Everything you need to know about the Long Beach Grand Prix
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The Long Beach Grand Prix turns 50 on Sunday, which makes the race six years older than Scott Dixon, the reigning champion.
Despite his young age, Dixon is well aware of the race’s history since he has run it 16 times — and won it twice.
“You look at the [Indy] 500 and then the next, by quite a clear way, is the Long Beach Grand Prix,” he said. “To have that longevity, it’s huge.
“It’s well promoted. It’s well attended. The atmosphere there is fun. It’s one of the greatest races.”
It’s also under new management, with Roger Penske fending off challenges from NASCAR and Formula One to buy North America’s longest-running street race from Gerald Forsythe last November.
“It’s an iconic race,” said Penske, who also owns the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the Indianapolis 500. “We’re wide open and we’re in for business. This is not a hang on or something. We want to try to roll over and make it better.”
That will be a challenge since the three-day event drew nearly 200,000 people to the streets of Long Beach last spring, contributing an estimated $100 million to the region’s economy. The race will be different for the drivers, however. So even though Dixon is familiar with the 1.968-mile scenic seaside course, which circles the Long Beach Convention Center 90 times, in some ways Sunday’s IndyCar Series race will feel like his first.
“The track surface changes a bit on any street course,” he said. “You’re going to have seven or eight different kinds of surfaces. Where they build the track can be totally different from the year before. It’s never the same. So you have to do your homework.”
Roger Penske, the legendary driver, team owner and now race-track executive, has bought the Long Beach Grand Prix, adding the race to a stable of open-wheel events that already includes the Indy 500.
That’s something Dixon, a six-time IndyCar champion, learned from former teammate Dario Franchitti, said Mike Hull, managing director of Chip Ganassi Racing.
“The nature of racing is you have to read the road. He was just so good at taking the racetrack apart and Dixon picked up on that and began to study what Dario was doing,” Hull said of Dixon, who will walk the course before the race as part of that study. “He learned not necessarily Dario’s secret, but how to put what Dario was doing into practice.
“He separates himself from the competition by understanding how to get the most out of the race car from lap to lap. He understands he cannot have this fixed mindset.”
That’s the way Dixon always has approached a race that has both enchanted and bedeviled him. Although Dixon has a record 143 podium finishes in his career, he has just five top-three finishes at Long Beach. His win last year was classic Dixon, mixing patience, aggression and a risky fuel strategy over the final laps to win by less than a second.
Scott Dixon moves closer to A.J. Foyt on IndyCar’s all-time wins list by picking up his 57th career victory Sunday in the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“It’s kind of been a little up and down,” said Dixon, who finished in the top 10 just once in his first eight Long Beach starts. “You kind of remember more the ones that you lost. I wouldn’t say it’s always been seamless. It’s a difficult race. It’s a very challenging weekend.”
But as much as the race means to Dixon, it may mean more to his boss. Hull, who has spent more than five decades in the sport, grew up in Southern California when it was a hub for all kinds of racing and he remembers when Chris Pook, a young Long Beach travel agent, started the race.
“The city has changed. The landscape has changed. The image has changed,” Hull said. “But what he did is lay such a positive foundation that friends of mine, when they talk about Long Beach, they don’t say ‘Are you going to the Long Beach Grand Prix?’ They say ‘Are you going to the race?’ And everybody knows what that means.
“It’s like the Rose Parade. There are more parades in Southern California than that one. But that’s the only they talk about.”
Given that personal connection, this will be far from a lost weekend for Hull no matter how Sunday’s race ends, since his driver was inducted in the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame on Thursday. Dixon was honored alongside longtime Grand Prix President and chief executive Jim Michaelian and former Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill, in recognition of their contributions to auto racing in the city.
That makes Dixon — and by extension Hull — a permanent part of the race’s history. And while Dixon said it feels like something of a lifetime achievement award, it also serves as motivation in the present.
“It’s a huge privilege because you’re talking about your past and accomplishments. And all you really want to do is get out on a track and win,” he said. “It’s definitely a different frame of mind.
“I feel lucky to be honored like that. Especially while still racing. But it does feel a little bit strange. You’d preferably like to be talking about it after the fact.”
Here’s a guide to the weekend:
Tickets
General admission, Friday, $54; Saturday, $101; Sunday, $107. General admission tickets come with unreserved seating on Friday and Saturday but not on Sunday. Three-day package, $143.
Reserved seating, Saturday $110 for adults; Sunday prices range from $119 to $136 for adults and $90 to $110 for juniors. Three-day packages, $155-$215 for adults and $123-$170 for juniors, depending on seating.
Tickets are available at gplb.com/tickets
Thursday
Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame Induction Ceremony, 11 a.m.-Noon in front of the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center on South Pine Avenue. Driver Scott Dixon, former Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill and Grand Prix Assn. President and CEO Jim Michaelian will be honored.
Thunder Thursday at the Pike Outlets, Pike Outlets, 95 S. Pine Ave., Long Beach. 6:30 p.m. — Freestyle motocross demonstration over Shoreline Drive. 6:45 p.m. — Pit stop competition, with four cars representing IndyCar teams headed by Alex Palou, Christian Rasmussen, Will Power and Graham Rahal. 7:30 p.m. — Winning team to be awarded $10,000 check from Grand Prix Assn. of Long Beach 7:45 p.m. — Freestyle motocross demonstration over Shoreline Drive
Friday
7:30 a.m., gates open; 7:30-8:15 a.m., GT America practice #1; 9-10 a.m., IMSA practice #1, 10:15-10:45 a.m., Historic Formula Exhibition practice; 11:40 a.m.-12:10 p.m., GT America practice #2; 12:25-12:45 p.m., Stadium Super Trucks practice; 1-2:30 p.m., IMSA practice #2; 3:05-4:25 p.m., IndyCar Series practice #1; 4:35-4:50 p.m., GT America qualifying; 5-6 p.m., IndyCar series autograph session; 5:10-6 p.m., IMSA qualifying; 6:30-8:30 p.m., Super Drift challenge; 8:30 p.m. gates close.
DVBBS Friday Concert, 6:30 p.m. at Terrace Theater plaza, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, featuring Canadian DJ duo DVBBS. The event is free to Friday race ticket holders. Space at the plaza is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Saturday
7:30 a.m., gates open; 7:45-8:05 a.m., Historic Formula Exhibition practice #2; 8:30-9:30 a.m., IndyCar Series practice #2; 10:30-11 a.m. IMSA autograph session; 10:45-11:05 a.m., Historic Formula Exhibition #1; 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., IndyCar Series qualifying; 1-2 p.m., IMSA pre-race; 1-1:45 p.m., Grand Prix legends autograph session; 2-4 p.m., IMSA Sports Car Grand Prix; 4:30-5 p.m., Stadium Super Trucks race #1; 5:20-6 p.m., GT America Race #1; 6:30-8:30 p.m., Super Drift Challenge, #2; 8:30 p.m., gates close.
Foreigner in concert, 6:30 p.m., Terrace Theater plaza, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. The concert is free to Saturday race ticket holders. Space at the plaza is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Sunday
7:30 a.m., gates open; 9-9:30 a.m., IndyCar Series warmup; 10:45-11:05 a.m., Historic Formula Exhibition; 11:20 a.m.-noon, GT America race #2; 12:50-1:30 p.m., IndyCar Series pre-race; 1:30-4 p.m., Grand Prix of Long Beach; 4:30-5 p.m., Stadium Super Trucks race #2; 5:30 p.m., gates close.
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