TheGrand Prix of Miami refers to an intermittent series ofAmerican open wheel races held inSouth Florida dating back to 1926.AAA held oneboard track race in 1926, and then the facility was destroyed by a hurricane. The popularCART IndyCar World Series debuted in the Miami area in the mid-1980s with astreet circuit atTamiami Park, then returned to race atBicentennial Park in 1995.

From 1996 to 2010,Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted Indy cars on the 1.5-mile oval. TheCART series participated from 1996 to 2000, then the event was switched to theIndy Racing League for 2001–2010. An additional Champ Car race was held for a brief time atBayfront Park from 2002 to 2003.

In 1925,Carl Fisher (who built theIndianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909) was developingMiami Beach and envisioned theMiami area as the winter auto racing capital of the world. Fisher builtFulford–Miami Speedway, the world's fastest1+1⁄4-mileboard track in nearbyFulford. The outstanding features of the track were the 50 degree banked turns, which required a speed of at least 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) to keep the cars from sliding down into the infield.

On February 22, 1926, the firstAAAChampionship Car race inSouth Florida took place at the facility. A crowd of 20,000 spectators sawPeter DePaolo win the 300-mile (480-km) race, the first and only major race ever held at the facility.^[1]

Later in the year, the track was destroyed by theGreat Miami Hurricane of 1926. The site of the oval is now occupied by the Diplomat Presidential Country Club.^{[citation needed]}

Modern American open wheel racing in the Miami area dates back to 1985. In that year, theCART series began racing on a temporary street circuit inTamiami Park a small outdoor sports facility in the nearby suburb ofUniversity Park. The race lasted through 1988, and on two occasions (1987 and 1988) included the CARTMarlboro Challengeall star race.

In each of the four years it was held, it served as the CART season finale. The inaugural event in 1985 featured a famous championship battle between the father-and-son duo ofAl Unser, Sr. andAl Unser Jr. WithDanny Sullivan leading in the waning laps, Unser Jr. was running third, and for the moment, mathematically was going to clinch the championship points title. His father Al Sr. was charging in 5th place, and needed to move up to 4th in order to clinch the title for himself andPenske Racing. Despite personal misgivings about potentially robbing his own son of a championship, Al Sr. passed 4th placeRoberto Moreno with only a handful of laps remaining, and held on to the checkered flag. By finishing 4th, Unser, Sr. beat his son in the championship standings by one point.

Rain plagued the race three out of four years, and after the 1988 running, CART officials announced they were not returning.^[3] The primary reason was that CART wanted to change the date of the race to either September or to the spring. But promoterRalph Sanchez did not want to move the race to September due tohurricane season, and did not want to move the race to the spring because it would create a conflict with theIMSA race he also promoted.

A significant portion of the course layout was razed for the construction ofFIU Stadium in 1994. Some subtle remains of the circuit were recognizable as of the early 2010s.

In 1995, race promoter Ralph Sanchez brought open wheel racing back to Miami. In the aftermath ofHurricane Andrew, he began redeveloping a devastated area ofHomestead, Florida, into theHomestead Motorsports Complex. From 1983 to 1994, Sanchez had promoted very successful IMSA and Trans-Amraces atBayfront Park andBicentennial Park alongBiscayne Bay.

Sanchez revived the Bicentennial Park circuit for one season as aCART race, while Homestead was still under construction. The Bicentennial Park circuit was a semi-permanent circuit which featured purpose-built roads in the park area, along with a temporary segment taking it out onBiscayne Boulevard near the entrance to thePort of Miami.

For the 1995 event, the circuit was run in the opposite direction (clockwise) as it had previously been contested (counter-clockwise). This was done mainly for safety reasons, as the faster Indy cars would find IMSA turn one too tight and prone to accidents. A small kink/chicane was added at the end of the long backstretch (now running northbound) to control speeds. Two of the turns were also widened and slightly re-worked, but that did not significantly alter the layout. The race was won byJacques Villeneuve, and was the1995 CART season opener.

Less than three years after the lone CART race in 1995, the layout of the Bicentennial Park racing circuit was partially razed for construction ofAmerican Airlines Arena. In the early 2010s, most of the remaining vestiges of the circuit were completely demolished due to the construction of the newScience Museum andArt Museum on the site.

This area was later used for a new circuit, known as theBiscayne Bay Street Circuit. Promoted byMichael Andretti, a 1.3 mile, eight-turn circuit in the area debuted for the2014–15 Formula E season. In Formula E, the pit lane is used to store cars for the car change that takes place during each race, and the pit lane is away from the start-finish line, close to the pit lane. From Turn 4 to Turn 5 on this circuit the cars will take it out to Biscayne Boulevard, and Turns 5 to 8 (and pit lane) are located very close to the original Bicentennial Park circuit layout. The pit lane is in the same vicinity as the original circuit.

TheHomestead–Miami Indy 300 was anIndyCar race held atHomestead-Miami Speedway inHomestead, Florida from 1996 to 2010.

In 1996, after construction was complete atHomestead Motorsports Complex, CART debuted at 1.5-mile oval with a 200-mile (320 km) event. At the time the layout was a flat, rectangular "mini-Indy" configuration. In 1997, the race was lengthened to 225 miles (362 km) after the turns were made wider by reducing the apron, and the configuration was finally reconstructed to be a traditional oval shape in 1998. For each of its years through 2000, the race served as the CART series season opener. CART also used the facility as their venue for "spring training" (off-season testing).

In 2001, the event switched to an IRLIndycar Series event. It was also lengthened to 300 miles (480 km). From 2002 to 2008, the race served as the IndyCar Series season opener. In 2007–2008, the race was held as a night race. After a schedule reorganization, the race was moved to become the season finale for2009 and2010 IndyCar Series season. The 2009 race went without a caution, and set a race record average speed of 201.420 mph. The 2010 race was the last IndyCar event at the track in the foreseeable future.

On March 26, 2006 driverPaul Dana suffered fatal injuries in the warmup session before the race when he was involved in a high-speed collision withEd Carpenter at over 215 mph (346 km/h). The race went on as scheduled, but Dana's teammates withdrew from the race.

In 2002–2009, the IndyCar Series race was part of theSpeed Jam, a twin-race combo weekend with theRolex Sports Car Series.

TheCART series returned to the Miami area once again in 2002. TheGrand Prix Americas was a jointCART/ALMS weekend, which revived a part of the original 1983Bayfront Park course. A 1.387-mile (2.232 km) circuit utilized park roads and extended onto Biscayne Boulevard and 3rd and 4th Streets. In 2003, the layout was changed to drop the 3rd/4th Street loop and added a section on Biscayne Boulevard along the north end of the park.

The race briefly provided two annual open wheel races in the Miami area. The IRL's race at Homestead was in the spring, while this race was held in the fall.

• Grand Prix of Miami (sports car racing)

• ChampCarStats.com