In 2008, IndyCar officially announced Long Beach as their newest track, and has been a staple event on the IndyCar Calendar ever since. Previously, Long Beach has hosted all different kinds of motorsports. Formula 5000 was the first industry to race at this track and only six months after Long Beach hosted the widely known Formula 1 race. This was the start of the motorsport industry in Long Beach California.
Currently, the Long Beach track is only open for one weekend a year. Apr. 19-21, 2024 was the weekend that our Long Beach roads turned into a Grand Prix track. Making history as the three-day event attracted 194,000 visitors and the racing did not disappoint.
Free practice was on Friday the 19th. This is where each driver gets to go on the track in their car to adjust their car to the maximal limits to perform the best they can for the next two days. They also look for things on the track like the apex, which is the point on a corner where you get as close to the inside wall as possible to increase your speed.
Qualifying was on the 20th, Saturday, which is much different from traditional qualifying where all cars are on track. During IndyCar qualifying, the drivers and their cars are split into three different qualifications because, unlike other sports, there are 29 drivers. There, separated by their points, top drivers have priority. Each driver guns it to perform the fastest lap for that will be their starting position for the race on Sunday.
The last day Sunday the 21, was race day where each driver was on the track. On pole position [starting first] for the first time was Felix Rosenqvist who qualified a lap only 0.0039 seconds ahead of Will Power.
The entirety of the race was extremely eventful, however, it all came down to the last 10 laps. This is when both racers Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden were in a consistent battle for first place. When it came to the last eight laps of the race Newgarden was within a couple of tenths of Dixon when driver Colten Herta “slid” and hit, lifting the back of Newgardens car.
Newgarden perceded to stall from the damage Herta gave to him and the contact would lead to losing two positions finishing fourth in the race. In an interview he gave after the race, he said, “Once I got lifted I went into anti-stall mode and couldn’t get going, I kinda stalled there for a second.”
43-year-old Scott Dixon would continue to win the Long Beach Grand Prix without being touched, ultimately achieving his 57 career first-place finish while avoiding the calamity that ensued behind him. Following in second place was Colten Herta, who received no penalty for his crash into Newgarden and ruining his race.
When interviewed after the race, Colten Herta admitted fault to the crash saying, “It’s on me. He [Newgardem] set up pretty wide coming in [to the corner] but ultimately it’s on me to keep the right speed coming into the corner.”
The Long Beach Grand Prix was once again a very big hit with the racing action to prove it and we will be more than excited to see more Grand Prixs being held in Long Beach in the future. If you are interested in going to a Grand Prix and are a resident of Long Beach there is free admission on Fridays! There is no confirmed date for the 2025 Grand Prix however it usually takes place during Spring. However, IndyCar has signed a contract with Long Beach allowing the Grand Prix until 2028 so if you like motorsport get your tickets soon!
In the meantime, if you like motor sport you can watch IndyCar on NBC, Peacock or IndyCar Live. There is also a new show on Netflix called “100 days to Indy ”. If IndyCar isn’t fast enough for you, there is Formula 1 which is also in season right now. On Netflix there is a live documentary following the Formula 1 racers and the behind the scenes, called “Formula 1 Drive to Survive”. IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean used to drive in Formula 1, now he drives in IndyCar for Juncos Hollinger Racing. It’s actually very easy to get into the Motorsport industry and the community is very open to all people!
Cameron Floyd • May 21, 2024 at 1:35 pm
On May 16, 2024, Zoe Jamli wrote an article titled “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix”. This article provided great insight into motorsports for people who are not too familiar with the intricacies. The overall quality of the article is strong and provides ample information for the audience to latch onto. Additionally, it provided me with information regarding events that may take place in my community that I might want to visit in the future. As someone who isn’t very familiar with motorsports, this article gave me a strong and interesting introduction regarding what I can expect from going to similar events. Furthermore, it made me more interested in going to events as it did not overwhelm me with information while providing fun facts that can be very surprising to those who are unfamiliar with those events. Overall, I look forward to going to one of these events in the future and experiencing the excitement of fans first-hand.
Mikayla Brumbelow • May 21, 2024 at 1:23 pm
On May 21, 2024, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix”. Jamali did a great job at giving the details of the events at the race, including Indy Car. The results from the qualifying were very interesting, Felix Rosenqvist with a lap only 0.0039 faster ahead of Will Power is very impressive. Also I liked the inclusion of the images of the cars from Indycar. It provides a visual to those who have never seen the cars that race in Indycar. I liked that she included the TV programs where you can watch Indycar. I like this because it helps others who may have read this and want to start to watch motorsports. I think a good addition to this article could be the collision with Alexander Rossi and Patricio O’Ward, which cost both of them losses in positions. As someone who went to go watch the race I love to see coverage on this topic and it would be great to see more.
Anna Amaya • May 21, 2024 at 11:16 am
This article presents a topic outside of school grounds and gives students a chance to view events happening in the rest of the city. Having more articles on what is happening in the city would inform students and give them a chance to participate. The Grand Prix is an exciting and new experience that isn’t available all year in Long Beach and is limited to only some locations including here.
Although the article does include other places to watch the Grand Prix and quotes from the real drivers, the writer could have also interviewed participants like students from Long Beach City College who also were at the event. The Long Beach city residential viewers might have also made some comments on what they think about the racing. Having opportunities, even just viewing an event so different from normal city life gives people here and those participating a new perspective both ways.
Sincerely,
Anna Amaya
Ava Valadez • May 21, 2024 at 9:45 am
Personally, I learned a lot from this article. Jamali gave a very good description of the Grand Prix. For example, I found it very helpful that Jamali included the timeline for the event as well as giving us a look into all the action that goes on. I found it fascinating that Felix Rosenqvist qualified a lap only 0.0039 seconds ahead of Will Power. I liked that Jamali added this information because it just shows us how fast these cars are racing and it shows us how intense IndyCar races are. It was also interesting to read about the crash that occurred between Josef Newgarden and Cotlten Herta. Though Herta admitted to causing the crash and received no penalty, I couldn’t help but wonder what the penalty would have been if he were to be charged. Would Herta have been disqualified? How do they typically handle accidents like this? Additionally, I think it was very thoughtful for Jamali to name a couple of resources for where one can view motor sport. Those resources being IndyCar Live, NBC, and Peacock. I also appreciate how Jamali included some information on Formula 1 and where to learn more about that type of racing. Overall, this was a very interesting and informative article.
Stacey McLean • May 21, 2024 at 9:42 am
On May 21, 2024, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix”. The author wrote an excellent article about the Long Beach Grand Prix. She gave great background information bringing up how the racing scene was started in Long Beach in 2008 when IndyCar announced Long Beach as their newest track. I also believe the information provided as reliable because I know multiple friends that went to the drifting event on the Friday of that weekend. Thanks to Jamali, I now know how the race ended as she described amazingly and precisely. Also, Zoe does such an amazing job future opportunities to see this event in the future. Although I think this article is perfect, I would’ve liked to see an interview or two to see what the racing community thought of the race. Despite this, the article is extremely well done with tons of information packed into the fine lines.
Sincerely,
Stacey McLean
Mario Olivares • May 21, 2024 at 9:30 am
On May 16, 2024, Zoe Jamali wrote an article entitled “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix.” which was written very well and got me excited for the next grand prix. Jamali did very well in describing the eventful weekend race. I did not attend the grand prix but from how jamali described it i was able to imagine the close race.I really liked how you shared the history of indy racing at long beach. Although I found this article very intriguing, I found that including at the very beginning that formula used to race there, made me look for more information on its history. I felt that the sentence could have been avoided completely or maybe a little more elaboration would have been great.I also really liked how you included how you can watch the event online and even introduced the newly created netflix documentary as an option to watch indy racing. All in all a great article and a wonderful job describing the race event.
Aidan J Hernandez • May 21, 2024 at 9:11 am
On May 16, 2024, Joe Jamali wrote an article titled “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix”. This article was really informative and interesting to read. It gave me a lot of information regarding the Grand Prix as I did not go that day. I went on Friday therefore I did not see the IndyCar event. From reading this I found all of the details to be descriptive and made me actually sad that I did not attend the event. As a enjoyer of motorsports I like that this topic is getting mentioned and allowing for it to gain more exposure. I really like how the author included different TV shows about motorsports which brings more and more attention to the sport as a lot of people do not know about these shows. It is a well written and informative article that highlights an interesting event that I unfortunately did not attend but in the future I am looking to go to.
Anthony Lopez • May 20, 2024 at 11:39 am
On May 16, 2024, Zoe Jamali wrote an article entitled “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix.” It was a very well-composed article as Jamali gave very good descriptive information about the Grand Prix that was held during the third weekend of April. I actually went to the drifting event on Friday and can confirm that admissions are free on that day. I went with a friend and we both really enjoyed the exhibition the drivers put on. I didn’t go to the event on Saturday, but after reading this article, I am able to imagine what happened during the race. As described by Jamali, it was very eventful as there was even a crash involved that changed the final position of three racers. Knowing this, I want to be able to go to the Grand Prix next year and be able to go to this same race, hoping that it is as exciting as it was this year.
Santino Garetto • May 20, 2024 at 11:26 am
On May 16, 2024, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix.” The article was very informative and effectively explained what the Grand Prix looked like. I enjoyed the description of each day’s events: free practice, qualifying, and race day. I also enjoyed the informative description of the race: “43-year-old Scott Dixon would continue to win the Long Beach Grand Prix without being touched, ultimately achieving his 57 career first-place finish while avoiding the calamity that ensued behind him.” The article was enhanced by the summary of the race as it demonstrated the exhilarating events that took place.
A good addition to the article would be the differences between racing on a track and racing on a street circuit. Since the Long Beach Grand Prix takes place on the city’s streets, the racing teams and their drivers are met with unique challenges, among which are uneven surfaces and bumps, tire degradation, and reduced grip. Mechanics attempt to overcome these obstacles by adjusting aerodynamics, suspension and damper stiffness, camber, and more. Influencing factors like these affect the overall behavior of drivers and make races more competitive.
The article is well-structured as the information it provides is arranged from the track’s history to this year’s race. I was happy to learn that IndyCar “signed a contract with Long Beach allowing the Grand Prix until 2028.” This means that, in the coming years, Long Beach will continue receiving weekends of loud cars and exciting races.
Kevin Perez • May 20, 2024 at 11:17 am
This article is exceptionally well written and I find it very informational. This article allows for people who don’t know much about the motorsport industry to be able to comprehend the basics of the sport. Through this article I was able to experience how the race was like and how suspenseful it was.
The images were also very useful since I don’t know much about Indy Car, it gave me a better understanding of how the cars looked and how the race went. The word choices were exceptional since it used some vocabulary that is used in the sport such as qualifying, apex and pole position. I liked how she inserted links on some of the words to enhance what she was trying to say and overall help the reader understand the article.
Overall this article was peak perfection and she did an amazing job.
Alex Coakley • May 20, 2024 at 9:38 am
On May 16, Zoe Jamali published “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix”. I think this article is great because I didn’t even know this was going on, I wish i got the chance to see it in person. But I love the description in the article, it really helps you envision what’s going on with sentences like, “The last day Sunday the 21, was race day where each driver was on the track. On pole position [starting first] for the first time was Felix Rosenqvist who qualified a lap only 0.0039 seconds ahead of Will Power”. Zoe does such a great job at describing the events during the race that not only help you picture it but almost help you live it; me being obsessed with cars and racing this article makes me recall the childhood memories of going to the drag strip with my mom and seeing all the people racing, the smells, the sounds, the sights all come back after reading this.
Jude Moore • May 20, 2024 at 9:29 am
Dear Corydon Editor,
On May 16th, 2024, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled, “IndyCar at the Long Beach Grand Prix”. This article was not only very professional and well formulated, but it was also very informative and interesting. As a Long Beach resident, I enjoy learning about the various events in my community. Although I have heard about the Grand Prix in Long Beach I did not know many of the details that were discussed in the article.
This article provided every detail and explanation, from explaining how qualifications work, to providing specific names of drivers. They also described important information about events that occurred during the race that altered the final positions of some of the deivers. They decribed how an incident between two drivers on the track led to one getting ahead and getting 2nd place and the other falling back to 4th place.
The author even went far enough as to provide specific television shows that might be appealing to someone interested in motorsports or someone who is just starting to become a part of the community. Overall, very well written and kept my attention throughout the entirety of the article.
Sincerely,
Jude Moore