The race emerged partly as a consequence of the Watkins Glen circuit losing its place on the Formula One calendar after 1980. Las Vegas had previously hosted racing through a Can-Am event at the Stardust International Raceway in the late 1960s, but that facility was demolished in 1970. With a slot available on the F1 schedule, Caesars Palace offered its expansive hotel parking lot as the venue for a new American street-type race.
The Formula One circuit measured 3.650 kilometres (2.268 miles) and incorporated 14 turns arranged in a counter-clockwise direction — unusual among Grand Prix venues, which typically run clockwise. The layout drew almost unanimous criticism from drivers. Its flat, featureless character, confined by rows of parked cars and concrete barriers, gave it the atmosphere of an industrial estate rather than a racing circuit, and it was widely regarded as one of the worst tracks Formula One had ever visited. The counter-clockwise rotation placed sustained lateral load on the left side of drivers' necks, compounding fatigue in the intense Nevada heat.
The 1981 race was the season finale and carried decisive championship weight. Nelson Piquet clinched his first World Championship by finishing fifth, enough to secure the title on points. The achievement came at considerable physical cost: Piquet required fifteen minutes to recover from heat exhaustion after climbing from the car. The race itself was won by Alan Jones in a Williams-Ford.
In 1982, Michele Alboreto won for Tyrrell-Ford, setting the circuit's F1 lap record of 1:19.639. The race again ran over 75 laps, but poor attendance and significant financial losses for the hotel prompted Formula One's withdrawal from the venue. The 1982 event proved to be the last Formula One race at Caesars Palace.
After Formula One's departure, the CART Indy car series took over the event for 1983 and 1984. The circuit was substantially reconfigured into a distorted oval of 1.125 miles (1.811 kilometres), connecting turns 1, 6, and 10 of the original layout with new straights to create five turns in total. Each CART race ran to 178 laps, covering 200.25 miles.
Mario Andretti won the 1983 edition for Newman/Haas Racing. For the 1984 running, the exit of the final corner was widened, raising lap speeds by approximately 7 mph, and Tom Sneva took the victory for Mayer Motor Racing.
The Caesars Palace Grand Prix disappeared from the racing calendar after 1984. The site of the circuit was subsequently redeveloped and is now occupied by the Forum Shops at Caesars and the Mirage resort hotel, with no visible trace of the track remaining. Formula One did not return to Las Vegas until 2023, when a new Las Vegas Grand Prix debuted on a 3.853-mile circuit routing through city streets, a fundamentally different venue with no connection to the parking-lot race of the early 1980s.
Despite its brief existence and near-universal critical disdain, the Caesars Palace Grand Prix holds a specific place in the history of the sport as the stage on which Nelson Piquet secured his maiden world title — one of the most physically gruelling championship-clinching moments in Formula One history.
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