Street Track Failures: Episode 11 - Tampa

The San Antonio episode gave me such fond reminders of IMSA that I couldn't wait any longer to do another one. This time with the Daytona 24 Hours around the corner, this series heads to a venue that's not too far away from Daytona..... well, around 150 miles away.

[@turbo_marc]

that helmet cam is amazing

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That is an awesome camera view.

[@AugustinUndertakerSdmn38]

I want to know, that helmet cam, is that the first time in motorsports history that has been used during a race live on television or not because - for 1990 - it was so innovative and way ahead of it’s time.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

@@AugustinUndertakerSdmn38 I wish I knew the answer to that one. However, I'd be very intrigued to know what was the first live helmet camera.

[@AugustinUndertakerSdmn38]

@@tydyeracinggaming4742 I think I know the answer about the very first live helmet cam in motorsports history and it was during the motocross race the Nissan USGP 500 World Championship at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, CA on June 28, 1986 on Dick Garcia’s helmet.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

@@AugustinUndertakerSdmn38 Fair enough. That's certainly going to be a cool camera angle for sure.

[@MainMite06]

I live in Tampa and I can tell you many things about this circuit!: -This track is actually the exterior parking lot roads of Florida State Fairgrounds, and today you can see the whole thing is intact and uncaged from satellite images! -This race was definitely cancelled in 1991 because of complaints excessive noise from the cars⬇️ (An elder coworker of mine told me that the imsa races were so loud that the engine noises from the ~20 cars could be heard from 2 miles away from 56th street thru forests, lakes, SFHs and highways🤣🤣) -St Pete isnt anywhere close to Downtown Tampa let alone whole city Tampa on the other side at all. But St Pete was chosen because the Airport runway thats close to DTSP could be connected and made into a mainstraight for a street circuit. Also DTSP had skyscrapers high enough to quell noise complaints -Tampa always had a much older racetrack, but of a separate genre: It was a dirt oval track built on top of a phosphate-mining mound in Brandon. It was called *East bay speedway* it was used for stock car racing on dirt, and Sprint car racing. Jeff Gordon used to race there when he was in USAC.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Thanks for the cool pieces of information. I always find these sort of things very interesting.

[@MainMite06]

@@tydyeracinggaming4742 I love small channels like yours who take the time to read comments, also *I nominate* - Zhuhai Street Circuit for the latest video!

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

@@MainMite06 It is becoming harder and harder to do because I'm getting more and more comments the more videos I do, however I try my best. That track may feature in this series at some point.

[@DankBoyy00]

In all honesty, I don't think this is a failure. Given enough time and a modification to the pit entry, it would have been a brilliant little gem of NA racing.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I think this track had the potential of being a mainstay in different circumstances.

[@nathanstroud2223]

Most of the track surface still exists, at least on Google Maps. I was checking it out just the other day.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Ah ok, that's cool to hear.

[@MainMite06]

Yep, its just paved park lot roads of FSG

[@ethanhumphreys5584]

Me and my friends drove it at graduation. Our graduation was at the fairgrounds

[@Hammerhead547]

In 1994/95 IMSA hosted races on a circuit built around the old runways at CFB Halifax in Halifax Nova Scotia. The layout was rather questionable considering that they could've created something long fast and flowing (like indycar used in cleveland) but instead, they designed a track that was short slow and boring.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I'll have to do some research on that one, not heard much about that.

[@theflagstand]

I've loved this track ever since I discovered it a while ago. And it's really cool that much of the track is still visible on Google Maps. There was also another similar track at a fairgrounds at Miami. It was equally cool and also hosted Imsa GTP during that era.

[@liljjbo17]

Ive lived in the Tampa Bay area my whole life i never knew we hosted an IMSA race let alone at a circut i'd never heard of i'd love to see IMSA come to St Pete with the indycars

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I think IMSA returning to St Petersburg would be awesome.

[@ender8850]

The Alemannenring ist something that immedietly springs to my mind when seeing this series. Really great presentation! Keep up the good work!

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That track's been requested more and more recently. Will probably be a future episode. I'm glad you're enjoying the content though.

[@eholanda01]

As new suggestions for future videos, if you consider races that were scheduled but never took place, here are new ones: 1) F1 New Jersey Port Imperial (United States, 2013) 2) F1 Hanoi Circuit (Vietnam, 2020) 3) Indycar Qingdao 600 (China, 2012) 4) Indycar Grand Prix of Boston (United States, 2016)

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

If I decide to do a separate series for events that didn't have any racing take place, then they're good suggestions for that.

[@spacemanmonster23]

sigh....

[@OWfan]

The weird part for me with the Squier-Pruett duo is the former being on ESPN. I did not know he did (at least one) race on the network. As far as Pruett, this was when he was recovering from a pretty serious testing crash earlier that year. He's had a great knack at color commentary, so I'm not surprised to hear the positive reception to their call.

[@etatboi]

I'd love to see you do the LA street circuit that the nascar southwest tour did in the 90s, it was wild

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That will more than likely feature in this series at some point.

[@Illira15]

A few suggestions on future videos if they haven’t been said before. 1. Wuhan, China (WTCR) 2. Sanya, China (Formula E) 3. Baku World Challenge (FIA GT) 4. Wellington (V8 Supercars) 5. Switzerland - Either track for Formula E

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Some really cool suggestions here. I imagine all of them will feature in this series at some point.

[@Fabrimon]

This track actually reminds me to the parque fundidora circuit in Monterrey, México, that Cart circuit back in the early 2000s, that could be a nice "street" circuit failure to talk about... Btw love your videos :D

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I can see the similarities there now that you've brought it up. Will more than likely feature in this series. Glad you're enjoying the videos.

[@steverosswick6502]

I love that these obscure street circuits are getting some love and attention! Interesting fact about the Tampa track, half way down the backstretch, the wall jutted out nearly a full lane due to a large tree that is in place. You can look on Google Maps and see the road interrupted by the tree, no its not a glitch lol. The 1990 race they smoothed the wall transition, but in the previous years you can see can see the wall and how shady it actually was, considering the large tree trunk directly against the wall. Good thing nobody ever hit over there. Still not as sketchy as the San Antonio chicane lol Good job on these vids!

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Glad you're enjoying the videos!

[@adammiller011]

While I know it’s technically not a street track, I feel like Meadowlands would qualify. A race that had a surprising amount of longevity compared to other entries, yet met its demise due to IndyCar wanting a race in NYC that never ended up happening

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That track has been requested before and I would say that it counts for this series.

[@williamford9564]

LOL, if you look up the term "Mickey Mouse Track" in the dictionary, it is spelled "Meadowlands".

[@pmwilkes1]

Actually loving this series. Keep it going.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Glad you're enjoying this series.

[@johndaniels4623]

One might IMSA wanted to WASH AWAY this track from their memory!

[@Gangsta_Playz]

Badum-tsst

[@jasent_aoc405]

This is a great series, I've enjoyed every single one of these vids so far! It could be a cool idea if you had a sister series to this where you looked into race category failures, I think many people would find that interesting.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Glad you're enjoying this series. I was thinking about doing a separate series for failed racing categories in the future.

[@jamesbraun9842]

This actually looked interesting, the rain race is probably what killed it

[@travel1071]

You could show what happened to the track after the last race. For e.g you could show us photos of how it looks now

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Maybe that's something I could include for future episodes.

[@xTwistedx2xInsanityx]

Hey mate loving the channel and this series

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Glad you're enjoying the content.

[@eholanda01]

I always thought this track was a road course. But it has been well remembered that it "resembles" Albert Park, keeping the proper proportions. Does this track still exist? Great video, as always!!

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

It doesn't look like a street circuit from the outset I agree. Albert Park was the best track that I could compare it too. Although, corner wise the two don't have many similarities.

[@Quintinohthree]

Yep. Only turns 5-6 and 8-9 aren't intact, but the rest look untouched, even the pitlane is still there.

[@damon728]

What about a video about the CART Vancouver track? Tbh, it wasn't really a failure (in fact everybody seemed to love it!), but it was constantly changing layouts and eventually ended after the 2004 season.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I imagine that track will feature in this series at some point. Has been requested before.

[@WakAtak914]

I suspect that this track was abandoned in favor of the St. Petersburg circuit closer to downtown Tampa, but I don't know the details to be sure. Loving the series so far.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Glad you're enjoying this series. I can see your reasoning. I suspect the St Petersburg track idea was probably floated around a fair few years after Tampa didn't have any more racing. The gap in years between them is too great.

[@royavery6949]

Street races in St Petersburg started in the early eighties with can am and trans am scca. Tampa fairgrounds is much closer to downtown Tampa than St Petersburg is. Theres a entire body of water known as Tampa Bay in between St Pete and Tampa

[@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

I live in Florida, and I had no idea Tampa had some racing

[@MainMite06]

Go down East Bay Speedway, and see dirt racing down there!

[@siderealgaming1813]

I have a suggestion and it is The Changwon street circuit in Korea. This is great series btw.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Glad you're enjoying the series and a good suggestion as well.

[@neaulllann]

Last time i suggest marrakesh but im thinking also about ceasars palace

[@hayo919]

But Marrakesh is still around?

[@neaulllann]

@@hayo919 idk but i'll enjoy a video about it tho

[@eholanda01]

@@hayo919 Yes and no. As far as I can understand, FE can race there any time they want. But for reasons I don't know, this race doesn't happen every year.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I imagine that track will feature in this series at some point.

[@hayo919]

@@eholanda01 and let's be honest. WTCC/WTCR should've never left. Also I liked the older version more

[@legohalonascarfan3]

Not really a street track but I think a video on the 2015 Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA would make a good video. Terrible rainy weather caused most of the complex to become a swamp and a big portion of the race was run under caution. Poor attendance for that weekend also didn't help and what was meant to be a 3 year deal for the event fell through after just the single race.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I can certainly look at doing a standalone video for that track.

[@NeikoGarcia]

Just stumbled onto your channel. I like the content! Keep it up!

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Glad that you're enjoying the content! I'll do my best to keep the quality of my videos as high as I can (although I want to get them higher still).

[@steelcladgamer6578]

Does the Caesar's Parking Lot Grand Prix count as a street track?

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That does count as a street track. It will more than likely feature in this series at some point.

[@matthewnowell671]

A couple of tracks you should look at are new Orleans and the Miami street circuits.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Both have been requested before and could very well feature later on in this series.

[@zeredwhirlpool7455]

have you considered doing one of these on the the Baltimore street track?

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Baltimore is currently the most requested track so far. Will definitely feature in this series at some point.

[@Sagitariosun1776]

I like this track. Never heard of it. I mean, it's almost impossible to know or remember all the street circuits in the US. I would be interesting a video about the 1981 and 1982 F1 Las Vegas "racetrack"

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

The Las Vegas F1 track from the early 80's, will more than likely feature in this series.

[@S2K_F20C]

I'd like to see the Baltimore street circuit - it had an actual railroad crossing in the middle of the track

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That is the most requested track so far. Will definitely feature at some point.

[@ZontarDow]

Pretty strange that this circuit managed to exist given it's only about 20 miles from the St Petersburg street circuit which was already active at the time.

[@royavery6949]

St Pete was SCCA. Tampa IMSA.

[@irrutias7035]

I suggest a South American street circuit, specially during Formula E Gen1/Gen 2 area (Parque Forestal circuit, Punta del Este, Buenos Aires, etc...)

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

They will more than likely feature at some point in this series.

[@kben24]

IMSA had some cool race tracks in the 80’s… legit street courses, rovals like Pocono & Michigan. They’re going to Indy this year, BUT I’m pretty sure they’re gonna use the Indycar layout…Not the awesome, faster, cooler F1 circuit.

[@juni_2452]

3:13 vila real is the opposite of that, there is a turn on the track that rivals some nascar tracks 😂, iirc it's turn 17, in person it looks like a mountain on if you look at it from the low side. That turn in specific is an intersection, it's really funny to see the bus entering the turn with a wheel almost on the air, there are a couple more turns that have a good amount of camber aswell.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Turn 17 by street circuit standards is pretty heavily cambered.

[@juni_2452]

@@tydyeracinggaming4742 i couldn't believe it the first time i saw it in person

[@94regnar]

I believe the reason the venue was moved from the fairgrounds came down to noise, if I remember right.

[@royavery6949]

You are correct. They also closed the dirt track at the fairgrounds for the same reason at the same time

[@metrichotrods1763]

I'm at this race in 88. IMSA GTP vs. FIA Group C. Could go for days on just the audacity of that fact alone. George Fouche was in the Dianetics car, aka Scientology sponsored a IMSA car 😅😅😅. Still have a banner .. GTE is the telecom company that became Verizon. The drama that day was tires, the asphalt was new for that race in 88, rough as hell, and it tore tires up. Track is sort of still there, you use it as an access road to enter the Fairgrounds. That large square tan colored building is still there and hosts a Fishing Expo every January. Low attendance is a thing in Florida, because there's just simply so much else to do there at all times. There was probably a powerboat race on the Gulf, a jet ski race in Tampa Bay, there was dirt track Sprint cars that night in Gibsonton/Eastbay for sure. My father won some entry pass through Nissan for purchasing a new Nissan truck that year (it was $6,995 brand new in 88) and I was in the Nissan pits all weekend. I sat in the 83 car. Even without credentials, the pits and fan access at this race was very close-up and hands on, plus....FIA Group C vs. IMSA GTP.....cmon that's like a 2023 sim racers wet dream and it actually happened in the 80s, baby.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

This is a really cool story, thanks for saying. It's awesome that just buying a truck from one of the manufacturers in the race, gave people a chance to go to the event.

[@metrichotrods1763]

@@tydyeracinggaming4742 there were lots of special promotions back then that you don't see much anymore.

[@alejo.rangerk19]

If you're open for suggestions, i would like to recommend what I think is th worst track layout ever: the Alemannenring (or Singen). DTM raced there in the 90s. An absolute abomination

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I'm very much open to suggestions. They could very well feature in this series.

[@royavery6949]

Im born and raised in the Tampa area. Went to all three of these races with my dad as well many Sprint car races at the dirt track on the same property. By the way this is NOT a street circuit by any means. It's a purpose-built circuit on the Tampa Florida State Fairgrounds property. Also racing at this circuit as well the dirt track was put to an end because of residents in the surrounding area of the fairgrounds complaining about the noise and traffic problems. Attendance was never an issue as you can clearly see

[@Edlar89]

Don’t know if you’ve got plans to cover the Valencia street circuit F1 visited a couple of times

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

Valencia will more than likely feature in this series at some point.

[@RCVictoryLane]

Could you do the Del Mar circuit that IMSA ran during the same era as Tampa?

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That track will more than likely feature in this series.

[@KayJblue]

These videos are great 👍 A video about the Washington D.C *street* race could be cool

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. Unless you mean a different track, then I believe I did the Washington track for my first episode. You might mean a different track though.

[@KayJblue]

@@tydyeracinggaming4742 Your right, for some reason I’ve never seen it 😅

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

@@KayJblue No worries. 👍

[@dominicviner6619]

The cars looks a bit clunky but they look pretty good goin through the turns I think they look fast It’s just the car is so big and long maybe it looks bad to some

[@SectorOne350]

would be cool to see helsinki thunder, hosted fia gt, and dtm

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That will certainly be coming up later down the line in this series.

[@gp8666]

How do you find all this content?! I can hardly find anything about gtp cars other than some revival event recordings and short cut race recordings

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

If you want to watch where the full footage comes from, then the channel name with where the footage came from is included in the video.

[@Gangsta_Playz]

Do one for these for the Buddah GP circuit?

[@AugustinUndertakerSdmn38]

I think that’s a good thing that the Tampa street circuit was used only once, well firstly this track was quite boring for these type of cars and secondly I think the organisers motto for this race is ‘the most electrifying race of Florida’ well, I think they right, only on the electrifying part, just because Tampa is actually the lightning strikes capital of the world so that’s why Mother Nature decided to put a deluge at the end of the race just to annoyed even more the organisers of the race and to cancelled it entirely.

[@FormulaFox]

I think a better way to describe the track shape is someone who's bad with shapes trying to draw the state of Ohio from memory.

[@Robnolte07]

A perfect street track for this series is grand rapids Michigan

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That track's been requested a few times. Will more than likely do a video on that circuit.

[@Wizzkidwas]

Huh, that didn't seem as bad as some of the others

[@pendremacherald6758]

If this is a street circuit, is it possible to call Louisville Motor Speedway a street circuit?

[@mattheisen99]

This track looks nice tho. Races could be good, maybe with other series

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

It does look like quite a cool circuit. Like I said in the video, I think it would be quite a good hot lapping track.

[@GR1MRACER]

Saying Tampa is close to Daytona is like saying LeMans is close to Monza.

[@Quintinohthree]

Le Mans and Monza are nearly 4 times further from eachother with travel times 5 times longer. We are firmly in Le Mans to Paris or Monza to Imola teritory.

[@royavery6949]

Only 3 hours if it's 3:00 a.m. any reasonable time of day it's closer to 5 hours because you have to go to Kissimmee and Orlando and that's about 60 miles of stop and go traffic right there

[@555cring]

Baltimore

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

That track is the most requested one so far. Will definitely be in this series at some point.

[@555cring]

@@tydyeracinggaming4742 You have a quality series going on here. I'll be watching that whenever it comes out for sure.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

@@555cring I'm glad you're enjoying this series.

[@fearandloathingmedia2051]

I live in Daytona, Tampa's a good two and a half hours away from Daytona and it's pretty much on the opposite coast. Tampa is a terrible city, and really no reason to ever go there other than Busch Gardens theme park.

[@royavery6949]

Lol if you're not by Daytona Speedway or on the beach your area is a s*** hole.

[@tdyerwestfield]

F1 should've raced here instead of Phoenix IMO.

[@tydyeracinggaming4742]

The lap would've been very short, although it would've been cool to see F1 race round that track.