On Sunday I attended the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Throughout the race, I kept hearing “Pit stop? Pit stop?” in my head. Those of you who are also Pixar fans may remember that line from the movie Cars.
I am more of a Pixar fan than I am a car racing fan. 
The little guy in the movie was fast, but in real life—they are Superman fast. I timed one stop at five seconds. Five seconds to change four tires! Amazing!
I thought of my dad who warns me to avoid the 10 minute oil change shops because it should take longer in his opinion. He’s a mechanic, so he should know, but in absolute fairness, my dad does everything slowly and meticulously. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but he never make it in a pit crew.
Thousands of people make the trek to Long Beach to watch cars zoom by at 100 plus miles per hour. Most come in your average cars – Toyotas, Fords, Hondas, etc. A few arrive in style in their Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Lotus’ etc. If you got ‘em – you might as well show them off!
The Grand Prix’s track isn’t your typical track. It’s not raced in a stadium but on an amoeba shaped route with 11 turns on the streets of Long Beach. There were definitely a few wipeouts although thankfully nothing serious.
Gordon Ramsey kicked off the race (but didn’t cuss out the racers) with Mike Conway eventually winning the race. It was a beautiful day to sit in the stands and cheer when everyone else did. And the people watching? Fantastic.
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