Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President & CEO Jim Michaelian speaks during a media event kicking off 53 days of construction on the 2020 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach race circuit. Tuesday, February 25, 2020. Photo by Stephen Carr.
Welcome to the 46th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The streets are eerily quiet for any given Sunday, but way more so for a Grand Prix Sunday, which was scheduled for today.
The city’s at the polar opposite of a Grand Prix weekend. There are no checkered-flag banners along Ocean Boulevard, no grandstands along Shoreline Drive, no throngs of race fans lined up at the entrances to the circuit, no restaurants or bars offering food and drink for the fans, no overflowing hotels or hospitality tents.
And no Jim Michaelian who, for the first time since 1975 when the first Grand Prix was held on the streets of Long Beach, is hunkered down, most likely reading a book or tinkering around his quiet Seal Beach home. It’s pretty safe to say Michaelian has never read a book on Grand Prix weekend.
Michaelian, the president/CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, has been involved with the race since its beginning, and he’s surprisingly calm and accepting of its cancellation this year due to the city’s shutdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. He’s not railing against any perceived unfairness, nor is he protesting the stay-at-home orders.
“Our situation is no different than anyone else’s,” he said. “Everyone’s paying the price.”
And when it comes to seeking financial relief, Michaelian says, “We’re down toward the bottom of the list. We’ve got to get all these small businesses back on their feet—restaurants, bars, cleaners, markets, all the small merchants.”
“We’re all in the middle of a deep funk,” he said. On Saturday morning he sent out an email to his staff. “I just reminded them about the fun weekends of the past and the disappointment of not putting on all the things we do. The races, the concerts, the expo, everything that’s involved in putting on a successful street race.”
Instead of counting tickets at the gate this weekend, Michaelian and his staff are in the middle of doing their first round of ticket refunds, and they’ve just finished getting the barricades off the street. The Grand Prix offices, like so many other places in the city, are closed. The amount of money lost is unclear, but Michaelian is giving refunds to many of the race’s sponsors, as well as losing the gate.
“I suppose I could use force majeure,” a clause in a contract that may free parties from contractual obligations due to unforeseen calamitous events, including epidemics, “but once you go down that road, it’s dangerous, because when you go back to these people the next year and ask for money, you’re not gonna get it,” he said. “I don’t want to play that game. I want to be fair with people who sponsor us.”
Now the 46th edition of the Grand Prix is pushed back a year and is scheduled April 16-18, 2021. But scheduling anything, especially a crowded event like the Grand Prix, is dicey these days.
“Everybody is asking what about next year, but I don’t think anyone knows,” he said. “What are we gonna do? Are we gonna take people’s temperatures at the gate, or will there be some quick test? The key is, there’s gonna have to be some vaccine that people can get so everyone can get out and do things without any risk. Until the numbers become zero, zero, zero day after day, there won’t be crowds anywhere.”
And Michaelian can’t put on a race without crowds. He gets some money from sponsors, but, he says, a big part of his event’s money is paid admission. “We get zero money from TV. NASCAR does OK with TV, but we don’t get anything. We can’t put on a race without a crowd.”
So, while all you hear are songbirds and squawks from seagulls down at the circuit now, MIchaelian is sitting at home, like so many other citizens in Long Beach and far beyond.
“The thing about the coronavirus disease is it’s utterly indiscriminate about its victims,” he said. “What was so surprising to me is how fast it struck. One day everything was fine, then suddenly it was…this.”
And he’s not going anywhere, working from home and staying locked down. “We’re all going to have to do it,” he said. “Because I don’t want a recurrence. My God, can you imagine going back and starting this all over again?
Tim Grobaty is a columnist and the Opinions Editor for the Long Beach Post. You can reach him at 562-714-2116, email [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter and Grobaty on Facebook.
Quarantine Chronicles Day 35: Jim Michaelian on the roaring silence of Grand Prix Sunday
Welcome to the 46th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The streets are eerily quiet for any given Sunday, but way more so for a Grand Prix Sunday, which was scheduled for today.
The city’s at the polar opposite of a Grand Prix weekend. There are no checkered-flag banners along Ocean Boulevard, no grandstands along Shoreline Drive, no throngs of race fans lined up at the entrances to the circuit, no restaurants or bars offering food and drink for the fans, no overflowing hotels or hospitality tents.
And no Jim Michaelian who, for the first time since 1975 when the first Grand Prix was held on the streets of Long Beach, is hunkered down, most likely reading a book or tinkering around his quiet Seal Beach home. It’s pretty safe to say Michaelian has never read a book on Grand Prix weekend.
Michaelian, the president/CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, has been involved with the race since its beginning, and he’s surprisingly calm and accepting of its cancellation this year due to the city’s shutdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. He’s not railing against any perceived unfairness, nor is he protesting the stay-at-home orders.
“Our situation is no different than anyone else’s,” he said. “Everyone’s paying the price.”
And when it comes to seeking financial relief, Michaelian says, “We’re down toward the bottom of the list. We’ve got to get all these small businesses back on their feet—restaurants, bars, cleaners, markets, all the small merchants.”
“We’re all in the middle of a deep funk,” he said. On Saturday morning he sent out an email to his staff. “I just reminded them about the fun weekends of the past and the disappointment of not putting on all the things we do. The races, the concerts, the expo, everything that’s involved in putting on a successful street race.”
Instead of counting tickets at the gate this weekend, Michaelian and his staff are in the middle of doing their first round of ticket refunds, and they’ve just finished getting the barricades off the street. The Grand Prix offices, like so many other places in the city, are closed. The amount of money lost is unclear, but Michaelian is giving refunds to many of the race’s sponsors, as well as losing the gate.
“I suppose I could use force majeure,” a clause in a contract that may free parties from contractual obligations due to unforeseen calamitous events, including epidemics, “but once you go down that road, it’s dangerous, because when you go back to these people the next year and ask for money, you’re not gonna get it,” he said. “I don’t want to play that game. I want to be fair with people who sponsor us.”
Now the 46th edition of the Grand Prix is pushed back a year and is scheduled April 16-18, 2021. But scheduling anything, especially a crowded event like the Grand Prix, is dicey these days.
“Everybody is asking what about next year, but I don’t think anyone knows,” he said. “What are we gonna do? Are we gonna take people’s temperatures at the gate, or will there be some quick test? The key is, there’s gonna have to be some vaccine that people can get so everyone can get out and do things without any risk. Until the numbers become zero, zero, zero day after day, there won’t be crowds anywhere.”
And Michaelian can’t put on a race without crowds. He gets some money from sponsors, but, he says, a big part of his event’s money is paid admission. “We get zero money from TV. NASCAR does OK with TV, but we don’t get anything. We can’t put on a race without a crowd.”
So, while all you hear are songbirds and squawks from seagulls down at the circuit now, MIchaelian is sitting at home, like so many other citizens in Long Beach and far beyond.
“The thing about the coronavirus disease is it’s utterly indiscriminate about its victims,” he said. “What was so surprising to me is how fast it struck. One day everything was fine, then suddenly it was…this.”
And he’s not going anywhere, working from home and staying locked down. “We’re all going to have to do it,” he said. “Because I don’t want a recurrence. My God, can you imagine going back and starting this all over again?
“What a disaster.”
Tim Grobaty
Tim Grobaty is a columnist and the Opinions Editor for the Long Beach Post. You can reach him at 562-714-2116, email [email protected], @grobaty on Twitter and Grobaty on Facebook.
More by Tim Grobaty