The Grand Prix of Long Beach broke its attendance record last year —  with nearly 200,000 people attending over the three days.

But that hasn’t always been the case.

Until the last few years,in fact, things seemed to be going the opposite direction.

Throughout much of the 2000s, the Grand Prix faced multiple challenges, such as Toyota pulling out as the title sponsor in 2018 and the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which canceled that year’s event and forced organizers to put on two races within six months of each other.

Despite those challenges, however, the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach has brought the crowds back. And organizers hope to maintain a steady increase in attendance for this year’s event — and into the future.

For 50 years, the Grand Prix of Long Beach has drawn international crowds and has made a significant economic impact in Long Beach. But numbers started to slowly decline around the early 2000s, though the overall attendance figures remained relatively strong numbers for years, said Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach.

But what caused the attendance recession — and how did the Grand Prix bounce back?

One of the reasons for the latter is that people kept coming to the Grand Prix because it had become three days of entertainment for not only hardcore racing fans, but for casuals as well. Since 2001, for example, the association has incorporated musical performances on Friday and Saturday nights to bring in music fans to the weekend as well.

“(The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach) happens to feature racing, typically five or six races on a weekend,” Michaelian said, “but there’s also a variety of things for people to do who are not necessarily hardcore race fans.”

The Grand Prix also has its Lifestyle Expo, which features new displays, interactive games and activities every year. There is also something for the entire family, he added, with the Family Fun Zone and a variety of food options.

Those, in a way, were creative solutions — and an attempt to evolve to a changing landscape.

One of the things that impacted attendance in the early 2000s was a seismic split in American open-wheel racing. That was an acrimonious schism in 1996 between the established Champoin Auto Racing Teams and the newly formed Indy Racing League. This led to two rival series and a period of division until their unification in 2008 as the IndyCar Series.

“At that time, we were enjoying some strong crowds here too,” Michaelian said, “but it wasn’t quite as strong as it could have been if these two factions had come together.”

And they did.

But then the Great Recession hit.

If so, from 2009 to 2011, the Grand Prix’s audience was around 172,000 to 175,000 people on the weekend, not the high marks seen in recent years — but consistent, Michaelian said. Particularly during a major economic downturn.

As a new decade came along, from 2012 through 2014, there was a steady increase in people attending the racing event in Long Beach. By 2016 and 2017, more than 180,000 people were attending those weekend events.

But apparently, that wasn’t enough to keep Toyota as its title sponsor.

In August 2018, Toyota ended its 44-year partnership with the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Toyota Motor North America, which had been part of the races since it began in 1975, told organizers it would not renew its latest three-year contract shortly after that year’s event ended in April.

The association had to find a new title sponsor, which helps cover some of the expenses of the three-day Grand Prix.

In 2019, Acura stepped in, with the luxury division of Honda taking over as title sponsor of the IndyCar street race. To much of the association’s surprise, this change didn’t negatively impact audience attendance — instead, it increased.

In 2019, the three-day event drew more than 187,000 attendees to downtown Long Beach.

“It was surprising,” Michaelian said. “Our attendance actually was up a little bit that year by a couple of thousand. And again, that is due more to the fact that people still perceive this as a way to have a very affordable weekend of entertainment. I think that’s been one of the key factors in terms of our continued success over the years.”

But the steady increase that the Grand Prix was seeing came to a complete stop in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The event was canceled, along with dozens of other events in Long Beach and countless gatherings worldwide.

The track was about two-thirds set up when the coronavirus outbreak shut the operation down in mid-March and the association had to dismantle what had been built. More difficult was dealing with sponsorships and tickets sold for the 2020 race, Michaelian said.

“We had to make a combination of refunds back to people who wanted them or give them credits towards the next race,” Michaelian said, “and of course, at the time, with COVID, nobody knew when the next race would be.”

By December 2020, with the nation and world still struggling to control the coronavirus, the April 2021 race seemed in jeopardy as well.

“I was determined to make sure that we had a race sometime in 2021,” he said.

Michaelian was able to persuade NTT IndyCar officials to let Long Beach be the final race of the season in September of that year, instead of one of the first. Michaelian and his team also had to coordinate with all of the support races, the Convention & Entertainment Center and Long Beach hotels.

“Now, the challenge was, we had to have the people come back,” Michaelian said. “Our attendance was down a little bit.

“But a lot of those people had already paid their money,” he added, “so the consequence of that was that it was a bit of a challenging year in terms of the revenue stream, making up for the cost of having that cancellation and coming back.”

But then came 2022 — and a strong rebound.

The Grand Prix’s attendance numbers popped back up in 2022, with about 188,000 people visiting that weekend. People were itching for fun, Michaelian said.

“By then, a lot of people just wanted to get out and experience an outdoor event and mix with people too,” Michaelian said. “We had a pretty good jump in our attendance in 2022, and we managed to even increase that fractionally as we were going ahead in 2023.”

The excitement of attending in-person events continued that year — with more than 192,000 people in attendance.

Last year, the Grand Prix had its biggest crowd yet, with about 194,000 people, Michaelian said. This increase, he said, was because the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is an entertainment weekend for racing enthusiasts, music fans and families to come out.

“It’s a very family-friendly kind of atmosphere,” Michaelian said. “Children 12 and under, from the very beginning of this race 50 years ago, have been admitted free, (which is) not insignificant when you think about the cost of going to major attractions around Southern California.”

IndyCar racing in general has also seen an increase in popularity in recent years, with the 2023 season being the most-watched since 2011; and the series’ season debut on Fox drew a historic audience. This could also contribute to more people wanting to attend the longest-running street circuit race in North America in person.

The 2025 Grand Prix of Long Beach will take place from April 11 to 13, with the titular NTT IndyCar Series race to be broadcast on Fox.

And the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach hopes to attract a similar or bigger audience this year —  especially with celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the beloved street racing event. This includes having Foreigner headline Saturday night’s concert.

“We wanted to reach back and find a band that sort of reflected back on our time as a race event,” Michaelian said. “We are very happy to get Foreigner to come and play on Saturday night, and that was not an insignificant get and we think that’s going to be something that will be very attractive for our fans on that day.”

More changes, however, are ahead for the beloved street circuit race, as Penske Entertainment recently purchased the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach from Forsythe. Representatives from both organizations described the purchase as a way to further invest in the motorsports event.

“I’d hope that we would come out of this event having done a little more than we did last year,” Michaelian said about this year’s Grand Prix. “With this being our 50th anniversary and some of the special events and activities we have associated with it, we’re hoping that we can exceed that number – if the weather holds out for us – and so far our advanced ticket sales are indicating that might be the case.”