Grand Prix Cancellation Leaves Issues Unresolved

It’s too bad that promoters of the planned Grand Prix auto race set for the Del Mar Fairgrounds in November have had to cancel it. Without being committed to the race as a permanent fixture, it seemed worth a try to find out if it really would have been as profitable or exciting as proponents predicted and as disruptive of local life as opponents feared--or both.

The cancellation, which race promoters and fair officials blamed on delays caused by a lawsuit filed by the City of Del Mar but dropped in August, could mean the event is never held. Worse, the modest beginning the city and fair board made toward ending their longstanding hostility at the time the lawsuit was dropped has now been wasted.

Board Chairman Raymond Saatjian was outraged by last week’s turn of events and urged the city to reinstitute its suit so the issues it raised could be resolved.

And the issue of the fair board’s attempting to de-annex from Del Mar moved back on the agenda with Saatjian saying board members may want to resume the efforts they abandoned when the city stopped its lawsuit.

With auto racing at Del Mar put off for at least a year, there must be a better way for the city and the fair board to resolve their differences than by fighting it out in the courts and in the state Legislature. Despite the fact that race opponents seem to have won this round, the likelihood is that the promoters could again win all the necessary approvals to hold the race next year.

The promoters, the fair board, Del Mar and the new City of Solana Beach, which also would be affected by the event, should sit down together soon and begin hammering out compromises so that the Grand Prix can be held in 1987 on a trial basis. The race and its attendant events do hold out the prospect of adding to the coffers of public agencies and local merchants, and of being fascinating entertainment for the many people who would attend. The parties involved need to start looking for ways they can become allies and not continue to see themselves only as adversaries.