Grand Prix of Long Beach

When Carol, my mother-in-law, and I arrived in Long Beach and met Corrie, we started our search for our new place. People we were meeting with kept saying "Picked a nice time to move here...race weekend and all..." and we were confused, smiling and nodding. That's when you notice the banners all over everywhere, plus every establishment that's selling food, souvenirs, rooms in the short-term, or anything else imaginable had signs saying "Welcome Race Fans!".

After doing a little research, I'm almost embarrassed to say that I'd never heard of America's second largest Formula One (Indycar) race. (The Indy 500 is the biggest race in America, and is usually the only one people have heard of if they've heard of any of them.)

This year marked the 35th running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. "Grand Prix" is French for "big prize", and racing in motor cars developed in France as soon as motor cars arrived in France. The open-fender (exposed wheel) style of racecar dates back to the origin of automobiles, which also has open-fenders, but not because of styling, rather because that's how you built a cart. Box; check, attach wheels; check, engine instead of horse; check.

Nowadays F-One style races fall into three categories: controlled oval races (the Indy 500); the closed track carved from a city scape (races like the Monaco Grand Prix); and the open course city track. Open course city tracks don't let in cross traffic or anything dangerous, they just use existing thoroughfares without the benefit of concrete barriers that provide a modicum of protection to spectators.

The Long Beach Grand Prix is of the Monaco style; a closed course consisted of actual streets, carved out of a actual city and surrounded with concrete barriers.

The course traveled along Shoreline Drive for a good stretch, a sweeping arc that's lined with palm trees and would sparkle the imagination of many a mid-westerner. Before we'd found our apartment, Corrie, Carol, and I were tooling around downtown Long Beach when we came to a "Must Turn Right" sign, and entered what appeared to be a racetrack of some kind. We were confused, and felt like we shouldn't be there, but sped along like a couple of goons anyway. That was before, of course, we knew what was going on...

I have some pictures of what it all kinda looked like, from our neighborhood vantage, since we didn't purchase any tickets to attend any of the three-days of festivities. They had all sorts of races: an Indy Lights race, the IRL minor leagues; local personalities going out for a spin (real fast); and even a celebrity race, featuring former actor turned racer Freddie Munoz (Malcolm from the Middle).

Before I get to those few pictures, let me say that those cars are LOUD. I'm not talking about something like my old Datsun 240Z, or my pal Dennis' Mustang Cobra. I mean bouncing off every surface in the entire beach community, reverberating off your head and chest, the screaming whine piercing every facet of life for literally miles. How something could be both a whine and a deep-throated roar was strange, but real. You could hear when almost each driver would get to one of the eleven (11!) turns.

This first picture captures a few cool things if you look close. This is taken down a hill on Linden Street, two streets down from us. The track is visible on Seaside Ave, and the barricade is there. This is, like, two minutes from our place. Also visible, slightly left of center if you zoom in, is Danica Patric's crew/travelling eighteen wheeler. Tecate was a big sponsor. The Aquarium of the Pacific rounds out the right side.



This is up close at the barricade at Linden and Seaside. This was sort of an illegal shot, and the crew was not too happy that I wanted to shoot the picture. They let me do it anyway.



This is a picture up Shoreline Drive, and they still haven't taken down the barricades. It is pretty cool to drive it. I tell people that me and mi Bandita Roja, my little Saturn, would have placed fourth in the main competition. I mean it, too. Maybe seventh...



here are the grand stands where fans could watch the drama around the hairpin turn 11.



It's too bad this picture doesn't have any sound, since the celebrity race was going on right now, and the sound was reverberating off everything. You might not be able to tell, but we're facing the race itself.



This year's winner was Mike Conway, a Briton who last year had a horrific crash at the Indy 500. After the crash, when he came to, he immediately asked how soon before he could race again. They told him he'd be lucky to walk again. This was his third race back.