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Stand by race fans, the countdown to the 49th Annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is almost over. In just a couple of days the city streets of Long Beach will be shut down to everyday traffic and the sounds of roaring engines will reverberate off of the buildings around the convention center, arena, Hyatt hotel and Aquarium of the Pacific. Headlining the event this year will once again be the NTT IndyCar Series with practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday, while a Sunday morning warm-up and main-event race will be on Sunday. Once again IMSA will be the headline race on Saturday afternoon featuring the GTP cars and GTD (GT3) cars. No GTD Pro category this year which means that some of the pro teams will drop down to the Pro/Am category to have another shot at a win. 

Heading into Long Beach on a roll is last year’s Indy 500 champion and 2022 AGPLB winner, Josef Newgarden, who won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona this year in a Penske Porsche and the season’s first Indy car race at St. Pete. Two-time NTT IndyCar Series Champion Alex Palou is also a winner this year at the non-points Million Dollar Challenge at Thermal Club last month by romping away from his competition. Former Long Beach winner and pole-sitter Colton Herta also won the 12 Hours of Sebring while his teammate and last year’s winner here, Kyle Kirkwood, also won his class at Sebring.

This long-standing event is rich in the team’s data books so trying to carve out an advantage over the competition is always difficult. Expect to see some scraped up race cars and white-walled tires as every driver will be pushing to the extreme limits to try and find lap time in qualifying.

New for this year’s schedule will be the historic Indy cars. There are numerous entries spanning decades in the sport with incredibly interesting history and pedigree. Dennis Firestone (who was 1980 CART rookie of the year) will be racing the Dan Gurney AAR Eagle that he raced at the Indy 500 back in 1982. Tony Kanaan will be racing an Offy-powered McLaren and has promised to push hard to win! SRO GT America racing will take the place of the Porsche Carrera Cup this year with a wide variety of manufacturers in the field such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Calloway Corvette, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and Porsche. Robby Gordon’s popular high-flying trucks return along drifting. 

This year’s Saturday night concert has country music on tap featuring country stars Gretchen Wilson, Eddie Montgomery, and David Lee Murphy. Don’t forget Thunder Thursday on Pine on April18th which is Free to the public where there’ll be a pit stop competition and much more. For more information, please visit: www.gplb.com.



Note: Jim Michaelian is the president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. During this year’s press day, we had the opportunity to hear directly from him on what to expect this year and the challenges of putting on such an event now in its 49th year. Enjoy!



By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2024 Larry Mason

Katherine Legge was announced yesterday (April 9th) as a driver in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR. On the same day she was at the press day for this year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where we got to sit down with her and chat about her new opportunity. She was also very candid in discussing the incident with Stefan Wilson last year along with how and why it happened. Legge is super talented and was the first female to win a professional open wheel race when she made her debut at Long Beach in the Formula Atlantic series in 2005. Our interview was kept a bit short as she had to get to the airport and catch a flight back to Indy to be able to get on track at the Speedway today for the open test today and tomorrow. Enjoy!



Note: In the Rookie Orientation Practice (ROP) and veteran refresher session at the Brickyard this morning, Legge was second quickest behind former “500” pole sitter Marco Andretti. Next week on April 18, 2024, Legge will be inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame. She’ll be the first female inductee there ever. 

Ed Klotz is a familiar face around the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, after all he’s been volunteering with the Committee of 300 for over 40 years! During press day prior to the 2023 event we thought that we’d get an insider’s view on what the C300 does and how Ed decided to join and continue with the organization for so many years. He’s a man with a heart dedicated to volunteering and enjoying his time doing so. If you happen to run into him during race weekend, please say “Hi” and thank him for his years of service. Enjoy!



Note: For more information on C300, please visit: www.committeeof300.com.

By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2024 Larry Mason

If you happen to bump into Jason Holt at the race track, you might be inclined to think he’s just another surfer dude from Southern California. The reality is that although he does indeed like to surf, just like the ocean is deep, there’s much more to this man than meets the eye. His commitment to the Indy car community (and associated support series) is very near and dear to his heart. In this interview, we learn about his surfing and racing background as well as how he had his life changed to move into the ministry. With Easter this weekend, we thought it would be the perfect time to air this interview which took place at the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Enjoy!



By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2024 Larry Mason

Davy Jones talked to us in Part One about his early days in racing and how he moved up to win at the highest levels of sports cars. This week in Part Two he continues to tell us about his career with stories about racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans both with and without the chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight. He also tells us about that fateful day in Florida where a horrendous crash at Walt Disney World Speedway almost ended his career and life. He tells us about his remarkable return to racing and how he did it with the challenges involved in his rehabilitation. He also tells us about balancing life in general, what he’s up to these days, and how important family is to him. Enjoy!



NOTE: In between the interviews of Parts One and Two, Jones narrates a hot lap of the Long Beach circuit in an Acura NSX pace car starting at the exit of pit lane to returning a short time later. That audio file is the introduction to Part Two.



By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2024 Larry Mason

Davy Jones has enjoyed a long career in auto racing. From small open-wheel race cars to the Indianapolis 500, multiple sports car wins including the 24 hours of Le Mans and more, Jones has achieved more than most in the sport. We met up with Jones at the media day activities for the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where he was nice enough to spend some time with us talking about his new ride that day (the Acura NSX pace car) and more. We split the interview into two parts as he also gave me a hot lap in the NSX. In Part One he talks about his early days in racing and how he moved up through the ranks from Formula Fords to Formula One. He also shares what it’s like to win at the highest levels of prototype sports car racing. In Part Two next week he continues to tell us about his career including that fateful day in Florida that changed his life. Enjoy!



By Larry Mason

Copyright © 2024 Larry Mason