LAS VEGAS (Sept. 27, 2006) – Vegas Grand Prix, the first world-class street race in Las Vegas, has joined forces with World Market Center, which is on its way to being the largest trade show complex in the world, to unveil two projects that will have a significant impact on Las Vegas.
World Market Center and Vegas Grand Prix partnered to present a Sept. 27 party at World Market Center’s atrium, located at 495 Grand Central Parkway in downtown Las Vegas. Invited guests included local and visiting dignitaries, participants, furniture and racing industry leaders, media and others.
Vegas Grand Prix announced plans for its April 6-8 event, a three-day festival of speed and entertainment with big-name boxing, concerts, a world-class poker tournament and other festivities leading up to the season-opening race of the Champ Car World Series. In addition, Champ Car President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Johnson joined some of the top drivers from the open wheel racing series in unveiling Champ Car’s 2007 race schedule.
The evening event followed the official groundbreaking of Building C, the third building at World Market Center, an integrated home and hospitality contract furnishings showroom and convention complex. When fully built, with 12 million square feet in eight buildings, World Market Center will be the largest trade show complex in the world.
Vegas Grand Prix owners Dale Jensen, who is also a co-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team and the Phoenix Suns National Basketball Association team, and Bradley Yonover, an entertainment entrepreneur, said Vegas Grand Prix appreciates World Market Center’s support.
“Besides being a great venue for this party, World Market Center has become a huge supporter and partner in the Vegas Grand Prix,” Jensen said.
“We’re thrilled to share in this celebration and to share in each other’s success,” Yonover added.
“In support of our public-private partnership with the city, we are constantly exploring opportunities to enhance the position of downtown. Through a strategic partnership with Vegas Grand Prix, we are working with the event’s organizers to leverage World Market Center’s campus for the prime location of staging hospitality suites and key event facilities. World Market Center’s site will provide among the best opportunities for viewing the race and will certainly help to draw a base of tourists and residents to be a part of this spectacular downtown event,” said Harvey Dondero, chief executive officer of World Market Center.
Vegas Grand Prix organizers said they are thrilled to build on the history of racing in Las Vegas, which includes races in the 1950s behind the old Thunderbird Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip and the Mint 400 off-road race in the 1970s and 1980s. Fans of open wheel racing flocked to Las Vegas from 1981 to 1984, when the Caesars Palace Grand Prix was run on a temporary track just north of the hotel.
But, as Yonover pointed out, the Vegas Grand Prix will be the first time such a race has ever been held on the streets of Las Vegas. The Vegas Grand Prix will run April 6-8 over a 2.4-mile, 14-turn street course that will include Ogden Avenue, Main Street, Casino Center Boulevard and Carson Street. A feature of the race circuit will be a sweeping curve behind the Union Plaza, near the World Market Center and the Clark County Government Center.
The three-day festival will also include support races, along with concerts and boxing matches in what has been deemed the biggest event of its kind in an area known as Glitter Gulch.
In opening the 2007 Champ Car World Series schedule, the Vegas Grand Prix is projected to generate an economic impact of about $76.7 million for downtown and surrounding areas of Las Vegas while also producing an additional $3.8 million in state and local tax revenue.
The race is scheduled to be televised live nationally on network television and internationally in more than 180 countries, generating positive media coverage and national exposure for Las Vegas in general, and downtown in particular.
About the Vegas Grand Prix
The Vegas Grand Prix is being presented by DDB Ventures, a company based in Phoenix, Ariz. that has managed several Champ Car World Series races in the U.S. and beyond. DDB Ventures was established in 2005 by principals Bradley Yonover and Dale Jensen. Yonover, an entertainment entrepreneur, and Jensen, well known in the sports entertainment industry as the largest single owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and part owner in the Phoenix Suns, have partnered to create an entertainment, motor sports and film investment entity. For more information, call (702) 944-8661 or visit www.vegasgrandprix.com.
About World Market Center
World Market Center is an integrated home and hospitality contract furnishings showroom and convention complex in Las Vegas. When fully built, at 12 million square feet in eight buildings, World Market Center will be the largest trade show complex in the world. The 12 million-square-foot campus will be complete by 2013 and will showcase furniture, decorative accessories, lighting, area rugs, home textile and related segments, as well as a Design Center (LVDC) open year-round to the trade. The second building will open in January 2007; officials are now leasing the third building to a broad cross-section of the home furnishings industry. The next Las Vegas Market will be held Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, 2007 at World Market Center and Pavilions, and will also run Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 at Cashman Center. For more information on Las Vegas Market, and to find out about leasing or exhibiting opportunities, visit www.lasvegasmarket.com or call 888-WMC-SHOW (962-7469).
VGP media contacts: Mike Henle
(702) 279-3483 or mhenle@aol.com
Aimee Worth, Brown & Partners
(702) 853-7333 or aworth@brown-partners.com
WMC media contact: Jessica Neville, World Market Center Media Relations Manager
(702) 599-3062 or jneville@lasvegasmarket.com
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