Chris Pook and the late Jim Michaelian, two motorsports icons who turned the Grand Prix of Long Beach into the most prestigious street racing event in the United States, will be inducted into the West Coast Motorsports Hall of Fame’s Heritage Class this week.
The induction ceremony will take place on Thursday, Oct. 1, at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa in Las Vegas.
The West Coast Motorsports Hall of Fame launched in 2001 to recognize significant contributors to the sport of stock car/motorsports competition. The Hall of Fame was founded to preserve the history and heritage of the important role that West Coast motorsports and stock car figures have played in the sport’s development and continuation.
Cofounder of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Chris Pook talks about his friend and founding staff member Jim Michaelian, who passed on March 21, 2026, speaks to race fans prior to the INDYCAR race during the 51st Grand Prix of Long Beach in Long Beach on Sunday, April 19, 2026 (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Grand Prix Association President and CEO Jim Michaelian, left, is joined by Long Beach Grand Prix founder Chris Pook and his wife, Ellen, at a pre-race celebration for the upcoming 50th incarnation of the event on Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025, at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Grand Prix of Long Beach founder Chris Pook and his wife, Ellen, in the Pit Row Suites during the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 13. (Photo by Shirley Wild, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Grand Prix founder Chris Pook and his wife, Ellen, wave to spectators prior to the start of the 50th Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, Apr. 13, 2025. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Long Beach Grand Prix founder Chris Pook returns to the restaurant where the concept for the street race was born in 1973, on Saturday, Mar. 29, 2025. Some early photographs of the Grand Prix still adorn the walls of 555 East, previously Lombardo’s. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
A portrait of Jim Michaelian — the former president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, who died last month — that has a summary of his “5 decades of greatness” stands in the media center at the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday, April 17. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Daily News/SCNG)
Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian describes the upcoming 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Thursday, February 20, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian poses for a photograph in Long Beach on Thursday, November 14, 2024. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Grand Prix Association President and CEO Jim Michaelian discusses the history of the Long Beach Grand Prix at a pre-race celebration for the upcoming 50th incarnation of the event on Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025, at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Jim Michaelian, Grand Prix Association of Long Beach president and CEO speaks at the 2009 race. Michaelian died on Saturday, March 21 before his final time leading the Grand Prix of Long Beach. (Photo Courtesy Grand Prix Association of Long Beach)
” 04-15-10- Grand Prix Association CEO Jim Michaelian and driver Danica Patrick along with her pit crew were on hand to compete in the Pit Stop Competition at the ”Tecate ÒThunder Thursday on Pine. Ó The event took place on Pine Avenue between First and Fourth streets and was presented by the Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA), in collaboration with the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. It also featured stunt shows, live bands and car show.
Stephen Carr / Press-Telegram”
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Cofounder of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Chris Pook talks about his friend and founding staff member Jim Michaelian, who passed on March 21, 2026, speaks to race fans prior to the INDYCAR race during the 51st Grand Prix of Long Beach in Long Beach on Sunday, April 19, 2026 (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
West Coast Motorsports Hall of Fame covers 10 states in the western U.S. and western Canada.
Ken Clapp, chairman and CEO of West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame, said the elections of Pook and Michaelian were easy decisions by the selection committee.
“Chris Pook is looked upon in the racing industry as an outstanding founder with his establishment of the Long Beach Grand Prix half a century ago,” Clapp said. “The election of Jim Michaelian recognizes his work within the organization, enabling him to step up to the presidency of the Long Beach Grand Prix. We also recognize Jim’s loss to the city of Long Beach, the fans of the LBGP and the racing industry.”
Pook started the Grand Prix on Long Beach streets in 1975, with Michaelian at his side handling financial and other matters. The race grew from a modest curiosity — with some people initially calling Pook’s idea for a downtown street race “crazy” — to an iconic motorsports event that draws around 200,000 people annually. Fans and competitors regularly praise the Grand Prix of Long Beach as the second-most prestigious IndyCar Series race, after only the Indianapolis 500.
When Pook left Long Beach to take a racing job in Indianapolis in 2001, Michaelian became CEO and president of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. Michaelian died earlier this year, on March 21, just a few weeks away from the final Grand Prix race he planned to oversee before his retirement. He was 83.
“I am delighted that Jim is being recognized by the West Coast Motorsports Hall of Fame,” Pook said in a Friday, Sept. 25, interview, “and I am honored that I will be able to introduce him at the ceremony.”
Pook pointed out that Michaelian was his chief financial officer and then chief operating officer at the Grand Prix from 1975 to 2001, becoming president and CEO when Pook left.
“Jim did an outstanding job of rebuilding the event after the disastrous CART/Indy Car split ended in 2008,” Pook said, “and an equally stellar and skillful job of transitioning the title sponsorship from Toyota to Acura in 2019, not to mention the weathering of the pandemic in 2020 — all three were no easy tasks! Jim truly deserves this recognition.”