Legendary sports events must be unique with longevity.
Much like March Madness or Masters Tournament, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is a crown jewel of open-wheel street racing because of its beautiful setting and storied history.
“I love the weekend, it’s just a special weekend,” said IndyCar legend Al Unser Jr., who is this year’s Co-Grand Marshal alongside Mario Andretti.
This weekend marks the 50th year of racing on the downtown street course involving multiple series and different types of cars. The variety of action and various legendary winners here have been key to success for the race organizers and city at large.
“We look at the whole menu for our audience, what are they interested in or what’s new and what they would find stimulating,” Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President & CEO Jim Michaelian said.
Last year, the LBGP set a new attendance record with around 200.000 fans coming to the races. The success of the event and improvements in Downtown Long Beach have been symbiotic.
“I love how the city has grown because of the Grand Prix, and I love how the city acknowledges that the Grand Prix had a lot to do with that growth,” Unser Jr. said. “They’ve got a working relationship that’s been highly successful and I just hope it continues to grow the city for the next 50 years.”
Michaelian and former mayor Beverly O’Neill were both inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk Of Fame this week for their roles in the development. Michaelian added that the action on the track isn’t why the event has lasted the test of time.
“More importantly, we have to look at the off track activities, because for a lot of our fans the racing is the hardcore effort for them. But if I can go into the (Lifestyle Expo/Family Fun Zone) with my kids and they get to play on a (video game) simulator and drive the course at Long Beach and maybe beat their father, all of that stuff creates a real energy and excitement around the event.”
Rock band Foreigner will also be the headlining concert on Saturday evening outside the Terrace Theater, and the Mothers Exotic Car Paddock will be open all day Sunday.
The 90-lap NTT IndyCar Series race on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. is the main event that caps three full days of racing featuring six different world class series and types of race cars on the 1.968-mile street course.
The GT America Powered By AWS will wrap up the weekend with a race on Sunday afternoon after IndyCar and the Speed/UTV Stadium Super Trucks. The GT America race features Audi, Aston Martin, Porsche, Ford, McLaren and Toyota cars for a 40-minute sprint race.
The Historic Formula Exhibition will also put Formula 5000, Formula 1 and IndyCar racers on the track together. Super Drift will be competing on Saturday under the lights.
IMSA SportsCar Grand Prix will be the main event on Saturday as a 100 minute timed race after IndyCar qualifying rounds that start at Noon.
The IndyCar race has been the marquee checkered flag on Sunday since 2008, but the Grand Prix of Long Beach started in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race. Event founder Chris Pook brought in Formula One a year later, so there is an impressive list of racing royalty who have won here.
Unser Jr., who won in Long Beach a record six times, will share Grand Marshal duties this year with Andretti who won four times.
“There are a number of racing icons who have gone through activities here,” Michaelian said. “These are very accomplished drivers and they achieve name recognition that comes from winning at a place like Indianapolis or Long Beach.”
This difficult street course has also been a proving ground for young drivers like Devlin DeFrancesco. The 25-year old member for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team has been all over the IndyCar headlines recently and is looking for a breakout performance in his third race ever in Long Beach.
“It’s an iconic race weekend, it’s an iconic event,” DeFrancesco said. “The way we set the car up here is a little different, and there’s a few things we have to do differently with the driving.”
DeFrancesco specifically mentioned the track bumps and unique corner radius that make Long Beach special and make the qualifying round on Saturday so important.
Last month, DeFrancesco and Scott McLaughlin were caught on camera arguing and getting in each other’s faces in the pits after making contact and spinning out just before the race at Thermal.
DeFrancesco also has a growing fan base because of his partnership with Dogecoin, and he’s publicly committed to taking his $100,000 salary in the cryptocurrency. DeFrancesco is even asking fans to vote on which Dogecoin paint scheme he should use for the Indy 500 in order to raise money for Riley Children’s Health.
Last year, Scott Dixon, 43, used his veteran strategy and poise to come from eighth place and lead 42 laps on his way to taking the NTT Indycar checkered flag for Chip Ganassi Racing team. He also won here in 2013.
“That was fun, this is always a marquee event,” Dixon said. “The first time I came here I think was in 1999 with IndyLights (developmental series) and the history of this race, it’s 50 years next year, there’s not many events on the Indy schedule where people can celebrate like that.”
