Long Beach Grand Prix Automobile Race

His main sponsor is his father's airline, so Mark Smith, a 21-year-old newcomer on the American Racing Series circuit, does not have the money problems most other young drivers have. He even gives half his earnings to charity. Smith was the third-fastest qualifier, at 83.48 m.p.h., in an ARS field of 24 at the Long Beach Grand Prix Friday. His competitors, though envious of Smith's finances, praise his ability.

Ryan Hunter-Reay is known as a pretty face of IndyCar racing — in addition to Danica Patrick, of course — in good part because he's an advertising centerpiece of the sport's series sponsor, Izod clothing. On the racetrack, though, the 29-year-old Hunter-Reay has endured a career that hasn't always been so attractive. He has bounced between different teams and, before Sunday, had won only one race in the last four years. But Hunter-Reay hasn't forgotten how to race and, now at the helm of a capable car from the Andretti Autosport team on a part-time basis, the Floridian drove a dominant and emotional race to win the 36th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Two dozen racing machines zoomed past the grandstands along Long Beach's Shoreline Drive on Sunday, showcasing more than enough horsepower to tow the nearby 91,000-ton Queen Mary out of its mooring. And in drawing about 170,000 fans to see star race car drivers such as Ryan Hunter-Reay and Danica Patrick, city officials are hoping the 36th annual Long Beach Grand Prix will inject some fuel into the sputtering local economy too. With a 13.5% unemployment rate in March, Long Beach is lagging behind most of Southern California in the race to economic recovery.

Two dozen racing machines zoomed past the grandstands along Long Beach's Shoreline Drive on Sunday, showcasing more than enough horsepower to tow the nearby 91,000-ton Queen Mary out of its mooring. And in drawing about 170,000 fans to see star race car drivers such as Ryan Hunter-Reay and Danica Patrick, city officials are hoping the 36th annual Long Beach Grand Prix will inject some fuel into the sputtering local economy too. With a 13.5% unemployment rate in March, Long Beach is lagging behind most of Southern California in the race to economic recovery.

The first--and only--American to win a Formula One world championship race in the United States was Mario Andretti. He did it at Long Beach in 1977. The first driver to win an Indy car race on the streets of Long Beach was Mario Andretti. In 1984. And the person most responsible for the establishment and future success of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was--Mario Andretti.

The smile is back on the face of Al Unser Jr. Surprising, perhaps, when one considers that he hasn't won a race in 35 starts--more than two full seasons. There are two reasons for the smile: * Last Sunday, in Japan, Unser drove his new Mercedes-powered Penske PC27 to second place in the Budweiser 500. It was almost as good as winning. In 17 PPG Cup starts last season, he never finished better than third.

Mario Andretti's daring late-race pass of Jody Scheckter for victory in the 1977 Long Beach Grand Prix, then a race for Formula One cars and drivers, has long been considered the most exciting moment in the 31 years of racing on the seaside streets. Andretti's win remains the only one in F1 by an American citizen on American soil. More remarkable, though, was that the race actually was run. When Bernie Ecclestone, head of the Formula One Constructors Assn.

If one of his stated reasons for founding the Indy Racing League was to develop young American drivers, Tony George need have looked no further than Jimmy Vasser. Vasser, 30, is the quintessential Californian who worked his way to the top of the PPG Indy Car World Series standings by racing in purely American series.

Race driver Dan Croft, who crashed in the Trans-Am sedan race April 16, the day before the Toyota Grand of Long Beach, died early Tuesday. He had been in critical condition and unconscious with a severe head injury at St. Mary's Hospital since the accident. Croft, 47, of Seal Beach was driving the Long Beach course for the first time. His death is the first fatality in 14 years of professional racing at the downtown circuit. "We're very sad," promoter Chris Pook said.

The festivities at this week's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach include a 10-lap pro/celebrity race to raise money for children's hospitals. It's a wonderful idea, tinged by one stark truth: Celebrity race drivers are celebrities, not race drivers. Acting skills and beauty are about as helpful on the racetrack as a dead agent.

The team of Andretti Green Racing enjoyed a strong run in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach after appearing poised for a disappointing day. AGR's Tony Kanaan finished third Sunday, Danica Patrick was fourth and Marco Andretti sixth. The fourth driver on the team, Hideki Mutoh, finished 20th after being involved in a crash. The results were a sharp reversal from how the drivers started the race.

After an ill-fated attempt at NASCAR stock-car racing last year, Dario Franchitti returned to driving Indy cars this season with a bit of trepidation about whether his open-wheel racing skills had faded. "I was worried that it wasn't going to come back," Franchitti recalled thinking before the season started, even though he had won the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series championship in 2007. But come back it did, and in a hurry.

In between well-wishers' hugs and handshakes on pit road, Helio Castroneves once again strapped himself into his No. 3 red-and-white Team Penske race car Saturday. Castroneves' ready grin also was back, but knowing his driver was feeling butterflies ahead of practicing for today's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Team Penske President Tim Cindric figured a touch of humor couldn't hurt."There's a lot of people watching," Cindric told his Brazilian driver, "so don't stall it."

Fresh off making history in his first IndyCar Series race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., Graham Rahal, 19, looked like a contender to make it two in a row Sunday. The youngest winner of a major North American open-wheel race had a chance to score major points in the unified open-wheel series while racing in the finale of the Champ Car World Series. Instead, prosperity became poverty in the 34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

As Will Power was decisively winning the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Danica Patrick -- who made history hours earlier with her own victory in Japan -- arrived in Long Beach to see the closing laps Sunday. And when the race ended, the two drivers embodied how the long-sought reunification of U.S. open-wheel auto racing had finally taken full effect.

Veteran driver Paul Tracy quickly went from being a possible no-show at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach to, yet again, being a threat to win. But the four-time winner of the race said the 34th running of the Grand Prix on Sunday might be the last time he competes in a major open-wheel race, because he doesn't have a ride after Sunday. Tracy has been in a contract dispute with team owner Gerald Forsythe that threatened to leave the 39-year-old Canadian driver on the sidelines this weekend.

Only one champ car team is based in California, but there's a team in Hilliard, Ohio, that generates more than a passing interest among local fans. Max Papis, driver for Bobby Rahal, goes into today's Grand Prix of Long Beach powered by a Ford engine and plenty of Orange County elbow grease.

Jonny Kane was motoring to an easy victory Sunday in the Dayton Indy Lights race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Kane, an Irishman driving for Barry Green, had led all the way and was three seconds ahead of Pac West driver Scott Dixon of New Zealand with only six laps of the 38-lap, 75-mile race left. Then, back in the pack, rookie Todd Snyder drove into a tire barrier and brought out the yellow caution flag, racing's great equalizer.

Both by design and happenstance, the 34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday will symbolize the past, present and future of American open-wheel auto racing. The race through the city's downtown streets will be the last sanctioned by the Champ Car World Series, which made the dramatic decision this year to reunite with the Indy Racing League after a 12-year split. The newly merged series will continue under the IRL's IndyCar Series banner and already has held two races.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will run as scheduled on April 20 as part of a merger outlined Wednesday between the two major U.S. open-wheel motor racing series. The Long Beach event has been part of the Champ Car World Series, which is being absorbed into the Indy Racing League under an agreement reached last week. The two rival racing series are reuniting after a 12-year split that left both with flagging attendance and sponsorship as NASCAR stock-car racing soared in popularity.