PHOENIX – Just two blocks south of Mortgage Matchup Center, beyond the developed boundaries of downtown Phoenix, sits a remnant of Phoenix’s past that has all but faded into history. 

On South Central Avenue, oustide the hustle and bustle of downtown life, a mural of the legendary driver Ayrton Senna can be seen on the side of a building in the city’s warehouse district.

To anyone passing by, the mural might blend into the background, but for those who recognize the Brazilian enshrined on the wall, the mural provides a glimpse at the greatness that once graced the streets of downtown Phoenix. 

On June 4, 1989, Phoenix hosted the first of three Formula One Grand Prix races along The Phoenix Street Circuit that threaded through the downtown area, featuring motorsport greats such as Senna, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell, as well as the one American on the grid, Phoenix native Eddie Cheever. 

Across the three years that the U.S. Grand Prix (the official name for the race) ran in Phoenix, there were a number of problems that led to its ultimate removal from the Formula One calendar.

Bringing Formula One to Phoenix

With the success of motorsports at what was then called Phoenix International Raceway during the 1980s, specifically with stock car racing, it seemed logical that the next step for racing in the Valley would be to bring the action to the streets.

The Phoenix City Council, at the urging of the so-called motorheads in the Valley, established a citizens committee to examine whether or not a street race in Phoenix would be wanted or even plausible. 

“When it came time for the citizens committee to make a decision about which class of racing they would like to go for, they made a unanimous decision to go for Formula One,” said Jack Tevlin, an executive assistant to the city manager at the time. 

The next step was to put that recommendation in front of a city council subcommittee, and the subcommittee accepted it. It then went before the full council, which adopted it and went forward with submitting an application for Formula One to come to Phoenix. 

“I don't think anyone really thought that there was much chance that Phoenix would get that,” Tevlin said. “I think most people thought that, at best, we might get IMSA or IndyCars, and it came as a bit of a shock to the city that Formula One accepted our application.”

Preparing for the first race

On Jan. 13, 1989, the city council approved an agreement with Formula One to host a Grand Prix on the streets of Phoenix for the next five years. Officially called the United States Grand Prix, the race was scheduled for the first weekend in June, giving the city less than six months to get the streets of downtown ready.

From the beginning, it seemed like the race was going to be problematic, due to both its location and the lack of motorsports interest in the greater Phoenix area. There also were serious questions about staging the event during the torrid heat of a Phoenix June.

Former Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard, who served from 1984 to 1990, recalled that in some areas, the city prepared too well for the race. 

“The city did too good a job of smoothing out the course, and Formula One didn't want that,” Goddard said. “They wanted rooster tails, and so there were a couple of places where we actually had to put bumps back into the street so that they would get their rooster tails.”

Additionally, the course layout did not fit the traditional track characteristics for which Formula One is known. 

Since Phoenix is built in a massive grid pattern where major streets sit one mile away from each other and squares are formed by the cross streets, the city’s streets did not lend themselves particularly well to the twists and turns that are typical of a Formula One road course. 

“You don't want to have right-hand turns if you can help it,” Goddard said. “Those are very hard to maneuver, and they slow the race down.” 

Unfortunately for the race course’s layout and construction, 90-degree right and left hand turns were everywhere. On top of that, most of the streets remained flat and straight, offering little difficulty or variation. 

“There wasn't a lot of good about it,” said Craig Tribken, a former city council member who served from 1990 to 1998. “I don't remember anybody other than a few race friends telling me ‘This is cool.’ I just don't remember anybody liking it.”

Lack of public support

An additional problem that quickly arose was the seeming scarcity of excitement in the area for the race. In the U.S. during the late 1980s and early 1990s, NASCAR and CART IndyCar were both incredibly popular, and fans of those types of racing were not likely to be interested in Formula One. Motorsports fans in the Valley also had access to the Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, west of Phoenix. 

The European style of racing that Formula One is famous for was literally a foreign concept to the people of Arizona. 

“Formula One was completely new for Phoenix,” said Cheever, who was born in Phoenix but moved as a child. “People had no idea what to expect. They think of racing in terms of NASCAR, not in terms of Formula One.”

The race initially attracted some of the international fans that Formula One draws, hinting that the event might be a success. Celebrities such as David Letterman were spotted in the pit areas.

“It attracted an international crowd, a very wealthy international crowd,” Goddard said. “I don't know if it was a record, but the number of chartered and private jets that came into Sky Harbor (International Airport) was over the top. We'd never had anything like that for a while.” 

As for the Phoenix locals, the race was not turning out to be as much of an excitement as it was expected to be. Local businesses, specifically those located near and around the track, complained to the city that the race was going to disrupt their daily business. 

Additionally, the track itself was walled off to prevent anyone without a purchased ticket from seeing the action. This further congested the downtown landscape, as people were forced to reroute their daily commutes or typical walks to work to accommodate the 2.3-mile track. 

Tevlin said some businesses, particularly accounting and law firms, were worried about the disruption so much that they threatened to sue the city. 

Apart from the concerns expressed by the businesses in the vicinity, the bigger issue was the lack of community buy-in. 

“There was no community understanding of Formula One,” Tevlin added. ”We get quite a big crowd out at (Phoenix) International Raceway for NASCAR and IndyCar, and our racing crowd likes to see the cars racing. When you race on city streets, you're in a grandstand and you see the cars pass by, but then you don't have any idea of what's going on for the rest of the race.”

Famously, the 1990 race was so poorly attended that the nearby Chandler Ostrich Festival drew a bigger crowd. An estimated 75,000 people went to Chandler that weekend, while only 10,000 to 15,000 people watched Formula One. 

The underlying issue of the Phoenix community not being interested in Formula One left the city in a tough position, unable to get enough fans to support the race. 

The problems with the races 

When it finally came time for the first race weekend, it became clear that the streets of Phoenix were not going to be the same for the drivers as other, more-established circuits. 

During the 1989 Formula One season, there were three street races on the calendar. The Phoenix Street Circuit, Adelaide Street Circuit and Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo all represented a different type of circuit that presented different challenges for the drivers. 

As opposed to the well-kept permanent tracks that only existed for motorsports, such as the Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain, Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy and the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, street circuits are bound to the layout of the city, and present their own unique set of challenges for each.

However, unlike the Monaco race, a favorite of fans and drivers that was a part of the inaugural Formula One season in 1950 and has been on the Formula One calendar continuously since 1955, the Phoenix race proved to be difficult and somewhat annoying for the drivers on the circuit.

“I remember the track breaking up,” Cheever said. “The asphalt hadn't cured enough. It was not your usual Grand Prix race where everything is perfect and immaculate and the temperature is right. Whoever thought that we're going to have a race in Phoenix that early in the summer did not know Arizona.”

The weather proved to be one of the biggest issues, as temperatures were reportedly over 100 degrees on the day of the race, and many drivers were not accustomed to the Valley’s infamous dry heat.

Only nine of the 26 drivers who began the race were classified as finishers, with 17 drivers retiring during the event. Many of those retirements were attributed to heat-related or mechanical issues. 

“The first 10 laps were great, the asphalt was perfect,” Cheever said. “The next 20 laps, if some of (the track) was coming up, you would just change your line and drive around it. But the last 20 laps, it was horrible. Really, quite a mess. But it was what it was. That was where we were racing and I took advantage of it.”

Those issues that plagued other drivers, causing the retirements of drivers such as Senna, Piquet and Mansell, hit Cheever as well, but he was able to recover enough to secure a podium finish. 

“I had a front left brake fail the last 10 laps when I was racing (Riccardo) Patrese for second place,” Cheever said. “That didn't just happen; it kind of happened slowly.”

For Cheever, finishing the race in third place was a moment of great pride for him as a native Phoenician. 

“It was awesome,” Cheever said. “I can understand why, in the Olympics, so much focus is put on the nationality of every athlete. I was the only (Formula One driver) that was an American, and I also happened to be from Arizona. So that was a double thing.”

Cheever noted that although he was born in Phoenix, he only lived in the city for less than a year before moving to Australia and then Italy, where he spent most of his formative years. 

His podium in Phoenix ended up being the last of his career, as the 1989 season was his final one in Formula One. Out of his nine podiums, two came in the U.S., but the Phoenix one just meant more. 

“My father and mother are both from Arizona so it did mean something to me,” Cheever said. “I just had a little bit more responsibility… And the older I get, the more important it was.”

Prost won the first Phoenix race, taking the victory by nearly 40 seconds. Patrese finished second, while Cheever finished four seconds later. 

After the intense heat that plagued the 1989 race, and all the problems that came with it, Formula One elected to move the United States Grand Prix to the beginning part of the calendar. For the 1990 and 1991 seasons, Phoenix was the first Grand Prix event on the calendar. 

 The 1990 and 1991 races saw a repeat winner, with Senna finishing on the top step of the podium both times. In 1990, he finished eight seconds ahead of his next closest competitor, Jean Alesi, and in 1991, he completed the race more than 16 seconds faster than Prost, who came home in second. 

After spraying others with champagne in the traditional manner, U.S. Grand Prix winner Ayrton Senna, center, is drenched by team director Ron Dennis, right, on the victory stand in Phoenix, Ariz., March 11, 1991. Senna, of Brazil, the defending race and series champion, led the Formula One event from start to finish in his McLaren-Honda.

Scott Troyanos

The need for a professional sports identity

At that time, Phoenix was not the same major destination for professional sports as it is today. 

The Suns were the only professional sports team in the downtown Phoenix area. The Cardinals had just arrived and were playing at Arizona State. The Coyotes didn’t arrive until 1996 and the Diamondbacks were still about six years away from being announced as a new franchise, and 10 years from becoming a Major League Baseball team in 1998. In fact, the Phoenix Street Circuit looped through what is now Chase Field.

In that same vein, only eight MLB teams were coming to Phoenix for Cactus League spring training, compared to the 15 that train in the Valley today. 

“We were trying everything,” Goddard said. “That was the same period we were trying to get a professional football team, the Suns were finally doing better, and the Diamondbacks were just a possibility. It was clearly a time where Phoenix was looking for a professional sports identity that we didn’t have.”

The problem with Formula One was that the motorsport giant attracted mainly European fans, and catered largely to European fan bases and cities. This made it difficult for Phoenix to garner the same amount of attention as cities in other countries. 

Historic tracks such as Monaco, Silverstone and Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium were established locales that the dedicated fan bases continued to flock to year after year for the race weekends. 

“We're not Monaco,” Goddard said. “There are those iconic Grand Prix destinations, and Phoenix will never be that. Maybe someday, but I doubt that we'll ever be Monaco.”

Goddard also mentioned that the city was determined to make a name for itself in the professional sports realm. Given the population and market size of the city, many involved saw Formula One as a possible avenue that could bring in the revenue and fans needed to solidify the city’s identity and establish Phoenix on the professional sports map.

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent Formula One was not going to be that for the city. The absence of support from locals showed when the race finally came around. A lack of community buy-in led to underwhelming numbers for attendance and ticket sales. 

Mark Armijo, a former motorsports writer for The Arizona Republic, recalls that the first year of the race had very low attendance, to the point where it was noticeable. 

“In Phoenix, that first year, there was virtually nobody there,” Armijo said. “I remember walking the course with two other reporters and we were amazed. This was pretty close before the race was supposed to start on Sunday, and there was virtually no one there.”

Attendance improved the next two years, but not enough that it made much of an impact. In an article written after the 1991 race, Armijo acknowledged the reported attendance of 35,000 and remarked “If 35,000 were here, half of them came disguised as empty seats.”

The future outlook

Formula One abruptly ended its contract with Phoenix for the remaining two races on Oct. 7, 1991, with Formula One Promotions and Administration CEO Bernie Ecclestone paying the city a reported $1.2 million. After that, it took nine years for the motorsport giant to return to the U.S. with the 2000 United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis. 

Since then, Formula One has made the journey to America for at least one race every year, with the exception of a four-year stretch from 2008 to 2011. 

In 2026, there were three races in the U.S., with the Miami Grand Prix in May, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, in October, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November. The USGP, located at the Circuit of the Americas, has been on the Formula One calendar every year but one since 2012 (the 2020 race was canceled due to COVID-19). The current contract has the United States Grand Prix on the calendar until 2034. 

The Miami and Las Vegas street races are newer, with Miami joining the calendar in 2022 and Las Vegas following a year later. However, both cities have long contracts, with Miami contracted to the Formula One calendar until 2041, and Las Vegas until 2037. 

The likelihood of Formula One ever returning to the Valley of the Sun is slim, as the popularity and success of the three American races offers little chance that Formula One would consider replacing any of them. 

For now, Formula One racing's legacy in Phoenix will remain connected to the 1989-1991 Grands Prix as memories of the race fade into time. 

But the mural of Senna remains as a vibrant reminder of a time when the world’s best drivers roared through the streets of Phoenix in search of glory.

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.