Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is open to two more years of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race, but only after exploring the possibility of shifting the marquee event to a different date that does not pose the “challenges that July 4th weekend presents,” a top mayoral aide said Monday.
Senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee acknowledged that there are “some real limitations on moving the date” based on NASCAR’s overall schedule and “some of the local events in Chicago in the same footprint” in and around Grant Park.
But now that the event’s three-year contract has expired, a search for alternative dates is the next step. NASCAR has 90 days to request a contract extension from the Chicago Park District.
“Certainly, there is interest in seeing if it can work on another date, just because of some of the challenges that the 4th of July weekend present,” Lee told the Sun-Times on Monday.
“It’s a holiday weekend. A lot of people want to be out enjoying some of the public space that NASCAR uses. There’s also just logistical concerns relative to our emergency management personnel, including law enforcement. That’s a weekend where we want to have a lot of people out, a lot of our officers out across the city. If there’s a large-scale event happening downtown, that’s going to put pressure on our resources and overtime costs.”
Moving the date would also make sense from a tourism standpoint, since Chicago is already one of the nation’s top destinations for July 4th weekend, Lee said.
— Chicago Sun Times —