Detroit Grand Prix 2024 poster contest winner crowned

Detroit — The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear has returned to the streets of Detroit, and this year’s official poster design pays homage to Detroit street art.

Alison Slackta, 22, a senior at the College for Creative Studies, won the 2024 Student Poster Competition for her vibrant design echoing urban street art around the Motor City. Her design will be finalized in the next few weeks and presented in final form on May 1 at an event featuring Detroit GP star driver Scott McLaughlin — just a month before the IndyCar circus comes to Motown.

“I used Detroit street art as my inspiration,” said Slackta, discussing her oil painting that shows the Detroit Grand Prix logo painted on a wall surrounded by graphic elements of IndyCars, IMSA sports racers and the Renaissance Center. “I used oil paint because it gives the design authenticity. I wanted the design to really feel like street art.”

The Detroit GP poster dates back to the GP’s origin in 1982 as a Formula One race and has been continued since — turning to its current format as a CCS competition in 2013. This year’s five finalists came from Professor Taylor Callery’s Editorial Illustration class for juniors and senior artists. The posters have become a collector’s item for Detroit racing fans.

A close runner-up went to Jordan Crouch, also a CCS senior, for her playful design of a child racing model race cars through Detroit streets. “My Dad took us around southeast Detroit events when I was a kid, and I thought of how a child might view the Detroit Grand Prix,” she said at her design presentation.

The two contestants tied up jury deliberation (the author of this story is a judge) with their original, very different interpretations of the Grand Prix weekend. In the end, an online fan vote (which counts for one vote) broke the tie after the eight-judge panel deadlocked.

Rounding out the podium as the third-place finisher was junior Dana Hu and her beautifully rendered illustration of an IndyCar dropping from the heavens to race past the Renaissance Center. Honorable mention awards went to junior Abby Sutter and her skillful, art deco design and senior Moaray Hunter, whose helmet-focused design was a throwback to the very first 1982 poster.

The Detroit Grand Prix vacated Belle Isle last year for the 1.5-mile street course that circles GM’s headquarters building.

This year the NTT IndyCar Series will be the Sunday, June 2, feature race with support races Saturday and Sunday from IndyCar’s “AAA league” Indy NXT and the Weathertech IMSA Sportscar Championship. The latter will, for the first time, feature a head-to-head war between GT rivals Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang in the GT3 class.

Also making their Detroit debut will be the wicked quick GTP hybrid prototypes, including the Porsche Penske entry from hometown favorite Penske, who will have entries in the IndyCar race as well. Last year’s Detroit GP race winner was Alex Palou, the eventual 2023 IndyCar champion.

Porsche Penske will face off against another hometown favorite, Cadillac, in the MSA hybrid prompted category. One of the red Cadillac racers is featured in Slackta’s winning poster design alongside an IndyCar.

Judges for the Detroit GP poster contest included:

John Kaloustian, associate professor of product design, College for Creative StudiesBobby Keyes, vice president, Detroit Sports Media AssociationMichael Montri, president, Detroit Grand PrixHenry Payne, auto critic, The Detroit News, and cartoonist, Andrews McMeel SyndicateNeal Rubin, columnist, Detroit Free PressVictor Williams, reporter, WDIV, Channel 4 (NBC)Sam Zhao, design manager, GM Motorsports

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.