ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – As the Firestone Grand Prix celebrates its 10th anniversary on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule the roots of this popular event can be traced all the way back to a Monday afternoon at the Indianapolis 500 way back in 1966. A nine-year-old boy watched Graham Hill drive to victory in the 50th Indianapolis 500 on Monday, May 30, 1966 and it left an indelible impression on the Indiana youngster.

He would move to Miami with his family when he was 10 years old but continued to be a devout Indianapolis 500 fan. That youngster would one day grow up to be a successful businessman and in 2001 he became Mayor of St. Petersburg.

Rick Baker had a dream and a passion to bring an IndyCar Series street race to St. Petersburg in an attempt to transform this once sleepy retirement community that was the backdrop to Ron Howard’s 1985 film “Cocoon” – winner of two Academy Awards -- into a vibrant resort area.

When it comes to celebrating and reflecting on 10 great years of IndyCar racing on the streets of St. Petersburg no one is prouder than Baker, whose term as Mayor ended in 2010 and he has returned to private business.

“When I became mayor I put a team together specifically for the purpose of trying to bring IndyCar racing to St. Pete,” Baker said from his office earlier this week. “We tried in 2003 with the Champ Car race. Dover Motorsports ran the race and at the end of that race Champ Car declared bankruptcy so we regrouped. I set up a call with Tony George (former Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and founder of IndyCar) and Ken Ungar. It was a cold call to Tony George with the idea to get IndyCar to St. Pete because that was really my goal. I didn’t start out by talking about economic development but the story about when I first went to the Indy 500. I named off every winner of the race since I was 5. The point I was making was because I was a fan it wasn’t just about economic development ploy for St. Petersburg; I wanted it because I cared about the series and I wasn’t going to let it fail and we were going to do everything we could to as a city to make sure that race succeeded.

“The point I was making to Tony is if he took a risk on it because IndyCar had never done a street race before – if he took a race on it we would make sure it succeeded.”

The thought of bringing loud race cars to the city streets racing around condominiums, hotels and restaurants in a city once known for retirees seemed like a bold gamble. It has paid off with one of the most popular events on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule right up at the top with the Indianapolis 500, Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the annual Saturday night race at Texas Motor Speedway.

“This is my favorite three days of the year,” Baker said. “It was such a long shot that worked.

“I think it is here to stay. It has become part of the fabric of the city. It started as Andretti Green when we started it. Michael Andretti was always a great supporter of the race and Kevin Savoree and Barry Green. We’ve had great promoters of the race. We’ve had great sponsors with Honda, as the lead sponsor for many years and now Firestone is the title sponsor. We’ve had a lot of other great sponsors – local and national. And of course IndyCar has been there from the beginning. Tony George said this could be the second-hottest race after Indianapolis almost from the beginning because of the excitement that was brewing here.

“We had all that going for us. Of course the city government was committed to it. The community grew to love the race. At first it was a bunch of open-wheel cars running around condominiums on the streets of downtown St. Pete. There were a fair amount of people that originally didn’t like the idea and we had to work with them to bridge the gap.

“What happened is St. Petersburg has become an IndyCar city. It has become part of the fabric of the city; people look forward to it every year and have parties and festivals surrounding it.

“It’s here to stay.”

Baker’s favorite race is the very first to run under the current IndyCar sanction after a one-year trial with Champ Car in 2003.

“My favorite is the first one when Dan Wheldon won it in 2005,” Baker said. “He went on to win the Indy 500 that year. Dan moved to St. Pete and was a great resident, good friend of the city and of course a huge loss both on a personal and professional level. That race is always very special to me. And, I got to wave the green flag for that race.

“You can’t imagine on a personal level a kid that grew up a mile or so from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that has a chance to help others bring an IndyCar race to his city in Florida and then be able to sit there on the track and wave the green flag, I get tears in my eyes thinking about it. It’s just a very cool thing for St. Petersburg and there are a lot of us that will make sure it is here for a very, very long time to come.”