INDYCAR: Oklahoma City considering street race

Oklahoma City's City Council was set to vote Tuesday on the first step toward holding an IndyCar race in 2017 or 2018.

Tuesday's council agenda included a vote on an exclusivity agreement to negotiate with Mark Perrone, a principal director and CEO of this September's Boston Grand Prix. Perrone handled planning negotiations with the city of Boston and state of Massachusetts before stepping down in December due to what was cited as health reasons.

The exclusivity agreement states that the city has been approached by Perrone to enter into exclusive negotiations to possibly conduct a Verizon IndyCar Series race "within the corporate limits of the City commencing in the calendar year of 2017 or 2018." The negotiating window would extend for one year under the terms of the agreement.

"There are several steps that have to happen before I would call this serious but it's nice that people are noticing us," Mayor Mick Cornett told KFOR-TV. "This is a promoter that's already doing a high-profile race in Boston and when they look at Oklahoma City as a potential market, we should feel good about it."

Cornett also told KFOR he wasn't sure there is a viable public space available, but "if they look at the success of the Thunder they wonder what else the market could support and they want to at least inquire about Oklahoma City's interest."

This is not the first attempt at a race in the Oklahoma City area. The council voted no to a downtown race in 2010 because the city would have had to pay close to $7 million in improvements, and it rejected a proposal for an American Le Mans Series race in 2011. OKC Motorsports, which was behind previous efforts to bring racing to Oklahoma City, had entered into an agreement with ALMS in 2013 for a minimum of three years.