Well here it is, finally, the last part of my series on my recent vacation to Long Beach for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.  There will be some photos posted in the coming months (I have a slow dial-up connection so not all of them will be uploaded right away and I'm not sure exactly where I'll put them on here (on my profile or in a blogpost, but either way I'll mention where I put them up-it probably will be in a blogpost or series of blogposts).

Well, anyway, I woke up in the morning and did the same routine as I had done the past 2 mornings, showered, ate, and finally went to the track.  I can't remember exactly what time I got to the track, but it was at about the time that the Atlantic Series (a "feeder" series to the Champ Car series) race was starting.  It was a pretty good race.  The polesitter (the #26 car-I forget his name) dominated the field until he had car trouble going into turn 1 about half way through the 50 minute race.  It was then that Simona DiSilvestro, a young Swedish girl (yes, I said GIRL) took the lead for good and eventually won the race, just about 12 hours or so after Danica Patrick won the IndyCar race in Japan. 

After the Atlantic race, there was an awesome display of robot cars.  These unmanned, highly sophisticated cars drove the Long Beach street course with the help of GPS and various sensors.  There were people that drove separate cars behind each of the robot cars, but all they had was a kill switch for the robot cars (the switch was only used if the robot cars were to have a problem of some sort).

I was walking around while the robot cars were driving around the track, but I did see them and got some pictures of them.  I continued walking around and eventually wound up at the Boston's Pizza that I wanted to eat at on Saturday.  This time, I was on my own for lunch, so I ate at Boston's.  I got in there about an hour before the Grand Prizx of Long Beach started and ordered an individual pizza and tea to drink.  It was very good and the service was so fast and friendly I got out about 15 minutes before start time.  While at Boston's, I was a little woried that I wouldn't get out in time for the race to start.  So I asked another patron and his family at the table next to me and I was told I would get out in time for the race. 

After paying, I left the restaurant and started slowly walking back to my seat in the grandstands.  But, I did manage to stop at the Tapout stand and get my picture taken with two cute girls who were working there for a $5 tip.  Don't worry, nothing happened, all I did was have a picture taken on my camera (they actually did two pictures).  I could have bought a t-shirt with the picture on it for $20, but I decided just to do the pictures. 

After the picture session, it was time for the race to start!  I got to near where my seat was at the time of the start.  I stopped near the start/finish line to get a picture and a video on my camera of the start of the race (which was a standing start that Champ Car and Formula 1 do and not the traditional IndyCar or NASCAR start).  This was the moment I had been waiting for!  After the start, I went back to my seat and watched the race.

Polesitter Justin Wilson, who is from England, led a good chunk of the race until he had a mechanical going into turn 1 that ended his day.  Australian Will Power took over the lead and held on for the win (that I didn't find out until after I got home because we started to leave just before the end of the race.

On our way out, I stopped to get some last minute suveniors.  Then it was time to head out.  As we drove on the 405 freeway, my mom called my sister and they made arrangements for us to stop at the appartment she lives in (my apology if I mentioned "house" in the prior 2 parts) in Thousand Oaks to eat pizza and visit with her, her roommate, and her roommate's 2-year old son.  It seemed like it took forever for us to find the Lamppost Pizza in Thousand Oaks (we had to pick up the pizza after my sister called it in).  We finally found it and after picking up our pizza, we went to her appartment.  We ate and visited for at least an hour.  Then it was time to go home.  We finally got home around 8:30 pm Sunday.

Well, that's it.  Like I said earlier, photos coming soon!