In August 1942, the state of Oregon began development of a housing complex for shipping yard employees. Nestled on the banks of the Columbia River, the area was named Vanport, borrowing from its neighboring communities of Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. By the midpoint of World War II, Vanport, Oregon, was the largest public housing district in America, a destination for local workers and veterans returning from service.
On the afternoon of Memorial Day in 1948, heavy rainfall broke a railroad line dam of the Columbia and mass flooding washed Vanport away. The holiday weekend spared the area a heavier casualty toll. Many residents were away when the waters rushed, but when water receded, the city of Portland was left with a plot of land with an unknown future script. It would later become “West Delta Park,” and in 1960, a racetrack was built. Portland International Raceway.
This past weekend, Indy car racing returned to the historic venue, a circuit that had served as host to the sport from 1984-2007. Its list of winners is a who’s who of racing icons – Mario and Michael, Unser Jr., Zanardi, Emmo – all had conquered Portland. Sunday, it was all race fans who were victorious. The weekend in Portland was a home run.
I’d always heard that racing was popular in the Pacific Northwest. The reputation proved accurate each day as I exited Interstate 5 to make my way into the track.
Each morning, I arrived a little earlier. Each morning, the line was a bit longer. There are road courses with greater elevation changes (Sonoma), a greater number of turns (Road America), more palatial facilities (Barber) and a greater variation of turns (Mid-Ohio), but no track this year provided a greater pendulum of drama than Portland.
Before navigating the fourth turn of the first lap, points leader Scott Dixon was collected in a mishap that essentially ended the day for Graham Rahal, terminated the day for Marco Andretti and Ed Jones, and threw a curveball to James Hinchcliffe.
Once Dixon maneuvered out of the dusty chaos, I watched him make his way around the sweeping right-hand combo of Turns 4 and 5, navigating the west portion of Portland International Raceway. The infield of the turns is sparsely filled with grass, Portland’s climate not conducive to growing lush greenery in the dry summer months, but it was the squared dirt areas that caught my eye. The foundation of Vanport’s buildings still lie beneath the surface, reminders of a time when it housed America’s railroad workers and servicemen and women, before housing the roar of America’s most elite mode of technological innovation.
Dixon’s points lead seemed to be slipping away, with challenger Alexander Rossi pacing the field and seemingly shifting the Verizon IndyCar Series championship firmly within his grasp.
A race is rarely defined in a lap, however, and a championship is rarely defined by one race. Dixon eventually worked his way toward the front third of the field. Following a series of unexpected cautions and pit-stop strategies, the Kiwi found himself with a top-five finish, three spots in front of Rossi.
Early in Sunday’s race, Dixon surely felt his day was not going in the fashion he hoped. It was compounded by a pit-lane speed violation midrace that earned Dixon a drive-through penalty. Yet, he saw the challenge, overcame misfortune and came out further ahead than anyone would have anticipated. He actually expanded his points lead by three over Rossi.
Just as Portland International Raceway rose from unforeseen destruction seven decades ago, Dixon refused to yield to the flood of adversity that could have seen his championship hopes washed away.
The lore of Vanport wouldn’t have it any other way.
(Veteran broadcaster Jake Query is a member of the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network team and offers his musings regularly on IndyCar.com.)