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For thirty-two years, fans have been coming to the streets of Long Beach, California to watch one of the signature events on the motorsports calendar, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, and while the event has changed over the years, the racing and the excitement it brings hasn't changed. Considered one of the crown jewels of the Champ Car schedule(along w/Surfers Paradise and Toronto), a win here cements a driver's career much as winning the Indy 500 does. The list of racewinners spans a vertiable who's who of racing greats, ranging from Mario Andretti(who has won here in both F1 and CART), Carlos Reutemann, Gilles Villeneuve, Nelson Piquet, Alan Jones, Niki Lauda, to Michael Andretti, Al Unser, Jr., Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya, among others.

As for the current cast of characters.......they'll have to figure out how to defeat two-time series champion and 2005 race winner Sebastien Bourdais, who in his three seasons has 14 wins, 18 poles and has an almost Schuey-like hold on the series. Anyone who wants the Vanderbilt Cup in their hands come Mexico City will have to first figure out this place. At around 1.9+ miles, the track is in its' fourth(or is it fifth?) configuration, but its' signature is the long frontstraight(Shoreline Drive) where the cars will reach speeds approaching 190 mph before braking hard into a sharp left that has seen many a drivers' day end in the tirewalls.

Last year's weekend will be remembered for a long time, not because of SeaBass's win on Sunday afternoon, but for the race before it. When Katherine Legge took the checkered flag in the Atlantics' race, she became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America, and that win set the stage for a breakout season by the Northhampton, England native, as she went on to win twice more, at Edmonton on the fast airport circuit and then on the streets of San Jose. Now she graduates from the 240hp Atlantics to the 750hp ChampCars, but she won't be alone; 2005's Atlantic winner, Charles Zwolsman will also be on the grid for this year's race. And while a lot of motorsports' eyes will be focused on the Brit, most will still be focused on the renewal of the series' big rivalry......SeaBass vs. the Thrill from West Hill.

And, when the ChampCars and Atlantics aren't out on the track, there's plenty of support action as well. Four additional support races are on tap:1-Rolex Sports Car Series(Daytona Prototypes' only), 2-Formula Drift(drifting), 3-SpeedWorld GT Challenge, and 4-the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Challenge, when professional racers and amateur celebrities get into identical vehicles(Toyota Scions' this year) and run a 10-lap race to see who's the best. In other words, there's a lot of action going on here, and it is, to quote KK, "a three-day festival of speed".

Here is the event schedule for the 32nd running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, round 1 of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.........................(all times U.S. EDT)

Practice Session 1}1:00 PM, 7 April 2006
Practice Session 2}5:05 PM, 7 April 2006
Qualifying Session 1/QS-1}5:30 PM, 7 April 2006
Practice Session 3}1:30 PM, 8 April 2006
Practice Session 4}5:00 PM, 8 April 2006
Qualfiying Session 2/QS-2}5:25 PM, 8 April 2006
Final Practice Session}12:00 PM, 9 April 2006
32nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach}4:00 PM, 9 April 2006

TV coverage to be on NBC Sports, with international broadcasts to be on Global TV in Canada, EuroSport over in Europe and Network Ten in Australia.

The current weather predictions for Long Beach this weekend are for sunshine and temperatures in the mid-60 deg.(F) range, with scattered showers possible, according to series officials. Raceday weather is expected to be clear with a 25-30% chance of rain at the start time of 1:00 PM Pacific Savings Time(4 PM U.S. EST).

With the exception of the season's lone oval race at the Milwaukee Mile(single-car, fastest of two laps), the remaining 14 races on the 2006 calendar will see two qualifying sessions(QS-1 and QS-2), which have a few ground-rules.....

1}Teams are allowed to use either the standard, black-walled Bridgestone Potenzas'(the blacks') or a softer-compound, red-walled Potenza(the reds') during qualifying.

2}The driver who sets the fastest time in the QS-1 session, regardless of their QS-2 time, is guaranteed a front-row starting spot for the race and receives 1 championship pt., along with a $5000 USD prize from Bridgestone.

3}Drivers are limited to a maximum of 15 laps in each qual. session, including their out-lap prior to making a qual. run.

4}If, during the course of a session, any driver brings out a red flag, stopping the session at that moment, they will lose their fastest lap in that session.

There are a few more rules, but these are the important ones.......good luck to all the competitors, and may there be a successful 2006 season!!!

Justin time

Remember that Aerosmith song......"Same old story, same old song and dance......?

The first practice concluded a little while ago, and 2-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L) appears to have the early advantage, as he set the fastest lap of the session, a 1:08.948 sec. flyer, just around 1/10th-sec. faster that Team Australia's Alex Tagliani(#15 Aussie Vineyards FC/L). Rounding out the top 5 were the RuSport pair of A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Wilson, w/Forsythe Championship Racing's Paul Tracy placing the fifth fastest time.

For the rookies, it was Tag's teammate, Will Power(#5 Aussie Vineyards FC/L) who was the fastest with a time of 1:10.167 sec. If Power should slip, though, then any of the next three rookies could step up; only 5/100ths' separated the cars of Antonio Pizzonia, Katherine Legge and Dan Clarke, while rookies Jan Heylen and Charles Zwolsman placed times at the back of the grid.

Second practice is set to begin in about 30 minutes, with QS-1 to begin around 5:30 PM......

QS-1(Qual. Session #1) is about to begin for the 32nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach........after two practice sessions, the top-5 on the combined charts are:
1}S. Bourdais...................1:08.367 sec.
2}B. Junquiera..................1:08.406 sec.
3}P. Tracy........................1:08.453 sec.
4}A. Tagliani.....................1:08.928 sec.
5}D. Clarke(R)..................1:09.097 sec.


And qualifying session #1 is about to begin......who will take the provisional pole and the 1 championship point that goes with it?

Temperatures are in the mid-60's, w/scattered clouds in the sky....

2 cars exiting the pit lane.......first out, rookies Katherine Legge and Jan Heylen. More cars to follow....

Reminder.....each driver is alloted 15 laps to set their fastest lap of the session.

And the first markers' been laid down; Legge sets the first time of the session, a 1:11.743 sec. flyer. Heylen follows, with a 1:20.075 sec. lap.


Several more cars out: Zwolsman, Power.

6 minutes into the session.....Legge sets another flyer, a 1:10.924, still fastest at the moment. Heylen improves to second on the timing charts.

Power crosses the stripe, and takes P1 at the moment w/a time of 1:09.881, dropping Legge to second.

Nelson Phillipe slots into P4 now w/a time of 1:11.285; several more cars now join the fray.

Provisional top-5 w/8 minutes gone......Phillipe, Power, Zwolsman, Legge and Clarke.

Former F1 driver Antonio Pizzonia, now driving for Rocketsports, sets P8 w/a time of 1:11.558 sec.

Race control reports Heylen missed turn 1 and continued through the runoff to turn 5; his lap will not be scored.

Provisional top-5 at the moment(11 minutes).....Power, Clarke, Phillipe, Dominguez and Pizzonia.

Several of the big names(Bourdais, Tracy, Junquiera, Servia, Wilson and Allmendinger) have yet to begin qual. after 12 minutes!

And now they're here. Tracy and Bourdais currently P10 and P11 for the moment; Power drops his P1 time another tenth, to 1:08.515 sec.

Race control reports all driver except da Matta have made outlaps and are either on flyers or have returned to the pits. Most drivers will run 7-8 laps, pit for a few minutes and then run their remaining laps to finish a qual. session.

Top-5 at the moment after 15 minutes.....Tracy, Power, Allmendinger, Clarke and Phillipe. Tracy shoots up to P1 at the moment!

P4-P6(Clarke, Phillipe and Dominguez) are separated by less than 1/10th a sec. at the moment.

Junquiera now takes P1 on a hot lap w/a time of 1:07.957; Allmendinger follows w/a 1:08.030, dropping Tracy into P3.

18 minutes into the session, and Junquiera improves his time to a 1:07.741 sec. Tracy moves back into P2, followed by Allemdinger, Wilson and Tagliani. Top rookie at the moment is Will Power, currently 7th.

Bourdais on a flyer now; moves into P2 w/a time of 1:07.809.

Most of the drivers have completed 5-6 laps of qualifying; only Power and Dominguez have completed more(7 and 8 laps respectively).

In case anyone was following the commentary earlier this afternoon and wonders what happened......we had a small line of thunderstorms pass through Western NC and it played some havoc on anyone who was on-line(ex. anyone trying to access the Internet kept getting "Cannot access server....." or "Web page is unavailable...." messages..... )

There were approximately 10 minutes left in the QS-1 when all this happened.....qualifying summary to follow in a few moments.