Flashback: Inside how the Gold Coast lost Indy Carnival after successful 2008 race

IT’S been 10 years since the last time the famous Gold Coast Indy Carnival was held on the streets of Surfers Paradise. Here’s the inside story of how the Gold Coast lost our most popular event.

THIS weekend’s GC600 remains one of the Gold Coast’s biggest tourist magnets with crowds of more than 150,000 expected to flock through the gates of the motorsports precinct.

There will be plenty of thrills and spills on the streets of Main Beach and Surfers Paradise as the Supercars roar down the track in the hunt for a chequered flag and podium finish.

It’s a petrolhead’s paradise but long-time fans agree, it’s just not the same as it used to be when the Indy cars were the main attraction.

FLASHBACK: INDY OVER THE YEARS

It’s been 10 years since the final Indy Carnival Picture: Peter Wallis

This year’s race comes 10 years after the last Indy Carnival, which brought down the curtain 17 years after the inaugural appearance of the open-wheelers.

Excitement was a fever pitch in the days leading up to the event, with business leaders hoping it would give the Gold Coast a desperately needed shot in the arm of confidence, coming just five weeks after the financial crisis hit home.

FLASHBACK: INDY ON THE BRINK

Will Power at the 2008 Indy.

FLASHBACK: TOP-10 INDY MOMENTS

But it became clear in the days before the race that all wasn’t well, with a major sponsor declaring the race ‘dead’.

Bartercard executive chairman Wayne Sharpe revealed to the Bulletin that the Indy Racing League had already decided not to return in 2009.

As a result he had decided to withdraw more than $1 million in sponsorship for that race.

“Basically next year’s event will be a ‘Bathurst on the Gold Coast,” he said at the time.

The V8 supercars were the curtain-raiser for the open-wheelers. Picture: Adam Head

FLASHBACK: COAST INDY’S LAST CHANCE

“The reality is they have taken the race off next year’s series despite the rubbish that’s been spun here recently.

“We won’t be back next year and are already planning for something else, probably in Europe and probably around the (Formula One) Grand Prix in Monaco.”

He said that race organisers and state politicians knew this too but had been at pains to avoid delivering the bad news before the 2008 event.

Miss Indy contestants, Samantha Adams, with Marieka Van Den Bergh and Sally Arnott. Picture: David Kapernick

But as the event kicked off, more information came to light.

Indy bosses wanted more money, putting a higher price tag on its Gold Coast event but were still expecting to secure an agreement.

Indy Racing League chief Tony George confirmed that money was the issue.

“It is a factor but not the only factor,” he said.

FLASHBACK: REMEMBERING INDY’S FORGOTTEN MOMENTS

The V8 Supercars were on show.

“Obviously, depending on the situation, money may then become a factor after we work out a date. A date is the first issue, money is the second.”

Indy bosses wanted to have the event moved from October to March as it had been in the early 1990s.

Sports Minister Judy Spence did not support to move.

But two weeks later, the news nobody wanted to hear was announced – Indy was dead.

Just some of the massive crowds that flocked to Indy for the final race.

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Premier Anna Blight announced that negotiations with IRL had broken down over ‘insurmountable’ hurdles over dates and funding.

Instead the Indycars would be replaced by the A1GP which was signed up under a five year deal.

The Premier predicted that A1GP would soon be just as well-known as Indy and would have far more benefits for the local economy.

Will Power in action.

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But it wasn’t to be.

Doubts grew in the weeks before the event was supposed to begin, despite A1GP chairman Tony Teixeira telling the Bulletin ‘we are definitely coming’.

The new Gold Coast event known as SuperGP was cancelled five days before it was due to be held because of the event’s parent company collapsing.

The V8 Supercars were announced as the replacement for the open-wheelers in a back-up plan hatched by the State Government.

Ultimately it was hoped that open-wheelers would return but a decade on the Coast is yet to see the famous vehicles again.

The Gold Coast still misses Indy.