{"id":12290,"date":"2014-04-01T00:15:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T00:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=12290"},"modified":"2024-01-04T22:32:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T22:32:50","slug":"building-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/building-long-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Nate<\/a>
Nate Jones
Photo: John Zimmermann<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I first got involved with the Long Beach Grand Prix after a phone call from my friend John Queen, who said, \u201cHey Nate, my son Jack has met this Englishman here in Long Beach who thinks we ought to have a Grand Prix like Monaco going in the streets. You\u2019re a racer, you\u2019re a car guy, bring your checkbook and come down here and listen to this guy\u2019s pitch, because it\u2019s pretty good.\u201d So, I showed up with my checkbook and, long story short, here we are 40 years later, my little founder\u2019s check turned me into the youngest founder in the whole bunch.<\/p>\n

The obstacles we faced were huge. Who knew about building a modern racecourse? We had racers like Dan Gurney and Phil Hill who were instrumental to the credibility we were building, but then when you got down to who really knew how to build a temporary racetrack, it was really nobody. So, we started inventing. Gurney laid out the basic circuit, and the next thing you know we\u2019re delegating out responsibilities. Who\u2019s gonna do this, and who\u2019s gonna do that? And someone said, \u201cHey Nate, you\u2019re a car guy, why don\u2019t you handle the paddocks and all that?\u201d So I got that assignment and I\u2019m still doing it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n