Chris Pook

Chris Pook is the visionary co-founder of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and served as president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach for the past 27 years.

Pook, a native of Somerset, England, made his initial impact on the motorsports world by developing the idea for the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the first post-World War II city circuit Grand Prix in the United States.

In 1975, the Formula 5000 event took place on the streets of Long Beach and was won by Brian Redman. The event's success attracted the Formula One racing series. Eight years later, in 1983, Pook changed the Long Beach Grand Prix from Formula One to CART Champ Cars, the fastest growing automobile series in the world at that time. Today the annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach has devel-oped into the premier event in the Champ Car World Series. Pook is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2016 Olympic Games. He is a past chairman of the board of both the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and The Greater Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. Pook is currently heading the Long Beach Sea Festival, a summer-long series of events and activities that promotes Long Beach as the leading summer beach and recreational destination in Southern California.