Long Beach GP - An F1 race again?

KevinWI

KevinWI

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I guess we can add Chris Pook to the list of IndyCar traitors.

The man who invented the Long Beach GP and took it from an F1 event to the crown jewel of the IndyCar circuit is making a play to have it return to being an F1 event.

http://www.racer.com/index.php/indycar/item/101545-long-beach-city-council-ponders-bid-for-f1-return

It should stay an IndyCar event, enough said. It's America's Monaco. It's become an iconic venue in American open-wheel racing. If it goes back to being an F1 event, it'll get lost in the shuffle. It's not as prestigious as (the real) Monaco or Spa and doesn't have the glitz of the new Middle Eastern events. The F1 crowd won't give a damn about Long Beach.

Just try to go on with life without trying to shovel money in your pockets, Chris. I remember when your son David tried to run Indy Lights in like 1993 and he always finished like three laps down. You also became president of CART for a year after all the big teams left for the IRL and you did a crappy job then too.

/character assassination
/angry rant
 
F1 supposedly want three races in the U.S. (East-West-Central) so this may actually have a chance at happening. They'd have to updgrade the circuit a good bit though.

Personally I hope it doesn't happen. If F1 want more races in America they should be on purpose-built road courses. IndyCar street races are far better than F1 street races.
 
Smart move. Chris Pook, like most people, sees the writing on the wall. IndyCar might not even be around in five years so why not try to keep the race alive and make it an F1 race again?
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Smart move. Chris Pook, like most people, sees the writing on the wall. IndyCar might not even be around in five years so why not try to keep the race alive and make it an F1 race again?
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Come on, Andy. Surfers Paradise continues to survive with IndyCar, running V8 Supercars or whatever races there now. Long Beach is a major Southern California sporting event. They have the Pro-Am race and sports cars and other crap during that weekend. It'll survive even if IndyCar went under.
 
KevinWI said:
Come on, Andy. Surfers Paradise continues to survive with IndyCar, running V8 Supercars or whatever races there now. Long Beach is a major Southern California sporting event. They have the Pro-Am race and sports cars and other crap during that weekend. It'll survive even if IndyCar went under.
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You're grasping dude. Badly.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
You're grasping dude. Badly.
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I'm not grasping at anything. If IndyCar goes under, Long Beach would survive. It's an event that's transcended the "main race". They have the celebrity race, they have the TUDOR SportsCar race. Again, see Surfers Paradise.

Chris Pook sold the promotions company that runs the Long Beach GP in like '98. He knows Bernie wants three F1 races in the US, and sees an opportunity to stuff his own pockets by running the Long Beach GP as an F1 race for Bernie.

If F1 wants a GP on the West Coast, they should go to Laguna Seca, which is a world class road course. But, like Road America, there probably aren't enough dollar signs to draw them there.
 
Long Beach is the ****. I feel like as long as there is open wheel racing, there will be a Long Beach Grand Prix. I don't really care to see F1 come back to LB. It's one of Indy's biggest events.
 
KevinWI said:
I'm not grasping at anything. If IndyCar goes under, Long Beach would survive. It's an event that's transcended the "main race". They have the celebrity race, they have the TUDOR SportsCar race. Again, see Surfers Paradise.

Chris Pook sold the promotions company that runs the Long Beach GP in like '98. He knows Bernie wants three F1 races in the US, and sees an opportunity to stuff his own pockets by running the Long Beach GP as an F1 race for Bernie.

If F1 wants a GP on the West Coast, they should go to Laguna Seca, which is a world class road course. But, like Road America, there probably aren't enough dollar signs to draw them there.
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Really? Long Beach shouldn't try to get F1 because they have IMSA and a celebrity race? REALLY??? Like I said, grasping.

Surfer's Paradise has V8 Supercars, which is a marquee race and the premier league in that country. Surely you're not comparing IMSA, Pro-Am and a celebrity race to V8 Supercar and F1. If you were saying Long Beach shouldn't get F1 and it'll survive without IndyCar because NASCAR's going to race there, it'd be one thing.

Sure, it'd "survive" but it won't thrive. That's like saying you'd survive if I cut your legs off. You'd survive but you'd be crippled.
 
IMHO as long as IndyCar is there, Long Beach doesn't need F1.
 
KevinWI said:
If F1 wants a GP on the West Coast, they should go to Laguna Seca, which is a world class road course. But, like Road America, there probably aren't enough dollar signs to draw them there.
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Probably too short and too narrow of a course for F1 anyways.
 
thought it was calif toyota dealer sponsored ? not parent company solo.
won't they have a say ?

still an april race if f1 gets it ?
bahrain----china---long beach ........what happens ta bernie logistics ? ha! ie---cota--tms/gossage


hope it stays indycar.
 
I don't know why they can't do both. But Indycar will be around for a lonnnnnnng time. There is way too much money being invested. Kurt Busch has now announced he is going to race in this year's Indy 500 for Andretti. He'll run two races in one day. Jacques Villenueve is returning for the Indy 500. It will be a great year.
 
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Jimmy W1 said:
I don't know why they can't do both. But Indycar will be around for a lonnnnnnng time. There is way too much money being invested. Kurt Busch has now announced he is going to race in this year's Indy 500 for Andretti. He'll run two races in one day. Jacques Villenueve is returning for the Indy 500. It will be a great year.
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Yeah, tell me what else is going on in IndyCar besides the Indianapolis 500. It's the only race anybody cares about and, even then, half the people who care live in Indianapolis.

The TV ratings and the attendance (or lack thereof) at these races prove my point.
 
Here we go, between Andy and the people who write into Robin Miller's racer.com mailbag, I'm going to have to go on Xanax again.
 
I think the US market is an obvious choice for F1 to expand. Based on that article's assumption that they want 3 races in the US, keep the Canadian GP, and also add one in Mexico, I think you'd get a lot of new F1 fans with so many races in relatively close proximity.
 
Long Beach seems unlikely, they have Austin and New Jersey so far and I wouldn't be surprised if Watkin Glens becomes another, although Sonoma is a possibility (though I'm not sure if it's properly designed for an F1 race).
 
BSDShoes said:
Long Beach seems unlikely, they have Austin and New Jersey so far and I wouldn't be surprised if Watkin Glens becomes another, although Sonoma is a possibility (though I'm not sure if it's properly designed for an F1 race).
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New Jersey is dead and what is your reasoning for Watkins Glen and Sonoma?
 
Watkins Glen is ancient and too dangerous for F1 now. As much as I would love seeing them run around there, it won't happen.
 
IndyCar is losing all it's celebrity audience with Franchitti and his celebrity wife not participating anymore and believe it or not Danica gone. F1 would be a bigger draw for the race plus F1 has the money to improve the course, besides V8 Supercars and the Pro-AM race can still be part of it all. IndyCar is going no where now with George back.
 
I'm missing something here. How does having an F1 race hurt the Indy event? Is the F1 being proposed in additional to Indy or as a replacement?

Many would say that taking an F1 event to being the Indy crown jewel (which I thought was the Indy 500; silly me) is like dropping a Sprint Cup race so you can be the highlight of the Nationwide series, or like aiming to be a consistent winner of the NIT basketball tournament instead of the NCAA.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I'm missing something here. How does having an F1 race hurt the Indy event? Is the F1 being proposed in additional to Indy or as a replacement?

Many would say that taking an F1 event to being the Indy crown jewel (which I thought was the Indy 500; silly me) is like dropping a Sprint Cup race so you can be the highlight of the Nationwide series, or like aiming to be a consistent winner of the NIT basketball tournament instead of the NCAA.
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As a replacement.

The latest is that IndyCar will be extended through 2018 and then the race will opened up to bidding for afterwards.

http://www.presstelegram.com/events...-year-extension-then-formula-one-could-return
 
KevinWI said:
Never been, but seems like they're a little bit of a street party atmosphere.
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St. Pete the other day was my first IndyCar race and it had a better atmosphere than I expected. Probably better than that at any Cup event I've been too.

We sat in turn 10 so we could basically see them exit turn 9 and then all the way down Bay Shore followed by the sharp left-hander. Pretty good seats.
 
Another street race for F1 would be a mistake IMO. I would love for F1 to come to Sonoma, but I think Laguna Seca would be a better choice if it has to be here in California. If Bernie had his way it would be a race through the streets of Hollywood.
 
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