In The Pits (Alyssa Roenigk)

I spent this past weekend in Long Beach for the Toyota Grand Prix. It was my first IRL race and I had an absolute blast. I am working on a story on last year's IndyCar series (and Indy 500) champion Scott Dixon, so I spent a couple days with him, his wife, Emma, and his Target Chip Ganassi team. Ganassi is from Pittsburgh—actually, from Fox Chapel, which is right down the road from where I grew up—so we bonded over the Steelers and dirt track racing. We also talked about what he thought when he found out his No. 1 driver was going to become a father in the middle of the 2009 season. (It's all in the story, which will be out the week before the 500 next month.)

On Sunday, I took my friend Monica Paull with me to the race. She's something of an amateur imagesmith, and she's really, really good. So, instead of rambling on as usual, I thought I'd let Monica's photos tell the story of our day. Here are a few of my favorites ...

THE VIEW FROM MONICA'S CANON, ON THE STARTING GRID, IN THE PITS ...