‘I think what (Jimmie Johnson) is doing now is extraordinary’
Fresh off a sixth-place finish in the March 20 XPEL 375 on the Texas Motor Speedway oval, American Legion driver Jimmie Johnson heads to the event that got him interested in big-time auto racing as a kid.
That’s the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the famed street race that will be held for the 47th time on the streets of Long Beach on April 10.
By now, the anecdotes are well known – as a teenager from El Cajon, Calif., Johnson would attend the Long Beach Grand Prix and dream of racing an Indy car.
In-between that and his first Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sept. 26, 2021, Johnson became one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history with seven wins and a record-tying seven championships.
He made his Long Beach debut as a driver last year and closed the 2021 season with one of his best races in INDYCAR up to that point. Johnson started 28th and raced his way to 17th position, passing such drivers as four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and former Formula One driver Romain Grosjean.
It was a great way to finish off a season that had Johnson competed in all 12 street and road course races while sharing the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda with 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan on the ovals.
This year, however, Johnson is a full-season competitor and will compete in the 106th Indianapolis 500 on May 29.
That is the biggest race on the schedule. The second-biggest race in terms of history, crowd, prestige and location is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Jim Michaelian is the president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. He has been with this event since the very beginning, when it was a Formula 5000 race in 1975 and became part of the Formula One World Championship from 1976-1983. It joined CART/IndyCar in 1984 and joined the combined INDYCAR Series in 2009.
Some of the greatest drivers in the world have competed on the streets of Long Beach, and now, Johnson is one of them.
“Congratulations to him,” Michaelian said. “I think what he is doing now is extraordinary. At his age and adopting to a whole new way of competing on a race track, I thought the success he had at Texas was exhilarating.
“I would very much enjoy seeing him replicate that here and going on to the Indy 500. That’s going to be a very big story, first time on that oval. If he shows that kind of potential again, it’s going to be a huge storyline the media will pick up on.
“That’s good for the sport. That’s good for him, too. He has endured learning a new aspect of the sport. Now, he is starting to reap the benefits of that. Congratulations to him and what he has undergone the last year and a half.”
Michaelian said Johnson’s presence in the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach became another popular element to the large crowd that annually attends North America’s biggest street race.
“There was a subset there that was attracted to a star like that,” Michaelian said. “His affiliation and relationship with the Long Beach Grand Prix as a fan goes back many years, and that was beneficial to us and hopefully to him, too.
“Fans were familiar with him racing at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana for many years. Seeing him here in person, he had a substantial following here this year. After what happened at Texas, I think his following here will be even bigger this time around.”
Sunday’s 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach can be seen on NBC beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
INDYCAR races are a great time to participate in The American Legion’s “Check in on a Buddy” program. Call a fellow Legion member and head to the local American Legion Post to watch the race on TV.