The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach has brought us many memorable and exciting races over its 51-year history. Yesterday’s race was not one of them. The box score shows that there were five lead changes among four drivers. That was from the pit stop shuffles during the first set of pit stops. Yet, if you subjected yourself to all 90 laps of Sunday’s race; you know that it was between two drivers – pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou, who started third.
Random Thoughts on Long Beach
Posted in IndyCar on April 20, 2026 by OilpressureLong Beach Preview
Posted in IndyCar on April 17, 2026 by Oilpressure
If you are a fan of the NTT IndyCar Series, you already know that the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is almost as much of a rite of spring as Opening Day of Baseball. It is as close to being a fixture in the April calendar as it can be, while it is juggled around Easter. When I was in high school, there was a song titled “It Never Rains in Southern California”. Watching all of the races at Long Beach over the years, I’m thinking that may be true. It is always sunny and picturesque there – at least for a TV viewer. Hopefully, we will get there one of these years.
The Quest to Get to 33
Posted in IndyCar on April 13, 2026 by Oilpressure
A lot has happened since I last posted about car-count for the Indianapolis 500 this past Wednesday. We discussed a lot of scenarios, but we got confirmation on several of them over the past few days. As suspected, Colton Herta will not be available to run in this year’s Indianapolis 500. His F2 duties come first, and trouble in the Middle East has forced F2 to run some re-scheduled races in May – one over Memorial Day weekend.
It’s Getting Early, Late
Posted in IndyCar on April 8, 2026 by Oilpressure
Regular listeners to Trackside may recognize the title as being a variation of what Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee have been saying about available seats for the Indianapolis 500. For the last couple of years, seats have been filling up by late February or early March. When that has happened, the co-hosts on Trackside frequently say “It’s getting late, early”; implying that seats are filling up quicker that normal.
Hopefully Fixing an Old Problem
Posted in IndyCar on April 1, 2026 by Oilpressure
The NTT IndyCar Series is now on something of a break. After four races in five weeks, this upcoming two-weekend break is well-earned. I’m also assuming this will be welcomed by the teams, with the grueling Month of May looming ahead. The Month of May actually gets an early start in April with the upcoming Open Test on the IMS oval on April 28-29.
Random Thoughts on Barber
Posted in IndyCar on March 30, 2026 by Oilpressure
Barber Motorsports Park is quickly becoming the playground for Alex Palou. In the past two visits by the NTT IndyCar Series to the 2.3-mile natural terrain road course, Palou has barely broken a sweat as he drove off and left the field to battle for second place. Last year, Palou won by sixteen seconds. Yesterday, he won by more than thirteen seconds. His domination became so tiresome, his assumed win was such a foregone conclusion that the FOX TV booth turned their attention entirely to the podium battle between Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal and David Malukas; who finished second, third and fourth respectively.
Barber Preview
Posted in IndyCar on March 27, 2026 by Oilpressure
Over two weeks have passed since I’ve been here. In that time, a third race at a brand-new venue was run. Also, Susan and I have traveled far and wide for our celebratory retirement cruise. We are now facing the fourth NTT IndyCar Series race in the past five weekends. The season is marching along and it is still March.
