Another Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is in the books — and this year’s event, the 49th annual, set another record for attendance.
The Grand Prix, a three-day racing spectacle that took over Downtown Long Beach from Friday, April 19 to Sunday, April 21, drew in about 194,000 attendees.
That’s up around 2,000 people from the last year’s event according to Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian, when the Grand Prix welcomed a record 192,000 visitors.
“It continues to trend of increases since the (COVID-19) situation,” Michaelian said in a Monday, April 22 interview. “But also, it that gives us a significant amount of momentum going into the planning process for our our 50th anniversary — so all in all, we are very satisfied.”
Aside from topping its own attendance record, reserved grandstand seats for the 2024 Grand Prix were sold out by early Saturday — for the second consecutive year — further underscoring increased interest in the event.
Though the first two days of the Grand Prix had plenty to offer casual fans and veteran race lovers alike, the event’s biggest draw was the titular NTT IndyCar race on Sunday.
New Zealander Scott Dixon, one of the most-accomplished IndyCar Series competitors, won the 49th iteration of the Grand Prix of Long Beach in thrilling fashion — having to conserve fuel for about the final 30 laps while those behind him made strong pushes to overtake him.
A despite gloomy starts to days one and two of the event, the sun was out and shining early Sunday morning.
“The sun came out at eight o’clock on Sunday morning and stayed out all day with a very little breeze,” Michaelian said. “If you wanted to order race day weather — (it would be that).”
The Grand Prix also had plenty more to offer on the track — including two Historic IndyCar Challenges, an IMSA Sportscar race, Randy Gordon’s Super Trucks, Formula Drift, and more.
The Historic IndyCar Challenge, a new…
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