In 1982, Formula One announced a proposed race in the New York area for 1983, to be held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. That event was first postponed, then cancelled. Simultaneously, CART and the Meadowlands Sports Complex, aided by Long Beach promoter Chris Pook, announced their own race for 1984. The circuit was a 15-turn, 1.682 km temporary road course set up in the parking lots surrounding Giants Stadium.
The inaugural purse of $536,000 made it the richest CART race outside Indianapolis. It arrived on the heels of successful former Formula One street events at Long Beach and Las Vegas, and was televised nationally. Organizers expected crowds of 50,000.
The inaugural 1984 race was won by Mario Andretti, who led all 100 laps. Despite the race-day rain, 34,388 spectators attended. The circuit's tight, parking-lot character drew immediate criticism from drivers, who found it unappealing compared to natural terrain road courses or genuine downtown street circuits.
The 1985 event saw better weather and slightly improved attendance but fell short of expectations again. Organizers signed a three-year contract regardless, committing to the event's continuation. Criticism mounted through the mid-1980s: the circuit lacked both the park-like quality of a traditional road course and the urban energy of a real street race.
In 1988, officials attempted to reinvigorate the event by switching to a new 1.217 km semi-oval layout surrounding Brendan Byrne Arena, redesigned to improve competition and sightlines. Attendance reached a record 45,025 that year, bolstered by a new title sponsor Marlboro who offered a $1 million bonus for any driver who could win at the Meadowlands, at Michigan, and in the Marlboro Challenge in Miami in the same season — a bonus never claimed. The 1988 race produced one of its most memorable moments when Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi made contact late in the race, sending Fittipaldi into a bank of tire barriers. Unser Jr. won, and the two would meet again the following year at Indianapolis in another famous last-lap duel.
The 1989 race was notable for being won by Bobby Rahal, marking the milestone 153rd and final race win for the Cosworth DFX/DFS engine in Indy car racing. The race was halted five laps early due to heavy rain and standing water.
Despite the layout change, attendance fell again after 1988 and the race continued to lose money. The 1990 race was won by Michael Andretti, who led 105 of 150 laps in a crash-filled event that saw Bobby Rahal and Mario Andretti collide, and Arie Luyendyk drive up an exit ramp into the Giants Stadium parking lot after missing a turn, then drive back down to rejoin the race. Bobby Rahal won the 1991 event, ending a 34-race winless streak — it would prove to be the final Meadowlands Grand Prix.
Organizers explored relocating the event to Washington D.C., Miami, or a permanent circuit to be built at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. Plans eventually materialized for a 1992 race on city streets surrounding the World Trade Center and West Street in Manhattan. The race was postponed to 1993, then cancelled entirely due to cost overruns and a conflict between title sponsor Marlboro and New York Mayor David Dinkins's anti-tobacco advertising policies.
The Meadowlands Grand Prix holds an unenviable reputation as one of the more unsuccessful experiments in CART's history — a high-profile attempt to crack the New York market that was undermined by an unattractive circuit, inconsistent attendance, and persistent financial losses. Nevertheless, the event contributed several notable chapters to Indy car history: the Unser-Fittipaldi 1988 collision, Rahal's 1989 Cosworth farewell, and Luyendyk's accidental parking-lot detour have each entered the sport's folklore. The race also stands as the last major auto race held in the New York metropolitan area for its era, a gap Formula One's own failed attempt to fill only reinforced.