NASCAR pursuing stake in Long Beach race, facing opposition from IndyCar Series ownership

NASCAR has its eyes on a popular IndyCar series located in Southern California. According to Racer, NASCAR has been actively pursuing a 50 percent stake in the Long Beach Grand Prix. The race became available last year by the estate of late businessman Kevin Kalkhoven.

Racer asked a NASCAR representative about the reported acquisition. “The Southern California market is extremely important to NASCAR,” Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s SVP of racing development and strategy, told RACER. “We have explored several different options in the area and will continue to do so. I won’t speak specifically to any particular racetrack in Southern California, but will say that if we had our druthers, we would have a race in Southern California every year.”

There is one issue that could prevent NASCAR from the purchase. Penske Entertainment, owners of the NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is attempting to stop NASCAR from the acquisition by making a bid of its own, according to Racer.

Jim Michaelian the president of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach was asked by Racer about the race being possibly sold to NASCAR. “I’m not in a position to comment on anything regarding a sale,” he said. “I’ve not been notified that that portion of ownership has been taken by anything. It’s between Kevin Kalkhoven’s estate and any potential buyer.”

History of the Long Beach Grand Prix

The Long Beach Grand Prix was founded in 1975 by Chris Pook and the late racing legend Dan Gurney. It began as a Formula 5000 event before changing over to IndyCar event in 1984.

Kalkhoven and former Champ Car series owner Gerald Forsythe purchased the event in 2000. In 2022, Kalkhoven died and his stake went to market.

NASCAR is looking to stay in the Los Angeles market as the future of The Clash race being cloudy. The Clash has taken place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseium the last three years.

“The interest is still strong. The first year, it was new and novel and we’d never done anything like that before, and frankly I don’t think anyone has ever built a temporary racetrack inside a stadium that is a century old,” NASCAR executive Ben Kennedy told the Associated Press. “The second year, obviously a lot of return customers and some new customers as well. In this third year, we are seeing similar trends to what we saw last year.”