Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – 50th Anniversary

The “Main Event” of the weekend, the 50^th running of the Long Beach Grand Prix, was a real milestone for IndyCar racing. Not many events or venues survive for half a century, much less thrive! But the Grand Prix not only survives, it continues to grow, and attendance topped 200,000 for the first time. In addition to re-invigorating the Long Beach and southern Los Angeles metropolitan area, the Long Beach Grand Prix has brought big-time professional motor racing to fans who enjoy the roar, speed and excitement we all love.

After Qualifying, it was Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood at the top of the leader board. Kyle is not yet a “Household Name”, but by the end of this season, that may change. Kyle was followed by Colton Herta, running for Gainbridge Financial. Kyle and Colton are both part of the Andretti Global team, so obviously, they had found the set-up. Kyle and Colton were joined by Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist and 2023 Indianapolis Winner Marcus Ericsson. Marcus also drives for Andretti Global, so 3 out of the top 5 ain’t bad eh? But, as always, no one was going to be a runaway, with the top 8 qualifiers separated by just about a second.

By the time Sunday rolled around, the Andretti team, led by new CEO Dan Towriss, was ready to put the Andretti name back on top of the results. Towriss, CEO of The 1001 Group, a multi-entity conglomerate dealing with insurance and financial businesses, took over as CEO when the Andretti Global group ran into difficulties with their entry into Formula 1. In spite of complete financial and engineering support from GM/Cadillac, Michael (Andretti) may have ruffled a few feathers along the way, and in spite of the reputation of the Andretti name and the power and reputation of Cadillac, wasn’t greeted warmly to say the least by the powers that be in Formula 1. Towriss however, seems to be determined to press on, and appears to have the power, money and reputation to get the job done.

Although Sunday dawned a little overcast and slightly cool, it was dry, and gradually warmed up to be a gorgeous California spring day.

When the start time rolled around and all of the pre-race hoopla died down, there were no big surprises. Kyle Kirkwood managed to just barely stave off his team-mate Herta going down into the slow “Fountain” turn, and gradually was able to pull out some space between them. There was some jockeying over the next few laps, but it seems like no one really liked the “Green” option tire. But the rules require that you run at least two laps on both of the available compounds provided by Firestone. How long you stay on them, is, besides for that two lap minimum, up to you. If you dump them too soon, it is unlikely that the black labeled tire which everyone seemed to prefer, would last the remainder of the raced, and you might have to make an extra pit stop at a critical moment in the race. It’s not great to have to stop while leading!

Nevertheless, more than a few people opted to dive for the puts very early. Probably thinking that while it might cost them track positions, nearly everyone was going to have to do the same!

Kirkwood dived in, and others followed. There was a scrum of other leaders, with drivers attempting to claw their way back up through the field in spite of how narrow and difficult most of the track is. At first Armstrong, in the Meyer-Shank car took the point for a while , but only for a lap or two. Then it was Lundgaard driving the Arrow-McLaren who took charge. But all of it was temporary. Kirkwood returned to the fray in around 8^th place, and the reality of it was that all of those ahead of him, the first 6 places, were drivers who had started on the “Primary” (Black) compound tire, all of whom would be forced to pit shortly. And… They would be forced to run the “Alternate” compound tire for the minimum 2 laps, or more. More pits stops and likely at an inconvenient time! Not a good choice to have to make.

By lap 27/28 multi-time winner and IndyCar Champion Scott Dixon had moved to the lead as Lundgaard faded back slowly. At the same time, Kirkwood had moved from 7^th to 6^th, and then to 5^th, 4^th and now 3^rd. He was patiently moving up as others were forced to pit or simply faded as their tires wore. On lap 29 (of 90) Kyle re-took the lead, with fresh black tires, and the order was Kirkwood, 3-time IndyCar Champ Alex Palou, the winner of both previous races this season, and likely to be Kirkwood’s fiercest competition. Then it was Rosenqvist, Lundgaard and Scott Dixon.

As the laps counted down, Lundgaard found himself back in the lead as Kirkwood pitted again. Dixon appeared to be having some problems and dropped back as far as 12^th. But this time through Kirkwood didn’t lose as many places as he did the first time, and re-entered around 5^th place. But no matter what, Palou was stalking Kirkwood as they cycled through the various stops and passes of other cars. What Kirkwood saw was the red/yellow/orange of Palou’s Chip Ganassi racing car.

Around half way through the race Sting-Ray Robb found himself in the lead, followed by Shwartzman in the Prema-Chevrolet car. But Kirkwood was already back up to third, followed by Alex Palou, his shadow! Shwartzman, the rookie moved up to the lead, while stalked by Kirkwood. The minute Shwartzman pitted it all went back to “As you were” with Kirkwood in the lead again.

The Final round of pit-stops began in the lap 60 range, and on lap 64 Palou pitted for fuel and tires. Kirkwood elected to stay out the extra lap to put as much time and distance between himself and Palou. The Pit stop went well, and Kirkwood emerged from the pits with the lead. Not much, less than 100 feet, but the lead nevertheless. Kyle must literally love the Long Beach track, because he was quick, and pretty much flawless, holding Palou off Palou on cold tires.

He is also calm, not flustered, and when he returned to the track, he had a 30 second advantage in available “Push-to-pass” extra horsepower. Palou had obviously used most of his “Push-to Pass” in getting close to Kirkwood and staying there, but Kyle had conserved his, and could use the extra 50-60 Horsepower to as Palou’s power ran down.

With 20 laps to go, Kirkwood easily maintained his lead over the aggressive Alex Palou, and the lead grew slowly as the laps wound down. With ten laps to go, he was looking at more than a two-and a half second lead, somewhere around an 1/8^th of a mile. It wasn’t a “Cruise” but Kyle made it look like it, passing the back-markers down curving Shoreline drive. When his pit told him he had “Push-to-pass” power to use, he calmly told them, nah, I’m good! Everyone has a track or two where their rhythm matches the track shape, or form, and it comes naturally. Long Beach agrees with Kyle Kirkwood, and by the last lap he had pulled out a 4 second lead and still had the advantage in “Push-to-Pass” over Palou. From that point on, it was a cruise to the checkered flag.

While Kyle was cruising to the victory, Christian Lundgaard who had led earlier, took a well executed plunge going into turn one, taking 3^rd from a surprised Felix Rosenqvist. That made the final order Kirkwood, Palou and Lundgaard to the podium.

The Acura Long Beach Grand Prix turned out to be a real “Cherry” on top of the proverbial sundae (on Sunday), for the newly re-structured Andretti Global Racing team, whip cream, nuts and all!

Congratulations to Dan Towriss, Andretti Global and the entire team. Next up? Monterey, and Laguna Seca’s famous “Corkscrew”, sure to be another Spring Classic by the sea.