Chicago mayor indecisive over CONTROVERSIAL major NASCAR decision

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson has refused to commit to keeping the city's NASCAR street race hooked to the Fourth of July weekend next year, with criticism swelling.

The race was held earlier this month for the second year in a row - with Johnson having inherited responsibility for the event after increasingly unpopular former mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed a three-year deal with NASCAR before leaving office.

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Critics have claimed that the event takes police attention away on a crucial weekend (more than 100 people were shot in the city over the weekend in 2024), but Johnson refused to be drawn on whether the criticisms would lead to a change on the 2025 calendar.

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling, speaking at the same press conference as Johnson, did insist that this year saw far fewer police resources devoted to the event than in 2023.

Johnson: No decision made on 2025 NASCAR race

Speaking this week, the mayor said: "Obviously, those were dates that we inherited. We will continue to assess how this particular weekend for NASCAR … best benefits the people of Chicago.

"But no decision has been made on which weekend in particular is best suited because I'll just say it like this: Whether it's a holiday weekend or a weekend as someone who's celebrating their wedding anniversary, the point of our work is to ensure that every single weekend in the city of Chicago is as safe as possible."

The 2024 event was broadly praised for being better organised than its inaugural edition, but the race itself was shortened due to rain for the second consecutive year, leading to a large number of fans abandoning the stands early.

As for promises for the future, Snelling told reporters: "We had significantly less officers at that event this year. We recognize that we had a level of security around that event where we didn't need as many officers. So we were able to scale that down this year, and we'll continue to do that."

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