No matter the venue, no matter the category, no matter the level, racing is a sensory experience. Roaring engines, burnt rubber, shaking grandstands, shimmering metal—it's something all motorsport has in common, whether it's a heat race at the fairgrounds or the last lap in Abu Dhabi. But when all is said and done, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better example of it than the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The elder statesman of North American street racing, "The Beach" has it all and then some. Set against the sandy Pacific Ocean shoreline on one side and a vibrant, living city on the other, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is an orchestra of sights, sounds and smells that come together to create one of racing's truly iconic events.
Many of the folks on the PRI team are seasoned Long Beach veterans. They've covered it, photographed it, attended it, even ridden around the track in a race car, but this was my first time experiencing the event that has become one of racing's crown jewels. And with just one day on site, I tried my best to see as much of the event as my feet could handle.
Just minutes after I walked through the gates, the headlining NTT INDYCAR SERIES field fired up their cars for the morning warm-up, waking up downtown Long Beach with the sound of engines echoing through the concrete canyons and giving me my first taste of this one-of-a-kind event.
From what felt like directly above the racing surface, I stood against the parking garage railing at turn eight and watched the likes of Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist and the rest of the INDYCAR grid saw at their steering wheels, avoiding the outside wall with inches to spare. This time around, everyone made it through safely. Based on the dark scrapes along the wall banners, though, not everyone had been so lucky.
The parking garage overlooking Pine Ave. is not the only unusual vantage point around the circuit. At Long Beach, you can watch a Josef Newgarden dive bomb from the front door of a Restoration Hardware. You can have some barbecue on Famous Dave's patio and see Graham Rahal and Alexander Rossi drag race down the frontstretch. You can sit on the edge of your Ferris Wheel seat as Pato O'Ward and Kyle Kirkwood go two-wide into turn six. You can stand on the top of the grandstands and see Will Power lay down rubber coming out of the hairpin, then turn around and enjoy a million-dollar view of the Long Beach marina.
At the spot I picked for the first few laps of the race--a nice shady stretch along Shoreline Drive--I couldn't hear the public address system, but I didn't really need to in order to know the race had started. The roar of the crowd carried all the way down the frontstretch as the drivers took the green flag, and before I knew it, the tightly bunched field was there and gone, vanishing around the tight left-hander onto Aquarium Way, leaving a trail of bewildered fans awestruck by the blurs of color, deafening noise and the intoxicating smell of spent race fuel.
While it was a great environment all day--the Stadium Super Trucks were clearly a fan favorite--the thousands of people lining the city streets truly came alive for the headliner. Everywhere you looked, there were people leaning on railings, standing on benches, even peeking through small tears in banners to get a glimpse of the Indy cars in action.
The crowd kept that energy for the entire race. After a late caution, fans lined up four or five deep to catch the restart, hoping for a glimpse of a bold move and a race-changing pass. While the leader, Alex Palou, held off a hungry pack of challengers, there was plenty of action further back with drivers fighting for track position, much to the excitement of the crowd.
In the end, Palou drove away from the field--as he has many times before--and claimed his first win at Long Beach, joining a long list of greats that includes names like Andretti, Unser, Zanardi, Tracy and Bourdais.
With all of the picturesque palm trees and the shadows of high-rise apartment buildings, hotels and malls crisscrossing the track, it's hard to believe that the pinnacle of North American open-wheel racing has been allowed to careen down these city streets at all, let alone for 50-plus years. But it becomes impossible to ignore when you see Scott Dixon rip by at 200 mph from the bench at a bus stop.
Street races have become a trend among top-flight racing series in recent years--Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix, NASCAR's San Diego street course, INDYCAR's new Grand Prix of Arlington--all hailed as a way to bring motorsports to the masses. It's clearly a formula for success, but as they grow, they're all walking in Long Beach's footsteps.
Southern California's biggest street race is proof that they can bring the racing to the people, attracting all walks of life to come check out the event. Cross the King Taco bridge over the front straight and you'll see parents pushing strollers, hardcore fans decked out in team gear, groups of friends enjoying a few beverages and the Southern California sun, and just about anyone else you can imagine.
Everybody is clearly welcome at Long Beach, thanks in no small part to the late Jim Michaelian, the longtime Grand Prix Association of Long Beach president and CEO who was appropriately honored during the race with a sticker on every car.
An integral part of the Grand Prix Association since the race was founded 51 years ago, Michaelian helped make the event what it is today. There were many touching tributes to Michaelian, both at the time of his passing and again this week, and all reiterated how hands-on and dedicated he was to making the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach a true community event. It's a legacy that will live on not just in the lives he impacted directly but the many people who became lifelong fans because of this race, discovered a new passion because of this race, maybe even became inspired to pursue a career in motorsports because of this race.
So, as someone who never met Michaelian, I couldn't help but think that, perhaps, the most fitting tribute of all was yet another successful Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, one with fast cars, bluebird skies, a nice ocean breeze and throngs of fans making memories that will last a lifetime--myself included.
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