Start your engines!  An exciting event is on the fast track to Bricktown in Oklahoma City.  A Bricktown grand prix race may be the newest attraction in Downtown Oklahoma City.  The city council is on board after approving a plan for OKC Grand Prix, LLC to move forward.  Now, promoters will go to Florida next week to begin serious talks with the American Le Mans Series.

Mike McAufille with OKC Grand Prix, LLC said, "To drive around the downtown streets of Bricktown, it's kind of a sexy event.  It's a cosmopolitan event, and we're very confident it will be successful here in Oklahoma City."

It would be American Le Mans' 2nd true street race in the country with the course speeding through Bricktown.  The economic impact could be $30 million, and include another $120 million indirectly.  Once again, putting Oklahoma City on the fast track.

"We can't just rely on racing fans only, thus you create a 3 day event, a spectacle," said Brad Lund, with OKC Grand Prix, LLC.

Mayor Mick Cornett says having a grand prix style race in downtown is a high priority of his.  They hope the first race will start in the summer of 2011.

Officials add that the estimated attendance for a grand prix race is about 80,000 people, and the entire event would last 3-4 days.  They also say Oklahoma City is a great location because most of the races take place on the east and west coasts.

"The center of the United States is wide open for this type of event," McAuffille described.  "It would be a great boom to Oklahoma City and Bricktown because Bricktown will be the focal point of the grand prix race."

OKC Grand Prix, LLC hopes to make it an annual event, after meeting with the American Le Mans Series representatives.

AP Story  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma City council is set to vote on a proposal that could bring an American Le Mans Series Grand Prix race to the city.

The council will decide Tuesday morning whether to adopt a resolution allowing City Manager Jim Couch to start negotiations with a group called Oklahoma City Grand Prix LLC that has approached local officials with its desire to stage a race in Oklahoma City.

Any potential agreement that comes from the negotiations would also have to be approved by the council.

According to the ALMS Web site, the series will hold races this year in Sebring, Fla.; Long Beach, Calif.; Monterey, Calif.; Tooele, Utah; Lakeville, Conn.; Lexington, Ohio; Elkhart Lake, Wis.; and Braselton, Ga.