WNST has an interview with Al Unser, Jr. about the potential Baltimore Grand Prix:

The Baltimore Racing Development site has this map of the potential course:

Daily Record:

The event’s local organizers and city officials exercised cautious optimism at a Monday news conference officially introducing the Baltimore Racing Development team, which includes two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. The city council last week unanimously passed a resolution allowing the group to negotiate for and promote the event here.

“It’s not a done deal, we still want to deliver this to the city,” said BRD Chief Operating Officer Jay Davidson after the news conference at the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards. “We have to show them you can do the safety management and the traffic management in a feasible way. … We hope they look at the cost and realize the benefits economically.”

A statement issued by Mayor Sheila Dixon was notably guarded.

“I am very interested in the prospect of Baltimore hosting an Indy Racing League event downtown,” the statement said. “As planning and negotiations continue with Baltimore Racing Development, the city must carefully consider the costs of this event … against the compelling economic benefits.”

The race, run by the same type of cars as in the Indianapolis 500, would take place in a route along city streets between Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor. The promoters are negotiating for Labor Day weekend as the race date.

BRD estimates the race could generate roughly 400 full-time temporary jobs and between $60 million and $100 million in spending over three days by more than 150,000 attendees, based on similar street races run in cities including Long Beach, Calif., and Cleveland.

The Sun has an upcoming editorial on the race:

Baltimore may be the pick of Indy Racing League, but is Baltimore ready to embrace Indianapolis 500 cars zooming down city streets at 180 miles per hour? Baltimore Racing Development’s announcement Monday that the IRL is ready to roll through Baltimore in 2011 is great news, but only if organizers can make their case that the benefits outweigh the headaches.

WBAL.com

A local group is in what’s being called “serious negotiations” to put an IndyCar grand prix race on the streets of Baltimore.

The Baltimore Sun says the group wants to start the race in 2011 near the Inner Harbor, where organizers hope it could be as big as the Preakness in terms of economic impact and national exposure.

The Sun says an economic impact study estimates the race could bring in as much as 100 million dollars to the city, and would be patterned after other IndyCar series street races that are already running in cities including Toronto, St. Petersburg and Long Beach, California.