First Vincennes Grand Prix starts Saturday

VINCENNES, IND. (WTHI) - A southern Indiana community begins converting its downtown into a go-cart race track.

The first ever Vincennes Grand Prix is set for this weekend.

The event is co-sponsored by the Indy Karting Series and Knox County CASA.

The city may well have won another race, to put its best foot forward for visitors and fans.

A crew started unloading straw bales, getting ready to turn the streets of Vincennes into a weekend go-cart track.

The city is having its first even Grand Prix in the downtown streets with free admission and lots of great racing.

"Bring the whole family and come enjoy watching go-carts," said Dena Held with Knox County CASA. "We're going to have go-cart racers from the state of Indiana and Illinois. The come and they race. They have a good time. It's a good family activity."

"A lot of competition, they take it seriously at heart sometimes," said Joe Kind with Indy Karting Series.

The community has also been racing this week to get ready to host the event.

The cleanup of the old Gimbel lot that was expected to take 20 days has been in over-drive.  Now, after only one week, it is being leveled and readied for visitors.

The Gimble lot was an absolute mess during some of the biggest events in this community this year including the Rendezvous, the 4th of July Parade and the Red Skelton Festival, but at least it's going to be somewhat rehabilitated for the race fans to come to downtown Vincennes.

"It could be as many as a thousand people," said Held. "Of course I would hope we have a lot of people from the area come join us. Come see what it's all about."

Because even as quickly as this lot is being brought back, the racers coming downtown will be moving even faster.

The Vincennes Grand Prix runs both Saturday and Sunday.

For a full rundown on the events you can go to www.indykartingseries.com

To find out more about the sponsoring agency Knox County CASA go to www.childadvocatesnetwork.org