Few
racing events hold as much allure, glamour and memories for me as the Toyota
Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The
race celebrates its 40th running this year, and although I’ve only
been alive for just more than half that number, this year’s will already be my
ninth time attending – more than I have for any other race.
With
that, I hope you’ll allow for a brief indulgence of a trip down memory lane to
some of the events that made me a racing fan, and eventually led to my career
as it has developed. Long Beach was never my home circuit except for one year,
but it has long been my favorite stop on the Verizon IndyCar Series calendar.
Of
course you’ll allow it. This is my blog, dammit, and I can write whatever I
want ;-)
1998: FIRST TIME ATTENDING,
AND TWO DRIVERS STAND OUT
The
1998 race featured my intros – I was then 8 – to the spectacle that is Long
Beach. From the chance to meet my heroes in the CART paddock and get
autographs, walk the track and discover the sight lines, stay at the legendary
Queen Mary on the south side of the circuit and then watch a thrilling race, it
was part of what helped root my passion for open-wheel racing.
Two
drivers stood out. The first was then-21-year-old Mexican driver Michel
Jourdain Jr., driving for the underdog Dale Coyne Racing team that was then
partnered with the late, legendary Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton.
Jourdain was an unheralded but promising young driver who, when he punched
above his or the team’s weight, instilled the joy of seeing what happens when
the established top dogs get tackled. We met at the Queen, and have stayed in
touch since.
The
second, of course, is race winner Alex Zanardi. After falling behind early in
the race and getting caught up in a traffic jam at the circuit’s most
iconic/notorious corner – the final hairpin leading onto Shoreline Drive –
Zanardi mounted a phenomenal comeback that culminated with a pass of Bryan
Herta at a place that seemed ridiculous. Then Dario Franchitti followed him
through. Zanardi did the donuts at Turn 1 after the win, as my dad and I were
among the near 100,000 or so fans cheering from the grandstands.
1999: AN ARRIVAL, AND
ANOTHER CHANCE MEETING
As
I posted earlier this week to MotorSportsTalk, the 1999 race was the time the
North American audience really got introduced to Zanardi’s replacement at
Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Juan Montoya. Montoya’s win was among the
highlights but more so, and one that’s stuck with me with each passing year,
was a chance to meet the late Greg Moore at the Long Beach airport leaving on
Monday.
I’d
developed a habit at that point of just jotting down reports after each race –
my handwriting was entirely more legible – and drawing the cars. I happened to
have one with me that race – Moore’s win at the 1999 season opener in Homestead
– and showed it to him, and he was speechless. He was a kid himself – one
destined for greatness – and I’ll never forget the smile on his face when he
saw the similar level of youthful passion for the sport. Tragically, the world
never got to see what he could truly accomplish after his fatal accident at
Fontana that Halloween.
2003: JOURDAIN,
ALLMENDINGER’S BIG WEEKENDS
Remember
Jourdain, who I mentioned earlier in this piece? Michel had played himself into
a top-flight ride after six years learning his trade (a luxury not afforded in
modern-day IndyCar), with Bobby Rahal’s team. He’d shown flashes of brilliance
in his first season with Team Rahal in 2002, but it was in 2003 when he took it
to the next level.
Long
Beach should have been his first victory. He took his first pole although Paul
Tracy got the jump on him at the start, but played a smart strategic race to be
in position for the win ahead of his last pit stop.
Oh,
that last pit stop. It still bugs me to this day. The gearbox stalled out and
it was game over – meanwhile “PT” waltzed to his third straight win to open the
season. For Jourdain, who ultimately finished third in that year’s Champ Car
standings, it was one of only two races he failed to finish in the top-12
points-paying positions (the other, coincidentally, was the other race I
attended that year at Road America. Maybe it was my fault? We’ll see later.)
There
were a lot of then young up-and-comers I met that weekend, too. A talented
Californian named AJ Allmendinger won the Formula Atlantic race, in a field
that also included this notable names: Danica Patrick, Ryan Dalziel, Joey Hand,
Alex Figge and Luis Diaz among others. Champ Car had two rookies named
Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who eventually went onto win
championships.
Discovering
the young drivers, and meeting them before they become the big stars, is
undoubtedly one of my favorite parts of my job. That weekend did a lot of it
for me.
2007: AGE IS JUST A NUMBER,
OR IS IT MORE?
This
was a funny one. I was 17 at the time, and hadn’t been to Long Beach in four
years. I was into my second season contributing to Motorsport.com on Champ Car
and the IRL.
Yet
even though I was a budding media hack, I wasn’t yet eligible to ply my trade
in the media center. You had to be 18… probably to ensure you didn’t take any
of the food away from the veterans. So Dad and I took it in as fans, and I met
at least three Atlantic drivers younger
that me who’d be racing on these same streets: John Edwards, Adrien Herberts
and Matt Lee.
More
young guns I met during that weekend? How about all of JR Hildebrand, Simona de
Silvestro, James Hinchcliffe, Jonathan Bomarito and more, who were like those
three in the Atlantic field and would eventually go on to bigger and brighter
careers.
The
other funny part of this weekend was that I’d gotten my first invite for a
RACER Magazine party, even though I wasn’t eligible to write about it! Multiple
meetings occurred there in an all-around fun night.
On-track,
I think this was the year astronaut legend Buzz Aldrin flipped his car in the
Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. Then “PT” hurt his back in the new Panoz
DP01-Cosworth, and Oriol Servia came to the rescue to replace him.
The
Champ Car race itself was uneventful compared to the other three I’d been at –
Bourdais won and Servia was second – but it was the weekend itself that was a
blast.
2010: THE MEDIA PAYOFF
After
four prior trips, this was the first time I was able to go to the media center
– life goal accomplished. It was my second race working with the Michelin
PR/marketing team, and night-and-day difference between it and the first race
at Sebring.
At Sebring, you have 6 days of work. At Long Beach, you have exactly 3 on-track sessions. It’s relatively laid back – as much as it can be for working.
On-track,
the race came down to an epic scrap between Simon Pagenaud in the Highcroft
P2-spec HPD and Adrian Fernandez in the P1-spec Lola Aston Martin, which is one
of the most gorgeous sports cars to my mind in recent memory thanks to its
flowing nature, lack of the rear engine cover “Shark fin” and shrieking,
piercing V12 engine.
Pagenaud
– who was then a rookie in Champ Car in ’07 – put on a comeback clinic to catch
and pass Fernandez for the win on the last lap. It remains one of my all-time
favorite finishes, although it isn’t as widely heralded in sports car lore
because it occurred at a track better known for open-wheel racing.
2011: A RELATIVELY
UNEVENTFUL WEEKEND, SAVE FOR ONE BIT
There’s
not a ton I can recall about 2011 quite honestly. Like in 2010, I left on the
Sunday to get home early. There was a chance meeting of Patrick Carpentier,
ex-open wheeler, but that was about it related to the race.
However,
that weekend was where I was told by RACER’s Laurence Foster there was a
potential web editor position opening up, and I’d be graduating in a little
more than a month…
2012: #BLAMETONY, RAIN,
RACER, AND A DOUBLEHEADER
OK,
so 2012 was another level of Long Beach for me. For one, the RACER gig had
actually materialized, but we were in flux as an organization. Haymarket sold
to RACER’s original founder Paul Pfanner in March, which saved the company but
put some pressure on us to perform from a media side.
In
my case, I’d have extra focus to cover the IndyCar and ALMS races in detail, as
well as do some magazine interviews. Plus we had the RACER 20th anniversary party. It was going to be busy.
Then…
well… there was the weather. Since I had moved from Milwaukee to Orange County
to take on my new post at RACER, the inside joke was that I had brought the
crappy overcast, cloudy skies and rain with me. My two buddies, Efrain and
Eversley, said “it’s @tonydizinno’s fault,” then #BlameTony, and the hashtag
took off from there. Heck, I believe the post on that #BlameTony weekend got
the most page views ever of any post ever written in this space.
On-track,
‘ol Pagenaud damn near pulled off another one. He put in a storming comeback to
almost overtake Will Power for the win, but just ran out of laps. Meanwhile
Hinchcliffe inherited his first career podium after teammate RHR was docked for
hitting Takuma Sato on the last lap.
2013: TWO HATS, DIFFERENT
WORKLOAD
With
a change of jobs in the winter between 2012 and 2013, I entered Long Beach a
year ago as one of four writers for MST, and also had taken on the role of PR
rep for the radical DeltaWing. Although Long Beach for me last year was the
beginning of the end as far as the DeltaWing went… I’d gone to Atlanta on a day
trip the Friday prior to leaving to basically tell my boss it wasn’t the right
fit between the two of us. I’d do Monterey the following month and leave it at
that.
As
such, I had to bolt out of Long Beach on a redeye Saturday night to get back to
Atlanta for another test of the car, the first time Katherine Legge drove the
chassis. It was an interesting few days…
With
all that in the bag, roll on 2014. I’m stoked to be headed back once again.
And by "stoked to be headed back," I mean I'm already here and now I'm wondering why exactly I left Southern California when I lived here...
