Bryan Herta, Robby Gordon enter Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame

Herta and Gordon with Jim Michaelian and other dignitaries

Lucille Dust/AR1.com

It was more than a trip home.

Bryan Herta and Robby Gordon made frequent trips to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as youths to watch the racing. Years later, they had the opportunity to race on the track. Thursday, they were forever linked to the race, receiving a place on the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame.

"This is a really an important day for me," said Herta, who grew up in Valencia. "It is special because the Long Beach Grand Prix inspired me to be racing cars, to be an IndyCar driver."

"I do not know if I went to Long Beach first or supercross in Anaheim first," Gordon said.

The two drivers are the 22nd and 23rd to receive plaques along Pine Avenue next to the Convention Center. It is the 10th year that drivers have been honored.

Herta's family was one of the first investors in the race, Grand Prix CEO Jim Michaelian said.

"He put into a race that no one had ever seen before in a city that never had run a race before under conditions nobody knew for sure if it would happen," Michaelian said. "We were asking them to invest money into it, and thank goodness they did it because some people would have considered it a foolish venture."

Herta said he would sneak into the pits as a youth.

"It is incredibly humbling," Herta said of the honor. "Long Beach means so much to me and that makes it more special."

Herta's parents were in attendance. So was Parnelli Jones, who already has a plaque along Pine.

Herta was third in the Long Beach Grand Prix twice. He is now a team car owner, even announcing Thursday that he will have a car in the Global RallyCross series this year.

Gordon said it was only appropriate to be receive the honor, too, especially since he was born in Lakewood and grew up in Orange County.

"It will be pretty cool to be on the sidewalk here," he said.

He finished third at Long Beach and has won in two other series, Trans-Am and in the Stadium Super Truck series in which he founded and will be racing in Sunday. Keith Lair/RedlandsDaily