If you’re a regular follower of IndyCar racing, you don’t need me to tell you that, behind the mighty spectacle of the Indianapolis 500, the Toyota Grand Prix is the biggest event on the schedule, and losing it would almost certainly be the beginning of the end for open-wheel racing in North America, at least in it’s current
form.
As much a foundation of IndyCar as the Indy 500 itself, the Toyota Grand Prix around the 1.968 mile street circuit that runs alongside the shore of Long Beach and the mammoth convention centre, the second-busiest container port in the United States of America, has revitalised the city into something of a tourist destination.
Before the first open wheel race, the United States West Grand Prix, which ran from 1976 to 1983 first as a Formula 5000 event, and then as a part of the Formula One World Championship before IndyCar took over in 1984 (Mario Andretti won the first IndyCar race, driving a Cosworth Lola for Newman-Hass Racing), Long Beach was something of a decrepit city, close to the bright lights of Los Angeles, but not close enough to draw tourists out to the sea.
Chris Pook, the genius who had the idea of putting on a race on the streets back in the seventies, now looks like a racing visionary, but has recently been in the news because he is trying to lure Formula One back to Long Beach. He’s gone on record as saying that he’s had discussions with Bernie Ecclestone, who pulls the purse strings of the world’s most popular and prestigious motor racing series.
In the face of that talk, the Long Beach City Council did the smart thing, approving the three-year extension unanimously, which represents a pretty big blow to Pook’s (and Ecclestone’s) ambitions to bring Formula One back to The Beach. This is a great, great thing for both the event and for IndyCar.
To my mind, it seems pretty clear that the people at Long Beach’s City Hall have paid close attention to the way that Ecclestone runs Formula One. Most specifically, the debacle that the proposed New Jersey street race has become.
Will that ever get up and running? I’d say, doubtful at best. They’re also probably looking at the F1 sanction fee as opposed to the IndyCar sanction fee. It’s the safest of safe bets that the two aren’t even in the same universe.
Why change a good thing? IndyCar took a well-attended Formula One event and turned it into one of the biggest races on the motorsports calendar. There is a solid set of support events – the United Sports Car Series and Indy Lights chief amongst them – and the popular celebrity race, and crowds flock to the track in their thousands each year. Sure, there isn’t the same attendance as in the glory days of IndyCar, but the Toyota Grand Prix is still one of the more well-populated races anywhere in the world. Don’t mess with what ain’t broken!
Bring Formula One in, and you’re looking at changing a lot of the circuit to suit those cars, which takes away from the character of the track. That character, of course, is what makes Long Beach so challenging and so tough to win. There’s a reason why some of the best drivers in the history of IndyCar have won at Long Beach. It isn’t easy. It takes great skill, because of the nature of the circuit.
If Formula One comes to town, say goodbye to the bumpy, rough, hard-to-drive track. You can instead look forward to yearly repaves, because Formula One cars wouldn’t survive a lap with the track’s current surface. That costs money, of course, and I wonder in what other ways event organisers might have to reconfigure the track. Would the famous fountain turn survive? What would happen to the last corner, that long, slow hairpin?
Current IndyCar drivers Justin Wilson and Takuma Sato, who have both tasted Formula One, say as much.
Sato spoke to AUTOSPORT and said, "I don't know if current F1 cars could absorb the conditions of the track surface here or not. I pretty much think they can't.”
Wilson agreed. “I saw that story and chuckled. We love going there because it's Long Beach, it's a lot of fun, and it's so raw. But an F1 car won't go around there. They'd be complaining about the bumps - they'd have to resurface the entire place, after they'd ground the entire place. But Monaco is as smooth as the Indy 500, to give you a point of reference. If they came to Long Beach, they'd be shocked.”
Is it worth it to bring the track right up to F1-spec? No. Not even if Ecclestone lowered his sanction fee to IndyCar level. Formula One street races are generally parades, with very little passing taking place outside of the first lap or in the pits. Fans at Long Beach are used to seeing terrific racing. In 2014 (and, indeed, for the previous few years) the on-track product, from IndyCar right down through the supports, has been nothing short of sensational.
You come to Long Beach each April and you just know the racing is going to be as memorable as the weather. Why would you abandon that for what most likely will be a snoozer of a Formula One race? You give up on-track action, and pay a couple of large fortunes more for the pleasure. And, ticket prices would almost certainly rise, and rise steeply. Fans will vote with their feet of things aren’t as they’re used to. All of a sudden, those bills get harder to pay.
Memo Long Beach City Council: you’re on a good thing here. The Toyota Grand Prix works perfectly as it currently is. Why mess with it? Say no to Formula One, and show some loyalty towards the series (and it’s drivers) who, in no small way, helped revitalise your city. Don’t take the mercenary road. Be smart. Do what’s best by your fans. After all, we’re the lifeblood of your great race.
See you on Shoreline Drive for the next running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 17-19 2015.
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