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Travel Album - Toyota Grand Prix 2002  

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By the grace of the universe, I was able to be a member of Race Management at this particular event this year!  As a member of Race Management, my assigned area was on pit row. Specifically, directly in front of the Winner's Circle. The general area was restricted to people who had credential badges.  I checked badges to either let people into my area or direct them to where they needed to go. (Such as photographers, press, etc.) To view the weekend itinerary of events click here.

My section was located above the checkered flag exactly where the track splits into the pit lane. From the pit and in the winners circle I got to see the drivers and their cars VERY up close, as well as see the drivers of the Pro/Celebrity race.

I had to be at my assigned section by 6:30 am and worked until 6:00pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here are some pictures from Friday which was the practice day for the drivers. Most of the pictures that I took on Friday were during the Pro/Celebrity practice run.

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In The Pit

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In the pit was the place to be! To my right in the picture is the gate to the winners circle. On my left is the track. In the pit, Mario Andretti came by and I was able to get his signature on my credential badge which is the yellow thing I am wearing around my neck. I was also able to have my picture taken with a couple of other drivers as well as get their signatures on my hat, and get great pictures of the action!

Most of the pit-side pictures I put in other sections since I took most of them during the pre-race, race, and post-race events.

This is a couple of the crew members pulling Jimmy Vasser's car to do media photographs. Jimmy Vasser is a member of Team Rahal.

This is Drew.  (left) He is someone that I know from work that was also involved with Race Management. Behind the fence he is leaning on is the winner's circle. Drew is a Michael Andretti fan. He's wearing a Michael Andretti hat and got it signed by Michael while in the Winner's Circle after the CART event on Sunday. Congratulations!

We ate our lunch in the pit and were not allowed to have our backs turned to the track for safety reasons. We were supplied with water, soda, and plenty of candy. On breaks we were able to go into the car garage to view what the crew was doing to the cars to prepare for the race. We were also able to go into the Expo and do some souvenir shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Andretti won the race that day. I believe it was his first win at Long Beach, unless I'm mistaken. I'm too lazy to look it up. Tony Kanaan's car went out on him and he ended up out of the race.

The weather was perfect for racing that day. The air was chilly and the sun wasn't blazing. The results for that day can be viewed by clicking here.

I don't have any pictures of the Trans-Am race except for what is in the section for the Victory Circle.

Managing the Winner's Circle was quite interesting. There were people of all kinds trying to get in, and from what I understand, the pandemonium involved wasn't quite what it usually was, so either I was nice and intimidating, or the people were mellow. I'd like to think the people were more mellow.

This is me standing in the Winner's Circle on Friday, checking things out. Yep. I felt like a winner! Soon after the races, the drivers, their teammates, trophy presenters and trophy girls, would be standing up there spilling champagne and doing interviews.

For the CART race I was outside of the Circle handling the gate, so I was not able to get pictures.

However, from the Trans-Am race, I was able to get pictures of the winning moments of the drivers.

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Trans-Am Results, Long Beach, 2002

SUNDAY'S RESULTS FROM THE JOHNSON CONTROLS 100 20:34:12 on Apr 14, 2002 LONG BEACH, Calif.— Results of the Johnson Controls 100, Round 1 of the 2002 Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup, with starting position, driver’s name, type of car, laps completed, and reason out, if any: 1. (1) Paul Gentilozzi, Jaguar, 45. 2. (2) Boris Said, Esperante, 45. 3. (8) Johnny Miller, Jaguar, 45. 4. (14) Greg Pickett, Mustang, 45. 5. (9) Bob Ruman, Corvette, 45. 6. (12) Randy Ruhlman, Corvette, 45. 7. (6) Tomy Drissi, Jaguar, 45. 8. (40) Justin Bell, Corvette, 45. 9. (5) Lou Gigliotti, Corvette, 45. 10. (16) Simon Gregg, Corvette, 44. 11. (17) Mike Davis, Mustang, 44. 12. (10) Tony Ave, Esperante, 38. 13. (3) Butch Leitzinger, Corvette, 37, accident. 14. (13) Don Sak, Corvette, 36. 15. (4) Michael Lewis, Jaguar, 31. 16. (18) Bud Thurston, Camaro, 23, mechanical. 17. (19) Claudio Burtin, Esperante, 18, mechanical. 18. (7) Stuart Hayner, Corvette, 9, mechanical. 19. (20) Joey Scarallo, Corvette, 8, brakes. 20. (11) Max Lagod, Camaro, 5, mechanical. Time of Race: 1 hour, 10 minutes, 13 seconds. Average Speed: 75.672 miles per hour Margin of Victory: 2.832 seconds. Caution Flags: 2 for 8 laps. Lap Leaders: Gentilozzi, 1-23; Leitzinger, 24; Gigliotti, 25-26; Said, 27-44; Gentilozzi, 45. BFGoodrich Tires Cup Point Standings: Gentilozzi 34, Said 28, Miller 25, Pickett 23, Ruman 21, Ruhlman 20, Drissi 19, Bell 18, Gigliotti 18, Gregg 16.

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The Car Expo

Here are some highlight pictures of the car expo. Great looking cars and great ideas on how to fix up my own car!!!! Many vendors and sponsors were there, as well as monster trucks. Wahoo!

At the expo some of the vendors were handing out free stuff.  I should be stocked up on Listermint breath mints for a good six months with all the samples I got from them.  Stagg Chili was giving samples, as well as Herdez, the salsa company, Red Baron pizza, a new tortilla chip company who's name escapes me at the moment, and I got some NHRA stickers. We visited the expo all three days that we were there. Shawn felt the need to go back for seconds when we visited the expo again on Sunday.

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