Boston GP officials pressed for refunds

Another failed IndyCar race

Ticket buyers for the canceled Grand Prix of Boston continued to wait for refunds as new evidence shows the promoters faced a financial crunch just before their surprise move to call off the race.

State officials told the Herald the promoters’ finances were so tight they put a bank “hold" on a $98,000 rent check to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority a few weeks ago to prevent it from bouncing.

The state agency’s comptroller called Grand Prix of Boston executives and the next day the payment — the first installment of the $980,000 rent payment — went through.

But the incident caused concern at the MCCA about the promoters’ ability to make its financial commitments, a concern shared by other state agencies and City Hall. A spokeswoman for Grand Prix said she had no knowledge of the payment getting held up.

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, meanwhile, left open a tiny window to reviving talks with IndyCar, but admitted it would be "very difficult" to pull off given the acrimony between race officials and the city.

"I think, for the most part, it’s probably closed. I think it would be very difficult at this particular moment, but I mean you’re talking about the race is on Labor Day and we’re in May," Walsh said.

Sources said Grand Prix CEO John Casey has been talking to investors and others about resuming talks with the Walsh administration to save the race, but there’s no evidence that has happened. A spokeswoman for Walsh said no one from the administration, including the mayor, has been in contact with the promoters since Casey canceled the race Friday.

Casey has also been telling associates he is looking at other venues in New England to keep the Labor Day street race alive, according to sources close to the Grand Prix. But so far no other city has publicly emerged.

The Grand Prix had claimed it sold 22,000 tickets after they went on sale earlier this year, but state and city officials told the Herald they believed the sales were not brisk enough to cover the early expenses of the race.

A number of ticket-buyers say they have not gotten any promised refunds yet, and are posting on the IndyCar Boston Facebook site to find out when they will be getting their money.

Grand Prix said in a statement last week that it would start to refund ticket buyers beginning Monday of this week. But a spokeswoman for the promoter could not say yesterday whether any refunds had actually been processed.

IndyCar Boston spokeswoman Jana Watt told the Herald, “I don’t know the specific number of refunds that have been made and as we have said it is a manual process and that it will be a time-consuming process." Joe Battenfeld/Boston Herald Jack Encarnacao contributed to this report.