CART review of the 2002 Long Beach Grand Prix. Story and images by Mike Veglia.
Foggy skies and cool temperatures were the order of the day for CART's premier event at Long Beach this year. Over the years the Long Beach Grand Prix has hosted F-5000, F1, and most recently for the past couple of decades, CART events. The track has changed over the years due to development changes in the downtown Long Beach area the circuit is located in. The main straight down Shoreline Drive has always been a prominent feature of the course that offers very high speeds
combined with an exciting passing zone at turn 1. The circuit is 1.968 miles in length and this year's event ran for 90 laps, or 177 miles.
Chistiano da Matta took pole with a time of 1:07.745, or an average speed of 104.58 mph. California favorite Jimmy Vasser just missed pole by 3 hundredths of a second to round out the front row. The series leader in all time wins for active drivers, Michael Andretti, ran into qualifying trouble with a crash in the second session taking the 15th starting spot in the 20 car grid.
That sets the basis for when I arrived at the circuit early Sunday morning to photograph and cover the event. For me this was a special event to cover. It had been 7 years since my list trip to Long Beach. My first time there was my birthday on April 14, 1986. The race winner that year was a young Michael Andretti who took his first CART career win. A very memorable day for me, and one I spent some time reflecting on as I shot with the same camera body I bought new in 1986 right before that race 16 years ago.
Moving into this year's race. As was anticipated, da Matta and Vasser took off to an early duel for the lead setting the pace along the way. As caution periods unfolded and pit stops began, several drivers wound up out of sequence from the rest of the field. Among those were Michael Andretti and Max Papis who found themselves running first and second, but out of sequence from everyone else. At lap 63 Mario Dominguez' Herdez #16 car went into the turn one tire barriers bringing out the race's 5th full course caution period.
During this time Michael and Max took their opportunity to duck into the pits for their final fuel stops. With the field slowed behind the pace car Michael and Max were able to return to the course ahead of the field in time for the restart.
For the next 15-20 laps Andretti stretched his lead with Max Papis falling slightly back in second. Jimmy Vasser, and the rest of the field, were all over the back of Papis until Jimmy finally got around Max to take the second spot. A brief caution period of two laps to clear Oriol Servia's car from the course (mechanical breakdown) at lap 81 set up the final shoot-out between CART veteran US drivers, and past series champions, Andretti and Vasser.
Each seemed to have advantages in different parts of the course. Michael appeared to be very strong down Shoreline Drive and into the turn 1 braking zone, leaving Vasser with little opportunity to close and attempt a pass. On the final lap Vasser was closest, but still not close enough to make a pass stick. A very exciting finish with Andretti taking his 42nd win, 16 years after taking his career first win, with excellent pit work, strategy, and very solid driving by CART's winningest driver.
The time to complete the 177.120-mile race distance was 2 hours, 2 minutes, and 14.542 seconds with a margin of victory for Andretti over Vasser of only 0.466 seconds. Ten cars from the 20-car field remained running at the end of the day. Finishing order for cars running were:
1. Michael Andretti, Motorola Honda-Reynard # 39
2. Jimmy Vasser, Shell Ford-Lola #8
3. Max Papis, Rockwell First Point Ford-Lola # 22
4. Kenny Brack, Target Toyota-Lola #12
5. Michel Jourdain, Gigante Ford-Lola #9
6. Tora Takagi, Pioneer/Denso Special Toyota-Reynard #5
7. Paul Tracy, Kool Honda-Reynard #26
8. Christiano da Matta, Chevron Toyota-Lola #6
9. Dario Franchitti, Kool Honda-Reynard #27
10. Adrian Fernandez, Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex #51
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