So, what’s next?
Camel wrestling at the Levitt?
Canine Freestyle Dancing at City Hall?
Mud Olympics at Richard Greene Linear Park?
There’s undoubtedly a group of deep thinkers responsible for developing ideas specifically for the entertainment district’s entertaining because every time you look up, something new is popping up somewhere in the vicinity of Globe Life Field and AT&T Stadium.
Here, we thought baseball and football and concerts in the park and art fairs and art trails and symphonies and theater and museums and axe throwing (walk-ins at $22.99 an hour, I have learned) were all there is to do along that particular slice of heaven.
Oh, no.
Now we have fast cars screeching around the place, which on the surface doesn’t sound unusual for a Friday or Saturday night, but we’re talking really fast cars.
In March of 2026, Arlington will welcome IndyCar Arlington Grand Prix, and where else but right there in the entertainment district.
The plan is to race along a 2.73-mile circuit featuring AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field along a course with 14 turns and the longest straightaway on the IndyCar calendar, clocking in at 0.9 miles.
I’m not sure, but that sounds treacherously exciting. I hear that speeds are expected to exceed 180 miles per hour before these skilled drivers brake hard into Turn 10.
As for the pit lane, a double-sided pit configuration will be located in a parking lot between both stadiums.
Why we’re getting IndyCar might have something to do with Texas Motor Speedway dropping off the IndyCar schedule, at least this year, if not for the long haul. Since 1997, IndyCar has raced in far north Fort Worth. It appears that IndyCar and track operator Speedway Motorsports failed to come to terms for 2024.
So, as usual, Arlington swooped in. (We seem to be good at that).
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Rangers chief operating officer Neil Leibman were on hand when the announcement was first made.
There you go.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Barbara Odom-Wesley was right when she said the Grand Prix will put visitors “right in the heart of everything in our vibrant, entertainment district.”
She went on.
“This is an economic win for North Texas,” she said, “and for Arlington. Fans coming in for the three-day event can enjoy various family-friendly attractions, our beautiful parks and world-class sports venues, fine dining, and nightlife, and shopping.”
The event is a collaborative effort between Penske Entertainment, the Dallas Cowboys, and REV Entertainment, the Texas Rangers’ official events partner.
It’s also sort of a trend. Street circuits located around stadiums seem to be the thing nowadays. In Formula 1, the Miami Grand Prix is situated around the Miami Dolphins stadium. So, the venue itself is the actual hub for race fans. There’s also a Nashville street circuit around Nissan Stadium, which is the home of the Tennessee Titans.
“I see this as history and an opportunity coming together,” is how Roger Penske, the motorsport magnate, put it during the big announcement at, of course, Texas Live!.
“No place in the United States can we race to have this kind of community, a diverse community with sports fans.”
He, Jones, and certainly Mayor Jim Ross believe this race will transform our lovely entertainment district “into something spectacular, something so spectacular that the world will come and watch,” said Penske.
Jones might have upped him when he referred to the IndyCar event as “another great reflection of what we imagined over 15 years ago that AT&T Stadium could be a part of.”
Seems it keeps getting better, too.
What, I wonder, will follow IndyCar racing in the Entertainment District?
Bathtubbing?
Cow racing?
Toe wrestling? (That really is a thing).
Kenneth Perkins has been a contributing writer for Arlington Today for nearly a decade. He is a freelance writer, editor and photographer.
Photo Credit: indycar.com
