Ralph Sanchez Passes

The founder of the downtown Miami Grand Prix in the 80s and the visionary
behind the building of Homestead-Miami International Raceway.

The passing of Ralph Sanchez is a major loss to the South Florida motor sports community.

Y! SPORTS

BHW

 

He was a great guy...

 

Met Ralph just before the first Miami GP, the one that got rained out. I worked with him and Bruce Czaja proving the TV monitors for all of the VIP tents, and large screens for the pres room and the super VIP lounges.

The rain destroyed 25 25" Mitsubishi TVs, but the race was great. From then on took a room at the old Everglades Hotel, 4th floor over looking the track. Did photo work for Bruce after that.

I kept in contact with Ralph, as we were both in the real estate development business. We met concerning his desire to move forward with a new facility in the New Orleans area. State was providing around 500 acres and an exit off of I-10. He was prevented from doing anything in Florida by a non-compete clause when he sold Homestead to the France family. At that time, the company I was with had a financial partner named Apollo. Apollo had funded the construction of a couple of race tracks, I think one in Colorado. So I put Ralph and Apollo together. Ralph had been promised a CART race, but for some reason I do not remember, CART pulled out the rug from under Ralph, so the track never got built. I seem to remember it was Penske that caused the problem.

Ralph had been on and off sick for many years. And he really was a really nice person. I credit Ralph and Miami Vice for improving Miami's image in the early 1980s.

 

My first time attending an Indy Car race was back in 1985 at the Beatrice Indy Challenge held at Tamiami Park on a track built by Ralph Sanchez. Other than the 1982 12 Hours of Sebring and the 1979 Gatornationals, it was my first time seeing big time racing in person and to say I was a wide eyed kid is an understatement. I loved watching the Indy 500 every year and to get to see these cars practically in my own back yard was amazing. What made it even more special was this race was held just after the famous " spin and win " by Danny Sullivan as he passed Mario Andretti to eventually win the Indy 500, one of the greatest moments in racing history and there I was walking amongst them.

While I never met Ralph Sanchez I certainly got to enjoy the fruit of his labor. Whether it was that memorable Indy race at Tamiami or more recently walking through the garage at Homestead for a NASCAR race it was all made possible by his vision and the ability and determination to bring it to fruition. The world needs more people like him.

Thank you Mr. Sanchez

RIP
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By Gordon Kirby...

Gordon Kirby - Auto Racing - The Way It Is

BHW