Roughly 1,000 concrete rails will remain in place on Shoreline Drive, Seaside Way and in the “Elephant Lot,” the parking lot next to the Long Beach Arena, with the 2022 race setup window just months away.
The City Council will vote at its Oct. 5 meeting to approve a request from the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach to leave up to 1,082 of the roughly 2,400 concrete blocks used to hold fencing and outline the race track in place until May.
The sights and celebrations of the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Colton Herta won the race, and Alex Palou won the IndyCar series championship, which was decided in Long Beach for the first time.
The Grand Prix this year in Downtown Long Beach kicks off Friday, when gates open at 7:30 a.m. The IndyCar race—which this year will be decided in Long Beach—is Sunday.
The race is the finale of the IndyCar season and for the first time a champion will be crowned at end of the Long Beach race. Before title contenders put their foot on their gas pedals Sunday, they’ll be previewed by the rapper who is also being brought in to voice the opening of the telecast.
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will begin next week, with several road closures in the Downtown area planned.
Setting the track up will take about 53 days, according to race organizers and a total of about two and half weeks to tear down.
The cars will be sent out five to 10 seconds apart so each can complete a number of flying laps of the circuit—laps with no race traffic—to see which car and team can set the fastest time.
The race, says Michaelian, is planned to go as scheduled, with “full fan participation,” which, in the past at least, has meant upward of 180,000 race fans over the three days.
