However, due to higher than expected costs for street repairs and improvements, among other concerns, race organizers moved to a course running directly through downtown.

The course began on Almaden Boulevard running northerly along the southbound lanes of the road crossing VTA light rail tracks at San Carlos St. Just before reaching Santa Clara Street the course reached turn one, an abrupt hairpin that caused the drivers to double back in the southbound direction along Almaden Blvd again in the opposite direction of normal traffic.

The course was the shortest and tightest track on the Champ Car schedule the three years the San Jose Grand Prix was run.

Several modifications were made to the track following initial practice and qualifying sessions, including adding a chicane to the front stretch and moving a grandstand to make room for a bigger run-off area.

The biggest change was a pit road/frontstretch swap which put the start finish line closer to the premium Gold seating section, which was obstructed in 2005 by the palm trees on the Almaden Boulevard median.

The swap also removed the chicane placed just before the rail crossing, making the stretch from Balbach to the Toyota Hairpin a straight shot.

The San Jose Grand Prix organizers also had to deal with the decision of the owners of the CCWS to not renew their marketing agreement with the Trans-Am Series and the failure to attract the return of the United States Touring Car Championship.

Once the Grand Prix had secured an appearance by the Formula BMW USA series, organizers focused the rest of their budget on off-course attractions to further increase attendance.

Prior to the race on July 24, Ryan Dalziel, driver of the #28 DP01 for Pacific Coast Motorsports suffered a broken collarbone while training on his bicycle Tuesday morning.

Dalziel consulted with Dr. Terry Trammell in order to determine his eligibility for round ten of the Champ Car World Series at Road America.

However the 2007 San Jose Grand Prix pole sitter for the Champ Car race was Justin Wilson from the UK with a run of 49.039 on Saturday.

[4][5][6] That event was later canceled in February 2008 when Champ Car World Series ceased operations and was merged into the Indy Racing League.