‘Beach Party’ Course Revised in 25th Year
Twenty-five years ago, when race cars first thundered down Long Beach’s Ocean Boulevard with the Queen Mary as a backdrop, Chris Pook’s dream was fulfilled and he said “Monte Carlo west” best described his first Grand Prix of Long Beach.
This weekend, with cars still racing through the streets of Long Beach, but down on the flat where Shoreline Drive curves along in front of Marina Park and Rainbow Harbor, Pook now calls it “the world’s fastest beach party.”
More than 200,000 people are expected to crowd around the 11-turn, 1.85-mile street circuit where the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will run Friday through Sunday.
The third round of the CART FedEx championship car series is the main attraction Sunday, but four other races are also on the weekend program. On Saturday, there will be a Toyota pro-celebrity race and a Kool-Toyota Atlantic championship race. Sandwiched around the main event Sunday will be a PPG-Dayton Indy Lights race and a Johnson Controls Trans Am race.
A revised race course will take cars around the Dolphin Fountain in front of the new Aquarium of the Pacific on the west side of the circuit. The change will be dramatic for drivers, as the tight right-hand turn at the end of Shoreline Drive used for nearly 24 years has become a sloping left-hander that incorporates a picturesque view of the Aquarium for TV and spectators.
Missing will be Alex Zanardi, who has moved to Formula One. The little Italian with the infectious smile won the last two Long Beach races, last year with a dramatic run from back in the pack to take the lead on the final laps.
Also missing will be Al Unser Jr., a six-time winner of the race. Unser severely injured his right ankle in a first-lap accident at Homestead, Fla., last month. Tarso Marques, a rookie driver from Brazil, took his place in Japan and will probably remain in Roger Penske’s lone car at Long Beach.
Replacing Zanardi on Chip Ganassi’s championship team is a fiery Colombian, Juan Montoya, who stirred up controversy last weekend in Japan with, first, a bit of dangerous driving during practice, then a remarkable bit of driving in the race.
During practice, Montoya tried to pass Michael Andretti on the inside of a tight turn. When the right rear tire of his Reynard hit Andretti’s left front tire, it sent both cars into the wall.
Andretti, who complained of stiffness in his neck and back after the jolt, was livid.
“I’m not sure which disappoints me more, the move he pulled on me or the way he handled the situation afterward,” Andretti said. “I hope he changes his attitude.”
Several observers called Montoya’s actions “cavalier.”
After the drivers were released from the medical center, Carl Haas, the owner of Andretti’s car, sought out Montoya. Ganassi, Montoya’s car owner, interceded and when Haas tried to push Ganassi out of his way, Ganassi knocked Haas’ trademark cigar out of his mouth, onto the ground.
Before the situation could escalate, cooler heads prevailed.
Montoya was fined $5,000 for “unjustifiable risk and unsportsmanlike conduct” and was put on probation by Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach.
The action in the pits proved more exciting than that on the track, where Montoya was superb in only his third time in an oval-track race. After starting 15th, he appeared to be the fastest on the Twin Motegi oval as he worked his way to second by Lap 79 of the 201-lap race. Most dramatic was his clean pass of Andretti for second place.
Montoya’s bid to catch Adrian Fernadez, the eventual winner, ended, however, when Montoya ran out of fuel.
Canadian Greg Moore won the season opener in Homestead and like the Japanese race, it was on an oval.
The strategy will change at Long Beach where drivers turn right as well as left.
With Zanardi gone, the favorite’s role probably shifts to Brian Herta, who drives a Reynard-Ford for the retired Bobby Rahal. Herta appeared to have last year’s Long Beach race won until Zanardi’s bold pass on the second-last lap.
“We had a good race car last year, but we just didn’t have the tires left on the car to race with Zanardi at the end,” Herta said. “I’ve been coming to Long Beach since I was 15 and walked around the pit and paddock area with my dad. That hooked me on the place and that was the year [1985] that I knew I wanted to be a race car driver.”
Later in the season, Herta won his first CART race, on Laguna Seca’s road course. During the off-season he bettered track records at both Laguna Seca and Firebird Raceway in Arizona.
“It’s time to take those testing times and transfer them over to race wins,” said the Valencia driver who started his career racing go-karts in the San Fernando Valley.
Moore, with a victory and a fourth place at Japan, is the PPG Cup standings leader with 34 points, followed by Andretti with 26, Gil de Ferran with 25 and Fernandez with 21.
In a touch of nostalgia for the silver anniversary race, Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney will be co-grand marshals. Andretti won four times at Long Beach, getting one of his victories in the 1977 Formula One race that is considered the one that saved the Grand Prix from being discontinued. Gurney, a legendary former Formula One and Indy car driver, used his influence with the world racing body to get Long Beach accepted as a Formula One site.
Coincidentally, both grand marshals have sons racing this week, Michael Andretti in CART and Alex Gurney, a rookie in Formula Toyota-Atlantic.
LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX
* The silver anniversary Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Race 3 of the 20-race CART FedEx champ car series.
* When: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
* Where: An 11-turn, 1.85-mile temporary circuit through the streets of downtown Long Beach.
* Schedule: Friday--practice and qualifying. Saturday--practice and qualifying, Toyota pro-celebrity race, Kool-Toyota Atlantic race. Sunday--PPG-Dayton Indy Lights race, Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Johnson Controls Trans Am race.
* Tickets: Grand Prix ticket office at 430 E. First St., Long Beach; all Ticketmaster locations.