Port Official Applies Brakes to Racing Plan : Sports: Grand Prix promoter is facing an ‘uphill race’ in his effort to move the high-speed auto event to downtown San Diego, a port spokesman said.

The spokesman for the San Diego Unified Port District said Monday that the port has “great opposition” to a proposed Grand Prix auto race in front of the San Diego Convention Center during next year’s Labor Day weekend.

Dan Wilkens said port officials harbor “very real concerns” about the race and its “major environmental impacts,” despite a projected economic impact of more than $14 million.

“We are very concerned about the effect this type of event would have on the streets and on Martin Luther King Jr. Linear Park” in front of the Convention Center, Wilkens said. “We have major concerns about landscaping improvements along Harbor Drive, and the traffic.”

Wilkens said that, for the race to take place, the Board of Port Commissioners must give approval to Christopher R. Pook, the mastermind behind the 17-year-old Long Beach Grand Prix and a similar event staged at the Del Mar Fairgrounds since 1987.

Pook seeks to transfer the Del Mar event to downtown San Diego. Despite a lawsuit that was later withdrawn and opposition from environmentalists and homeowners prior to approval from the California Coastal Commission, the event has grown in popularity each year.

Wilkens said the port hopes to see the event remain in Del Mar, which it will if Pook fails to have it relocated. Pook declined to comment on Wilkens’ statement, saying he preferred to wait until filing a written proposal with the Port District’s executive director, Don Nay, and the port’s board.

Deputy City Manager Bruce Herring said the city staff and City Manager Jack McGrory are “solidly behind” Pook and his Grand Prix idea, believing it constitutes an economic boost during an ongoing recession.

And it helps, Herring said, that Pook is asking for no public money. Instead of seeing a checkered flag, however, port officials see nothing but red.

“We’ve had several meetings with Mr. Pook, and until last week, we had not been given a definitive race-course map,” Wilkens said. “To the best of our understanding, the entire race--with the exception of Harbor Drive--would take place on tidelands property.

“He has yet to request a date before the commissioners. And from what I read in the paper, he wants a decision in 60 days. Well, that’s pretty ambitious, given that an event of this magnitude requires some type of formal, environmental assessment.”

Most of Pook’s 1.56-mile race would take place on Harbor Drive, between 1st and 8th avenues. He says the cars in the race will go as fast as 160 m.p.h.--they’re the same as those used in the 24 hours of Le Mans, in France--although they can travel up to 240 m.p.h.

Wilkens said port officials object to a remodeling of the Convention Center parking area to accommodate the race and have a staunch objection to the widening of Harbor Drive by two to three feet. He said the port has “no interest in removing landscaping” near the Martin Luther King park.

Asked if the board would approve the race, Wilkens said, “Let’s just say he has an uphill race course ahead of him.”

Wilkens said Pook is the third racing promoter to approach the port, hoping for a downtown race along Harbor Drive. He said that, because of experiences with other promoters, and with the less-than-hoped-for revenue from the America’s Cup regatta, the port remains leery.

Pook, meanwhile, said he was “concerned and disturbed” about comments made recently in The Times by Brooke Eisenberg, former mayor and councilwoman from Del Mar and one of his key opponents prior to the inception of the Del Mar event in 1987.

Eisenberg said Pook had made promises that failed to materialize, such as taking noise-wary residents on out-of-town trips on the day of the race. Eisenberg said such trips were nothing more than “day trips” to San Diego tourist attractions, such as the zoo and Sea World.

She said Pook promised “all-expenses-paid” trips out of the city but that the actual trips were much more modest. Pook adamantly disputes Eisenberg’s contention, saying the trips offered were no more and no less than what he promised to provide.

“My key objection is that she said we were not performing our obligations in the way we said we would, and that just isn’t factual,” Pook said. “Everything we said we would do we did.

“The representation for the out-of-town trips was based upon what we were asked to do in the Environmental Impact Report, which was confirmed by the Coastal Commission. It can all be supported by factual, monitored documentation.

“If we had not done what we said we would, the Coastal Commission would have punished us.”

But instead, Pook said the first time the Coastal Commission considered the race, in 1986, it voted 6-5 in his favor. And during each of the last two years, the vote was 11-1 and 11-0.

He said he merely promised to provide “an out-of-town trip for the day (of the race), including the payment of lunch” and that he delivered, with few people accepting the offer.

“Our track record in this area is very clear and we did indeed honor every aspect . . . of the mitigating measures,” Pook said.

Stephen Ballas, who lived in Solana Beach near the fairgrounds and attended public hearings before the advent of the Del Mar event, said of Pook, “You don’t find many men who are men of their word, but I believe he is.”

Ballas said other events, such as the Del Mar Fair, carry a much greater--and far more negative--environmental impact.

“I was concerned” when the race was proposed, Ballas said. “But everyone I knew seemed to be very happy with it. I know some of the people who went on the day trips. No other (promoter) in Del Mar has done something like that for the residents. And the economic impact seemed to be considerable. It was hard to get in anywhere during the race.”

Ballas referred to the people who govern Del Mar as “the United Socialists Republic of Del Mar” and said Mayor Rod Franklin--who spoke out against the race in The Times--”would, if you slapped a $100 bill in the palm of his hand, complain that it was ‘wrinkled and green.’ ”