Forsythe to buy remaining Long Beach stake; commits event to IndyCar

Any efforts by NASCAR, IndyCar, or Formula 1 to gain control of the 50-percent share of the Long Beach Grand Prix made available by the estate of the late Kevin Kalkhoven will not meet their desired outcome.

Gerald Forsythe, who purchased the country’s biggest street race with Kalkhoven in the 2000s, says the event’s fate will be settled in a different way.

“The estate has agreed to sell its 50% to me,” the industrialist and former owner of the Champ Car series told RACER. “If [any series] has its sights on Long Beach please tell them to look elsewhere. This [is] an IndyCar event, and it will be into the future.”

The swift development to consolidate 100-percent ownership and control of the 49-year-old race follows efforts by multiple sanctioning bodies – NASCAR and IndyCar Series owners Penske Entertainment being the most recent – to pursue Kalkhoven’s stake in the Southern Californian event.

Featuring IndyCar since 1984, Long Beach Grand Prix has been a marquee event in the region for decades, boasting more than 100,000 attendees across the three-day race, which also host’s IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and popular bands in a beachside festival environment.

Thanks to its loyal audience and sizable turnout, multiple attempts have been made to acquire Kalkhoven’s half of the event since his passing in 2022, all with a corresponding hope of being able to purchase Forsythe’s half as well.