Devil Rays might kill St. Pete IRL race

St. Pete Circuit

A proposed new stadium for the team on the current site of Al Lang Field would at best severely impact the Indy Racing League event, which will contest its fourth running this April. At worst, it could consume most of the 1.88-mile street course. Though drawings for the arena have not been released, assuming that designers would incorporate waterfront into plans as with AT&T Park in San Francisco, at least part of Bayshore Drive would vanish, eliminating both the most high-speed and scenic part of a course that has become one of the IRL's most popular, and a gem on television broadcasts. If there is no street, there is no street course, even if designers were somehow inclined to allow cars to race through the park and over what figures to be some sort of promenade. The Al Lang's parking lot – which contains Turns 5 and 6 – would become a park. TampaBay.com