Stadium Super Trucks Race Preview: Long Beach

Image via Stadium Super Trucks

It’s been more than a decade since Robby Gordon first unveiled his Stadium Super Trucks to the world, first with a series of standalone stadium events, later as a support act to some of the world’s premier road and street races. 2023 will see the series kick off at what has become its signature event, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, with a pair of races. Practice will take place on Friday at 12:10PM, with races on Saturday at 4:30PM and Sunday at 3:30PM.

Last year’s Long Beach rounds were swept by the Gordon family, with son Max leading father Robby across the finish line on Saturday and Robby returning to the top of the box on Sunday with Max in third. Robert Stout completed the podium in the Saturday race, while former series champion Matt Brabham split the two Gordons on Sunday. Eventual series champion Gavin Harlien finished sixth in both races.

Based on preseason updates posted to the series’ and drivers’ social media accounts, entries for this weekend’s Stadium Super Trucks races at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach are expected to include:

·      #1 Gavin Harlien | VP Racing Fuels

·      #5 Bruce Binnquist | BDI

·      #7 Robby Gordon | Speed Energy

·      #23 David Mark Bernstein | Kibbetech

·      #28 Robert Stout | Continental

·      #50 Trey Hernquist | Continental

·      #51 Ryan Beat | Bilstein

·      #57 Bill Hynes | ThrillCast

·      #69 Joshua Thomas | TFH Hire

·      #77 Max Gordon | Continental

·      #83 Matt Brabham | Continental

·      #957 Myles Cheek | CMI

In addition, The Checkered Flag has reported that Cole Potts and Christian Sourapas will be returning to the series. The resultant 14-truck grid would be the series’ largest at Long Beach since 14 competed in 2018; Harlien and Brabham won that year.

Harlien, fellow former series champion Brabham, and the younger Gordon are expected to be among the headliners for this season, though the remainder of the schedule itself remains a work in progress—which, if you’ve been following how SST has worked over the past few years, is standard operating procedure. Last year’s campaign saw three doubleheader rounds with IndyCar at Long Beach, Mid-Ohio, and Nashville, as well as a pair of races at Bristol Motor Speedway as a part of Cleetus McFarland’s Cleetus and Cars event.

A return to Nashville appears to be set, while other rounds are planned for June, July, and September. All of IndyCar’s June and July road or street course venues—Detroit and Road America in June, and Mid-Ohio and Toronto in July—have hosted SST before. September events that have featured the series in past have included IndyCar’s annual trip to Portland and the Crandon Off-Road World Championship, where Gordon brought the trucks for Labor Day weekend in 2012.