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LONG BEACH - The man synonymous with the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach - Mario Andretti - is now a permanent part of the community.
Andretti, who drove in the very first Grand Prix in 1975 and won the race four times, was inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame on Thursday, along with Parnelli Jones and Gary Gabelich.
All three had medallions listing their accomplishments and an image of their car permanently embedded in Long Beach concrete along the Walk of Fame on South Pine Avenue in front of the Convention Center. They were honored in an hour-long induction ceremony attended by city dignitaries, family members and racing fans.
"(Coming to Long Beach) is like coming back home," said Andretti, who won in Long Beach in 1977, 1984, 1985 and 1987. "I don't know anywhere on this planet I feel more welcome than Long Beach."
In the mid-1970s, once-popular street races were on the wane, and Andretti said he wasn't confident race founder Chris Pook's idea for a street course in Long Beach would work.
"I thought it would never fly," he said. "But I could see it would have a chance when I saw how the city of Long Beach got behind it. The city fathers saw this as a tremendous opportunity to bring this...