This week our intrepid NTT IndyCar Series pilots head to the 7th most populous city in California - Long Beach!
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There has been racing in Long Beach since the beginning of time. The indigenous Tongva people were known to race stones in the sand. After them, the Spanish would race marbles on a slight slope. Then after them, the Americans came along and called it a 'Big Prize' (or 'Grand Prix' for short) and replaced the marbles with cars.
The inaugural GP of LB was a Formula 5000 event, then Formula One came and took centre stage from ‘76 to ’83. Every year since then*, it has played host to IndyCar under it’s various guises.
For more colourful history of this great event, I highly recommend the Dinner with Racers documentary (How to build a street circuit) on how the race came to be.
*not 2020 because:
For many veterans, The Grand Prix of Long Beach is evocative of high performance race cars winding their way through an area of tawdry adult delights/disappointments.
But in more recent times, I’m sure we can all agree that when we think of Long Beach, we think: PINK AUTONATION CAR IN THE FOUNATION
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The Championship
As this is only Round 3, it’s hard to start to put together a narrative. The usual suspects are there or thereabouts. Have McSchmidt finally turned the corner to become a consistent threat? Does the Sneaky Swede have what it takes to string a championship tilt without Indy double points? Will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a shark?
There are just too many unknowns.
As it stands:
- Ninja Hands – 82 pts
- Personality Vacuum – 75 pts
- Inevitability – 67 pts
- BusBro1 – 66 pts
- Better Call Palou – 60 pts
- Lil’Dave – 53 pts
Your Schedule:
FRI
FP1 – 1800 ET / 2300 BST
SAT
FP2 – 1145 ET / 1645 BST
Q – 1505 ET / 2005 BST
SUN
GP – 1530 ET / 2030 BST
Your Weather (as of Wednesday)
Your Elite Sports Pilots:
Also on track this weekend: IMSA
Edited by Peat, 14 April 2023 - 06:40.