Shoreline Drive in downtown Long Beach California came alive with the roar of exhaust from race cars again for the 35th time, as over 175 thousand fans of auto racing packed the 200-mph straightaway for six racing events April 16-19 for the 35th Toyota Grand Prix.

The turnout for Thursday was fantastic, as it was free for anyone that walked through the gates, so the race track was packed .  Die hard racing enthusiasts to first time fans, who had never seen a race car before mingled, walking around the course and the convention center checking out the vendors and race cars pitted inside the buildings. Jim Michaelian, CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, must have had a conversation with the "weather gods" as the weather was beautiful all weekend long.

The Popular American Le Mans Series hit the track on Thursday after the induction of Al Unser Jr, who is a six time Champion of the LBGP, and racer and car owner Bobby Rahal into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame. At 11:30 A.M. dignitaries from the City were there honoring both of these great racing legends. The Mayor of Long Beach, Bob Foster, opened the ceremonies welcoming all those who came to honor these two greats.  Some of Southern California’s best known racing families were in attendance, Parnelli Jones, Brian Redman, Dan Gurney, council woman Rae Gabelich, whose late husband Gary was inducted last year, was in attendance as were numerous other famous racing families.  The Agajanian’s, who along with record producer Mike Curb were not only there to honor both Unser & Rahal but they also had an entry sporting the Agajanian number made famous by their late father, who ran Ascot raceway and was a race car owner, was number 98.

Thursdays race action saw the ALMS racers hitting the streets in their sports cars to practice taking laps around the track. "Tecate “Thursday Thunder" on Pine” took place in downtown Long Beach featuring freestyle motocross, BMX, live music along with the Tecate Miss Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pageant, which of course, was a big draw.

Friday was the first day that the IRL (Indy Racing League) drivers would hit the track to practice for the first time ever, ending the years of fighting between CART & IRL, now that everyone was unified under the IRL. The IRL brought with them some who had raced at Long Beach years ago before the split and those who had never turned a wheel on the street course.

The Number One position was taken by Australian Will Power, who on the streets of Long Beach, won the race last year in the last race of CART ever. It was bitter sweet as Power was taken out of the Penske ride after Helio Castroneves was acquitted of all his I. R. S. trouble in Miami. He flew to Long Beach and took back the race car that Power’ was driving. Another entry was made to the field for Power’s to drive at Long Beach.. Both Power & Castroneves were allowed to run in all time trial groups because Power’s car had never turned a wheel and the number 3 driven by Helio, who had not been in a race car since the middle of last year. 

Getting their first chance at the track on Friday were the Firestone Indy lights series powered by Honda engines, and the Speed GT Challenge practice. They would be the last ones on the track.

Saturday morning would see the ALMS hit the track first for warm up for their race later in the afternoon. The Speed Challenge and Firestone Indy lights would qualify after that. It would be the Indy cars last chance at the track prior to qualifying later in the day.

The Toyota Pro Celebrity race was the next action to hit the track, and as in years past the fans would see an exciting race with plenty of bangs and crashes. Al Unser Jr. who would start from the pack of the field in the professional starting field, was by far the quickest racer in the field as he passed every celebrity and pro driver, claiming his 7th win in the professional category history books forever, as he proved why he is the king of the beach! Coming in a close 2nd place was 2008 NASCAR Camping World Truck Champion, Johnny Benson. Third place was pro driver Tom Rudnai. Movie Star, Keanu Reeves, the star of the movie Speed & the Matrix, was the top celebrity winner. Danny Way crashed trying to catch Unser and when Way crashed Fonzworth Bentley crashed into Way, taking himself out in the ninth lap, giving Keanu Reeves the win. Ken Baker was 2nd and comedian Carlos Mencia was third! Last years pro winner Jamie Little, from ESPN, was a distant 8th place behind Coy Gibbs who runs Joe Gibbs racing and owns a Motocross racing team. Gibbs also used to work on his dads former NHRA drag racing top fuel dragster years ago, driven by Cory Mac.

The day’s last race proved to be action packed. The Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series had a 100 minute sports car race. Each team had to pit their car at least once to make a driver change in each car. The racing was great and there was plenty of passing going on. The leaders were passing the slower classes for the first 20 minutes of action. There were two lead changes, but Gil de Ferran & team driver Simon Pagenaud would sit on the pole in their XM Sirius radio Acura ARX-01B. They were passed one time by Scott Sharp & David Bradham in the Tequila Patron Acura but lost the lead back to the De Ferran team. Sharp, who will be racing at the Indy 500, came home 2nd.  Former CART and IRL racer Adrian Fernandez & teammate Luis Diaz came home 3rd.  Overall, but first in their class, 4th place would be Dyson & Smith. 5th place would be the ageless Butch Leitzinger & Marino Franchitti. 

The GT 2 class was won by Pierre Kaffer & Jamie Melo in a Chevy Corvette defeating the the Lou Gigliotti owned two car team, the other American made Chevrolet.

Making his return to ALMS group 2 racing was Paul Gentilozzi with his Rocket Motorsports team out of Lansing Mich. They will be debuting a factory backed Jaguar Racing, Jaguar XXR later in the year

Sunday Morning and the Santa Ana winds were blowing into Southern California.  The first cars on the track would be the Speed G T cars for their qualifying runs and then the Firestone Indy lights would run their race. Pole sitter J.R. Hildebrand led wire to wire from Start to Finish. His team had some of the hardest working guys and gals in the Indy Lights pits. Every morning, when I went to the track and walked by their pit area on my way to the press room, they were working on the car, be it on the set up pads making sure the weight was even or on the race car checking every component. They were there every night when I left the track too. So, the win for the team out of Sausalito, California was more than well deserved. Their ARPRO AFS Racing Inc team put in the extra effort on this race weekend. Coming in a distant 2nd place was Richard Phillippe from Valence France. 3rd place was James Hinchcliffe driving for Sam Schmidt racing. James is from Toronto Canada. 4th place was held onto by Jonathan Summerton of Kissimmee Florida In his RLR Anderson Racing special. 5th place would be Ana Beatriz, also out of Sam Schmidt racing, who is from Sao Paulo Brazil, making it an international field of drivers in the top five spots. The Big Show would be coming up next and stands were packed with fans for the start of the 35th LBGP!

The IRL makes their first race at Long Beach in Scorching Heat Wave!

As I already reported, Will Power would get the pole. Starting 2nd on the grid would be driver Dario Franchitti who was making his 2nd start since returning to the IRL from his time over in NASCAR. He had lost his sponsor and was driving for NASCAR owner, IRL owner and former driver himself, Chip Ganassi , the Target-sponsored Indy car. Dario, who is married to movie star Ashley Judd proved he was still a great driver. He felt he never had any good racing luck while he raced with all those good old boys in the stock cars. Dario, who has won an IRL Championship and the Indy 500 proved to a sweltering packed house, on the streets of Long Beach, that he still had it when he took the checked flag in the 35th Annual LBGP race. Coming in 2nd was Will Power who drove his heart out in his Penske owned race car and showing why Roger picked him to drive for his team. He showed the other car owners that he can drive and should be able to find a quality ride on some ones team next weekend in Kansas and possibly for the rest of the races after the Indy 500. Power, who along with another fantastic driver, So. California’s own Richie Hearn, was also seen walking around looking for a good ride in the IRL. Paul Tracy, yup the bad boy of CART racing, has secured a ride in the Indy 500 with Dreyer and Reinbold racing team with Larry Curry calling the shots. Tracy, a three time CART Champion out of Canada, has not been able to find enough sponsorship to be able to get a ride full time in the IRL. It is a shame because you need to have personalities in the series to bring the fans into the stands! Coming in third was ex Franchitti teammates at Andretti Green racing, Tony Kanaan in his Dr Pepper 7-11 special along with Danica Patrick in the Andretti Green Motorola Dallara. Danica who hit the wall during IRL Qualifying gained the most positions as she started 22nd in the field. Dan Wheldon came home 5th and sixth place was Marco Andretti who started 19th. Helio Castroneves fell back to 7th from his 3rd place on the starting grid.

The fans were entertained by one last race. For us guys and gals who remember Trans-Am racing from the early years, this would be a class you would want to stay and see. The crowd that stayed saw a fantastic race put on by good old American powered cars! A pair of V8 powered Ford Mustangs, that won down in the St. Petersburg race last weekend, would be starting from the 2nd position. Randy Pobst’s Volvo was a first time qualifier. His teammate Andy Pilgrim was the third qualifier with the other all wheel drive Volvo. Pobst lost the coin flip and he got inverted back to the 5th position to start the race. and finished back in the 8th spot. Pobst, a past multi x champion, said we are just making our 2nd race and we know there is more left in this combination and when we get everything figured out, we will be giving those big American V 8’s a race for their money. Teammate Pilgrim came home in the 6th spot. The Local driver from Newport Beach Ca., James Sofronas in his CMG Toyo tires Porsche, took the lead from Huntington Beach racer Mike Davis when his Ford Mustang slide out a little in turn seven and on the 2nd lap James took the lead from him. Next, Eric Curran in his Chevrolet Corvette would slip by the Stang too and take 2nd place. Brandon Davis would also get by his Dad Mike and come home third in his Ford Mustang. Coming home 5th in the V 10 Dodge Viper was Jason Daskalos from the same home town as the Unser Family, Albuquerque NM.

After Sunday’s final race, the Long Beach shakers and movers of the city along with the outgoing President of the Committee of 300 and all the others involved in putting on the largest race at the beach are all ready planning the 36th Annual event and trying to figure out how they will top this year’s race. This is one event we wouldn't miss, it has all of the components of a fabulous weekend for racing enthusiasts ... speed, celebrity, and action ! We're looking forward to next year !

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