Jim Michaelian\u2019s death last month<\/a> at the age of 83, remembered his mentor during Thursday\u2019s media day for the 51st annual Grand Prix of Long Beach.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not easy shoes to fill, but we\u2019re going to do our best to continue and enhance and evolve,\u201d Liaw said. \u201cThis year is 51 years and we have to think about, you know, what the next 50 years is going to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liaw was slated to lead the organization starting July 1, but has hit the ground running with the assistance of so many in Long Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan was to work alongside Jim, shadow him and absorb as much of his wealth of experience and knowledge as possible,\u201d Liaw said. \u201cBut unfortunately with his passing, I had to take the wheel a lot sooner than I had planned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liaw was brought on in February and traveled with Michaelian last month to IndyCar\u2019s race in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been surprisingly OK because I already know the lay of the land, and a lot of the key players and entities involved,\u201d Liaw said. \u201cIt\u2019s quite a big event and the sheer size and scale can make you anxious to take that on, but all the partners are playing their part and even offering additional support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously the general manager of Performance Racing Industry, an organization that supports and advocates for races, enthusiasts, builders, tracks, sanctioning bodies and businesses, Liaw said the role with the Grand Prix Association was a responsibility to Michaelian as much as an opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the person who helped open lots of doors asks you if you want to be considered for the job, you don\u2019t answer with \u2018Yes,\u2019\u201d Liaw said. \u201cYou answer with, \u2018When do I start?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
PRI hosts the United States\u2019 largest motorsports trade show every year in Indianapolis, and Liaw leveraged his experience to create Formula Drift, the world\u2019s premier drifting series in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is kind of a gut feel of what fans want,\u201d Liaw said. \u201cWe want to know where the market is going, but I think the access to data is going to be really valuable going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
QUALIFYING RULES CHANGE<\/p>\n
Qualifying for this weekend\u2019s race might look a little different.<\/p>\n
IndyCar announced Tuesday an expansion of its Fast Six single-car qualifying, including an updated format, for the remaining four street circuit events of the season beginning with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.<\/p>\n
Single-car, single-lap qualifying runs in the Fast Six debuted March 14 at Arlington. A format using Segments 1 and 2, which narrowed the field, was introduced. This week\u2019s change to the rules allows teams the choice of Fast Six ordering based on Segment 2 results. Now, once that qualifying order is determined, teams will make their tire selection \u2013 primary or alternate tires \u2013 prior to lining up.<\/p>\n
The move to single-car Fast Six qualifying is designed to create a spotlight on teams and drivers competing for the top positions on the starting grid.<\/p>\n
SERIES NAMES NEW VP<\/p>\n
Mike O\u2019Gara is stepping into the most impactful role of his career.<\/p>\n
The longtime motorsports executive and former race team engineer was named IndyCar\u2019s new vice president of competition, race engineering on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The senior technical authority for IndyCar, O\u2019Gara will lead all aspects of vehicle performance strategy, race engineering and technical governance across the NTT IndyCar Series and Indy NXT, and is in charge of the development of next-generation technologies, including the new 2028 IndyCar.<\/p>\n
A native of Indiana, O\u2019Gara, 54, has more than 30 years of experience leading championship-winning programs across IndyCar, IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, including the past 12 years as an executive at Chip Ganassi Racing. During that time, O\u2019Gara\u2019s Cadillac team won the 12 Hours of Sebring (2014), the Rolex 24 At Daytona (2015) and a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2016).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH \u2014 Jim Liaw did not expect to be taking the lead so soon, but he\u2019s here…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,28942,133,132,14396,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-271489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-grand-prix","10":"tag-long-beach-headlines","11":"tag-long-beach-news","12":"tag-motorsports","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}