Jim Michaelian never wanted the spotlight, perhaps because his own light was bright enough. Each year at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, he'd greet ticketing staff and watch fans file out after the checkered flag fell, making sure they'd had a good time. Half of them had no idea who he was, but that was just fine with him.
Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, passed away on March 21, 2026. He was 83.
He left us just four weeks before the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach — the race he helped build from the ground up over 51 years — was set to roar again along the city's shoreline. It would have been his final race before handing the reins to incoming CEO Jim Liaw.
More Than a Race
Michaelian joined the Grand Prix Association as a young controller in the mid-1970s, when the idea of a world-class street race winding through Long Beach was still more vision than reality. He rose through the ranks — controller, chief operating officer — before being named president and CEO in December 2001. But his impact on the event surpasses any title.
"Dad understood that the Grand Prix was about more than racing," says his son Bob Michaelian. "It was a catalyst for revitalizing a city. From the early days when Long Beach was a run-down Navy town, he saw the event as a vehicle for economic growth, helping attract hotels, restaurants, and the kind of investment that transforms a community. His passion was for the sport and the city equally."
Chris Esslinger, the Grand Prix's director of communications, worked alongside Michaelian for 25 years and witnessed that passion firsthand.
"No one worked harder, and no one cared more about this event than Jim," Esslinger says. "He was here before a lot of us in the morning, and he stayed later than a lot of us in the evening. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty."
Passing the Torch
Michaelian was always thinking ahead and innovating. In 2005, he invited a then-fledgling drifting series, Formula Drift, onto the Grand Prix event schedule — a move that seemed unconventional at the time. Jim Liaw, who led the organization from its inception in 2003 until 2021, credits that invitation as a turning point in his career.
"He and Dwight — his right-hand man in operations — they said, 'We're in,'" Liaw recalls. "The forethinking of Jim and the team here was: we need to add a different flavor to the race. They brought us in."
Formula Drift eventually became a Long Beach institution in its own right, and the relationship between Michaelian and Liaw deepened over the years into something more personal — quarterly meetings over coffee (Michaelian always ordered hot chocolate) where the two would catch up on the industry, the race and life.
When Michaelian began thinking about a succession plan, he called Liaw. "He said, 'I've been asked to put a few names in the hat. I want to put your name in the hat,'" Liaw recalls. "That in itself — whether I got selected or not — was already humbling. The fact that he wanted to put me in consideration was a big deal."
Liaw came aboard in early February, working alongside Michaelian to learn the nuances of the operation. The plan was for Michaelian to lead one last race before the transition was complete on July 1.
"His fingerprints are still all over this race," Liaw said in the weeks before the event. "A lot of the decisions, the themes, the colors, the marketing — he already made those calls. We were going to ride this final wave with him."
Then, on a Saturday morning in March, everything changed.
"A few of us came into the office," Liaw says quietly. "We put the news out, made the rounds, called key partners, spoke with the mayor [and] called every employee. Monday morning, we were back in here. It was a little somber — but everybody was like, okay, what do we need to do? They got right back on the checklist. He built a team that knows what they're doing."
Family First
Bob, who shared countless miles and memories with his father on and off the track, describes a man equally devoted at home. "For 40 years, Sunday dinner at Dad and Mom's home was a weekly tradition — not out of obligation, but because he genuinely cherished those moments. He was the rock of the family, always present, always encouraging, always guiding. Whether it was a tennis match, a race or a difficult moment in life, Dad was either there in person or checking in with a text. Family came first — always."
Allison Wilson, executive assistant to the president and manager of administrative services, worked for Jim Michaelian for nearly 35 years. She started at the Grand Prix in 1991, at 23, and over time grew into more than an assistant — she became, as she puts it, family.
"Jim was like a father figure to me," she says. "He came to my wedding. He was one of the first people to visit me when I had my child."
She describes the atmosphere Michaelian cultivated within the office as something rare: "He created an atmosphere of family, which was very important to him. We were his family as much as his own family. And I believe that's one of the biggest reasons so many people have worked here for so long — the integrity, the family unit."
One afternoon in mid-March, Wilson wandered into his office to talk. Thinking of his upcoming departure from the CEO role, she looked at him and asked, "How am I going to do this without you?"
"He said, 'You got this, tiger,'" she recalls. "I said, 'Well, as long as you'll always be here to answer my phone call.' And he said, 'I will always answer your phone call.'"
He passed away a few days later.
"He called a lot of people he felt very close to 'tiger,'" she says. "That was a privilege.”
Since his passing, Wilson says she has found a small but meaningful ritual. "His office is connected to mine. I turn his light on every morning. He's still here with me." She pauses. "It's not a sad atmosphere, actually. We've just really wrapped our arms around each other and become an even tighter unit. If there is one blessing in his passing, it's that he's brought us all closer together. And I know he would be extremely grateful and happy to hear that."
Full Throttle
Michaelian wasn't only a suit — he was a competitive sports car driver for more than 25 years, accumulating starts at Daytona, Sebring, Dubai, the Nürburgring and Le Mans. He did not advertise it.
"He was a very private man," Wilson says. "People would come up and ask where Jim was, and I'd say, 'Oh, he's out of town.’ And it would take one of us — usually Chris — watching racing highlights and going, 'Oh, Jim's at Daytona. Oh, Jim's at Le Mans. Oh, he's at the Nürburgring.' He didn't talk a whole lot about it."
In 2001, the same year he became CEO, Michaelian was diagnosed with cancer and lost an eye. He flew to San Francisco for surgery. Almost no one knew. He came back wearing a patch — and within weeks, he was back behind the wheel of a race car.
"That shows you the kind of person he was," Wilson says. "He didn't let anything come in the way of racing. I feel that passion for racing also led to the passion for this company. You've got this rush that brings you joy. I think that's what racing did for him — and running this company did for him as well."
The Common Thread
In the days since his death, something unexpected happened. Messages flooded in — from people the Michaelian family never knew Jim had influenced.
"Perhaps what has been most surprising is the sheer scale of the lives he quietly touched," Bob says. "Messages have poured in from people we didn't even know he had mentored — individuals who reached out to Dad during moments of personal struggle, business conflict, or illness, and found in him a steady, generous guide. He sought no recognition for it. He simply showed up for people."
"He just seemed like such a good guy," Liaw says. "You would not expect that of someone in his position — not drunk on attention, not riding a very high horse. Just a good man."
This past April, the 51st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach roared through the city's streets — the first without Jim Michaelian at the helm. The team he built saw it through, honoring him the best way they possibly could: with another successful race.
Esslinger, who hopes the Motorsports Hall of Fame will one day formally recognize Michaelian's contributions to the sport, says of his far-reaching impact: "You'll hear everybody from the Mario Andrettis to people [who] work in the city say the same thing — he always had a super positive attitude, even when things weren't looking good."
In the end, the common thread for anyone who had the pleasure of holding space with Jim Michaelian was simply that he was a man of true character. He was one of the good ones.
"Dad was someone who always wanted to give and never wanted to receive," Bob says. "He stayed in the background, content to help drive things forward — an event, a city, a career, a family — without seeking the spotlight. That quiet generosity was the defining characteristic of the man."
"Dad was someone who always wanted to give and never wanted to receive. He stayed in the background, content to help drive things forward — an event, a city, a career, a family — without seeking the spotlight. That quiet generosity was the defining characteristic of the man." —Bob Michaelian