Champ Car World Series Tickets

Champ Car World Series
Te 34th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is one of the major events in the series of Formula One Racing and winning this grand event means many valuable points beside being at a special place in auto racing.

The race through the Long Beach downtown streets will be the last hurrah of the Champ Car World Series, which was absorbed into the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series this year.

Several Champ Car drivers and teams migrated to the IndyCar Series, and the newly merged circuit already has held the first two races of its season. But because of a scheduling conflict, Champ Car will again race by itself one last time in Long Beach while the IndyCar Series competes Sunday in Motegi, Japan.

For those drivers who have joined the IndyCar Series, such as last week's winner Graham Rahal, their Long Beach results will count toward their IndyCar Series championship points.But for those drivers who did not join the combined series, Long Beach could be their last taste of big league open-wheel racing, at least for now.

Construction of venue
The construction work for the 34th Annual Toyota Grand Prix began in February 2008 at Long Beach by turning Shoreline Drive in downtown Long Beach into a 200-mph front straightaway.

Details of work
The first of more than 14 million pounds of concrete blocks that line the 1.97-mile circuit in downtown Long Beach was set in place, with the help of Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster. It marks the beginning of two months of work preparing the 11-turn racing circuit for race weekend.

Grand Prix Association of Long Beach director of operations Dwight Tanaka and his staff of 40 put in more than 30,000 working hours installing concrete blocks, three miles of fencing and 16,000 bolted-together tires, along with 15 huge spectator grandstands, seven pedestrian bridges and eight giant-vision boards for full-circuit TV coverage.

It's similar to setting up a small town for a weekend, with more than 175,000 people expected to attend, they'll need everything from hospitality suites to rest rooms to trash containers to a hundred other little things.

Year in and year out, Dwight and his staff, in conjunction with suppliers and the City of Long Beach, does a tremendous job constructing a circuit which is challenging for the drivers as well as providing a variety of spectacular viewing areas for fans. They accomplish this while making a strong effort to minimize the impact on downtown businesses.

Tickets for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Ticket prices range from $25 for Friday general admission up to $125 for a three-day ticket that includes Saturday and Sunday reserved seats in upper levels of the grandstands.

Pre-paid parking packages are also available when ordering through the Grand Prix Ticket Office. Handicapped seating, Champ Car Paddock passes, super photo tickets and a variety of hospitality club packages are also available.

Various competitors
Rahal, his teammate Justin Wilson and Australian Will Power are among the Champ Car drivers who moved to the IndyCar Series and are hungry for more IndyCar points. Power, who started on the front row in Long Beach last year and finished third, said, I'd love to win this weekend not only because it's the last Champ Car race but also for the points.

The grand prix culminates a weekend of racing on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn Long Beach layout that includes a long stretch of Shoreline Drive. Saturday's schedule includes a celebrity race, a drifting challenge and an American Le Mans Series race.

Te main grand prix will be followed by another drifting event and an SCCA Speed GT race.