Meet the ‘Mr. Party Man’ of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

Justin McBride whitethorn person the champion occupation astatine the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

After volunteering astatine each contention for 32 years, McBride has the ceremonial rubric of Hospitality Ambassador. But that’s conscionable a stuffy sanction for describing what McBride does. His occupation is directing up to 40 different volunteers to marque definite that guests, including celebrities and VIPs, person an enjoyable and memorable weekend.

In different words, helium is Mr. Party Man of the Grand Prix.

His boss, Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, praises McBride for being “very attentive to the needs of our clients and ever doing it with an infectious grin and affirmative attitude.”

“I americium ever acceptable to party!” said McBride, who is truthful engaged helium has nary clip for immoderate drinks, but possibly an occasional brew erstwhile the time is over.

McBride is an affable feline with heavy roots successful the premier thoroughfare race, which volition erstwhile again instrumentality implicit downtown Long Beach from Friday to Sunday, Sept. 24-26.

He was 5 years aged erstwhile his parent took him to his archetypal Grand Prix successful Long Beach successful 1977, the 3rd twelvemonth of the race. It was emotion astatine archetypal show for the youngster, who got caught up successful the excitement of the roar of engines and the thousands of radical having a bully clip watching the contention and partying.

That emotion matter continued into adulthood. McBride is inactive a kid astatine heart, but present helium is 49 years old, and makes definite everyone enjoys themselves successful the enactment tents and suites passim the contention course.

One of his aunts, Gemma Bannon, was enforcement administrative adjunct for the race’s founder, Chris Pook. When Pook retired, she continued the occupation with Michaelian, Pook’s successor. McBride’s uncle, Martin Bannon, is the Grand Prix’s selling director. And McBride’s mother, Aileen McBride, started moving astatine the beforehand table years agone for the race’s Founder’s Suite astatine the Hyatt Regency Hotel. She present is simply a seasonal worker arsenic a selling adjunct for the race.

McBride did each kinds of chores for his Aunt Gemma erstwhile helium was a young lad and into his teens, everything from stuffing envelopes to moving errands. When helium turned 21, McBride began to get much progressive successful hospitality work. He became the unpaid Hospitality Ambassador for the 26th contention successful 2000.

On a engaged Sunday, McBride said, helium volition thin to anyplace from 8,000 to 10,000 guests.

On contention weekend. it’s hard to find him due to the fact that helium seldom stands oregon sits still. He is perpetually moving astir the people connected immoderate conveyance helium tin get his hands connected — a scooter, a play cart oregon even, astatine times, a bicycle.

Of each the celebrities helium has welcomed, McBride said, his favourite is movie star, Nicholas Cage, who was calved successful Long Beach and graduated from Poly High School.

“He was an awesome guy, precise gracious and appreciative for the assistance we gave him getting to a gait car and different things,” McBride said. “He had conscionable finished ‘Gone successful Sixty Seconds’ and couldn’t person been much generous with his time.”

What is the 1 happening that McBride is acrophobic of during contention weekend?

It’s astir apt the 1 happening that astir everyone hopes doesn’t happen: rain.

“Rain is atrocious for a batch of things,” helium said, “including making the writer and ungraded astir the tents muddy and sloppy.”

Fortunately, it has rained lone 1 clip connected Sunday since the contention started successful 1975, and it didn’t rainfall during the race, lone earlier and aft it, McBride said.

“Because it hardly ever rained,” McBride said, “we utilized to telephone it Pook upwind aft Chris. But we were ever acrophobic during contention week.”

He tin laughter astatine it now, but helium wasn’t laughing a fewer years agone astir an incidental that was not caused by rainfall but by adust weather.

“Because of writer and ungraded successful the structure area, the metropolis turns disconnected the h2o sprinklers,” McBride said. “This 1 year, the writer grew astir a ft gangly truthful idiosyncratic got a weed whacker to chopped the grass. Well, the writer went wrong the tents and stuck to the apical and sides of the tents. We had to powerfulness lavation the writer disconnected the tents due to the fact that we were acrophobic the writer would autumn disconnected connected the nutrient and drinks.”

A much superior occupation happened successful 2004, erstwhile McBride was lasting connected the contention people for the nationalist anthem and waiting for the 5 parachutists to driblet retired of the level onto the people with their pinkish fume plumes.

“Unfortunately, 1 of the parachutists mislaid his mode and got mode disconnected course, by 100 yards oregon more,” McBride said. “I didn’t spot him coming down due to the fact that helium was down me. At the past second, idiosyncratic shouted something. I turned and saw him, truthful I ducked and rolled and didn’t endure a large injury. His fume tin deed maine successful the limb and caused a burn, but that was all. I was lucky. The parachutist suffered a breached leg.”

When helium is not tending to Grand Prix guests, McBride, a Corona resident, keeps engaged arsenic a elder task manager for LogicalisUS, an planetary IT solutions and absorption work provider. He besides is simply a Realtor.

And, arsenic if that didn’t support him engaged enough, McBride is elder exertion manager for California Gang Investigators Association, Inc., which is begetter founded.

McBride’s begetter was a sergeant successful the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 29 years. The Gang Investigators Association was founded to foster amended relationships and networking among the assorted investigative units dealing with gangs successful Los Angeles County and passim California.

But backmost to the Grand Prix.

Because of his aboriginal transportation to the Grand Prix arsenic a youngster and his years of unpaid work, McBride has besides go thing of a historiographer connected the race. He points retired that this year’s contention volition beryllium the lone Grand Prix successful September, but for the archetypal 1 successful 1975. All the different races person been held successful April. This year, it shifted to September due to the fact that of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“So this year’s contention is an anniversary,” helium said, “another crushed it is truthful special.”

And different crushed to enactment and person a bully time.

Sign up for The Localist, our regular email newsletter with handpicked stories applicable to wherever you live. Subscribe here.