2022 Acura Grand Prix a Massive Success as Fans Return in Throes

By Brett Foote - April 15, 2022

First normal 2022 Acura Grand Prix in years beat its pre-pandemic attendance mark in one triumphant return.

While most expected a big turnout at the 2022 Acura Grand Prix following a couple of years of disruption due to the pandemic, truthfully, no one really knew if fans would return in throes, let alone any sort of notable capacity. But that uncertainty was quickly put to bed when a massive amount of enthusiasts descended upon the 47th annual event, helping it surpass its pre-pandemic attendance figures set back in 2019 as the 2022 Acura Grand Prix also returned to its traditional schedule in April.

In total, around 187,000 fans showed up over the three day weekend, which was great news for the local Long Beach economy and the businesses that inhabit that city. The IndyCar race also attracted lots of eyeballs to TVs, as NBC reported a 13 percent jump in viewership – the most since 2009, in fact, as it peaked at 1.251 million viewers during the last 15 minutes of a closely fought three-way battle that ended with Josef Newgarden taking home the win.

Amazingly, those numbers were higher than last September’s race – a championship finale – while the streaming audience also beat out every other event on this year’s schedule save for the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It’s certainly great news for IndyCar, but there was obviously a lot more going on at the 2022 Acura Grand Prix than that main event. Honda Tech was on-hand to soak in all of it, and there was plenty of action for motorsports fans of all types.

As is the case every year, that included some pretty amazing drifting demonstrations on the impromptu track, with Formula Drift’s Super Drift Challenge putting on one heck of a show for the tens of thousands of fans in attendance. When the tire smoke finally settled, Forrest Wang was crowned the winner of this particular event behind the wheel of his Yellowspeed Racing Nissan S15, which is incredibly impressive since he’s been out of competition since 2019.

Overall, the 2022 Acura Grand Prix proved to be a massive success, as well as a triumphant return for a beloved event in Southern California. Now, organizers will look ahead to next April to see if they can keep this momentum going.