Darn it.
This edition of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was going to be a celebration of Jim Michaelian’s 50 years driving the greatest road race in America. Now he’s gone.
Jim’s approach to getting on Chris Pook’s team back in 1977 to bring the Grand Prix to Long Beach is the stuff of legend. It also epitomized the way Jim attacked pretty much everything – visualize it, then take whatever action was necessary to make it happen.
I call Mr. Michaelian Jim because we were friends. He loved to give me a hard time about getting in trouble for what I would say in one of these columns, or for trying to get inside information about who the star entertainers would be for that year’s concerts or the Star Spangled Banner.
The Grand Prix Association had gone through most of its hard times and the transition from Formula One to IndyCars by the time I arrived in 1992. Jim was still staying in the background as Chief Operating Officer while Chris (I call him a friend too) was the public persona.
Columnist Harry Saltzgaver took this photo of Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian at the GPALB headquarters in September 2018 — when Saltzgaver was the executive editor of the Grunion Gazette — for a story about about sponsorships. (File photo by Harry Saltzgaver, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
Over the years of covering the race, I got to know Jim as I delved into the machinations behind putting on the 200 MPH Beach Party. He had his finger on all the details, from where the star drivers should make personal appearances to how to put a go-kart track on the roof of the Convention Center parking garage.
When Chris handed over the reins in Long Beach so he could go save IndyCar in December 2001, I sat down with Jim to find out what he expected, what changes he wanted to make. “Not much,” he replied. “It’s all there already.”
Maybe so, at least in terms of the car racing component. But Jim knew that standing pat was a recipe for failure, and he began working to evolve Race Weekend almost immediately.
He told me once he wanted to make the Long Beach race a family affair, with something for everyone. He wanted to broaden the audience, and his efforts to open the auto racing world to the Hispanic community were especially impressive.
It was Jim’s idea to have a Latino-inspired concert on Friday night of race weekend. Juan Montoya became an IndyCar and Formula One superstar as Jim took the helm and he did his best to turn Montoya into a Long Beach hero.
When Formula Drift became popular, Jim embraced it, and brought in the younger generation that weren’t all that interested in open-wheel racing. He nurtured the concept and mentored its founder, Jim Liaw, who recently was named the next Grand Prix CEO before Jim’s death.
At the same time, Jim brought back historic race cars that brought oohs and aahs from the long-time fans. And added a Kids’ Fun Zone to the Auto Expo.
I got to know another side of Jim when I joined the board of the Grand Prix Foundation of Long Beach 10 years ago or so. I wasn’t surprised to see that he was on the board – he had a vested interest after all. The businessman in him knew that involvement in a charity giving back to the community was good press for the Grand Prix Association.
But the foundation was much more than that for Jim. The man cared. He wanted to see the less fortunate, particularly the children and students, benefit.
His presence on the foundation board was not just a corporate responsibility for Jim. He worked beside us, coming up with fundraising ideas, working to resolve problems, showing up at events.
A while back, one of the foundation fundraisers was a Monte Carlo Night on the Friday of race weekend. I was amazed every year when Jim showed up after a day at the race track, making sure everything was in place and running smoothly. He wanted to support the charities the foundation supported, and sleep could wait.
Jim was a major factor in establishing the Run The Course 5K, now the Grand Prix Foundation’s primary fundraiser. He figured out how a foot race on the car track could be possible less than a week before Race Weekend. He brought the Grand Prix Pace Car to the event, and drove it himself to lead the runners around the track.
This year’s 5K will take place on April 12, the Sunday before the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. It will be a stellar event, with the details handled and the emphasis on the participants. Race weekend April 17-19 will be exactly the same – run with expertise, focused on fun and full of compassion.
That’s because that’s the way Jim would have wanted it – the way Jim would have done it.
God bless you, my friend. You did good.