{"id":272699,"date":"2026-04-17T15:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272699\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:05:08","slug":"first-day-of-2026-grand-prix-of-long-beach-is-off-to-the-races-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272699\/","title":{"rendered":"First day of 2026 Grand Prix of Long Beach is off to the races \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

The gates are open \u2014 and the 2026 Grand Prix of Long Beach<\/a> is officially off to the races.<\/p>\n

Southern California\u2019s 200-mph beach party kicked off its first day around 7:30 a.m. on Friday, April 17, beginning a weekend-long motorsports spectacle featuring everything from historic muscle cars to the titular NTT IndyCar race, which will take place on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s biggest annual event is expected to draw close to 200,000 people during its three-day run.<\/p>\n

Day 1 started slow, as it usually does, with a smattering of die-hard race fans strolling through the gates early Friday morning to watch practice and qualifying races, eat delicious food and explore everything the street circuit has to offer.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Grand Prix, the event\u2019s 50th anniversary, broke attendance records for the third year running,\u00a0with around 197,000 flocking to Long Beach\u00a0from all over the region to enjoy the golden anniversary.<\/p>\n

The marquee Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of the most iconic races in the IndyCar Series. The drivers who zip around the 1.97 mile, 11-turn street circuit through some of Long Beach\u2019s most well-known landmarks \u2014 at speeds up to 180 mph \u2014 widely consider it the second-most prestigious race, behind only the Indianapolis 500.<\/p>\n

This year, for the first time, the Long Beach race will be the fifth in the IndyCar season \u2014 straying away from its traditional spot as the third stop on the circuit. That\u2019s because the series added two new stops, at Phoenix International Raceway and in Arlington, Texas, as lead-ins to the iconic Long Beach race.<\/p>\n

The first two races this season were the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Florida, and the Good Ranchers 250 in Arizona. While Spain\u2019s Alex Palou, 29, took the championship in Florida, American Josef Newgarden, 35, reigned in Arizona.<\/p>\n

But at the third race of the IndyCar season, the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, it was Kyle Kirkwood \u2014 the reigning Grand Prix of Long Beach champion \u2014 who took home the trophy.<\/p>\n

Palou, though, came back for another win at the season\u2019s fourth race on March 29, the Children\u2019s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, leaving many fans wondering if the Spaniard will claim his first win in Long Beach this year.<\/p>\n

The fans at the Grand Prix on Friday, meanwhile, will warm up for the main event by watching practice and qualifying for the Porsche Carrera Cup, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championships, Super Stadium Trucks, and the historic sports car exhibition.<\/p>\n

And some fans were also looking forward to the Friday\u2019s off-track offerings, including a meet-and-greet with IndyCar drivers at 5:15 p.m., and a 6:30 p.m. performance from rapper and singer Lupe Fiasco as the Friday night concert headliner.<\/p>\n

The singer, whose music includes \u201cSuperstar,\u201d \u201cKick Push,\u201d \u201cThe Show Goes On\u201d and \u201cBattle Scars,\u201d will perform at the Terrace Theater Plaza. Anyone with tickets to the Grand Prix can attend the show for free.<\/p>\n

Friday attendees also trickled into the Lifestyle Expo, featuring more than 100 vendors, from toy car sellers to an In-N-Out truck to a high-tech racing simulator. The expo is also home to the Family Fun Zone with plenty of activities for kids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The gates are open \u2014 and the 2026 Grand Prix of Long Beach is officially off to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,131,28942,133,132,137,100],"class_list":["post-272699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-grand-prix","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272699","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=272699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}