IndyCar champ Paul Tracy to be honored at 50th Long Beach GP

The 2003 IndyCar champion Paul Tracy will be honored at the Grand Prix of Long Beach on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the race. The Canadian driver is a four-time winner of the fabled race and has a successful history at the sub-two-mile track.

Tracy made his debut in 1991 and was quickly elevated to full-time racing status in the subsequent year with Penske Racing. He amassed 31 race victories In his two-decade long career, but one track proved to be his hunting ground, the Long Beach street circuit.

The 56-year-old won four races around the track and was the venue for his maiden race victory, too. With the circuit soon hosting its 50th-anniversary Grand Prix, the organizers decided to honor previous race winners, and Paul Tracy will be one of the recipients of the honor.

Sharing his excitement ahead of the Long Beach Grand Prix, Paul Tracy captioned a post on his Instagram:

"Excited to be attending the @gplongbeach next week for the 50th anniversary and celebration of past winners."

Tracy won the 2003 IndyCar championship but had a rollercoaster of a career in his early days.

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Paul Tracy has had an up-and-down IndyCar career

Paul Tracy at the 93rd Indianapolis 500 Parade - Source: Getty

The Canadian driver left a mark on the IndyCar grid when he made his debut in 1991. With Nigel Mansell joining the American open-wheel racing scene in 1993 and winning the title in his first go, his effect may have dulled a bit, but he stayed focused on winning the championship and the Indy 500.

However, before his maiden championship victory came in 2003, he had a big tussle for his first Indy 500 victory. At the 2002 Indianapolis 500, he had overtaken Helio Castroneves, but a yellow flag rendered the racing action to be stopped.

Stewards invested hours in finding out the race winner between Castroneves and Tracy, but the eventual decision fell in favor of the Brazilian driver. On the contrary, this snubbed away Paul Tracy's solitary chance of victory at the elusive Indy 500, and he deemed that he was robbed of the race win by the race officials, as he said (via IndyStar):

"We got robbed."

Moreover, this incident further developed a rift between him and Helio Castroneves, which led him to condemn the racing conduct between the two, as Tracy said:

"At that point in our careers together we had had a couple of run-ins with each other in 2000 and 2001. We had some wheel banging deals. We didn't really like each other."

On the other hand, Tracy's inability to win the Indy 500 did not transpose into his championship efforts. In 2003, he won his solitary title after claiming seven victories in a season.