The ever-changing face of Long Beach has had its impact on the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach over the years, with the race circuit going through half a dozen or more iterations from that which hosted the inaugural Formula 5000 race in 1975 as the result of the massive redevelopment. Although this year’s layout looks the same as in the past few years indeed it’s the same 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit that’s been used since Y2K -- a consensus of Champ Car drivers deems the back straightaway (aka Seaside Way) considerably rougher than in the past, particularly in the braking zone for Turn Nine, thanks in part to a variety of real estate construction projects in the neighborhood.

“It feels bumpier,” said Justin Wilson, who plunged down the escape road midway through the morning practice. “The first few times you go through there you say to yourself, ‘I could’ve gone deeper.’ Then I did go deeper and by the time I landed it was too late to make the corner. So you either feel like you didn’t go deep enough or you know you went too deep!”

Champ Car star Paul Tracy has suffered a compression fracture to his first lumbar vertebrae and will miss this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Tracy suffered a frontal impact in Turn One during Saturday morning’s Champ Car World Series practice at Long Beach . He was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital after reporting back pain, where x-rays and further MRI examinations confirmed the injury.