1975 Long Beach Grand Prix

The 1975 Long Beach Grand Prix was the inaugural running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race was held September 28, 1975, on a 2.02-mile (3.25 km) temporary street circuit. It was race 7 of the 1975 SCCA/USAC Formula 5000 Championship. An estimated 65,000 spectators saw Englishman Brian Redman win the race from Australian Vern Schuppan, with Canadian driver Eppie Wietzes finishing third.

Background

In 1974 the city of Long Beach began a billion-dollar redevelopment program of the downtown area. Chris Pook, a British travel agent working in Long Beach, proposed holding a street course race in the vein of the Monaco Grand Prix. In order to prepare for a Formula One race the following year, the organizers decided to hold a Formula 5000 race that was held at a track in Riverside with an exhibition in Long Beach.

Qualifying

Qualifying times were set in two sessions on Saturday. Seeded drivers had one 45-minute session and one 1 hour, 15 minute session, while non-seeded drivers had two 45-minute sessions. Starting positions were set by two heat races, with the finishers from Heat 1 starting in odd positions and Heat 2 in even positions.

1996 Grand Prix of Long Beach

The 1996 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the 4th round of the 1996 IndyCar season. It happened on April 14, 1996, on the streets of Long Beach, California.

Race

Start

At the end of lap 1, de Ferran was leading the race, as he led most laps of the race.

Lap 4-Lap 39

At lap 4, Brazilian driver André Ribeiro crashed at turn 1. He retired. At lap 14, the top 6 was: Gil de Ferran, Alex Zanardi, Jimmy Vasser, Scott Pruett, Paul Tracy and Parker Johnstone. The 1st caution came out at lap 39, as Zanardi had hit Bobby Rahal at turn 1. Zanardi retired. At the same lap, Robby Gordon had a fire in his pit area. Despite this, Robby did not retired.

Lap 41-Lap 65

The top 6 at lap 41 was: de Ferran, Vasser, Tracy, Johnstone, Pruett and Greg Moore. At lap 49, the 2nd caution came out, as Moore collided with Christian Fittipaldi at the last turn before the hairpin. Both retired. Emerson Fittipaldi had hit some debris from that collision, thus, damaging the suspension of his car. He also retired. Al Unser, Jr. was now in sixth place. Then, at lap 54, Raul Boesel committed a mistake and missed the turn 1. He would do this again laps later. At lap 57, Robby Gordon had hit Bryan Herta at the hairpin. They did not retired. At lap 65, Teo Fabi, who was replacing Mark Blundell, after he suffered a broken foot at the Rio 400, suffered a puncture. The cause of the puncture, probably, was when he collided with Michael Andretti at the opening laps. Andretti had hit Fabi from behind and damaged his front wing.

Grand Prix of Long Beach

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is an open-wheel race held on a street circuit in Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder and promoter which began as a vision while working at a travel agency in downtown Long Beach. It was the premier circuit in Champ Car from 1996, and was the first event in the World Series each year from 2004. The 2008 race was the last race for Champ Cars as the series merged with the Indy Racing League. It is now an event on the IndyCar Series calendar.

The Long Beach Grand Prix in April is the single largest event in the city of Long Beach. Attendance for the weekend regularly reaches or exceeds 200,000 people.

The Long Beach Grand Prix is the longest running major "street" race held on the North American continent. It started in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race on the streets of downtown, and became a Formula One event in 1976. Incredibly, in an era when turbocharged engines were starting to come to prominence in Formula One, Long Beach remains one of the few circuits used from the time Renault introduced turbos in 1977 until the last Long Beach Grand Prix in 1983 that never once saw a turbo powered car take victory.

Long Beach

Long Beach or Longbeach may refer to:

Places

Asia

North America

Canada

United States

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the United States and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257. In addition, Long Beach is the second largest city in the Greater Los Angeles Area (after Los Angeles) and a principal city of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

The Port of Long Beach is the United States' second busiest container port and one of the world's largest shipping ports. The city also maintains a large oil industry with wells located both underground and offshore. Manufacturing sectors include those in aircraft, car parts, electronic and audiovisual equipment, and home furnishings.

Downtown Long Beach is located approximately 22 miles (35 km) south of Downtown Los Angeles, though the two cities border each other for several miles on Long Beach's southwestern portion. Long Beach borders Orange County on its southeast edge.

Long Beach Boulevard station

Long Beach Boulevard or Long Beach/I-105 is a Los Angeles County Metro Rail station on the Green Line. It is located in the center median of Century Freeway at the interchange with Long Beach Boulevard in Lynwood, California. It is not necessarily named for the city of Long Beach, California (served by the Blue Line) as Metro Rail usually names most of their stations after the nearest major cross streets. In this case, the station, located in Lynwood, is named for Long Beach Boulevard which indeed travels down to Long Beach. The original name for this station was Long Beach Blvd/I-105 and it may still be used in some places.

Station layout

Metro Rail service

Green Line service hours are approximately from 5:00 AM until 12:45 AM daily.

Bus connections

References

External links

Media related to Long Beach (Los Angeles Metro station) at Wikimedia Commons