History met the present at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday with the historic Indy Cars leading the way for a day of race winners and pole sitters, of hungry fans feasting on race cars and food from the many vendors, of atmosphere and action and ending with cars drifting one one side of the facility while Gretchen Wilson and the All-Star Jam jammed on the other.
Felix Rosenqvist qualified on the pole for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race, Renger Van der Zande and Sebastian Bourdais won the IMSA WeatherTech Championship race in GTP with Ben Barnicoat and Parker Thompson in GTD, Jason Daskalos stood on the top step of the podium in the GT America SRO3 class with Dan Knox in GT2 and Issac Sherman in GT4, former Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan took the Historic Indy Cars win and Max Gordon was tops in the Stadium SUPER Trucks.
Additional winners were the fans, who roamed the grounds around Long Beach by the shore, took pictures in the paddock and Expo, downed Modelo beers and food from vendors ranging from King Taco to large pretzels, danced and sang to music from DJs and fully enjoyed all that there is to experience at the Grand Prix.
It has been that way for 49 years now, and while many faces and car styles have changed, there is always a piece of history present at America’s #1 street race. Two of the biggest pieces of that history have been here this weekend: Mario Andretti, a four-winner here and the original “King of the Beach,” and six-time winner Al Unser, Jr., serving as pace car driver for the Historic Indy Car challenge. It had been a while since the current “King” took a lap around this track and the huge smile on his face as he turned the pace car down pit lane showed how thrilled he was to be back in a car here.
This all provided the perfect buildup to Sunday’s final day, which features the NTT INDYCAR race at 12:45 with all the pageantry that leads up to it. That starts with the Historic Indy Car Challenge race #2 at 10:45, building to the thrilling “Drivers, start your engines!" by Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias and then the race itself. So if you’re wondering when to get here, be on site by 9 in order to get the full experience.
Afterward, do as the veteran Grand Prix fans do and hang around for the Stadium SUPER Trucks at 3:30 and the GT America race at 4:20. The vendors are still serving, the music is still playing and the vibe is still flowing. Soak up every last second of the scene because it’s going to be another year before it all happens again.
Tickets are still available at: https://www.gplb.com/
