Jim Michaelian, Long Beach Grand Prix founder and president, dies at 83

Jim Michaelian, the race automotive driver who helped launch the annual Acura Grand Prix of Lengthy Seashore, has died. He was 83.

The Grand Prix Asson. of Lengthy Seashore confirmed his dying on Saturday, simply weeks earlier than this 12 months’s race, which is scheduled for April 17-19.

Michaelian joined the Grand Prix Assn. of Lengthy Seashore in 1975, a then-fledgling aggressive race, and grew it into one of the vital fashionable road racing occasions on the planet. The annual three-day occasion attracts 1000’s of race automotive fans and brings tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} into the town of Lengthy Seashore.

“Jim was a pacesetter of a small, passionate group who believed within the idea of bringing elite open-wheel competitors to Lengthy Seashore within the Nineteen Seventies,” mentioned Roger Penske, Penske Company chairman, in an announcement. “His imaginative and prescient and power surrounding this nice occasion remained boundless for 50 years.”

Penske Leisure acquired the Grand Prix Assn. of Lengthy Seashore in 2024.

Michaelian was a aggressive sports activities automotive racer for greater than 25 years, competing in endurance occasions at tracks together with Le Mans, Daytona Seashore, Nürburgring, Dubai and Sebring in Florida. He instructed The Instances in 2019 that he was nonetheless racing sports activities vehicles at 76.

“So long as I can obtain some degree of success, I’m going to proceed doing it till they inform me I can’t anymore,” he mentioned then.

A local of Monterey Park, Michaelian (pronounced meh-KAY-lee-un) graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s diploma in physics. However he turned his consideration to enterprise and went on to earn an MBA there. Pushed by a love of motor racing, Michaelian ultimately talked his means onto the employees of the Lengthy Seashore Grand Prix.

He served because the affiliation’s controller and chief working officer earlier than being appointed president and chief govt in 2001. Throughout his 51-year tenure, Michaelian reworked Lengthy Seashore into an iconic cease on the planet of motor racing.

Quite a lot of races are run in the course of the three days on the town’s seaside streets, culminating with a big-league IndyCar Sequence race Sunday. The races characteristic several types of vehicles, and one is for vehicles, to attraction to a broad viewers.

However the Lengthy Seashore Grand Prix is extra of a pageant that’s been constructed up across the racing. There are concert events, a life-style expo, a children’ zone with go-karts and different actions, together with an array of foods and drinks spots, all centered on the Lengthy Seashore Conference Heart and Shoreline Drive.

Michaelian mentioned he saved the pulse of the group by consistently strolling the observe to observe how the grand prix’s followers have been having fun with the actions. He would survey for issues which may want fixing or whether or not adjustments wanted to be made for the next 12 months.

“Many younger individuals don’t wish to sit within the seats now,” he instructed The Instances in 2019. “They’re out taking selfies, they’re chronicling their expertise at Lengthy Seashore, and the one means to try this is for them to get round.

“So, in the event that they’re shifting round, I’m shifting round” by creating extra locations the place they’ll collect, take heed to music and having meals choices close by, he mentioned then.

Final 12 months, Michaelian was inducted into the Lengthy Seashore Motorsports Stroll of Fame.

“Jim was a racer’s racer and an expensive good friend to IMSA and the motorsports group at massive,” John Doonan, president of Worldwide Motor Sports activities Assn., mentioned in an announcement. “We are going to sorely miss his presence at Lengthy Seashore and racetracks all over the place.”

The Grand Prix Assn. of Lengthy Seashore didn’t launch his reason behind dying.

Michaelian is survived by his spouse, Mary, and his sons, Bob and Mike.

Former Instances employees author James F. Peltz contributed to this report.