The race took place at Burke Lakefront Airport, a fully functioning commercial airport that shut down for approximately a week each year to accommodate the race. The runways provided a circuit quite unlike any other on the CART calendar: wide concrete surfaces allowed cars to race side-by-side in ways that more confined street circuits could not, while long straights generated high top speeds and created multiple overtaking opportunities. The layout's openness also meant that spectators in the grandstands could see almost the entire course at once, contributing to the event's popularity with fans.
The venue was less accommodating for the cars themselves. The runway surface was considerably bumpier than normal racing asphalt, putting additional strain on machinery and drivers. Turn 1 — where the wide front straight funneled into a roughly 135-degree corner as the runway narrowed — became one of the most notorious sections of the entire CART schedule. At race starts, cars would fan out across the wide concrete to gain position before being "sucked" toward the apex of turn 1 as many as five or six abreast, regularly producing multi-car crashes that eliminated competitors before the first lap was complete.
The inaugural race on July 4, 1982 — originally called the Budweiser Cleveland 500 — saw Kevin Cogan start from pole position, but it was Bobby Rahal, a local rookie from nearby Medina, who won to the delight of the home crowd. The race quickly established itself as one of the CART season's showpiece events.
From 1982 to 1989 the race ran on a layout measuring 2.480 miles. In 1990, ahead of race day, the track was unexpectedly reconfigured during the event weekend itself after several cars encountered serious problems in a bumpy section at turns 1 and 2. The left-right combination was eliminated and the main straight extended, producing a revised layout of 2.369 miles that was then adopted permanently. In 1997 the course was remeasured to 2.106 miles without any visible configuration change.
Naming rights changed hands several times across the event's history. Budweiser held the title sponsorship through 1994, followed by Cleveland-area pharmacy chain Medic Drug from 1995 to 1999, and then Marconi from 2000 to 2002. Various presenting sponsors shared billing in different years, including Dairy Mart, Star Bank, Firstar, U.S. Bank, and finally LaSalle Bank in 2007.
In 1999, it was announced that the race would switch from CART to the rival Indy Racing League for the 2000 season, to be reconfigured as an oval of approximately 1.2 miles. The plan drew a hostile reaction from the fan base and ultimately collapsed when the Federal Aviation Administration approval required for oval construction proved insurmountable and Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White withdrew the city's support in September 1999. The race returned to CART in 2000 on the original course.
The 25th anniversary running in 2006 was commemorated with a special painting depicting memorable race moments. In 2007 it was announced that the race would remain at Cleveland through 2012, but the announcement proved premature: when Champ Car merged with IndyCar in 2008, the Cleveland Grand Prix was not carried over to the unified schedule and the 2008 edition was canceled.
The all-time unofficial qualifying record on the original circuit was set by Mario Andretti — 1:04.636 seconds in a Lola T89/00 during 1989 qualifying. On the revised layout, Jimmy Vasser holds the unofficial qualifying record: 0:56.417 seconds in a Reynard 98I during 1998 qualifying.
Over its 26-year run the Grand Prix of Cleveland was a fixture of the summer CART calendar and produced its share of memorable races. The wide runways and unusual layout gave it a character unlike any other event in American open-wheel racing, and the race consistently drew large crowds to a venue that offered panoramic views of the whole circuit. Its disappearance after the 2007 season was widely lamented by fans who valued the unique racing it generated.