Looking back, the first Dallas Grand Prix provided a few surprises, not least the fact that it turned out to be the slowest circuit on the current Grand Prix programme — Keijo Rosberg’s Williams FW09-Honda came home the winner, on a dramatically deteriorating surface, at an average speed a whisker over 80 mph. That was significantly slower than many people had expected for the 2.42-mile Fair Park circuit, set in the centre of the Texas fairground in the middle of the oil-rich Texas city, but then many people considered it to be something of a minor miracle that the race took place at all.
If we examine this inaugural Dallas Grand Prix objectively, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that insufficient foresight and preparation were brought to bear on the problems of organising it in the first place. Over the past few years, with conventional established circuits finding it increasingly difficult to meet the financial demands of the Formula One Constructors Association, so the trend has been increasingly away from established race tracks to events staged on makeshift road circuits.
Nigel Mansell leads Elio de Angelis and Derek Warwick at the start
