Grand Prix of Long Beach

Grand Prix of Long Beach at a glance

Location

Long Beach, California

Type

street circuit

Length

1.968 mi (3.167 km)

Turns

11

Direction

clockwise

Surface

asphalt (public city streets)

Opened

1975

Owner

Grand Prix Association of Long Beach

Address

300 E Ocean Blvd (start/finish area near the Long Beach Convention Center)

Website

gplb.com

Track map and layout

The Long Beach circuit is a temporary street course laid out on downtown roads around the Long Beach Convention Center and the waterfront, closed to traffic only for race week. Its signature feature is the long, fast run down Shoreline Drive into a tight hairpin, which produces the circuit's best overtaking chance and its biggest crowd draw. The rest of the lap threads through a mix of 90-degree city-block corners and a fountain-side chicane near turn one, with concrete walls close to the racing line throughout. The layout has been reshaped several times since 1975 — it was originally 2.02 miles with 13 turns, was shortened when the Park Avenue loop was dropped in 1992, and reached its current 1.968-mile, 11-turn form around 2000 — but the Shoreline Drive straight and closing hairpin have remained its defining sequence across every version.

Named corners and sections

• Turn 1 fountain complex. A tightened turn-one sequence built around a fountain feature, reconfigured around 1999-2000 to slow entry speeds.
• Shoreline Drive hairpin. The tight hairpin at the end of the long Shoreline Drive straight; the circuit's main passing zone under braking.

Configurations

Events and race weekends

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, held every April, is the marquee weekend and one of the longest-running events in American open-wheel racing, second in continuity only to the Indianapolis 500. NTT INDYCAR SERIES cars headline a support card that has included IMSA sports cars, Indy NXT and various regional series over the years, plus a festival-style paddock, celebrity race and vendor expo that draws crowds well beyond motorsport fans. The event has run continuously since 1975 through Formula 5000, Formula One, CART and IndyCar eras, making it one of the few street races in the world with an unbroken multi-decade history.

Getting there and parking

Long Beach Airport is a few minutes from the circuit and the closest option for fly-in visitors; Los Angeles International Airport is roughly 30-45 minutes away depending on traffic and offers far more flight choices. The circuit sits in walkable downtown Long Beach, and race organizers promote the Metro A Line and local transit as an alternative to driving in, since street closures reshape traffic patterns across downtown during race week.

• Long Beach Airport (LGB) · about 10 min drive
• Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) · about 40 min drive

Parking

Public parking structures and lots throughout downtown Long Beach serve the event on a paid, first-come basis; the race promoter also publishes shuttle and rideshare drop-off information given how much of downtown is closed to through traffic during the event.

Because the course runs on public downtown streets, walking or taking the Metro A Line into downtown Long Beach is often faster than driving and parking during race week.

Hotels and camping near Grand Prix of Long Beach

Most visitors stay in downtown Long Beach itself, within walking distance of the circuit and the waterfront, with hotel rates and availability tightening well ahead of the April race weekend. There is no camping or RV option since the course runs on public city streets.

Where to look

Downtown Long Beach and the waterfront/Shoreline area closest to the circuit; the Hilton Long Beach is a listed official event partner, with additional chain hotels along Ocean Boulevard and Pine Avenue.

Track days, driving experiences and lap records

The Long Beach circuit exists only as a temporary closure of public city streets for race week each April, so there is no way for the public to drive or ride the course on any other date — the roads carry ordinary Long Beach traffic the rest of the year. There is no resident driving school or trackday operator at this venue.

Lap records

Spectator guide

Grandstands line Shoreline Drive and the start/finish straight, giving the clearest views of top speed and race starts, while general-admission areas around the temporary fencing let fans watch several corners for the price of a ticket. Because it is a street circuit through a public downtown, some vantage points outside the ticketed footprint offer partial free views of the action from parking structures and building rooftops.

Seating

Main grandstands run along Shoreline Drive and the start/finish straight; additional stands overlook the turn-one fountain complex and the closing hairpin.

Best places to watch

Shoreline Drive grandstands for top-speed passes and the start; hairpin-area seating for the best overtaking action under braking.

Weather

• Apr: Mild coastal spring weather, typically highs in the mid-60s to low-70s°F with a chance of marine-layer cloud in the morning

History of Grand Prix of Long Beach

A street race outgrows a city

The Grand Prix of Long Beach began on September 28, 1975, as a Formula 5000 race organized by travel agent Chris Pook, who wanted to build a European-style street race on the American West Coast to help revitalize a fading downtown Long Beach waterfront. Englishman Brian Redman won that first race in front of an estimated 65,000 spectators on a 2.02-mile, 13-turn layout.

The Formula One years

The event graduated to Formula One in 1976 as the United States Grand Prix West and ran through 1983, with Mario Andretti's home win in 1977 giving the race national exposure and cementing Long Beach as a legitimate fixture on the world racing calendar rather than a novelty. When Formula One left after 1983, the race switched to CART Indy car racing in 1984 and has kept an open-wheel headline act ever since.

Reshaping the course

The circuit itself has been trimmed and reshaped repeatedly to keep pace with the city around it: the Park Avenue loop was removed in 1992, and turn one was rebuilt around a fountain complex around 1999-2000, settling the course into its current 1.968-mile, 11-turn form. A shortened 1.324-mile Formula E layout ran alongside the main course for the all-electric series in 2015 and 2016.

Present day

Today the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is IndyCar's showcase West Coast street race, sanctioned continuously since 1975 across four different top-level series and now the second-longest continuously run event in American open-wheel racing behind the Indianapolis 500. The April weekend has grown well beyond the racing itself into a downtown festival with a celebrity race, food and vendor expo, and support races that have included IMSA sports cars and Indy NXT, drawing crowds that fill the waterfront for the entire event weekend.

Frequently asked questions

Other tracks nearby

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• Phoenix Raceway · 340 mi · oval