Edmonton

Just five minutes north of downtown, the Edmonton City Center Airport was the second temporary Champ Car circuit to use airport runways (after Cleveland) when it was added to the roster in 2005. A temporary 14-turn layout using the western of the concrete runways was used for the inaugural race, which was won by Sébastien Bourdais after “a day that saw more twists than a Tom Clancy novel” according to the 2006 Media Guide. The wide-open flat expanses offered good viewing and high average speeds. The race was one of three Champ Car venues to be assimilated into the IndyCar calendar when North America’s two competing open wheel series merged in 2008. The layout was switched to the Eastern runway in 2011 due to redevelopment and there was a new promoter, Octane Motorsports Events. Over 200,000 had attended the three-day 2005 event, the highest for that year’s championship, but Octane withdrew after 2012 citing a lack of attendance and the race was not repeated.