Free tickets available for first day of race weekend
Promotion to get general admission entry to annual motorsports event will begin Friday
The 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is just around the corner and readers have a chance to attend the event's first day for free.
But there is a catch: You will have to read your paper.
Long Beach's 200-mph beach party — a threeday motorsport showcase packed to the nines with live entertainment — will return to the city's downtown April 19-21.
The event, one of Long Beach's most popular, usually attracts about 180,000 people over its three-day run. Last year's grand prix drew a record 192,000 spectators.
Tickets for the 2024 iteration are on sale. There are various ticket prices, ranging from $40 for Friday general admission to $120 for three-day general admission, and as much as $1,275 for the VIP packages, depending on which one you choose.
Readers, though, can once again get their hands on a free general admission ticket for the first day by cracking open one of the 11 daily newspapers owned by the Southern California News Group on select days.
The Free Friday promotion, which has a $40 value, will run inside daily newspapers every Friday and Sunday until April 19. The first opportunity to get the free ticket is Friday.
The papers in which the promotion will appear are:
• Los Angeles Daily News.
• The Press-Telegram.
• Daily Breeze.
• Pasadena Star-News.
• Whittier Daily News.
• San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
• Orange County Register.
• Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
• San Bernardino Sun.
• Riverside Press-Enterprise.
• Redlands Daily Facts. You can also access the tickets via the e-edition for each publication online.
Though the event's main event — the IndyCar series' Grand Prix of Long Beach — concludes the weekend on April 21, firstday attendees can watch practice runs for all six racing series — from IndyCars to those that drift — and qualifying runs for some others.
General admission ticket holders also can check out the grand prix's lifestyle expo, family fun zone and an exotic car paddock.
And there will be plenty of food — including tons of options at food truck row — alongside myriad vendors set up along the concourse, which envelops the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Rainbow Lagoon Park, the Pike and Shoreline Drive.
For ticket packages for the entire Grand Prix of Long Beach or other information, go to gplb.com.