APRIL 22, 2026
Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 07:12AM 
It was a long time coming, but Acura and Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) claimed their first overall victory on the streets of Long Beach during the modern era of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – and more importantly, for the first time since Acura became the title sponsor of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2019. Nick Yelloly sped to the Motul Pole Award on Friday, then teamed with Renger van der Zande Saturday to guide the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 to the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) first-place trophy in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. They largely controlled the 100-minute sprint race to end several years of frustration for Acura and HRC, which both have headquarters in Southern California. With the No. 93 Acura carrying a new 76 Gas Station livery, van der Zande crossed the finish line 0.818 seconds ahead of the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R shared this weekend by Jack Aitken and Frederik Vesti, in his Long Beach debut filling in for Earl Bamber. The Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963s took third and fourth places, with the No. 6 car of Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor just ahead of the No. 7 team car of Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer that won the first two WeatherTech Championship races of the 2026 season. Watvh the Race Highlights from NBC here. (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)
At a certain point, the dam was going to break for Vasser Sullivan Racing and its venerable Lexus RC F GT3 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after a two-year winless drought. The last place where the team won on an important milestone in its history was a good place to do it. Vasser Sullivan has entered 22 IMSA races (including this one) since their last class win at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2024, and their previous largest winless streak was 12 races. So the perfect pairing to break the drought in Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) was the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 of Aaron Telitz and Benjamin Pedersen. They shared the winning entry for team co-owners Jimmy Vasser and James “Sulli” Sullivan, with Vasser also celebrating the 30-year anniversary this week of his own Long Beach Indy car race win in April 1996 that led to an eventual championship at season’s end. Robby Foley/Patrick Gallagher (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO) was second, Albert Costa/Manny Franco (No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO) finished third. (Thank you to Tony DiZinno/IMSA Wire Service)
Tré Cool, drummer for the five-time GRAMMY Award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame–inducted punk rock trio Green Day, will ride in the Fastest Seat in Sports at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19, on the streets of LongBeach, California.
One of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, Green Day (and one of PMD's all-time favorites) has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and amassed over 22 billion cumulative streams. The band first achieved global success with its breakout album “Dookie” and went on to define a generation with releases such as “American Idiot,” which earned them a GRAMMY Award for Best Rock Album, and their most recent 2x GRAMMY nominated 14th studio album, “Saviors,” which debuted at No. 1 on seven Billboard charts. In 2025, Green Day completed the largest stadium tour of their career across 33 countries. The band’s enduring global appeal was further underscored by a high-profile performance during the opening ceremony of Super Bowl LX in February 2026.
Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG
Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG