Jay Davidson

Send Gene Sweeney Jr. your questions about the Baltimore Grand Prix, and he will relay them to Jay Davidson, the event's president, in an upcoming episode of The Checkered Flag. Email Sweeney at gene.sweeney@baltsun.com.

Two months before the start of the Baltimore Grand Prix, the race's organizers, desperate for cash, entered into a $1.1 million loan they believed was necessary to save the event. But the two-month loan - which allowed the lender to collect more than $500,000 in interest and other charges - ended up draining funds needed to pay city taxes, the former CEO of Baltimore Racing Development says. Now, with Baltimore Racing Development facing large debts, some are complaining about the loan's terms and asking why the lender was paid while taxes - including more than $450,000 in city amusement and admissions taxes - and other debts were owed.

Jay Davidson is, admittedly, no gear-head. But as the president of the Baltimore Grand Prix, Davidson has been living and breathing all things IndyCar the past several months. The inaugural race will bring dozens of high-speed open-wheel cars to Baltimore on Labor Day weekend, competing on a roughly two-mile course through downtown. To prepare, city workers have had to shut down sections of major roads for repairs, angering many commuters. But the race and the festival that surrounds it will be worth all the aggravation, Davidson promises.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for rain with a high near 63 degrees. The low tonight is expected to be around 51 degrees. More rain is likely during the day tomorrow -- and there could be snow tomorrow night. TRAFFIC Here are today's morning traffic issues . FROM LAST NIGHT... Police crack down on unleashed dogs in Patterson Park : Since two pit bulls attacked a poodle near the park on Nov. 18, city police officers have issued 10 citations for having an unleashed dog in the park, Maj. William Davis, commander of the Southeastern Police District, said at the community meeting last night.

I want to share some thoughts about the inaugural Grand Prix in Baltimore and express appreciation for bringing this exciting event to our town. The vitality and enthusiasm generated by the race was immeasurable and created an electrifying atmosphere not seen in Baltimore for many years. Special kudos should be given to Pete Collier and Jay Davidson for their unfailing responsiveness to the needs of the community. Our city officials navigated through every hurdle to ensure the success of this endeavor.

While I agree that Jay Davidson mismanaged the Baltimore Grand Prix and was a poor CEO, he does make one valid point ("City must do more to support Grand Prix," Dec. 4). Other cities are succeeding at running these races by contributing more public money to it than Baltimore is. The reluctance to do so clearly shows how Baltimoreans have a narrow minded, small town attitude. Meanwhile, we throw money at Hollywood for productions like "Homicide" and "The Wire" that do nothing but destroy the city's image.

Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell will be the honorary grand marshal for the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix on Sept. 4, race organizers announced late Tuesday night. Powell will give the command to "start your engines" to the field of IndyCar drivers at the start of the 80-lap event. He also will be given the opportunity to take a 180-mph tour of the 2.0-mile temporary street circuit in downtown Baltimore from the passenger seat of an IndyCar two-seater. "The opportunity to be grand marshal for the inaugural Grand Prix is an honor, as it will showcase the city of Baltimore and the beautiful Inner Harbor to a worldwide audience, and I'm very happy to be a part of that," he said.

M&T Bank will be a sponsor of the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix, race organizers announced this morning. M&T becomes the first bank to join as a sponsor and the deal includes signs on the race course and green flags to be given to fans near the start/finish line, among other promotions. "We are very excited to have M&T Bank as one of our sponsors," Jay Davidson, president and CEO of the Baltimore Grand Prix, said in a news release. "This partnership is significant as it ties one of our leading institutions into this new and exciting event for our city.

Jay Davidson's call for additional government support for the Baltimore Grand Prix ("Grand Prix needs more from city," Dec. 4) begs for a response. He confesses to naivete, poor management practices and heeding bad advice from consultants but believes the problem is the need for additional financial considerations from the city government. It is nowhere apparent that there was a realistic business plan for this event, a plan based on the least favorable results and budgeted accordingly.

Two months before the start of the Baltimore Grand Prix, the race's organizers, desperate for cash, entered into a $1.1 million loan they believed was necessary to save the event. But the two-month loan - which allowed the lender to collect more than $500,000 in interest and other charges - ended up draining funds needed to pay city taxes, the former CEO of Baltimore Racing Development says. Now, with Baltimore Racing Development facing large debts, some are complaining about the loan's terms and asking why the lender was paid while taxes - including more than $450,000 in city amusement and admissions taxes - and other debts were owed.

Jay Davidson's call for additional government support for the Baltimore Grand Prix ("Grand Prix needs more from city," Dec. 4) begs for a response. He confesses to naivete, poor management practices and heeding bad advice from consultants but believes the problem is the need for additional financial considerations from the city government. It is nowhere apparent that there was a realistic business plan for this event, a plan based on the least favorable results and budgeted accordingly.

With the company that put on Baltimore's inaugural Grand Prix struggling to pay its debts, a disagreement is revving up over whether the city did enough to ensure the race's financial viability. Jay Davidson, an investor in the race's operator, Baltimore Racing Development, suggested in an op-ed article in The Baltimore Sun that the city should have offered more subsidies to race promoters for the Labor Day weekend event. The company "faced financial obstacles from the start" that promoters of similar events in other cities don't confront, he said.

While I agree that Jay Davidson mismanaged the Baltimore Grand Prix and was a poor CEO, he does make one valid point ("City must do more to support Grand Prix," Dec. 4). Other cities are succeeding at running these races by contributing more public money to it than Baltimore is. The reluctance to do so clearly shows how Baltimoreans have a narrow minded, small town attitude. Meanwhile, we throw money at Hollywood for productions like "Homicide" and "The Wire" that do nothing but destroy the city's image.

The state has threatened to seize assets of the company that runs the Baltimore Grand Prix to recover nearly $600,000 in unpaid taxes, the Maryland Comptroller's Office said Monday. "We don't want to take anybody's business," said Caron Brace, a spokeswoman for Comptroller Peter Franchot. "We just want to get what we're owed. " Baltimore Racing Development Inc., the Grand Prix operator, is more than a month delinquent on $567,594.19 in admissions and amusement taxes, and $23,838.

Add another problem to the mounting woes for the financially troubled organizers of Baltimore's inaugural Grand Prix auto race — the company has missed all its deadlines for planting trees downtown to make up for those cut down for the Labor Day weekend event. Not one of the 198 trees promised by Baltimore Racing Development has been planted, even though it had pledged to get them all in by late last week, according to Beth Strommen, director of the city's office of sustainability.

Leaders of the financially-strapped company that produced the Baltimore Grand Prix have been interviewing candidates to take the helm of the group, officials said Wednesday. "Believe it or not, there are several people who have expressed interest," said Peter Collier, Baltimore Racing Development's Chief Operating Officer. Felix Dawson, a former executive with Constellation and Goldman Sachs, is among the candidates under consideration, Collier said. "It shows the caliber of the people that we're interviewing and the level of interest that we're getting," Collier said.

Baltimore Racing Development sold more than $600,000 in tickets Wednesday for the Baltimore Grand Prix , the high-speed race that is slated to run through the streets surrounding the Inner Harbor next Labor Day weekend. Six thousand presale tickets, some priced at nearly $900 each, were sold in two hours, said Jay Davidson, the race's executive director. Baltimore Racing Development has raised more than $1.5 million from backers, the organization said in a report filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Organizers of the Baltimore Grand Prix say they mailed tickets out to fans Thursday — about six weeks later than they had pledged. Jay Davidson, the head of Baltimore Racing Development, blamed the delay on last-minute changes to the placement of grandstands along the Inner Harbor race course. "We had to reconfigure some grandstand seats" to make them compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, said Davidson. "Before we sent out tickets, we had to talk to the people affected.

City officials threatened Monday to end their contract with the company that staged the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix race, saying it owed the city more than $1.5 million — a development that casts doubt on the future of the three-day racing festival. Deputy Mayor Kaliope Parthemos said in a statement that the financially beleaguered Baltimore Racing Development "has not honored the terms of its contract with the city" and that the company must "restructure and recapitalize or sell itself to investors in order to make the event profitable in the future.

I was covering motorsports for four years before I saw someone die in what might be considered a senseless crash. I didn't know Ricky Knotts, a 28-year-old driver who had spent every dime he and his parents could muster to qualify for the 1980 Daytona 500. He died on Valentine's Day in a simple crash, a crash exactly like the one that would claim seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt's life 21 years later. I was there for Earnhardt's death, too. Both of those accidents at first glance might seem innocuous, but they were both devastating, head-on collisions into the outside wall at Daytona International Speedway.