The event will replace the Aug. 19-21 race weekend at Road America on both series’ schedules.

“We’re thrilled with the addition of the Grand Prix of Cleveland to our SPEED World Challenge schedule,” SCCA Pro Racing President and CEO Steve Johnson said. “Any time you can race within a metropolitan area, it’s a bonus, but Cleveland also offers decades of rich road racing history, with a great layout, great sports fans and great race fans. We know that our brand of racing will be a big hit along the shores of Lake Erie .

“Additionally, from a series standpoint, an event of this stature brings tremendous benefits to our current fans, teams and sponsors.”

“We’ve discussed having the SCCA SPEED World Challenge Championships in Cleveland for some time, and are happy to make that a reality in 2005,” Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland General Manager Rena Shanaman said. “These series bring a unique form of racing with cars that even casual race fans and automotive enthusiasts can relate to. We believe that we’ve made a tremendous event even better with the addition of the SPEED World Challenge at the Grand Prix of Cleveland.”

The 2005 Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland marks the 24^th-consecutive event at Burke Lakefront Airport, which sits minutes away from both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Cleveland Browns Stadium along the Lake Erie shoreline. Headlined by Sunday’s Champ Car World Series race, the event will feature a Saturday afternoon race for the SPEED Touring Car Championship and a Sunday afternoon SPEED GT race immediately following the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland.

The addition of Cleveland maintains the 11-race SCCA SPEED World Challenge schedule, as the Road America event was dropped after an event schedule acceptable to the series could not be reached. 

This marks the second Cleveland appearance for World Challenge, having also run at Burke Lakefront Airport in 1992.

SCCA SPEED World Challenge

The SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT and Touring Car Championships are regarded as the top production based road racing series in the world, taking the cars that you drive, or you wish you were driving, and racing them in the most intense and easily understood format possible. From standing start to the finish 50 minutes later, SPEED World Challenge is “everything you dreamed road racing would be.”

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2005 SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT and Touring Car Schedule
Revised 3/1/05