34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach(2008 IRL Rd. 3B)

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Who will win ChampCar's series finale in Long Beach?

Poll ended at Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:14 pm

Paul Tracy
1
100%
Alex Tagliani
0
No votes
Justin Wilson
0
No votes
Oriol Servia
0
No votes
none of the above
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 1

mlittle
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34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach(2008 IRL Rd. 3B)

Post by mlittle » Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:14 pm

Since the mid-1970's, thousands of race fans have flocked to southern California and the streets of Long Beach for what has become one of North America's premiere racing events; over the years, it has seen two of motorsports' biggest series in Formula 1 and CART/ChampCar, and so it is only appropriate that Long Beach is the setting for ChampCar's farewell as it goes into the motorsports history books........one last time to hear the sweet turbos run wild in anger before the event becomes a part of the IndyCar Series in 2009, one final opportunity to watch the Panoz DP01's in action before they become veritable showcars.....

But.....that doesn't mean the race doesn't have some meaning; the event is part of a rare double-header weekend as, with the lateness of unificiation between the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series, this event shares equal billing with the IRL's Bridgestone Indy Japan 300(which means yours' truly gets to cover BOTH races on the same weekend........................ :shock: :shock: :shock: :lol: ).............

Past Winners of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.................
note.......includes winners of the F5000(1975) and F1 races(1976-1983) at Long Beach.......
Brian Redman--1975
Clay Regazonni--1976
Mario Andretti--1977, 1984, 1985, 1987
Carlos Reutimann--1978
Gilles Villeneuve--1979
Nelson Piquet--1980
Alan Jones--1981
Niki Lauda--1982
John Watson--1983
Michael Andretti--1986, 2002
Al Unser, Jr.--1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995
Danny Sullivan--1992
Paul Tracy--1993, 2000, 2003, 2004
Jimmy Vasser--1996
Alex Zanardi--1997, 1998
Juan Pablo Montoya--1999
Helio Castroneves--2001
Sebastien Bourdais--2005, 2006, 2007
Last edited by mlittle on Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mlittle » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:52 am

Long Beach Entry List....................................

(R)Graham Rahal, #02 Hole in the Wall Camps
Paul Tracy, #3 Indeck/Monster Energy Drink
Nelson Phillipe, #4 Muermans/OzJet
Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics
(R)Justin Wilson, #06 McDonald's
Franck Montagny, #7 Indeck
(R)Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards
Antonio Pizzonia, #9 Rocketsports
Juho Annala, #10 Rocketsports
Jimmy Vasser, #12 HP/Plantronics
Roberto Moreno, #14 Ticketmaster
Alex Tagliani, #15 Wal-Mart Canada
Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs
(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ
Alex Figge, #29 Imperial Capital Bank
(R)E.J. Viso, #33 PDVSA
(R)Franck Perera, #34 Opes Prime/ARES
(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari/Opes Prime
David Martinez, #37 Indeck
Mario Dominguez, #96 Tecate/Molecule Labs
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Bridgestone Motorsports to use three tire compounds in LB...

Post by mlittle » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:04 am

In an effort to give the soon-to-be-defunct Champ Car World Series a most excellent sendoff, officials w/Bridgestone Motorsports, which worked with both ChampCar(through Bridgestone NA) and the IRL(through Firestone NA), announced Monday that they will be utilizing three different tire compounds for Sunday's 34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.....the key, officials stressed, would be that teams would have to use the standard hard-compound that they will bring(used at Long Beach in 2005 and 2007), a medium-compound option tire(used as the "option" compound at the Beach in 2007) and a soft-compound option tire(used as the "option" compound at the Beach in 2006), once during the race(assuming that they make at least 2 stops during the race).
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Weekend Schedule and Broadcast News..............

Post by mlittle » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:22 am

Practice Session #1, 10:15-11:25 am, 18 April 2008
Practice Session #2, 2-2:25 pm, 18 April 2008
Provisional Qualifiying, 2:30-3 pm, 18 April 2008
Practice Session #3, 10:15-11:25 am, 19 April 2008
Practice Session #4, 2-2:25 pm, 19 April 2008
Final Qualifying, 2:30-3 pm, 19 April 2008
Warm-Up Session, 9:05-9:35 am, 20 April 2008
34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, 4 pm, 20 April 2008

Broadcast Information......................................................
~~domestic TV, ESPN
~~domestic radio, (FM)check local SoCal listings; (AM)IMS Radio Network
~~satellite radio, XM Satellite Radio Chs. 143-144
~~international TV, ESPN Networks
~~international simulcast(radio, shortwave, TV) courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network
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Mid-Week Long Beach News..................

Post by mlittle » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:45 am

Two items of interest from the Beach.............................
~~Racing legend to serve as Grand Marshal...........1986 Indy 500 and 3-time CART champion Bobby Rahal has been tapped as Grand Marshal for the 34th running of the Toyota Grand Prix; it'll be a busy weekend for the elder Rahal, whos' Rahal-Letterman Racing team will compete in the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 in Motegi, Japan.......and then its' a trans-Pacific flight to the U.S. West Coast, where son Graham, winner at St. Pete a week back, will race at Long Beach

~~Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones and Gary Gabelich to be inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame.................American racing scions Mario Andretti(Il Commendatore), along with fellow American racer Parnelli Jones, will be inducted on Thursday into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame; representing the late Gabelich will be Long Beach Council Member Rae Gabelich......here are some highlights of their respective careers........
--Mario Andretti, only driver to win the Indy 500, Daytona 500 and the Formula 1 WDC; won a total of 111 races on all types of racing circuits; was the last American to win an F1 race on U.S. soil
--Parnelli Jones, began racing jalopy cars at Gardena and Ascot Park; 1st to set a qualifying speed at Indy over 150mph; winner of "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing" in 1963; has won the Baja 1000 desert race twice
~~Gary Gabelich; won numerous drag racing events in what both became Top Fuel and Funny Car; first dragster to set a sub-7 second time down the qtr-mile; once set the land-speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in a hydrogen-peroxide powered dragster at 622.41 mph(the record stood for over 12 yrs.)
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Post by mlittle » Sat Apr 19, 2008 1:04 pm

Long Beach Practice Session #1 top-5..........................
1}(R)Justin Wilson, NHL Racing................................1:08.286 sec
2} Alex Tagliani, Walker Racing...............................1:08.386 sec
3}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech.............................1:08.435 sec
4} Mario Dominguez, Pacific Coast Mtrspts................1:08.568 sec
5} Oriol Servia, KV Racing Tech...............................1:08.602 sec
Last edited by mlittle on Sat Apr 19, 2008 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mlittle » Sat Apr 19, 2008 1:06 pm

Long Beach Practice Session #2 top-5...........................
1} Franck Montagny, Forsythe Racing..........................1:08.599 sec
2}(R)Justin Wilson, NHL Racing...................................1:08.640 sec
3}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing.................................1:08.899 sec
4} Oriol Servia, KV Racing Tech..................................1:08.928 sec
5} Alex Figge, Pacific Coast Mtrspts.............................1:09.132 sec
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Long Beach Friday Photos...................

Post by mlittle » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:40 pm

Image

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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:18 am

Long Beach Practice Session #3 top-5.................................
1} Alex Tagliani, Walker Racing..........................1:07.252 sec
2}(R)Justin Wilson, NHL Racing...........................1:07.472 sec
3}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech.........................1:07.633 sec
4}(R)Franck Perera, Conquest Racing..................1:07.696 sec
5} Paul Tracy, Forsythe Racing............................1:07.712 sec
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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:20 am

Long Beach Practice Session #4 top-5.............................
1}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech..............................1:07.233 sec
2} Mario Dominguez, Pacific Coast Mtrspts................1:07.538 sec
3} Alex Tagliani, Walker Racing................................1:07.702 sec
4}(R)Franck Perera, Conquest Racing.......................1:07.709 sec
5} Nelson Phillipe, Minardi Team USA........................1:07.790 sec
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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:30 am

34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Starting Grid...................

1st}(R)Justin Wilson, #02 McDonald's..................................1:06.902 sec
2nd} Alex Tagliani, #15 Wal-Mart Canada............................1:07.084 sec

3rd}(R)Franck Perera, #34 Opes Prime/ARES......................1:07.180 sec
4th}(R)Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards..............................1:07.205 sec

5th} Paul Tracy, #3 Indeck/Monster Energy Drink................1:07.352 sec
6th}(R)Franck Montagny, #7 Indeck...................................1:07.360 sec

7th} Nelson Phillipe, #4 Muermans/OzJet.............................1:07.415 sec
8th}(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari/Opes Prime................1:07.682 sec

9th}(R)Graham Rahal, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps...............1:07.703 sec
10th} Mario Dominguez, #96 Tecate/Molecule Labs...............1:07.745 sec

11th} Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs..........................1:07.786 sec
12th} Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics........................................1:07.858 sec

13th} Jimmy Vasser, #12 HP/Plantronics..............................1:07.859 sec
14th}(R)E.J. Viso, #33 PDVSA.............................................1:07.927 sec

15th} Antonio Pizzonia, #9 Rocketsports..............................1:08.463 sec
16th} Alex Figge, #29 Imperial Capital Bank........................1:08.489 sec

17th} Roberto Moreno, #14 Ticketmaster.............................1:08.549 sec
18th} David Martinez, #37 Indeck.......................................1:08.643 sec

19th}(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ..................1:09.279 sec
20th} Juho Annala, #10 Rocketsports...................................1:09.555 sec
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Long Beach, Saturday Photos(part 1)...................

Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:16 am

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Post by mlittle » Mon Apr 21, 2008 10:08 am

Brief update from the Beach.....................................

On what turned out be an historic weekend in AOWR, KV Racing Technology's Will Power led all but a handful of laps to win the final ChampCar race at Long Beach, bookending the unique twinbill IndyCar Series weekend as held off both Franck Montagny and Alex Tagliani to take his third career open-wheel victory(counting the two ChampCar wins from 2007 w/today's win in Long Beach)

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Post by mlittle » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:00 pm

On ChampCar's final hurrah, it was a man from Down Under who dominated today's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, as Queensland native Will Power gave a SeaBass-style domination of the race from start to finish. At the drop of the lights(another first for Long Beach as it was not only the first-ever standing start in IndyCar Series history but the first since Formula 1's days at the Beach), Power, starting from 4th, made a standing start that would put most F1 standing starts to shame, passing the cars of Franck Perera, Alex Tagliani and Justin Wilson to take the lead entering turn 1 and it was lights out; Power led 81 of the 83 laps today to win ChampCar's series finale and the 34th running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Top-10 from the Beach.....................
1st}(R)#8 Will Power.........................................83 laps
2nd} #7 Franck Montagny..................................-5.094 sec
3rd} #96 Mario Dominguez................................-15.516 sec
4th}(R)#36 Enrique Bernoldi..............................-25.677 sec
5th} #5 Oriol Servia..........................................-26.276 sec
6th}(R)#34 Franck Perera..................................-28.067 sec
7th} #15 Alex Tagliani.......................................-36.518 sec
8th} #37 David Martinez....................................-37.127 sec
9th}(R)#33 Ernesto Viso....................................-44.944 sec
10th} #12 Jimmy Vasser....................................-48.635 sec
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