{"id":459967,"date":"2003-07-01T03:06:04","date_gmt":"2003-07-01T10:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=106916"},"modified":"2024-02-20T09:47:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T09:47:20","slug":"historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Winner Baker (center), is flanked by 2nd place finisher Charles Nearburg (right) and 3rd place finisher Erich Joiner.
Photo: Cheryl A. Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On April 11-13, the streets of Long Beach, California once again reverberated to the sound of a full field of Formula One cars when the Historic Grand Prix (HGP) group served as the main support race for this year\u2019s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It had been exactly 20 years since Formula One cars had pounded the streets of Long Beach in the last U.S. Grand Prix West, held in 1983. However, when the green flag fell on Sunday morning\u2019s race, nearly 100,000 fans took to their feet to watch what was considered by most to be the most exciting race of the weekend.<\/p>\n

Right from the beginning, the race proved to be a classic \u201cDavid vs. Goliath\u201d battle with the Williams FW07 of Charles Nearburg and the Williams FW08 of Randy Johnson trying to hold off the flat-bottomed McLaren M23 of Danny Baker. By mid-race the lead had changed nearly every lap, but when Johnson made a mistake and spun, it was down to a nail-biting duel between the Williams of Nearburg and the McLaren of Baker. The pair battled for the balance of the race until Nearburg\u2019s tires began to lossen up near the end, giving Baker the opportunity he needed to nip inside Nearburg going into Turn 1, two laps before the finish. Baker went on to take the checkered flag with Nearburg in 2nd, the Williams FW08 of Erich Joiner finishing 3rd and the Lotus 79 of Duncan Dayton coming home 4th.<\/p>\n

Other notable participants in this inaugural event were the matching 1971 Tyrrells of John Delane and John Dimmer, the 1968 Lotus 49 of Pete Lovely, the 1968 Ferrari 312 of Todd Morici and the 1980 Ferrari 312T5 of Bud Moeller. Vintage Racecar Journal was also well represented at the event as VRJ columnist Pete Lyons and Editor Casey Annis served as the announcers for all three days of racing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The 1976 Shadow DN-8 of Phil Gumpert leads the 1975 VPJ of Dave Olson.
Photo: Jim Williams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 11-13, the streets of Long Beach, California once again reverberated to the sound of a full field of Formula One cars when the Historic Grand Prix (HGP) group served as the main support race for this year\u2019s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It had been exactly 20 years since Formula One cars had pounded the streets of Long Beach in the last U.S. Grand Prix West, held in 1983. However, when the green flag fell on Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":817982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,13063],"tags":[432,15234,11658,18236],"class_list":["post-459967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-events","category-vintage-car-racing","tag-events","tag-events-vintage-racing","tag-long-beach","tag-vintage-race-historic-long-beach-grand-prix"],"yoast_head":"\nHistoric Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-07-01T10:06:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-20T09:47:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/07\/n6-200307-p1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"SportsCarDigest Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SportsCarDigest Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"SportsCarDigest Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa\"},\"headline\":\"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-07-01T10:06:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-20T09:47:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":366,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2003\\\/07\\\/n6-200307-p1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Event (Car Events & Shows)\",\"Event (Vintage Races)\",\"Long Beach\",\"Vintage Race (Historic Long Beach Grand Prix)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Car Events & Shows\",\"Vintage Races & Rallies\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/\",\"name\":\"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2003\\\/07\\\/n6-200307-p1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-07-01T10:06:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-20T09:47:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa\"},\"description\":\"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2003\\\/07\\\/n6-200307-p1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2003\\\/07\\\/n6-200307-p1.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"Eventual winner Danny Baker, in his 1976 McLaren M23, holds off a last lap charge by Charles Nearburg in his 1980 Williams FW07B. Photo: Jim Williams\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Supercars.net\",\"description\":\"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa\",\"name\":\"SportsCarDigest Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/g3d2b_0474-4buzzetta-1-293x293.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/g3d2b_0474-4buzzetta-1-293x293.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/g3d2b_0474-4buzzetta-1-293x293.jpg\",\"caption\":\"SportsCarDigest Staff\"},\"description\":\"The SportsCarDigest team helped build one of the coolest automotive websites on the planet. Now part of Supercars.net, we wanted to make sure they got credit for their hard work. This team of bloggers was driven by their relentless passion for automobiles, delving deep into every nuance of the car world. From vintage classics to futuristic prototypes, they left no hood unlifted. Their fingers danced on keyboards as swiftly as tires on tarmac, ensuring every car enthusiast was fueled with the latest insights and stories. Their obsession with anything car-related is nothing short of contagious.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/joon_lim-2\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach","description":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach","og_description":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach","og_url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/","og_site_name":"Supercars.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/","article_published_time":"2003-07-01T10:06:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-20T09:47:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/07\/n6-200307-p1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"SportsCarDigest Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@supercars_net","twitter_site":"@supercars_net","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"SportsCarDigest Staff","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/"},"author":{"name":"SportsCarDigest Staff","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa"},"headline":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach","datePublished":"2003-07-01T10:06:04+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-20T09:47:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/"},"wordCount":366,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/07\/n6-200307-p1.jpg","keywords":["Event (Car Events & Shows)","Event (Vintage Races)","Long Beach","Vintage Race (Historic Long Beach Grand Prix)"],"articleSection":["Car Events & Shows","Vintage Races & Rallies"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/","name":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/07\/n6-200307-p1.jpg","datePublished":"2003-07-01T10:06:04+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-20T09:47:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa"},"description":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/07\/n6-200307-p1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/07\/n6-200307-p1.jpg","width":1080,"height":576,"caption":"Eventual winner Danny Baker, in his 1976 McLaren M23, holds off a last lap charge by Charles Nearburg in his 1980 Williams FW07B. Photo: Jim Williams"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/historic-grand-prix-rocks-long-beach\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Historic Grand Prix Rocks Long Beach"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/","name":"Supercars.net","description":"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa","name":"SportsCarDigest Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/g3d2b_0474-4buzzetta-1-293x293.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/g3d2b_0474-4buzzetta-1-293x293.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/g3d2b_0474-4buzzetta-1-293x293.jpg","caption":"SportsCarDigest Staff"},"description":"The SportsCarDigest team helped build one of the coolest automotive websites on the planet. Now part of Supercars.net, we wanted to make sure they got credit for their hard work. This team of bloggers was driven by their relentless passion for automobiles, delving deep into every nuance of the car world. From vintage classics to futuristic prototypes, they left no hood unlifted. Their fingers danced on keyboards as swiftly as tires on tarmac, ensuring every car enthusiast was fueled with the latest insights and stories. Their obsession with anything car-related is nothing short of contagious.","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/author\/joon_lim-2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}