Deja Vue

[nrc]

Big crowd, great race, happy sponsors. Sounds kind of like Indy circa 1995.
http://grandprix.motorway.com/Stories/0,1413,275~27293~2811873,00.html

"It seemed like it was busier and more people than last year. And the vendors were doing a great job and maybe had more volume than the previous year," said Randy Gordon, president of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.

[Winston Wolfe]

My Personal Observations

From a 14 year veteran of the LBGP.

The last two years have felt very "uncertain" at the track, especially after Rahal and Fernandez played their cards at the last minute and tried to put the final death blow to OWRS. The general feel of the event was "not planned" and there were so many stories about the demise of the series and the sponsors were lacking. Heck, "The Lagoon" hospitality area, typically filled with big corporate tents like Gehl, Target, Honda, Tecate, etc., were prety much empty and there was a sense that this event just barely made it this year. Empty Hotel rooms, fewer crowds, some bad weather, and empty pit areas all brought it down a bit.

Now this year felt different all the way around.

Lots of action in and around the track, great weather, decent crowds, plenty of knowledgeable fans, and plenty of event goers as well.

The drifting exhibition was generally VERY WELL received by the casual fans and the event goers and I found it pretty interesting to watch the car control of some of those fellas. I laughed when a 240SX came off of Seaside Way, took T9 sideways, and went ALL THE WAY THRU 10 sideways the other way, with one of his arms out the window waving to the crowd. I dont care who you are, you gotta enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of a "race car" doing its thang !

The Atlantics race was GREAT.... and to see a rookie to the series, on her debut to a pretty prestigous race track, bash and bang her way to the front, and win her first race was pretty cool. The fans along the main straight across from the Atlantics pit area, opposite the Jumbo-tron were LOVING it, and cheered the most during a TA race than I have heard in a long time.

CCWS was a great street race. Plenty of action and strategy and seeing those cars get down to cornering speed into T1 from Grandstand 40 was a treat and a half !!! I have been in G-18 for many years, or in the corporate seats down Shoreline as well, but you cant get the sense of speed and braking until you get to T1.... truly amazing and these guys do it lap after lap.

The "corporate" presence was up this year. This is truly now a "World Series" of racing, and not just some Yanks and Brazillionaires racing around. Yeah, some of the teams are underfunded, but I like to see the increased visibility of some of the guys who are there getting schmoozed, and checking out the scene.... I think this will reap benefits and more sponsor dollars for the future.

Team Red Bull had the most happenin' Hospitality area I have seen at LB in some years. Those guys know how to put on a party. Some stripper quality chicks, loud music and plenty of food and drink for everyone. :thumbup:

Every single port-a-john had been festooned inside with various slogans for Mr George and his plan for OW racing dominance. ".1RL SUX", TG is a loser \ anti-christ, etc., IRL500 Sucks, etc, etc, etc.... if it didnt have it in there already, it was there by the time I left !

The concert was decent and well attended. Pennywise seemed welcomed and there was a mixed crowd of young and old, race fans and not.

The celebrity race was good as well, with RHys Millen stalking the celebs and getting the lead in just 7-8 laps. Dude can also drive his GTO sideways at a pretty good rate through all of the corners at LB as well !!!!

I have seen alot in the 14 years of LB... it has been an evolutionary deal for me... with just GA tickets at the start, then some Gstand seats, then some garage passes, then Hospitality, to sneaking in where I wasnt supposed to be, to "bribing" my way in, to FINALLY, getting totally STYLED out with killer passes, garage \ pit passes, pace car rides, shaking Vasser's hand right out of the podium celebration, to seeing AZ take out Herta after being a lap down and having him do donuts right in front of my Grandstand seat...

This was one of the best all around years for the race in some time. Not a street parade, with good crowds, great weather, better scenery than in some years past and the topper for the whole weekend was getting into Winners Circle, hanging with PLN and the McDs crew and grabbing the Champ Car podium hat that was worn briefly by Junnky during the photo ops at the podium.....Oh yeah, standing behind the N\H guys when the bubbly was sprayed was cool as well....

LBGP ROCKS !!!!! I hope it continues to be a CCWS race in the future, or my plans for any future visits just went out on a high note.

[SteveH]

Drifting stinks, literally. The smell of all that tire smoke is really bad. The crowd did love it however. Middle aged people in the stands were screaming when they came through the turns sideways. Meanwhile I'm thinking, have any of these people never driven a RWD car before? :rolleyes:

Formula D - the D stands for the death of motorsports as we know it.

Yep, I just confirmed it, I am getting old. :cry: