Having spent 33 year watching the Long Beach Grand Prix from the sidelines as a stakeholder in the event, Steve Pruitt will return to the site in a different role this weekend as team owner of the Corsa Motorsports team for the latest American Le Mans Series event.
Pruitt was one of the original stakeholders of the event and has watched the race develop over the years and admits that it has become one of the leading events on the American racing scene.
“I remember when Chris Pook came up with the idea,” he recalled. “Basically, the question was, ‘Why can't we do what they are doing over in Monaco right here?' And so be it, he did the work, brought the right people together to make it happen, and 34 years later here we are at one of the nation's most famous street races. I'd say this is one of the absolute best settings for a race; southern California is beautiful this time of year.
“The race was brought to the city in a time when Long Beach really needed the economic development. The co-operation of the city has been instrumental in making this event such a success year-in and year-out, and Long Beach has really benefited over the years because now you're talking about one of the A-league event weekends in the United States and one of the crown jewels in American motorsports.”
Pruitt admitted he was excited about returning to Long Beach with his Corsa squad, which will be looking to build on a fourth place finish last time out in St Petersburg.
“It really excites me to bring Corsa Motorsports to Long Beach as a competitor in the ALMS race,” he says. “Coming back as a competitor makes the investment come full circle for me and I hope there is some good karma there for us.
“Obviously we were disadvantaged at St. Pete because we had such limited practice time on the Dunlop tyres and haven't since tested the tyres as we would have preferred considering there is so little time to prepare the car at Long Beach. As time and testing allows, we are hopeful of learning more about the tire Dunlop has provided for the team.
“We've got time scheduled between Long Beach and the event at Miller Motorsports Park next month for testing.”
