Grand Prix of Long Beach facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

IndyCar Series
Location	Long Beach, California 33°45′59″N 118°11′34″W / 33.76639°N 118.19278°W / 33.76639; -118.19278
Corporate sponsor	Acura (Honda)
First race	1975
First ICS race	2009
Distance	177.12 mi (285.05 km)
Laps	90
Previous names	Long Beach Grand Prix (1975) United States Grand Prix West (1976–1983) Toyota Grand Prix of the United States (1980–1981, 1983) Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (1984–2018)
Most wins (driver)	Al Unser Jr. (6)
Most wins (team)	Team Penske (7) Ganassi (7)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chassis: Dallara (15) Engine: Honda (18) Tires: Firestone (21)
Circuit information
Length	1.968 mi (3.167 km)
Turns	11
Lap record	1:05.309 ( Colton Herta, Dallara IR18–Honda, 2022, IndyCar)

The Grand Prix of Long Beach (also known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019) is an exciting IndyCar Series race. It takes place on a special track made from city streets in downtown Long Beach, California. This race was the most important event on the CART/Champ Car World Series calendar from 1996 to 2008. The 2008 race was the very last Champ Car series race before the two main open-wheel racing groups, CART and IRL, joined together. Since 2009, the race has been a key part of the unified IndyCar Series.

The Grand Prix usually happens in April. It is the second-oldest race that has run continuously in IndyCar history, right after the famous Indianapolis 500. Many people consider it one of the most important races in the series.

The Long Beach Grand Prix is the longest-running major street race in North America. It started in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race. Christopher Pook, who created the event, then made it a Formula One event in 1976. Even when powerful turbocharged engines became popular in Formula One, no turbo-powered car ever won at Long Beach between 1977 and 1983.

John Watson's win for McLaren in 1983 set a Formula One record. He won the race after starting from the 22nd position out of 26 cars. His teammate, Niki Lauda, who won the 1982 Long Beach race, finished second after starting 23rd. Only René Arnoux, who finished third in his Ferrari 126C2B, ever got on the Formula One podium at Long Beach with a turbocharged car.

In 1984, the race changed from Formula One to a CART IndyCar event. Over the years, other races have been held alongside the main event. These include Indy Lights, IMSA, Atlantics, Pirelli World Challenge, Trans-Am Series, Formula D, Stadium Super Trucks, Formula E, and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. Toyota was a sponsor from the very beginning until 2018, which is thought to be the longest continuous sports sponsorship in the U.S.

Bruce Flanders has announced the Long Beach Grand Prix since 1978. The Grand Prix in April is the biggest event in the city of Long Beach. More than 200,000 people usually attend the weekend. In 2006, the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame was created to honor past winners and important people who helped the sport of auto racing.

Race History: How the Grand Prix Started

Gunnar Nilsson driving a Lotus 77 in the 1976 United States Grand Prix West.

Mark Smith racing in the 1993 event.

The Long Beach Grand Prix was the idea of a promoter named Chris Pook from England. He was inspired by the Monaco Grand Prix and believed a similar race could work in Southern California. The city of Long Beach, about 25 miles (40 km) south of downtown Los Angeles, was chosen. A track was built on city streets near the Port of Long Beach. Even though the area was mostly industrial back then, the first race in September 1975 attracted 30,000 fans. It was part of the Formula 5000 series.

In 1976, the United States Grand Prix West was created, meaning the U.S. had two Grand Prix races for a while. Long Beach became a Formula One event and the race moved to March or April. The race quickly became popular because of its nice weather, beautiful setting, and closeness to Los Angeles and Hollywood. When the other U.S. Formula One race at Watkins Glen International was stopped after 1980, Long Beach became even more important.

Even with exciting races and many fans, the Formula One event wasn't making enough money. Chris Pook was worried that one bad race could cause the event to go bankrupt. So, he convinced city leaders to change the race to a CART Indy car event starting in 1984. Soon, the event became very famous on the Indy car circuit. It is even credited with helping to improve the city of Long Beach. The race helped promote the city, and since it started, many old buildings have been replaced with new hotels and tourist spots.

The event was a CART/Champ Car race from 1984 to 2008. Then, it became an IndyCar Series race in 2009. The 2017 race was the 43rd time it was held, and the 34th time in a row as an IndyCar race. This makes it one of the longest continuously running events in American open-wheel car racing history.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 race was canceled. In 2021, the race was moved from its usual April date to September 26 and was the final race of the season. There were worries about the Delta variant of the virus, but the organizers and the city worked together to allow the event to happen with a full crowd.

The Grand Prix returned to its usual April date for the 2022 season.

On March 28, 2024, it was announced that Gerald Forsythe, a former ChampCar owner, bought half of the Long Beach Grand Prix from the family of the late Kevin Kalkhoven.

First Wins at Long Beach

The Grand Prix of Long Beach has been the place where several drivers got their first big Indy/Champ Car wins. Some of these drivers include Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mike Conway, Takuma Sato, and Kyle Kirkwood. For Michael Andretti, Long Beach is special because it was where he got his first Indy car win in 1986 and his last win in 2002.

James Hinchcliffe won his first Indy Lights race at Long Beach in 2010. He then won an IndyCar Series race there in 2017. In 2005, Katherine Legge won the Atlantic Championship support race at Long Beach. This was her first race in that series, and she became the first female driver to win a developmental open-wheel race in North America.

The Race Track: Long Beach Circuit

The race track today is a 1.968-mile (3.167 km) temporary road course. It is set up on the city streets around the Long Beach Convention Center. The convention center was even used as the pit area during the Formula One days. The track also goes over where the old The Pike amusement park used to be. The track is famous for its last part: a sharp hairpin turn followed by a long, slightly curved straightaway along Shoreline Drive. The track is right on the Long Beach waterfront and has palm trees lining it, especially along the main straight. This makes it a very beautiful track. Long Beach is rated as an FIA Grade Two circuit, which means it's suitable for most major international races.

The track has changed its layout many times since 1975. All versions have had a signature hairpin turn, a main straight along Shoreline Drive, and a back straight along Seaside Way or Ocean Boulevard. The first track was 2.02 miles long and had two hairpin turns. In its early years, the start and finish lines were on different sides of the course.

In 1982, the hairpin turn at the end of the main straight was removed and replaced with two 90-degree turns. When the race became a CART series event, the layout changed a lot. The final hairpin turn was moved closer to the pit entrance. Other slow turns were removed. After a small change in 1987, the track was made shorter in 1992 by removing the Park Avenue loop. This made the Seaside Way back straight longer and faster.

In 1999, because of new buildings, the first set of curves was removed and replaced with a new fountain area. Turn one became a 90-degree left turn, leading into a roundabout around a fountain, and then three more 90-degree turns. A year later, this part was changed again to create a longer straight leading to Pine Avenue. This track layout is still used today.

Track Layout Changes Over Time

• 

  Grand Prix Circuit (1975–1977)

• 

  Grand Prix Circuit (1978–1981)

• 

  Grand Prix Circuit (1982)

• 

  Grand Prix Circuit (1983)

• 

  Grand Prix Circuit (1992–1998)

• 

  Grand Prix Circuit (1999)

• 

  Grand Prix Circuit (2000–present)

• 

  ePrix Circuit (2015–2016)

Race Events and History

Formula 5000 and Formula One Years

The very first race in 1975 was part of the Formula 5000 series. From 1976 to 1983, the event was a Formula One race, known as the United States Grand Prix West.

In 2014, the City of Long Beach and the Grand Prix Association signed a contract to keep the Grand Prix as part of the IndyCar Series until 2018, with options to extend until 2020. In 2016, the Long Beach City Council looked into bringing Formula One back as early as 2019. However, in August 2017, after studying the idea, they decided against it. The city council voted to continue the event as part of the IndyCar Series.

The 2008 "Split Weekend" Race

Jimmy Vasser at the 2008 Grand Prix of Long Beach.

In 2008, the Champ Car World Series and the IRL IndyCar Series were joining together. But there was a problem: the IndyCar race at Twin Ring Motegi (April 19) and the Champ Car race at Long Beach (April 20) were scheduled for almost the same time. Neither race could be moved.

So, they came up with a special "split weekend." The existing Indy Racing League teams raced in Japan, while the former Champ Car teams raced at Long Beach. Both races gave equal points for the 2008 IndyCar Series championship. The Long Beach Grand Prix in 2008 was called the "final Champ Car race."

Drifting and Other Races

Since 2005, the event has included demonstrations by drivers from the Formula D drifting series. Since 2006, Formula D has held the first round of their pro series on turns 9–11 the weekend before the Grand Prix. In 2013, the Motegi Super Drift Challenge, a drifting competition, was added to the Grand Prix weekend. It uses the same turns 9–11 track as Formula D. This drifting challenge is the only event during the Grand Prix that happens at night, under bright lights.

Formula E Races

A changed version of the Long Beach Grand Prix track was used for the Long Beach ePrix of the FIA Formula E Championship. This track was 1.3 miles (2.1 km) long and had seven turns. It was free to attend the first event. The ePrix was held again in 2016 but was not continued for the 2017 season.

Past Race Winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Tires	Race distance		Race time	Average speed (mph)	Report
							Laps	Miles (km)
Formula 5000
1975	Sept 28	Brian Redman	Carl A. Haas Racing	Lola T332	Chevrolet	Goodyear	50	101 (162.543)	1:10:12	86.325	Report
Formula One
1976	March 28	Clay Regazzoni	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC	Ferrari 312T	Ferrari	Goodyear (2)	80	161.6 (260.069)	1:53:18	85.572	Report
1977	April 3	Mario Andretti	Team Lotus	Lotus 78	Ford–Cosworth	Goodyear (3)	80	161.6 (260.069)	1:51:35	87.073	Report
1978	April 2	Carlos Reutemann	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC (2)	Ferrari 312T3 (2)	Ferrari (2)	Michelin	80	161.6 (260.069)	1:52:01	86.555	Report
1979	April 8	Gilles Villeneuve	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC (3)	Ferrari 312T4 (3)	Ferrari (3)	Michelin (2)	80	161.6 (260.069)	1:50:25	87.812	Report
1980	March 30	Nelson Piquet	Brabham Racing Team	Brabham BT49	Ford–Cosworth (2)	Goodyear (4)	80	161.6 (260.069)	1:50:18	87.899	Report
1981	March 15	Alan Jones	Williams Racing Team	Williams FW07	Ford–Cosworth (3)	Goodyear (5)	80	161.6 (260.069)	1:50:41	87.601	Report
1982	April 4	Niki Lauda	McLaren International	McLaren MP4/1	Ford–Cosworth (4)	Goodyear (6)	75	159.75 (257.092)	1:58:25	80.939	Report
1983	March 27	John Watson	McLaren International (2)	McLaren MP4/1 (2)	Ford–Cosworth (5)	Michelin (3)	75	152.55 (245.505)	1:53:34	80.624	Report
CART/Champ Car World Series
1984	March 31	Mario Andretti (2)	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola (2)	Cosworth (6)	Goodyear (7)	112	187.04 (301.011)	2:15:23	82.898	Report
1985	April 14	Mario Andretti (3)	Newman/Haas Racing (2)	Lola (3)	Cosworth (7)	Goodyear (8)	90	150.3 (241.884)	1:42:50	87.694	Report
1986	April 13	Michael Andretti	Kraco Racing	March	Cosworth (8)	Goodyear (9)	95	158.65 (255.322)	1:57:34	80.965	Report
1987	April 5	Mario Andretti (4)	Newman/Haas Racing (3)	Lola (4)	Chevrolet (2)	Goodyear (10)	95	158.65 (255.322)	1:51:33	85.33	Report
1988	April 17	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	March (2)	Chevrolet (3)	Goodyear (11)	95	158.65 (255.322)	1:53:47	83.655	Report
1989	April 16	Al Unser Jr. (2)	Galles Racing (2)	Lola (5)	Chevrolet (4)	Goodyear (12)	95	158.65 (255.322)	1:51:19	85.503	Report
1990	April 22	Al Unser Jr. (3)	Galles/Kraco Racing (3)	Lola (6)	Chevrolet (5)	Goodyear (13)	95	158.65 (255.322)	1:53:00	84.227	Report
1991	April 14	Al Unser Jr. (4)	Galles/Kraco Racing (4)	Lola (7)	Chevrolet (6)	Goodyear (14)	95	158.65 (255.322)	1:57:14	81.195	Report
1992	April 12	Danny Sullivan	Galles/Kraco Racing (5)	Galmer	Chevrolet (7)	Goodyear (15)	105	166.53 (268.004)	1:48:56	91.945	Report
1993	April 18	Paul Tracy	Team Penske	Penske	Chevrolet (8)	Goodyear (16)	105	166.53 (268.004)	1:47:36	93.089	Report
1994	April 17	Al Unser Jr. (5)	Team Penske (2)	Penske (2)	Ilmor	Goodyear (17)	105	166.53 (268.004)	1:40:53	99.283	Report
1995	April 9	Al Unser Jr. (6)	Team Penske (3)	Penske (3)	Mercedes-Benz	Goodyear (18)	105	166.53 (268.004)	1:49:32	91.422	Report
1996	April 14	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	Firestone	105	166.53 (268.004)	1:44:02	96.281	Report
1997	April 13	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing (2)	Reynard (2)	Honda (2)	Firestone (2)	105	166.53 (268.004)	1:46:17	93.999	Report
1998	April 5	Alex Zanardi (2)	Chip Ganassi Racing (3)	Reynard (3)	Honda (3)	Firestone (3)	105	166.53 (268.004)	1:51:29	88.946	Report
1999	April 18	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing (4)	Reynard (4)	Honda (4)	Firestone (4)	85	155.04 (249.512)	1:45:48	87.915	Report
2000	April 16	Paul Tracy (2)	Team Green	Reynard (5)	Honda (5)	Firestone (5)	82	161.376 (259.709)	1:57:11	82.626	Report
2001	April 8	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske (4)	Reynard (6)	Honda (6)	Firestone (6)	82	161.376 (259.709)	1:52:17	86.223	Report
2002	April 14	Michael Andretti (2)	Team Green (2)	Reynard (7)	Honda (7)	Bridgestone	90	177.12 (285.047)	2:02:14	86.935	Report
2003	April 13	Paul Tracy (3)	Forsythe Racing	Lola (8)	Ford–Cosworth (9)	Bridgestone (2)	90	177.12 (285.047)	1:56:01	91.59	Report
2004	April 18	Paul Tracy (4)	Forsythe Racing (2)	Lola (9)	Ford–Cosworth (10)	Bridgestone (3)	81	159.408 (256.542)	1:44:12	91.785	Report
2005	April 10	Sébastien Bourdais	Newman/Haas Racing (4)	Lola (10)	Ford–Cosworth (11)	Bridgestone (4)	81	159.408 (256.542)	1:46:29	89.811	Report
2006	April 9	Sébastien Bourdais (2)	Newman/Haas Racing (5)	Lola (11)	Ford–Cosworth (12)	Bridgestone (5)	74	145.632 (234.371)	1:40:07	87.268	Report
2007	April 15	Sébastien Bourdais (3)	Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (6)	Panoz	Cosworth (13)	Bridgestone (6)	78	153.504 (247.04)	1:40:43	91.432	Report
IndyCar Series
2008*	April 20	Will Power	KV Racing Technology	Panoz (2)	Cosworth (14)	Bridgestone (7)	83	163.344 (262.876)	1:45:25	92.964	Report
2009	April 19	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing (5)	Dallara	Honda (8)	Firestone (7)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:58:47	84.491	Report
2010	April 18	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Dallara (2)	Honda (9)	Firestone (8)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:47:13	93.619	Report
2011	April 17	Mike Conway	Andretti Autosport (2)	Dallara (3)	Honda (10)	Firestone (9)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:53:11	88.676	Report
2012	April 15	Will Power (2)	Team Penske (5)	Dallara (4)	Chevrolet (9)	Firestone (10)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:54:02	88.021	Report
2013	April 21	Takuma Sato	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Dallara (5)	Honda (11)	Firestone (11)	80	157.44 (253.375)	1:50:09	85.763	Report
2014	April 13	Mike Conway (2)	Ed Carpenter Racing	Dallara (6)	Chevrolet (10)	Firestone (12)	80	157.44 (253.375)	1:54:42	82.362	Report
2015	April 19	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing (6)	Dallara (7)	Chevrolet (11)	Firestone (13)	80	157.44 (253.375)	1:37:35	96.8	Report
2016	April 17	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske (6)	Dallara (8)	Chevrolet (12)	Firestone (14)	80	157.44 (253.375)	1:33:54	100.592	Report
2017	April 9	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Dallara (9)	Honda (12)	Firestone (15)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:50:29	90.845	Report
2018	April 15	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport (3)	Dallara (10)	Honda (13)	Firestone (16)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:53:15	88.622	Report
2019	April 14	Alexander Rossi (2)	Andretti Autosport (4)	Dallara (11)	Honda (14)	Firestone (17)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:41:35	88.622	Report
2020	Canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	September 26*	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb Agajanian (5)	Dallara (12)	Honda (15)	Firestone (18)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:49:10	91.935	Report
2022	April 10	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske (7)	Dallara (13)	Chevrolet (13)	Firestone (19)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:46:48	93.977	Report
2023	April 16	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport (6)	Dallara (14)	Honda (16)	Firestone (20)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:43:17	97.171	Report
2024	April 21	Scott Dixon (2)	Chip Ganassi Racing (7)	Dallara (15)	Honda (17)	Firestone (21)	85	167.28 (269.211)	1:43:03	98.350	Report
2025	April 13	Kyle Kirkwood (2)	Andretti Global (7)	Dallara (16)	Honda (18)	Firestone (22)	90	177.12 (285.05)	1:45:51	100.395	Report

Exciting Race Summaries

Mario Andretti won the Long Beach Grand Prix four times (1977, 1984, 1985, 1987).

CART Indy Car World Series Highlights

• 1984: The Long Beach Grand Prix became a CART series race. Mario Andretti, who won in 1977, started first and led every single lap to win.
• 1986: Michael Andretti got his first ever CART win. He battled Al Unser Jr. right to the end. Andretti won by a tiny 0.380 seconds after a thrilling finish.
• 1988: Al Unser Jr. broke the Andretti family's winning streak. He started fourth but quickly took the lead and dominated the race, winning by a large margin.

Al Unser Jr. won the Long Beach Grand Prix a record six times, earning him the nickname "King of the Beach".

• 1991: Al Unser Jr. made history by winning the Long Beach Grand Prix for the fourth year in a row! This race is also remembered for a scary crash in the pit lane between Michael Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Paul Tracy's first Indy car victory happened at the 1993 Long Beach Grand Prix.

• 1993: Paul Tracy won his first ever Indy car race. He led most of the race, even after having a flat tire and an unscheduled pit stop.
• 1995: Al Unser Jr. won his sixth Long Beach Grand Prix, showing his amazing skill at this track. He truly earned his nickname "King of the Beach."
• 1996: Gil de Ferran led almost the entire race, but with only four laps left, his car slowed down. Jimmy Vasser took the lead and won the race!

Champ Car World Series Highlights

Alex Zanardi won back-to-back races at Long Beach in 1997 and 1998.

Michael Andretti's first and last Indy car victories both happened at Long Beach.

• 1998: Alex Zanardi won in an amazing comeback. He was a lap behind early in the race but managed to get back to the front and win in the final two laps!
• 1999: Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya won his first Champ/Indy car race in only his third start. He took the lead after another driver crashed and held on for the win.
• 2002: Michael Andretti won his 42nd and final Indy/Champ car race at Long Beach. This win was special because it happened almost exactly sixteen years after his very first win, which was also at Long Beach.

Sébastien Bourdais won three years in a row (2005, 2006, 2007).

• 2007: Sébastien Bourdais dominated the race, leading most of the laps to win his third Long Beach victory in a row.
• 2008: This was the "final Champ Car race" before the series fully merged with IndyCar. Will Power started fourth but quickly took the lead and led almost every lap to win.

IndyCar Series Highlights

Mike Conway won twice at Long Beach (2011, 2014).

Takuma Sato won his first Indy car race at Long Beach in 2013.

• 2011: With less than 20 laps left, Mike Conway made a strong move to take the lead. He pulled away and won his first Indy car race.
• 2012: Many Chevrolet-powered cars had to start 10 positions back due to a penalty. Despite this, Will Power managed to win a very close race against Simon Pagenaud in the final laps.
• 2013: Takuma Sato led most of the race and won his first ever IndyCar race. This was a big win for his team, A. J. Foyt Enterprises.
• 2014: A big crash involving six cars, including the top three, changed the race completely. Mike Conway then held off Will Power to win his second Long Beach Grand Prix.
• 2016: Simon Pagenaud won in the closest finish in Long Beach history, beating Scott Dixon by just 0.3032 seconds.
• 2017: James Hinchcliffe won his first race since a serious crash in 2015. He battled other top drivers and held on for the victory.
• 2021: This race was the season finale and decided the championship. Colton Herta made an amazing charge from 14th place to win the race. Alex Palou finished fourth to secure his first IndyCar championship.
• 2022: Josef Newgarden won his second Long Beach Grand Prix. The race ended under caution after a late crash, but Newgarden had a strong lead.
• 2023: Kyle Kirkwood earned his first IndyCar pole position and then went on to win his first IndyCar race! He made a smart pit stop strategy to get ahead and stay there.
• 2024: Scott Dixon won his second Long Beach Grand Prix. He used a clever fuel-saving strategy and then used his extra power to pull away from the competition in the final laps.
• 2025: The race was extended to 90 laps. Kyle Kirkwood started from pole position and led every single lap to win the race. It was a rare race with no caution flags!

Fastest Lap Records

As of April 2025, here are the fastest official race lap records at the Grand Prix of Long Beach:

Images for kids

• 

  2005 Long Beach Grand Prix, showing turn 10 and the Long Beach skyline, including the Villa Riviera

See also

In Spanish: Gran Premio de Long Beach para niños

• Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame