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Legendary car owner Roger Penske, who leads the Detroit Grand Prix event (scheduled for Sept. 4-6) as chairman of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, informed the Indy Racing League and American Le Mans Series that the event will not be held in 2009 because of poor economic times.

“Obviously, it’s something we’re disappointed in, but as good businessmen we’ve got to make a call,” Penske told AutoWeek. “We have the assets to continue on, but there’s no reason at this point to have an event that wouldn’t be first-class.

“This is a real economic time of distress for everyone and we couldn’t sit here and count on a lot of things happening that we know weren’t going to happen, especially knowing we live in such a distressed area with unemployment and all the other things going on. We had to make the decision.”

Bud Denker, chairman of the Detroit Grand Prix, said he is hopeful the race will return in 2010.

“Our goal is to get through this difficult time economically and hopefully get this back on track in 2010,” he said. “It’s difficult. We’ve been weighing this for a couple months now. The issue is with the Big Three and all the auto sponsorship … it’s a tough economic environment.

“We took a pause. We’re trying to be prudent. It’s not the right time to ask people (sponsors) for more. The good news is the IRL and the American LeMans Series want to come back.”

Rookie Justin Wilson won the 2008 race on Labor Day weekend.