San Diego Yu Yu, October 16, 2021

Pato O'ward
Colton Herta takes the lead
Takuma Sato
Alex Palou tries to win his first championship
Pole sitter Josef Newgarden
It was a much anticipated weekend
of racing in Southern California after
more than a two year absence due
to the Coronavirus pandemic. The
final race of the Indycar season and the
championship would come down to the
results at Long Beach. Three drivers had a
shot at winning it all. The points leader Alex
Palou, Pato O'ward, and Josef Newgarden.
Newgarden, who was third in the points,
did everything possible to set the stage
for his third championship by winning the
pole position. O'ward had a really fast car
as well and had been consistently finishing
in the top 10 all year. The race would start
off great for Josef Newgarden but not so
great for the Mclaren driver Pato O'ward.
O'ward was rear ended on the first lap by
Ed Jones spinning him out in the hairpin.
This caused him to go all the way to last
place. The car would later have to retire
due to mechanical issues ending O'ward's
championship chances. Another young
driver 14 positions back named Colton
Herta had other plans for the outcome
of the Long Beach Grand Prix. Herta
had one of the fastest cars all weekend
and had just won the previous race at
Laguna Seca. The Andretti Autosport
driver was a man on a mission as the laps
ticked away passing multiple prior Indycar
champions to get to the lead. At this point,
the championship was in the bag for Alex
Palou with O'ward out of the race and
Newgarden out of first. Herta would go
on to win with Newgarden 2nd and Scott
Dixon 3rd. Alex Palou would finish 4th and
win the 2021 Indycar Championship, his
first but likely not his last.
For more info, visit : https://gplb.com
Scott Dixon enters turn one
2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
San Diego's Jimmie Johnson
ready for qualifying
Jimmie Johnson (left)
Story and Photography by Kevin Sprowls