Long Beach GP founder salutes Mario Andretti's historic 1977 win for making the street race iconic

Former F1 and IndyCar driver Mario Andretti won the F1 race at Long Beach in 1977 with Team Lotus. The founder of the Grand Prix of Long Beach recently came out and reflected on the American's race win at the street circuit as he detailed the positive effects of the same for the venue.

Chris Pook, founder of the Long Beach Grand Prix was interviewed by The Sun ahead of the 50th anniversary of the race in California. Pook highlighted the impact of Mario Andretti’s win at Long Beach and how it solidified the street circuit as one of the premier races in North America.

The reporter asked Pook whether the 1977 Mario Andretti win turned a corner for the Long Beach GP. The founder of the race replied:

“Yes. When we got massive media coverage from around the nation and the world after he won that year, we realized that what we had promised the city would happen, actually happened. During the same time frame – 1977-78 – together with Toyota, we developed the Toyota Celebrity Race, which drove our Friday and Saturday audiences up in quantum leaps, which, in turn, allowed us to get financially healthy.”

The Long Beach Grand Prix debuted in 1975 for a Formula 5000 race. The very next year in 1976, a deal was signed with F1 as the pinnacle of motorsports raced at the street circuit. Although Clay Regazzoni won the debut F1 race in 1976, it was Mario Andretti, an American who won in 1977 that brought attention to the venue.

Mario Andretti's win at Long Beach was the first and only time an American driver won a race on US soil in F1. Toyota also came into the picture in the late 70s with the celebrity race during the race weekends, followed by a title sponsorship starting in 1980. Toyota sponsored the race for close to four decades before Acura took over the naming rights in 2019.

---

Mario Andretti and Al Unser Jr. named as Grand Marshals

for 50th Anniversary of Long Beach GP

The Grand Prix of Long Beach will celebrate its 50th anniversary at the upcoming race on April 13, 2025. Mario Andretti and Al Unser Jr were announced as the Grand Marshals for the same. The two drivers have been crucial to the venue with Al Unser Jr having the most wins at the event, and Andretti being the first and only American to win the F1 race.

The former Indycar driver Andretti spoke about the Long Beach Grand Prix as he was announced as the Grand Marshall. He said (via the Los Angeles Daily News):

“Long Beach coming on the scene as an event is something I really loved, something else that I liked to try to conquer for myself. And I derived tremendous satisfaction out of that, as you can imagine.”

“None of the inside experts thought it was going to survive, and it did survive in the best possible way. It blossomed,” he added.

The race weekend begins on Friday (April 11) with the practice session followed by qualifying on Saturday and the main race on Sunday.