Long Beach GP Saturday Notebook

Ran into a very happy Beccy Gordon, sister of NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, who was showing off her engagement ring she received Thursday night in Long Beach from Ryan Hunter-Reay. They met 5 years ago at this race and Ryan finally popped the question. No date for the wedding has been set…..Ran into Ray and Linda Mathiasen after Indy Lights qualifying on Saturday where their driver Jonathan Bomarito had just secured 2nd quick time. After withdrawing from the Atlantic series because of lack of sponsorship, they are taking a look at moving the team to the Indy Lights series, but they still have all their Atlantic equipment so that series is still an option should sponsorship materialize. They would need to sell the Atlantic equipment in order to start the Indy Lights team……Saturday's attendance appeared to be down slightly from previous years but it was hard to tell because so many people were partying all around the circuit…….One possible scenario for Will Power, should Roger Penske not keep his IndyCar team as a three car effort, is for Roger to run him alongside Raphael Matos in the Luczo Dragon team. The team is half owned by Jay Penske, Roger's son, and putting those two drivers together would make for a powerhouse team. Matos, as good as he is, could use the experience of Power as a teammate…..Long Beach was hopping Saturday night with parties everywhere. No one seemed to miss the faster Champ Cars, at least not the fans. A local sports writer complained that a year ago, the IRL was saying we'd see the field for the Grand Prix grow with many Champ Car teams switching over and the merger mending wounds. So what do we get? A 23-car field, or just three more than last year's Champ Car finale…….That same writer pointed out that when Tony George ran off with the Brickyard and started the IRL, he wanted an all-U.S. series run on ovals with American drivers. Well, in the first race here under the IndyCar flag, only six of the 23 drivers are Americans, plus four Brits, four Brazilians, two Aussies and reps from Canada, Japan, Netherlands New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Venezuela. New Zealander Scott Dixon was happy to be back at Long Beach. "I've been lucky enough to be involved in three or four races in Long Beach and it's definitely one race I'm happy to see in the series. It's the Indy 500 of street courses."…..Sunday's forecast is for more perfect weather – sunny and in the mid-80's. Sunday's Schedule:
Gates open: 7 a.m.
Lifestyle Expo opens: 8 a.m.
SPEED GT Challenge qualifying: 8-8:30 a.m.
IndyCar practice: 8:40-9:10 a.m.
Firestone Indy Lights : 9:40-10:50 a.m.
Team drifting: 11:05-11:30 a.m.
IndyCar pre-race activities: 12:30 p.m.
35th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach: 1:20-3:30 p.m.
SPEED GT Challenge: 4:15-5:15 p.m.
Lifestyle Expo closes: 5:30 p.m.