CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Residents might have heard about the big NASCAR race that is coming to the Chicago streets this summer, but there is another race happening before it.
NASCAR and Sail Grand Prix are joining forces and swapping helmets to help promote their events. First up in the Sail Grand Prix’s Lake Michigan race on June 16-17, followed by the NASCAR Chicago Street Race a couple of weeks later.
Both events hope to attract some new fans in the city.
“Come down for the party, stay for the racing. There’s going to be the race village down here on Navy Pier, there’s going to be live music, there’s going to be food, there’s going to be drinks, there will be grandstand style seating,” said Cooper Dressler of the U.S. Sail Grand Prix team. “So, it’s really going to be an awesome event. Even if you don’t know anything about sailing, it’s going to be a lot of fun coming down for.”
“We got a lot of new fans that are really going to be experiencing NASCAR for the very first time,” added Julie Giese of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race. “And again, to be able to do this in a very unique setting that we have never done before, the city has never done before, it’s very special.”
NASCAR is adding a full-blown music festival to its race weekend. It hopes to attract 50,000 fans on each day of their event, which runs July 1-2.