Autoblog

Click above for more photos of classic cars and dogs

City of Long Beach police cruisers were movie stars in the original Gone in 60 Seconds film. The 1970's cult classic featured the black and white playing chase with a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1. These days, though, the officers use more efficient methods to capture muscle cars; they invite them over for a fundraising car show. Over the weekend, the Long Beach Police Academy held a classic car show to benefit the department's K9 Officers Association. A few dozen impeccable examples of automobile preservation took over the grounds of the Long Beach Police Officers Association Park. Not to be rude hosts, the organization even showed off an old Dodge Cornet and Model T police cruiser amongst the numerous Bel Airs, Mustangs and Vegas.

Browsing through the rows of vintage automobiles wasn't the only event incentive for us to attend. The Orange County German Shepherd rescue showed off dogs available for adoption and the K9 officers put on a training demonstration. As a new GSD owner, I could not resist the combination of sleek cars and furry wet noses. The dual purpose car show/charity event is always a relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Be sure and check out the event gallery in the link below.

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.

This weekend the American LeMans Series is making it's first visit to the Monaco of America, more commonly known as Long Beach, California. Since the Formula One cars stopped running at Long Beach in the early 1980s, Champ Cars have always been the headliners on Shoreline Drive. This year they will be joined by the ALMS gang led by the storming Audi R10 diesels. The Audi's will be trying to repeat their one-two finish from the St. Petersburg street race two weeks ago and continue their undefeated streak. The Audi press release is after the jump.

[Source: Audi]

We imagine those brave souls who first turned oversteer into an art form on the dangerous twisties of Japan's mountain passes never imagined what would become of their beloved motorsport on American soil. Samuel Hubinette now drives a four-door Dodge Charger, Rhys Millen will pilot a Solstice GXP this season and Ken Gushi pilots a Ford Mustang GT. All do so with a great degree of success, as well. Now word comes that Hankook Tires will debut a drifting Porsche 993 car at the Formula D season opener in Long Beach on April 7th. The car features a 600-hp motor to help peel away its Hankook Ventus R-S2 rubber in a controlled manner. Unlike other drift cars, since the Porsche carries so much weight over its rear axle, the rear suspension had to be softened so the car could "squat" to get better traction. It will be driven by Tyler McQuarrie in the upcoming 2007 Formula D season, and for the purists out there will be accompanied by an S15 Sylvia Silvia driven by Kenji Yamanaka. We wonder what the official folks in Stuttgart think about all this.

Official press release from Hankook Tires can be found after the jump.

[Source: Hankook Tire]

Easter weekend is traditionally an off-weekend for most racing series, providing TV-watchers a chance to catch up on some taped broadcasts from the supporting series that we often miss in the busier weekends.

NASCAR:
No Nextel Cup action this Sunday, but Saturday features a live broadcast of this week's Busch Series race from Nashville, Tennessee. Matt Kenseth will be without crew chief Chad Norris, who received a 3-race suspension for rules violations in the Texas race. Craftsman Truck rookie Erin Crocker will make a Busch Series start, driving a Dodge for Evernham Motorsports. Full info here.

FX, Saturday 3:30pm ET.

SPEED World Challenge GT Series (pictured)
Last week's SPEED World Challenge race in support of the Long Beach Grand Prix was a barn-burner! Here's your chance to watch the Caddys, Vipers, 'Vettes and Porsches take it to the streets. Guaranteed great racing! The series website has plenty of info, but watch for spoilers if you haven't heard the results yet!

SPEED, Sunday 2pm ET

Champ Car Atlantic
Another terrific support race for the LBGP, this time from the resurgent Formula Atlantic open wheel series. With a new chassis, new engines and a huge field of young drivers looking to prove themselves, this series will be one to watch all year. Here's the series website - wait until after the broadcast though!

SPEED, Sunday 1pm ET