Hanging with LB Grand Prix Happenings

Steve Propes
The Andretti Team celebrated its 200th facing win at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 14 with Alexander Rossi leading the pack from start to finish.

The race itself could have been called in, as was expected, top qualifier Alexander Rossi led the pack from start to finish. Apart from a few mishaps and second place switches on the track, that was the story of the most recent Long Beach Grand Prix. What happened around the track held more surprises.

Dealing with vehicles, not IndyCar type, but the commuter kind into downtown Long Beach on Grand Prix day can require planning. In the case of at least one East Long Beach resident and spouse, decisions involve Uber or Lyft, adding to the jam of vehicular traffic, a Long Beach Transit bus at 60 cents for seniors or just driving downtown, paying $20 to $25 for parking opportunities, equating to the cost at five dollars a pop, round trip for two on a Transit Aqua Link from Alamitos Bay to near the aquarium. The bus company promised free parking at an Alamitos Bay lot, but didn’t promise there’d be an available space on a busy Sunday in April.

All those considerations were irrelevant when a friend who had to trek downtown for business provided a convenient ride. Problem solved; dropped off near the Pine Street and Ocean Boulevard entrance, fully expecting a return bus could be found at day’s end. The race goer encountered crowded sidewalks populated by youths and middle-aged race fans in logoed racing jackets, a few in hippie wear, some in leather pants and the occasional Ozzy tee. Some lingered at watering holes, a frosted beer glass, burgers and French fries on every table. Blue collar at its peak.

Speaking of which, a bottle’s worth of beer inside the fence was an even eleven bucks. While consuming brew in the Long Beach Convention Center, the tan lobby furniture felt well used, sort of tacky, definitely not inviting for long sitting spells.

Unspecified VIPs picked up and delivered in a one of several Grand Prix courtesy cars parked at Ocean near Pine; uniformed and plainclothes officers and barricades in that inexact order with flowing traffic, lots of it, all over the place. A rack with Jehovah’s Witness literature manned by several well-dressed male devotees was stationed next to a Homeland Security vehicle. “We have to be ready,” said an uniformed officer, though he wouldn’t specify for what. U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicles were even more mysterious and not talking. This fairly sizable crowd milled about the ticket booths. Track entry was simple enough involving a computer scan of the entry badge to thwart the use of bogus placards.

Grand Prix events began with media day, calculated to give local TV and print media a wide window for footage and stories about the upcoming weekend races. Drivers with past Indy experience were on the scene, mostly to accommodate four lines of reporters, camera people and general racing fans anxious to take a few spins around the track, or were anxious, as in anxiety, about taking such spins.

Media people with heads bigger than seven and three quarter inches had some problems, as almost all of the helmets made available to them were that size or smaller.

While waiting for the ride, a woman commented on the Toyota changeover from Torrance to Texas, with the insight that employees made the move, but the president and his secretary remain in the area by way of telecommuting.

A Committee of 300 member repeated rumors that Honda had been slated to take over the race, thus was surprised that Acura filled that role. Still an open question if Honda and Acura might share sponsorship in the future as Acura is owned by Honda.

Trouble finding the right helmet was magnified with the task of forcing a big head and bigger helmet into the fairly compact Acura with help from a Committee of 300 member. The prospective rider managed to get in and strap up. The driver turned out to be Spanish IndyCar driver Oriol Servia in the number 3 car, who introduced himself as “Sven,” almost certainly.

Two laps around the track at increased speed, then sharp braking at the turns amounted to a racer’s perspective. Then there was the unexpected stop when big helmet man’s hand swiped the console, accidentally hitting the parking brake at the middle of the Pine Avenue straightaway: buildings and tire barriers on the right, but, thank goodness, no other cars. Servia was calm for the rest of the trip and as the big helmet man emerged from the Acura, told him he was glad he discovered what he needed to know about the emergency brake. Yeah, right.

As spectators streamed out of race day, a transit bus blocked pedestrians from the Transit Mall by something going on at Long Beach Boulevard, quickly eliminating the sixty cent solution to a later-than-planned return trip when an all-clear was declared, about $20 worth of outside-the-gates beer later, making the cost of parking come full-circle.

steve@beachcomber.news

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