The Baltimore Grand Prix will be a different animal this year, at least in the hoopla department.

Gone are the lofty predictions of last year’s inaugural race, whose undeniable success in attracting crowds (aided by the distribution of free tickets) ended in financial collapse for the promoters and unpaid costs for the city.

In its place, the new promoters have consciously dampened expectations for the event, which opened today with practice laps for the IZOD IndyCar Series this morning and will continue this afternoon with a Star Mazda Qualifying race and IZOD autograph session.

Qualifying races for American Le Mans Series is scheduled between 5 and 6:30 tonight. The big IZOD race is set for 2:45 p.m. on Sunday.

Tim Mayer, general manager of the race, told the Baltimore Business Journal this week that “there’s always a bit less of cache in a sophomore event” and expects attendance to drop from last year’s reported 150,000 attendees.

Rather than touting the race as an economic “game changer” for Baltimore (as Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake did last year), Mayer has presented this year’s event as a building block for future races.

Among his goals are “stabilizing” the race and “trying to be good neighbors,” a reference to last year’s controversy over the roughly 50 city-owned trees cut down by the promoters for better sight lines.

Despite calls by City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young and the Baltimore Sun editorial page to cancel this year’s race, Mayor Rawlings-Blake found a novice promoter in the form of her top campaign contributor, James “J.P.” Grant of Grant Capital Management.

Grant formed Race On LLC in late April with Gregory O’Neill, a local demolition contractor, and was awarded a contract by the Board of Estimates to run the annual race through September 2016.

The new contract builds on the experience of last year’s financial debacle, where the city lost more than $1 million in setup costs, police and firefighter overtime and other expenses. The Grant group was required to pay $350,000 in upfront money, or about 45% of the projected $800,000 in direct municipal costs for the weekend event.

The group also must pay $50,000 to local communities affected by the race, or half the $100,000 that last year’s promoters paid before they ran into financial trouble.

Promoter Expects to Lose Money

Grant has made it clear that he expects to lose money on this year’s event, in part because of the short time period the group has had to prepare for the race.

As the effort to secure a high-profile official sponsor fizzled, Race On has relied of a number of individual sponsors to bring in some revenue, including SRT (a division of Chrysler), Giant Food, Buffalo Wild Wings, Mr. Tire, Phillips Office Solutions, Verizon Wireless, and Dr. Pepper, the official soft drink of the race.

Grant has a long history with city government. An intimate of local elected officials since the Kurt Schmoke administration, Grant’s Columbia-based company has provided the city with at least $141 million in lease financing since 2004.

In the last election cycle, The Brew found that Grant coordinated $38,500 in donations to Rawlings-Blake’s mayoral run through his wife, sister, son and other relatives and entities. He has also given generously to the campaign coffers of City Council President Young and long-serving City Comptroller Joan M. Pratt.

Stepping Up Neighborhood Promotion

Besides the severed trees, last year’s Grand Prix was faulted for not providing much spin-off for businesses that were not along the immediate path of the racetrack in the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards.

This year, Andretti Sports Marketing, the event’s promoter, has stepped up efforts to encourage racing fans to step outside the chain-link fencing along the racetrack and eat and shop at nearby neighborhoods.

“The races bring a lot of people, so we are trying to encourage them to wander about the city,” Jade Gurss, director of corporate communications for Andretti, told The Brew today.

One destination is Little Italy. On Wednesday, Extreme Speed Motorsports displayed one of the team’s Ferraris in the neighborhood, which was a big hit, according to Giovana Blattermann, owner of Gia’s Cafe. Last night, several drivers and crew members from different teams ate at Little Italy restaurants.

Another way Andretti Sports is helping business in Little Italy is the Pit Lane Club at the Geppi Entertainment Museum. Holders of $1,000 VIP tickets will be led to Little Italy after the races for dinner and free Peroni beer. “We really wanted to fix things [from last year] and have restructured the event in many ways,” Blattermann said.

Phil Zoppo, manager of Vaccaro’s Italian Pastries on Albemarle Street, said out-of-town guests are seeking out the community because of the publicity. “I’m hopeful this year because they did do more promoting and advertising,” he said.

“We’ll Take a Huge Hit”

The guarded optimism of Little Italy merchants was not shared by shop owners interviewed in Federal Hill  south of the racecourse.

“There are no shuttles from the race, and it will be too difficult for people to get down here,” sighed Anna Epsilantis, owner of Big Jim’s Deli at the Cross Street Market.

Even with the track closing down at 7 p.m. (rather than last year’s 9 p.m. close), the expected increase in evening customers will not match the loss of daytime regulars today and tomorrow. “We’ll take a huge hit just like last year,” she stated.

Closer to the race course, downtown hotels are gearing up for hungry and thirsty patrons. To lure racing aficionados, the Marriott Inner Harbor is featuring Diesel Fries (fries with chili and cheese), Pit Stop Sausage Tire Rolls (sausage and cheese with pepperoni sauce) and Fried Golden Pistons (fried mozzarella with marinara sauce) at its restaurant.

Back at the Cross Street Market, Henry Reisinger, of Fenwick Choice Meats, figures that while he’ll take a loss, the Grand Prix will be an overall plus for the city.

“You gotta be optimistic,” Reisinger said, while weighing ground beef on a scale.

“I just hope the city makes some money, and then we continue to get business in the future.”

FOR RACE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION, see here.