Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Fans, drivers love Long Beach event

Friday, April 12, 2002 | 10:13 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach has been one of CART's most popular races since the Champ Cars replaced Formula One on the temporary street circuit in 1984.

The event, which draws more than 200,000 throughout the weekend, is not just a hit with racing fans. You would be hard-pressed to find a driver who isn't looking forward to this weekend's race -- especially among the four Las Vegas residents who will be competing.

"Long Beach is such a great event -- not just on the track but off it, too," said Jimmy Vasser, who won on the streets of Long Beach in 1996. "This event represents the California lifestyle and the rite-of-spring attitude.

"It's fun for the drivers, the teams, the fans and everyone who attends the race. I know I look forward to Long Beach every year. It's not just a race, it's a happening."

Paul Tracy, a two-time winner of the race, agreed.

"It's Southern California, it's a party town and a party weekend for the fans," Tracy said. "The atmosphere is something you can't even describe unless you've been here."

The 1.968-mile circuit winds through the streets of rejuvenated downtown Long Beach, a Southern California coastal community best known as the home of the retired luxury liner Queen Mary.

Alex Tagliani, who finished fourth in his first Long Beach start in 2000, said the Long Beach Grand Prix is like no other race on the CART schedule.

"It's always a lot of fun racing in Long Beach because the fans are so into it and there are so many activities surrounding race weekend," he said. "As a driver, you really get caught up in the atmosphere and it gets into a racing mode."

Although Patrick Carpentier also said he enjoys the atmosphere surrounding the event, he has had some forgettable moments on the streets of Long Beach.

"I can't say that I've had a lot of luck racing in Long Beach over the years," said Carpentier, whose best finish in Long Beach was 15th as a rookie in 1997. "Team Player's has consistently had a competitive car for that street course but something always seems to happen to us.

"I remember two incidents where contact by other drivers ended our race and then last year, I broke a bone in my wrist when another car cut me off and my hand ended up getting caught in the steering wheel. But this is another year and the approach I'm taking is to forget about what's happened in the past and just focus on this year's race.'

Fox will televise the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach live beginning at 12:30 p.m. (PDT) Sunday.

Brian Barnhart, director of operations for the Indy Racing League, said the league has conducted 17 crash tests using IRL and NASCAR cars at speeds varying from 80 to 150 mph and called the most recent test -- held Tuesday -- "very successful."

"Soft wall technology is probably closer than people have imagined," Barnhart said. "If we go forward with it, it's going to be one of the most revolutionary safety aspects in modern racing."

Barnhart said that the initial installation of the new material would be on the outside walls in all four corners of the Speedway.

This year's Winston will be run in three segments of 40, 30 and 20 laps, with cars being eliminated after each of the first two segments. Of the 26 cars that are currently qualified for the race, only the top 20 will advance to the second segment.

The top 10 cars after two segments will advance to the final 20-lap shootout for the $750,000 winner's prize. The field for the final segment will be inverted based on a fan vote, with either four, six, eight or all 10 cars involved.

Kurt Busch of Las Vegas qualified for this year's Winston by winning his first Winston Cup race last month at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The motion, filed in federal court in Sherman, Texas, attacks the suit filed by Francis Ferko, a shareholder in Speedway Motorsports Inc. -- the company that owns and operates the speedway. SMI also owns and operates Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Ferko's lawsuit against NASCAR and SMI was filed Feb. 13 in U.S. District Court in Sherman, seeking a second annual race for the track.

The NWWS races at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night and the 1.5-mile superspeedway on Oct. 12.