The Strip resort that staged Formula One in 1981 and 1982, then CART IndyCar, and went on to host boxing, wrestling and hockey.
Caesars Palace sits on the Strip in Las Vegas and opened in 1966 under Jay Sarno and Stanley Mallin. It hosted Formula One races in its car park in 1981 and 1982, then CART IndyCar events, and it has staged boxing, wrestling and hockey since.
Caesars Palace is a Las Vegas casino hotel that opened in 1966, but one of its most unusual chapters took place in the car park. In 1981 and 1982 the hotel hosted a Formula One World Championship round on a course laid out among its parked cars. The race was never renewed, and CART IndyCar events filled the site for two years before open-wheel racing left for good.
How did a Formula One race end up in a hotel car park?
The Caesars Palace Grand Prix ran in the hotel's car park in 1981 and 1982, on a site able to hold up to 1,300 cars. It proved a financial disaster, and the race was not renewed after 1982 because attendance was poor.
Drivers disliked the event. The course ran counter-clockwise, which put enormous strain on their necks, and the desert heat added to the punishment.
A Roman-themed casino that once turned its car park into a Formula One circuit.
Who won the Caesars Palace Grand Prix?
Michele Alboreto won the 1982 race in a Tyrrell. In 1981 Nelson Piquet clinched his first World Championship by finishing fifth, and the effort left him needing fifteen minutes to recover from heat exhaustion.
The 1982 race was the last Formula One event held on the site, and no round returned to the hotel afterwards.
Motor racing at Caesars Palace at a glance
| Year | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Formula One World Championship | Nelson Piquet finished fifth and clinched his first title |
| 1982 | Formula One | Michele Alboreto won in a Tyrrell; last Formula One race on the site |
| Two years after 1982 | CART (IndyCar) | Mario Andretti and Tom Sneva among the winners |
| 2013 | Stadium Super Trucks | One round held at the hotel |
Why did open-wheel racing leave the hotel?
After the Formula One race ended, CART (IndyCar) ran events at the hotel for two years, and the open-wheel event was then permanently dropped. The site moved on to other sports.
The 2013 round of the Stadium Super Trucks series was a different kind of event, because it used trucks rather than open-wheel cars. The hotel had by then built a reputation as a place for big-event sport of many kinds.
The hotel earned the nickname Home of Champions after decades of boxing, auto racing and volleyball tournaments.
How big was boxing at the hotel?
Boxing has been staged at Caesars since the late 1970s, mostly in an outdoor arena and in an indoor sports pavilion that has since been demolished. Larry Holmes and Muhammad Ali met there in October 1980, and in April 1987 a 15,356-seat arena hosted the Super Fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler.
Evander Holyfield fought Riddick Bowe at the hotel twice, including a bout in November 1992, and the rematch a year later gave Holyfield the title. He also fought Michael Moorer there in April 1994 for the WBA, IBF and Lineal heavyweight championships. Boxing returned in 2004, when Wladimir Klitschko and Jeff Lacy headlined a Showtime card at the hotel's new outdoor amphitheatre.
Which other sports came to the hotel?
WrestleMania IX took place at the hotel in April 1993, drawing on the hotel's Roman theme, and it remains the only WrestleMania with a particular theme. World Championship Wrestling also staged events there, including Clash of the Champions XXX in January 1995.
A National Hockey League preseason game was played on an outdoor rink built in the car park on September 27, 1991. The Los Angeles Kings trailed 2-0 but came back to win 5-2, with a goal from Wayne Gretzky in the comeback.
That game was a prelude to Frozen Fury, an annual series of preseason games in Las Vegas, and eventually to the Vegas Golden Knights, who joined the league for the 2017-18 season.
How was the original hotel designed?
Work on the 14-storey hotel started in 1965 on a 34-acre (14 ha) site, and it opened the following year. The architect Melvin Grossman designed the original tower, and its statues, columns and marble were chosen to recreate the feel of life under the Roman Empire.
Jay Sarno wanted every guest to feel like a Caesar. That is why the name is written without an apostrophe, which makes Caesars a plural rather than a possessive. The original tower had 680 rooms, and each had one wall mirrored from floor to ceiling. Marble came from Italy and rosewood from Brazil.
Outside, a 20-foot (6.1 m) statue of Julius Caesar hails a taxi in the driveway, and a 15-foot statue of Augustus stands beneath a domed ceiling at the main entrance.
Did the hotel's early years make headlines?
Evel Knievel's jump is the most famous of them. On December 31, 1967 he tried to clear 140 feet (43 m) of fountains outside the hotel while ABC filmed the attempt. He hit the top of the safety ramp, flew over his handlebars into the neighbouring Dunes parking lot, fractured his pelvis and several bones, and lay unconscious for 29 days.
His son Robbie completed the same jump on April 14, 1989. The first casino at the hotel had been named Circus Circus, and in 1969 a federal task force pressed the investors to sell after accusing the casino's financial manager of ties to organised-crime figures.
How did the hotel grow over the decades?
The hotel grew tower by tower. The Forum Tower opened in 1979, the Palace Tower in 1997, the Augustus Tower in 2005 with 949 rooms, and the Octavius Tower in January 2012 with 668 rooms. By 2015 there were 3,960 rooms and suites across six towers.
The Augustus expansion cost $289 million and included a 26-storey tower with new convention and meeting facilities. The Forum Shops, built as an extension wing in 1992, cover 636,000 sq ft (59,100 m2) and report higher sales per square foot than Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
What did the Colosseum bring to the hotel?
The Colosseum is the main performance venue, with 4,296 seats and a 22,450 sq ft (2,086 m2) stage. It was built for Celine Dion's show A New Day, which opened in 2003 at a cost of about $95 million, and that show earned almost $175,000 per night on average.
The Dion run grossed $500 million in four years. She returned in March 2011 with a new show, Celine, and other headliners followed. Cher came back under a three-year contract for 200 shows beginning May 6, 2008, and Elton John kept his Red Piano show going for 50 nights a year.
On May 26, 2009, Barack Obama performed in the Colosseum in a one-night show called A Good Fight, raising funds for Harry Reid's Senate re-election campaign in Nevada.
Which restaurants and clubs made the hotel famous?
Restaurants have been a draw since 1992, when Wolfgang Puck opened Spago, one of the earliest upscale celebrity-chef restaurants inside a Las Vegas gambling resort. It sits in the Forum Shops arcade, with a lighter cafe facing the mall and a more formal dining room to the rear.
Guy Savoy opened his restaurant in 2006 on the condition that it serve guests only five days a week, and the management agreed. In 2008 Savoy brought his executive chef over from the Paris restaurant, and the venue earned two Michelin stars.
Other tables include Gordon Ramsay Pub and Grill, an English-style pub, and Rao's, which opened in 2006 as the second branch of the restaurant outside New York City. Searsucker Las Vegas opened in March 2015 with a 7,500 sq ft (700 m2) dining area, and Beijing Noodle No. 9 sits under an overhead screen lit by LED bulbs.
Payard Patisserie and Bistro, under pastry chef Francois Payard, has a 46-seat bistro and a chocolate clock that stands 16 feet (4.9 m) high. The clock releases three chocolate truffles every quarter-hour.
How did the nightlife scene develop?
The Pussycat Dolls Lounge opened at the hotel in 2005 as an adjunct of Pure nightclub, patterned on a vintage strip club. Omnia later replaced Pure, which had operated there for over a decade, in a $107 million expansion that combined the 34,000 sq ft (3,200 m2) Pure facility with the adjacent World of Poker room.
Omnia covers 75,000 sq ft (7,000 m2) and can accommodate 3,500 people. The Rockwell Group designed it with theatrical lighting, sound and climate control, plus rigging and catwalks for aerial performers, and the Hakkasan Group runs the club.
The replica of Cleopatra's Barge has housed a bar and lounge since 1970, and Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin often visited it. Sinatra sometimes sang there after his own shows.
How did Frank Sinatra's time at the hotel unfold?
Frank Sinatra began performing at the hotel in 1967 under a three-year contract. After a high-stakes baccarat dispute in September 1970 he walked out, but he returned after retiring in January 1974 and became a frequent performer through the decade.
On September 6, 1970, the normal limit at the table was US$2,000 per hand, but Sinatra had been playing for US$8,000 and wanted the stakes raised to US$16,000. When the request was refused he began shouting, and hotel executive Sanford Waterman came to talk with him. Witnesses said both men made threats, and Waterman produced a gun.
Sinatra left the casino and went home to Palm Springs, leaving a three-week engagement unfinished. Waterman was booked for assault but released without bail, and the district attorney declined to file charges. Sinatra regained his gaming licence in 1981 and became an entertainment and public relations consultant for the casino, paid $20,000 a week.
How did protest and labour disputes affect the hotel?
In 1971 about 1,500 rights activists stormed the hotel in protest, and in spring 1976 hundreds of Black workers went on strike in the first major strike in Las Vegas history. The entrances were blocked, and the hotel lost several million dollars.
The 1971 protest drew a coalition of welfare mothers, legal services lawyers, civil rights leaders and others. One cancellation alone was worth $500,000, and in 1973 the Del Webb Corporation was contracted to build an $8 million, 16-storey building beside the Palace.
Who has owned Caesars Palace?
The hotel was acquired for $60 million by Lum's restaurant chain owners, Stuart and Clifford S. Perlman, and the business became Caesars World. Harrah's Entertainment bought Caesars Entertainment in June 2005, and ownership of the property moved to VICI Properties in October 2017.
Under the 2017 spin-off, the operator took the property back on lease, paying an initial annual rent of $165 million. Fines came along the way, including $250,000 in 2010 after a baccarat player danced on the table, and $8 million in 2015 under the Bank Secrecy Act.
The casino closed on March 17, 2020, and reopened on June 4 that year. In November 2025 the Nevada Gaming Control Board fined the hotel $7.8 million for failing to verify a gambler's funding source.
What is the hotel's future?
On May 28, 2026, it was announced that Fertitta Entertainment would acquire Caesars Entertainment in an all-cash deal valued at $17.6 billion. The hotel itself is owned by VICI Properties and operated by Caesars Entertainment.
