Jim Liaw will run this year’s Grand Prix of Long Beach with a heavy heart.
Liaw will be missing his good friend and mentor, Jim Michaelian, 83, who unexpectedly died March 21, just a few weeks before the latter was to run his last Grand Prix race this month and then retire, turning the reins over to Liaw in June.
Jim Liaw, the successor of longtime Grand Prix Association of Long Beach leader Jim Michaelian, who will take over as the organization’s president and CEO, speaks at the Media Day Luncheon on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Jim Liaw, the successor of longtime Grand Prix Association of Long Beach leader Jim Michaelian, who will take over as the organization’s president and CEO, visits the Formula DRIFT Media Day event on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
General Manager Jim Liaw poses for a photograph in Long Beach on Thursday, February 26, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
From right, General Manager Jim Liaw, Mayor Rex Richardson and the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian converse in Long Beach on Thursday, February 26, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
From left to right, Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President & CEO Jim Michaelian, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, Formula DRIFT President & Co-Founder Jim Liaw and Stephen Papadakis, owner of Papadakis Racing. (Photo by Stephen Carr, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
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Jim Liaw, the successor of longtime Grand Prix Association of Long Beach leader Jim Michaelian, who will take over as the organization’s president and CEO, speaks at the Media Day Luncheon on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
“Like everyone else, I was shocked when I heard that Jim had passed away,” Liaw said last week from the Grand Prix offices in Long Beach. “He was a close friend and will be greatly missed.”
It was announced in January that Michaelian, the high-profile leader of the Grand Prix for the past quarter century, would run this year’s 51st race and then retire on June 30, to be succeeded by Liaw, the former general manager of Performance Racing Industry, which hosts the largest annual motorsports trade show in the world.
Since that announcement, Liaw said he was busy with Michaelian going over the operation of this year’s race, which has become the single most popular event in Long Beach history, with thousands attending the race weekend.
“I wanted to learn as much as I could from Jim,” Liaw said. “We went over everything from operations to reaching out into the community to promote the race.”
Liaw said he has a big job to do in filling Michaelian’s shoes, but also added that his predecessor had built a strong staff to operate the race.
“I am very fortunate to have that staff to lean on and learn from,” he said.
Liaw is just the third president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, succeeding Michaelian and Chris Pook, who founded the race in 1975.
Liaw first met Michaelian in 2005 when Formula Drift, which Liaw had cofounded with Ryan Sage, introduced its invitational Super Drift Challenge at theGrand Prix of Long Beach and became a popular fixture at the race. Michaelian had previously said Liaw was his first choice to succeed him.
Liaw, 50, is no stranger to the Grand Prix.
In an interview with Press-Telegram reporter Christina Merino in January, Liaw said the Grand Prix of Long Beach was the first major motorsports race he attended nearly 30 years ago. He still remembered how loud it was when the cars raced by at more than 100 mph.
“I could hear the difference between the engines of the different cars, and the sound bouncing off the pedestrian walkway,” Liaw said. “It was such a first-time, visceral experience.”
Liaw was born in Taiwan in 1975, the first year of the Grand Prix. His family immigrated to the United States when he was 6 years old and settled in Diamond Bar. His father was in the transporting/exporting business, and his mother was a bookkeeper.
His parents live in Santa Fe Springs and will attend the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach this year — for the first time.
When he’s not working, Liaw enjoys spending time at home in Huntington Beach with his family, his wife, Angela, and their daughters, Katelyn and Olivia.
Liaw said he had a love for cars, “like any kid,” before he could drive, “but I didn’t think I would have a career in automotive.”
He graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Asian American studies, but he told me last week, “I really didn’t have a clue on what I wanted to do.”
That started to change when he took an internship with an automotive publishing company, which printed magazines about different types of automotive culture. His love of cars came to the surface.
He went on to work at different event companies and eventually started his own marketing agency with his business partner, Sage. That led them to cofound Formula Drift, which they turned into a premier drifting series and a fixture at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Then, Liaw became general manager of Performance Racing Industry, an organization that supports and advocates for racers, builders, tracks, enthusiasts, sanctioning bodies and businesses.
When Penske Entertainment, the new owner of the Grand Prix, was looking for someone to succeed Michaelian, the longtime association leader asked Liaw if he wanted to be on a short list of people interested in the job.
“I said yes and Jim recommended me,” Liaw said. “It was a humbling experience to be selected and a great opportunity. The Long Beach Grand Prix is so successful with so much history and tradition.”
Liaw said, in his new job, he will always be striking a balance honoring the Grand Prix’s history and tradition while looking for new ways to grow the event.
“I also want to honor the legacy of Jim Michaelian and what he stood for,” Liaw said. “He’s not here now, but I learned so much from him, and I will use that knowledge in making the Long Beach Grand Prix even stronger and more accessible to more people. Jim is gone but he will never be forgotten.”