Karts on the Streets: The Legendary History of the Long Beach GPX Pro Kart Challenge
Posted by Kart Racers Speed Shop
If you've ever dreamed of racing on the same asphalt as Formula One legends, you're not alone. For a handful of extraordinary years in the early 1980s, some of the best kart racers in the country got to do exactly that — and the story of how it happened is one of the most exciting chapters in American karting history.
The Monaco of the New World
To understand the Long Beach GPX Pro Kart Challenge, you first have to understand what the Long Beach Grand Prix meant to the city of California — and to motorsport in America. Dreamed up by English promoter Chris Pook, who was inspired by the Monaco Grand Prix, the event launched in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race and grew into the United States Grand Prix West from 1976 to 1983, hosting the biggest names in Formula One. The BBC famously dubbed it "the Monaco of the New World," and for good reason — the streets of downtown Long Beach were electrified each spring with the shriek of F1 engines, tens of thousands of fans, and an atmosphere unlike anything else on the American racing calendar.
It was into this world that kart racing made its grand entrance.
The Birth of the Bridgestone Pro Kart Challenge: 1981
The first Bridgestone Pro Kart Challenge was held in conjunction with the 1981 Long Beach Grand Prix, with 30 GPX karts taking to the very same streets where the Formula One cars were racing that weekend. It was one of the first major productions ESPN covered before the network became the sports broadcasting giant it is today.
The event came out of a partnership between Bridgestone Tires and the karting world. Bridgestone, closely tied to Toyota at the time, wanted to establish itself in the American market and had chosen karting as its entry point into motorsport. Stuart Rowlands, a PR consultant working for Bridgestone, helped bring the event to life — and even ended up calling the very first race on live radio after the scheduled announcer slipped away for a lunch break, leaving Rowlands broadcasting to three local radio stations and 30,000 fans in the grandstands.
The inaugural event featured 20 enduro karts, each powered by twin 100cc Yamaha engines, piloted by some of the best young karters in the country. The names who showed up to compete were a who's-who of top-tier karting talent of the era: Scott Pruett, Lynn Haddock, Kathy Hartman, Terry Ives, and Brian Schaeffer among them.
Perhaps the most remarkable detail of that first race? The F1 stars couldn't stay away from the kart pits. Mario Andretti, Alan Jones, Jody Scheckter, Emerson Fittipaldi, and a young Alain Prost — all men who had grown up in karts — were spotted wandering through the paddock, checking out the machines and chatting with the drivers. For the karters, it was surreal. For the sport, it was a statement: karting belonged on the world stage.
Growing Into a Prestigious Invitational: 1982–1983
At first, the kart race was something of an exhibition sideshow — a curious addition to the Grand Prix weekend program. But that changed quickly.
By the 1982 event, the race had earned more respect and more organization. Track sessions were expanded to include three 15-minute practice sessions, qualifying runs, a warm-up, and a 16-lap main event. The karters were moved into the Formula One paddock area, no longer parked in a line of vans along Shoreline Drive — a symbolic shift that signaled karting was now considered part of the show, not just a curiosity alongside it.
Notable karting legend Randy Fulks made his first start at the 1982 event, a man who had been racing karts since the 1960s. Scott Pruett, who would go on to become one of the most decorated drivers in IMSA history, was a dominant force in these years — setting the fastest qualifying time at the 1983 race, clearing the field by over a second. Lynn Haddock challenged him hard in the 1983 main event before a spin at Turn 7 dropped him back; Pruett went on to take the win, with Haddock recovering to second and Terry Ives rounding out the podium.
The event was an invitational — you had to earn your way in, often by qualifying through Pro Kart races at other venues in the weeks before Long Beach. That exclusivity made it all the more prestigious. Drivers considered it the "Monaco" of American karting. The crowd — even though they had little idea who the karters were — cheered them on like they were IndyCar heroes.
What Made It Special
Ask any driver who competed in the Long Beach GPX Pro Kart Challenge, and they'll tell you the same thing: it wasn't just another race.
The combination of factors was unique in all of motorsport. You were racing on a world-class street circuit that had hosted Formula One. You were sharing a paddock with open-wheel legends. Thousands of fans lined the barriers and filled grandstands on Shoreline Drive, watching your every lap. The concrete walls were unforgiving. The track was narrow and technical. And the whole thing was broadcast on radio and, later, television.
"It wasn't like going to any other track," recalled one participant. "We considered it our Monaco of the USA." Another driver remembered the sensation of being "something special, pitted alongside the Formula One cars," with the crowd cheering as if it were the Indy 500, even for the little karts.
For the era, it was also remarkably forward-thinking in terms of exposure. The event's early ties to ESPN — when the network was still finding its footing — gave karting a platform it had never had before, helping elevate the sport's profile nationally.
A Legacy That Lives On
The GPX Pro Kart Challenge ran alongside the Long Beach Grand Prix for multiple years in the early 1980s, reaching well-earned iconic status before the Formula One chapter of the Grand Prix itself came to a close after 1983. The race transitioned to CART IndyCar racing from 1984 onward, and with that transition, the kart challenge also wound down its run as a featured event.
But the legacy endured. The names who raced on those downtown Long Beach streets went on to illustrious careers in motorsport. Scott Pruett became a multiple-time IMSA champion and one of the most successful sports car drivers America has ever produced — inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America alongside legends of the sport. Lynn Haddock, Randy Fulks, Kathy Hartman, and others carved their names into karting history.
More broadly, the Long Beach GPX Pro Kart Challenge proved something important: kart racing could command a major stage. It could entertain tens of thousands of fans. It could exist alongside the most elite forms of motorsport in the world and hold its own.
The Spirit of Long Beach at Kart Racers Speed Shop
At Kart Racers Speed Shop, we're passionate about the history and heritage of kart racing — and events like the Long Beach GPX Pro Kart Challenge are exactly why. Racing on streets that had hosted Formula One. Sharing a paddock with the greats. Tens of thousands of fans watching karting receive the spotlight it deserves.
That spirit drives everything we do.
Because karting isn't just a stepping stone to something bigger. For those who were there on Shoreline Drive in the early 1980s, it was the biggest thing in the world.
Kart Racers Speed Shop — Your home for karting apparel and gear that shares our passion for the sport and its history.