Why isn't the Grand Prix a bigger social event in Detroit?
A major local event without the cultural cachet to match
Quickly name the biggest horse race that comes to mind, and you’ll likely conjure the Kentucky Derby, an event where you might not know when exactly it falls but you know all the pomp associated with it: Endless mint juleps, women in chic, outlandish hats, a particular form of Southern decadence that’s just progressive enough to not recall the Confederacy too much. It receives national news coverage annually, and it is a destination not just for Kentuckians but for anyone in a four-hour radius of Lexington looking for a fun weekend of debauchery — even if you’re not a fan of horse racing.
But there’s also Preakness in Baltimore, which, again, unless you’re a horse-racing fan, isn’t as well-known as the Derby, but has increased in stature over the last few years. It’s the same intersection of big hats and moral questions of animal cruelty, but it’s an event that attracts the hoity-toity of the DMV; multiple housewives from the Potomac installment of Bravo’s well-heeled franchise have made it a point to attend, as well as other area socialites and names. Who cares if Seabiscuit III or whoever is poised to take it all this year?
While we’re still hovering around the Mason-Dixon Line, Twitter — well, a specific corner of — was abuzz last week with the rousing success of DC Black Pride, which has been somewhat of an unofficial start to Black pride for Black queer individuals since it falls just before the start of Pride month. With Washington, D.C. not only being a Black capital, but also in central traveling distance from several major cities, Black gays from across the country have made this a destination much in the way queers may travel to other regional celebrations like Folsom Street Fair, meaning hotel rooms are hard to come by, brunch reservations are booked and gay bars are packed.
That brings us to the Grand Prix in Detroit. It’s a race, but not a world-renowned race like the Derby or the Indy 500, but I would put it on par with Preakness. Race fans do come into town if they are nearby just as Black gays would come for DC Black Pride. But something that seems to be missing, and that has always seemed to be missing in retrospect, is the anticipation of the event coming, and the residual excitement and social opportunities for folks who have a passing, if any, interest in racing itself.
I’ve been to the Grand Prix several times throughout childhood and adulthood, on and off Belle Isle. But I’ve never paid to do so. As a kid, it would be part of some field trip (shout-out to Cornerstone Schools for extending their school year past June 🙄) or because my mother had a media pass or comp ticket. As an adult, admission came with, well, either a media pass or a comp ticket. Never in my life have I heard someone ask “aye, you going to the race this year?”
There are events in Detroit that we’d go all out for. Year after year when the (North American International) Auto Show was in January, we would dress down to go to Cobo (I know what it’s called now), ok? As soon as media days were over, it would be Coogis, shearlings and buffs everywhere on the Auto Show floor, posing in front of Benzes and Rovers, and then taking the party to a bar or restaurant downtown. Did anyone actually go to one of their local car dealerships immediately after the show to buy a car, which was the show’s intended purpose? Maybe, but first and foremost we had to step out in the cold of January and stunt.
Since the Detroit Pistons organization moved wholesale to the city limits, the team has dedicated considerable resources in building a culture among people who have little interest in basketball — or, should I say, people have little interest in tracking player stats and agent status. Opening Day for the Tigers has, surprisingly, begun to shed its image (though not entirely) as the boozy holiday for red-cup-and-county suburbanites and has become more diverse. And though no one who isn’t Mexican may need a reminder as to why Cinco de Mayo exists, no one needs a reminder on how to get to Vernor and 75 every year when it falls.
The Grand Prix falls during prime spring/summer weather in the city, so where’s the programming around it? There was, but…
Big Boi should need no introduction and I won’t, but the fact that right now if you google “Big Boi Detroit” and get a legendary, top-10 rapper as part of roundup of the larger Grand Prix weekend and not, like, him actually leading the headlines…who dropped the ball there? One could easily suspect there’s a diversity in local media question here, and there always will be, but where does the responsibility ultimately fall for getting the word out about a free Big Boi concert, and a free Steve Aoki concert?
Who are the other big non-racing figures coming to town? Where are the afterparties? (What do people who even go to the race do after?) In other words, why is this event only discussed among Detroiters as whether it should be on Belle Isle or not, and not building a weekend of festivity around it? How is it that the next major event on the schedule immediately after Movement not capturing the (sorry) momentum of the previous weekend?
I suspect that having the event on Belle Isle all these years without a walkable, retail-heavy East Jefferson to support it is one reason. But still, even with the grand return to downtown that was much ballyhooed this time around — no one in any of my circles seems to care? No groups of friends posing in racing-themed attire outside the Spirit of Detroit or Joe Louis fist, no posters or flyers beckoning people to come to a downtown bar with your wristband for discounted drinks…do the hoi polloi in Detroit not like to come out to see fast cars on a track?
Well...
What’s missing with the Grand Prix?
At least with the Preakness there is virtually always the hope that you'll be witnessing a horse win the second leg of the Triple Crown. That, combined with it's history, makes it worth going to for racing fans and marketable. The Detroit Grand Prix, much like the Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament, is a middle of the road event with no real historic stakes. Hard to market that for anyone, let alone the Grand Prix team who don't seem all that plugged into the City.