 8:15AM and runs through Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, the Crenshaw district, and promoter Bill Burke announced plans Monday to bring NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. competition to the streets of downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or over the three-day Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. weekend. ``With NASCAR racing, I think we will be able to draw bigger crowds than last year and make this profitable,'' Burke said at a news conference at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum For board track racing circuit, see . Present use The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre , around which the race will be run. Unlike last year's event, which was limited to vintage race cars, Burke said this year's program will include the Ford/NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series with a 100-mile race Sept. 7. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing: see NASCAR. event will cap a three-day extravaganza including vintage racers, the American City Racing League and a truck series race. ``Auto racing has become the No. 1 spectator sport in the world,'' Burke said. Burke said the race would be moved from around the Olvera Street area to the Coliseum to address concerns over traffic jams and improve the racecourse. The 1.4-mile course being laid out around and through the Coliseum would cause less traffic congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. during the set-up period as well as on race days, he said. During the race, the Exposition Park area is expected to be the site of special events, including a Motoring and Lifestyle Expo in the Sports Arena and an outdoor interactive event called the L.A. Racing Experience. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said the race and other events will give the city a chance to showcase Exposition Park. ``When people tune in and see people having picnics in a safe setting, this sends a powerful message to those who question what we are doing in Exposition Park,'' Ridley-Thomas said. The councilman said the only costs to the city would be in traffic control work, with Burke picking up the estimated $2 million in other costs. Burke said he believes the event can break even if 200,000 people attend the races. ``We learned a lot from last year,'' Burke said. ``Even though it ended up in the red, we saw 110,000 people attend. We think by being in the Coliseum and Exposition Park area, it will be more customer friendly and give us more room to get more people in.'' Burke said he also will be providing sky box tickets to various charities to use in their fund raising. Among these are City of Hope National Medical Center City of Hope is one of 39 NCI-designated Cancer Centers and is located in the city of Duarte, California. City of Hope comprises an ambulatory and in-patient cancer treatment center as well as a biomedical research facility known as the Beckman Research Institute and the City of Hope , the Inner-City Council for Abused and Neglected Children and Tree People. Tickets for the event will range in price from $5 for children under the age of 12 to a maximum of $35 for adults on the final day of racing. For further information, contact LA Events at (310) 444-5544. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion