"gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire!" This is my fifth year going to the Long Beach INDYCAR Grand Prix and I absolutely love this race weekend. It's one I look forward to all year long and I'm always so excited when it's coming up! I've gone one day and I've gone all three days but this year I just went on Friday. Before the sunrise I woke up and started to get ready for my loongg day at Long Beach. I ended up getting to the track at around 8 AM, beating a lot of the traffic, however sadly I missed the first round of Historics out on track. They were finishing their last two laps as I was walking in, and I typically love starting my day off watching them in between turns 7& 8. One of the first things I do whenever I get to the Grand Prix is go to the INDYCAR paddock. I love the INDYCAR paddock in the morning, there's not a lot of people around it's just the teams and crews for the most part and so low key before the big crowds get there. It is my favorite spot to hang out during the day. There are production crews walking around and it's a great place to people watch as it gets busier and busier throughout the rest of the day. This year though, I got to INDY paddock a little toooo early as all the team garages were still closed and it felt almost like a ghost town. I still loved how intimate it all feels that early in the day. I got a feel of where all the different teams were set up and then made my way to the track to see some of the Porsche Cup Practice before coming back to the paddock as I saw a lot of the teams starting their day and opening up their garages. That's when I saw him, Will Buxton, standing in the middle of the area taking a picture with a fan. I typically hate asking for pictures with people, I don't like interrupting their day or whatever they are doing, and I will usually just take pictures of them from afar, but with Will I will ask lol. I asked the man standing next to Will if he could take our picture but I didn't realize it was Will's security. He was so nice and said he could, I felt bad taking his hands away from him though. The best part about running into Will was that he completely remembered that we had met last year and struck up a full conversation with me! Will absolutely made my day, he said he loved my sim racing gloves and asked about how my races have been going. I gave him a quick update as I was in shock that he was talking with me for such a long time, let alone he was talking to me about my content and sim racing. It was just an absolute honor to have Will Buxton compliment me and give me words of encouragement. Throughout the rest of the day anytime I saw Will he’d always give me a smile or pose for a picture. He is so friendly and is an amazing person within the world of motorsports! After talking with Will I went back to track to see some of the action during IMSA practice. I absolutely love watching IMSA during the weekend and seeing all the various cars. I enjoy watching the difference in speeds, car manufacturers and it is also a lot of fun on iRacing! When I’m at the actual track I tend to hang out around corners 10 & 11. Those are my favorite spots to be able to get pictures because it’s really easy to access the racetrack from the various paddocks, the food & the convention center. So that's generally where I am the majority of the day taking pictures and watching cars on track. In years past I have had seats along the straight before the finish line as well as seats by turn 6. The whole track has its own special feel all over it so I do recommend exploring everywhere as much as you can. Since I was there just for one day I did stay in a smaller area of the track this year so I could get around easier and faster and not get as tired. I went back to corner 10 to see the first round of IMSA practice. After I got some cool pictures of the IMSA practice I headed over to the Stadium Super Truck paddock before their practice rounds began. I wanted to say hi to Zoey and it was also super important for me to talk to Robby Gordon. I’ve seen Zoey now for the past three years and she is so sweet and it is so awesome to see her race in this series! She is actually the reason why I’ve gotten into Stadium Super Trucks. I have loved racing the Pro 4 Trucks at various tracks like Crandon in iRacing and it's so cool getting to see the SST race at Long Beach every year. I took a picture with Zoey but sadly she didn't have any hero cards with her yet, so I wasn't able to get one to add to the previous years cards I have at home. I then waited around the truck paddock to see if Robby Gordon was there because I’ve been waiting to ask him a very important question. I absolutely love iRacing and everything it has to offer, but it doesn’t have the SST layout within the Long Beach scan. I’ve been talking about wanting it to get added to iRacing for a little over a year now. This year one of my friends gave me the inside scoop on what to say and who to say it too for the best chance to make that happen, so that’s what I did. I waited for Robby Gordon, went up to him and asked for a picture, wished him good luck over the weekend and then the key information, I asked if he could reach out to Jim Beaver to talk about adding this layout as a new configuration to Long Beach. To be fair I could see that question kind of caught him off guard. It was probably about 10 minutes before they had to go out for practice so not the best timing to ask, but that was the only time I knew I was going to see him. He was already taking a step away when I asked the question but he stepped back to me and said he would love for that to happen and to have the team related to it to reach out to him. I definitely think I have the ball rolling on that now, at least more so than ever before! I would absolutely love to have a version of the Stadium Super Truck layout at Long Beach in iRacing. I would have so much fun racing it in Officials as well as I’d have a lot of fun with the skrr squad making up random hosted combinations there. After that successful endeavor I went back outside to the track to see the trucks soaring through the air for their first round of practice. I went back to my normal corner and got some dope pictures of them! I have learned over the years attending the GP or really any all-day event in the sun, that you should listen to your body's needs and listen to them early to keep from fading away. So, by this time I was getting pretty hungry, my back was starting to hurt, and I wanted to sit down for a bit, it was time for lunch. I always get the same thing every year when I go to Long Beach, it is the absolute best food there for the price. There is a decent variety of options to eat but I always go to King Taco. You can get tacos, a quesadilla or even a burrito for a normal price, everywhere else is going to be at least two times more expensive. The line might be long but it’s worth it. I got a quesadilla this year and that was a mistake. I usually get the tacos, but I wasn’t sure where I was going to sit so I thought the quesadilla would be a little easier to walk around with. I did wish I got the tacos though it's a better ratio of meat and tastes better in my opinion. Last year I ate near the start/finish line and found a lovely spot under the bleachers in the grass and shade to relax for a bit. What's nice about eating under those bleachers is you are right next to the track and are still able to kind of see the cars out for practice. However, this year I ate from the King Taco stand by the INDY paddock, so I got my food and headed to the aquarium wall and sat down in the shade there. It is definitely not as nice as eating on the other side of the track in the grass, but I just wanted to get food asap before the lines got any longer. The nice thing about this race is the free NOS energy drinks. There are a few NOS stands around the track giving away energy drinks all day, so I grabbed one of those before getting my food so I didn't need to buy any other beverage for lunch. The drinks at the Long Beach GP are expensive and I like to save where I can because I'd rather have money for merch than a soda. I sat against the aquarium and had a nice little lunch but realized that Historics were out on track again and I missed them. To be fair I didn't really look at the schedule that well before I got there. I didn’t realize that they had adjusted the schedule a good bit from the schedules in the previous years, so I was a little thrown off by the timing of everything and I was a little sad I didn’t get to see any of the Historics out on track. I love watching them race, they are usually so loud and this was the first year it was Historic Sports cars instead of Historic Indy, which would’ve been really cool to see. So, if they are back next year that is a must for me. I then went inside and walked around the convention center for a bit. It’s not really my favorite place to be. I like to be outside by the track. I like to hear the cars, smell the rubber and just be outside with it all. The convention center just feels like the fair on a Motorsport level, which is cool, but I’m not there for all the booths and the games and sim racing, since I do that all the time at work and I have my own sim rig at home. The years previous SRO would race during this weekend and I got to meet some amazing people like the team at ACI Motorsports. This year it was not SRO in attendance, but it was the Porsche Carrera Cup race. So, the ACI team was there, but none of my friends that I had made under the SRO banner in previous years were. One of my friends from the skrr squad was working there with Topp Racing so I went and tried to say hi to him, however they had just gotten back from being out on track and the paddock was busy so I left to come back later when things calmed down a bit more. Back to the INDYCAR paddock I went! By this time it was getting a bit busier. I walked around and checked out all of the teams. I love watching the crews work on the cars, it is my absolute favorite! It’s cool to see the drivers here and there, but I just love to see all the prep work, the fine-tuning, and even decals getting added to the cars is so fun to watch. It's cool to see how many people it takes on race day to make it all happen, and to see everyone focused on their jobs and working together to get the best results on track. If you know me, you also know that I love tires. I love looking at tire wear after being out on track, so anytime I see a big stack of Firestone or Pirelli tires around I am definitely taking a picture of them. It is really easy to spot the drivers walking around the paddock throughout the day. Felix Rosenqvist was getting a massage next to his garage, Nolan Siegel is always running around, Marcus Ericsson was spotted on a golf cart, even Tony Kannan popped out of a trailer at one point and Pato O'ward is just absolutely adored by everybody. You can easily see him scooting around the Paddock on his bike or if you hang out around the McLaren garage long enough you will spot him there often as well. I am so awkward around people so I don’t really ask any INDY drivers to stop and take a picture with me, but I will try and take theirs from afar. At one point in the day, I turn to my left and Pato was right next to me and everyone started screaming at him shouting his name and wanting pictures. I just wanted to try and get a cool picture of Pato by himself which I actually ended up getting a great one, and I didn’t realize it until I was editing my pictures later on that I can be seen in the reflection of his sunglasses too! All the drivers are super cool and really friendly and always do their best to interact with fans which I admire since it is such an insanely busy weekend for them. This is also Mick Schumacher's first year with INDYCAR as well, so I was super excited to see him out on track. I saw his car earlier in the day but sadly didn't get to see him around the paddock. I did see less drivers around than in years past but it was probably due to the fact that they had a less busy day Friday on track than the rest of the weekend. I absolutely love being around all the various forms of motorsports and that is why I love the Long Beach Grand Prix. The location is immaculate and this time of year is absolutely amazing. There is always a nice breeze and being by the ocean is always lovely. There are so many different forms of motorsports racing this weekend that make it so fun to watch all day long between INDYCAR, the Porsche Cup cars, Stadium Super Trucks, Historic Sports Cars and Drift. There is so much to see and it is the most exciting weekend of the year! I absolutely love going to the Long Beach Grand Prix race weekend. I have gone to Formula One as well as Formula Drift and they all have different levels of access and their own forms of racing, but this whole race weekend is by far my favorite to attend. One day, hopefully soon I will get to go to a NASCAR race. I absolutely love open wheel racing, that’s what got me into Motorsports and what got me into Sim Racing, so it’s really cool to be able to attend this Grand Prix. I love being able to hang out with the teams throughout the day, interact with drivers, as well as INDYCAR is one of my favorites to race on iRacing. It is a challenging car to handle, it's very fast and the fact that it does oval racing and road racing is so much fun and makes me respect this motorsport in so many ways. About 40 minutes before INDY practice started I made my way over to corner 10 where a group of us general admission photographers were all on the fence claiming our spots for when practice began. The sun was beating down, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and I was sweating. I knew the suffering would be worth it in the end for the location I was at. This year INDY only went out on track one time on Friday so I was really excited and wanted to take advantage of the time I could get with them out on track and get as many pictures as possible. After what felt like forever INDY practice finally starts. After about a lap in, the security guards came over and told all of us that we needed to move and cannot stand there. All day long, and all the years prior I have always taken pictures in this area. That whole entire day I had been taking pictures all along that fence. It was frustrating to be told to move, especially after we had all been standing there for about an hour at that point without them saying anything to us beforehand. I did not want to leave as I had been waiting all day to see INDY out on track. I wasn't going to argue though so I did step back but then new people would walk up and stop along the fence so if others were there so was I. The security guards ended up walking up and down the fence telling everyone to keep it moving, and every time the crowd would fill in along the fence again behind them and yup I was there too. I wasn't going to give up and not get my photos. So for about 50 minutes I kept walking up and down the fence between corners 10 and 11 just trying to avoid the security guards and grab any photo of cars on track that I could. It definitely made it challenging as I was constantly moving and needing to slightly adjust camera settings, but it also made me a lot more proud of the pictures I was able to get of them since it was so hard to capture. The constant battle with security guards did kind of steal some of the fun away but I was happy with the shots I got and was in desperate need of water. I was tired of drinking the warm water from the free tank so I went inside hoping I could snag a bottle from the Topp Racing Team. I went back to the Porsche Cup paddock and saw my friend Kyle, he hooked it up with some cold water bottles! I was so appreciative. It was really nice getting to chat to him about his day with the team and everything he was up to. I have known him through the skrr squad and streaming on Twitch for a while now, but it was super fun to be able to meet in real life and talk for a bit. I also got to say hi to one of their drivers Tyler Maxson before he headed out for qualifying. He was super nice and absolutely killed it this weekend so that was super fun to say hi to him even though I felt like I was interrupting as he was getting into his fire suit behind a wall when Kyle brought me back there to look for stickers lol. I hung out with them until they had to head out to pit lane for qualifying. By this point I knew my day was coming to an end and that's always when I get my merch. I typically like to get my merch inside the convention center in the main store in the middle. I've been so excited for the past few months to get a sweatshirt there! They are sooo soft and comfortable and I end up wearing it so many times throughout the year. It is always kind of weird buying a hoodie when I've been sweating and hot all day long at the track, but it is by far a must buy item for me now. I’ve never thought about getting a hoodie from them until last year. It was the 50th anniversary and I knew I wanted to get extra merch that year since I usually just get a T-shirt, so I also got a sweatshirt and fell in love. It became my favorite sweatshirt to wear all last year, so I knew this year I’d have to get another one. This year it was black too, so I extra had to get it! I got my hoodie, t-shirt and pin and made my way towards the parking lot. Fun fact about me is that I kind of hate the stair bridges at a race track. They scare the shit out of me, so they always take me a second to go up and down and I need to hold on to the rail. It's always fun having people stop on the stairs to take pictures and I'm just low key terrified needing them to move out of my way so I can get up and down as fast as possible while holding on for dear life without anyone noticing my fear lol. I was raised in the final destination days, so I can’t help but picture my death on them, and I'm afraid of heights so that doesn't help with it. To be fair I do my best to avoid the stairs as much as possible throughout the day, but you definitely will be using them at least a few times in the day around the track no matter what. I’ve been to the LBGP for about five years now, so I kind of know where I like to hang out on track and where I like to be around. I know it’s a long day of walking and how dead I'll be by the end of it, so I don’t usually walk around the whole thing, I just kind of stay in my zones. Which also means I don’t really ever go by the fountain or other parts of the track away from the main action. Next year I really want to try to go all three days and go to the parts of track I haven't been to in a couple of years. The way I break up my day and what I do during the day is controlled by how many days I am attending. It would be nice to go multiple days and break up what I'm doing into various days instead of doing as much as possible all in one day. Hopefully I can get a media pass for next year, I have all my fingers crossed that I can figure that out. I usually leave during Formula Drift, but this year I was exhausted by how early I got to track in the morning and I knew I would be able to see formula drift later on in the year when they come back for the Shoreline Showdown in October, so I was fine with missing it at Long Beach this year. Leaving the race is always sad, so as I walked out I was taking in the last few moments of the Long Beach weekend that I got to be a part of and watched the cars on track one last time before I went through the gates and back to my car. I left at the perfect time as well to beat all work traffic since it was a Friday I knew traffic was about to get gnarly as well as the parking structure sucks to exit when everyone else is leaving too. I highly recommend attending the Long Beach Grand Prix! If you’re thinking about ever going at least go Friday! There’s a lot of discount codes on Reddit every year. You can get a free Friday ticket or discounts for the other days. Just get your discounted tickets as early as possible because those ticket codes only have so many that can get claimed. This is my first blog post and I really want to do more. I love being able to share my thoughts, adventures & get to share more of my photography! Thank you for reading. sending all the love and good vibes<3 this is Cleo signing off