Baltimore Grand Prix

Just in time for the Grand Prix of Baltimore on Labor Day weekend, a local technology company is offering spectators a way to keep their mobile phone batteries charged as they watch the races. NV3 Technologies, a Canton-based maker of rapid-charging kiosks for cellphones, will make available a custom-made trailer that can charge up to 72 mobile devices at one time. It will be located on Ravens Walk, which connects Orioles Park at Camden Yards with M&T Bank Stadium. Soon, NV3 also will launch a pilot program with Arrow Cab, a Baltimore taxi company, where another version of its battery-charging technology will be installed in the backs of 10 cabs.

I had a blast attending the Baltimore Grand Prix with my son and his friend last year and I am looking forward to it again this year. But I don't believe the race should be viewed as having a negative impact on the city. That would be short-sighted. The Grand Prix is a measurement tool to assess the Baltimore's ability to host big-time sporting events such as NCAA basketball regional finals, a Super Bowl, global sailing events, or even the Olympics. I haven't heard person who attended the race last year speak negatively of the experience.

How ironic that The Sun should publish another letter from a racing hater complaining about traffic problems on the same day that it ran a picture of the people fighting the traffic problems caused by last week's Ravens game ("Baltimore isn't Le Mans," Aug. 24). If we're going to base which sporting events the city is going to host based on traffic disruptions, then we'd better get rid of the Orioles and the Ravens before we do away with the Baltimore Grand Prix. In terms of the total number of hours of people struggling with traffic, the Grand Prix causes but a fraction of the problem caused by our two major league sports teams.

As we approach the second annual Baltimore Grand Prix, people are, once again, either very upbeat or adamantly opposed to this event ("Grand Prix rolls toward a less disruptive race," Aug. 21). Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has apparently dropped all her taxpayer pennies into one satchel in hopes of attracting revenue (and perhaps 10,000 new residents) to the area. I am a fervent Baltimore sports fan, but I simply cannot condone reconfiguring the downtown streets and sidewalks for a motorcar race.

The Grand Prix of Baltimore has landed its largest sponsor to date, officials said Wednesday. Called a "presenting sponsor," Chrysler Group's Street and Racing Technology - SRT - will be added to the race's official logo. The sponsorship will bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars, officials said, but not as much as a title sponsorship, which runs more than $1 million. Officials with Race On LLC, the group putting on the city's race, would not discuss specific dollar amounts.

The Baltimore Grand Prix 5k race organizers filled every one of the 2,000 slots last year, but there won't be a running race this year, according to organizers at Corrigan Sports . The Labor Day race appeared victim to the new sponsor's time constraints, but Corrigan spokesman Dave Gell said they hope to bring it back next year. The race, held on the Grand Prix course downtown, won participants more than the usual T-shirt. They also got adminission to that day's racing.

The organizers of the first Baltimore Grand Prix — which ran up millions in debts to vendors and taxpayers — have begun paying their back taxes, an attorney for the closed business said Thursday. Steven D. Silverman, who represents Baltimore Racing Development, said company managers have entered into an agreement with the Maryland comptroller's office that will result in all of the nearly $600,000 in back taxes being paid. The company owes $567,594 to Baltimore in admissions and amusement taxes, and $23,838 in sales and use taxes to Maryland, according to state officials.

It won't be long before racing fans in Baltimore and television viewers from around the world will once again enjoy IndyCar racing with your beautiful waterfront skyline as a backdrop. And as we experienced here last month with Milwaukee IndyFest, I'm confident Michael Andretti and the Andretti Sports Marketing team will get the job done and produce a first-class international event on Labor Day weekend. Milwaukee has a long and storied tradition in auto racing. The Milwaukee Mile is the oldest active racetrack in the world, having hosted races dating back to 1903.

Ryan Hunter-Reay didn't know what to think or feel after he won Honda Indy Toronto on July 8. It was his third consecutive victory and moved him into the lead of the IZOD IndyCar Series points chase. Will Power, an Australian driver who won the Baltimore Grand Prix last year and finished runner-up in the points standings in 2011, also won three straight races this season. But Hunter-Reay is the first American in six years to achieve that feat, and he has a chance to become the first U.S. champion of the series since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006.

With seven weeks to go until the race, the new organizers of the Baltimore Grand Prix announced several sponsors at a promotional event Monday that launched their first marketing campaign. Sunoco, Dr Pepper and Giant Food were announced as the first sponsors of the second running of the Baltimore Grand Prix, which is scheduled for Labor Day weekend in downtown Baltimore. Organizers declined to disclose dollar figures, but said the multi-year cash sponsorships were "significant.