Autoblog

Click above for huge high-res gallery of Champ Car action from Long Beach

We already told you about the final Champ Car race, how it marks the end of the series while signaling the start of a new era in American open-wheel racing. Although we think that we might have been among only a handful of fans to have noticed the series' demise (with most eyes glued to the Danica Patrick champagne bath over in Japan), we understand that with the reunification about to commence there should be happier times ahead for open top racing aficionados in the States. We didn't want it to pass, however, without a whole bunch of photos to commemorate the occasion. Besides this year's contenders the gallery includes some atmosphere shots of the spectacle surrounding Long Beach: The Queen Mary, C-17 and FA/18 flyovers, historic CART cars and plain old scenery shots. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them.

All photos Copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for high-res gallery from this weekend's LBGP

American open-wheel racing just had a pretty big weekend, in case you missed it. While one era was beginning in Japan, another was ending at America's Monte Carlo. With reunification finally about to commence, the last Champ Car (nee CART) race ever was held at the street course in downtown Long Beach. While we've already told you the outcome, we also wanted to share some more photos. Although the race should be back on the schedule for '09, this weekend's race was truly the end of an era.

After 25 years of Champ Cars and their predecessors, next year's race will bring us a series that has a female driver who is an honest-to-goodness winner. And not only is she a winner (and a part-time swimsuit model), but she is pretty hardy too. After winning the race at Motegi, she and unfortunate runner-up Helio "Dancing with the Stars" Castroneves hopped on a plane and made it back to LAX and the LBGP by the time things wrapped up on Sunday afternoon.

While we didn't get any pics of Danica or Helio, we did manage to capture a few dozen shots of some of the drivers (mostly ALMS and Champ Car), and a few of the models too. Click below to check out some of the people that made this race weekend a memorable one.

All photos Copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for high-res gallery of ALMS action from Long Beach

With Champ Car going the way of the dodo bird after this year's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, it looks like the American Le Mans Series is poised to take over top billing at America's Monte Carlo. The street course around downtown Long Beach, California is quite a track, with a long tradition of motorsport excitement. Everything from Formula 1 to CART to Trans-Am have run here, but very few series can match the thrill of four different classes running into the dusk like the ALMS presents. This year's sophomore running of the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach showed exactly why the series deserves more support and coverage than it gets. Not only was the on-track action enthralling, but the huge crowds that Long Beach always attracts seemed to go ga-ga over the prototypes and GT cars wearing names like Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette and Ferrari. In case you haven't seen the race yet, the results are after the jump. Don't let that stop you from clicking through the massive high-res gallery however.

All photos Copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.