Fifty-one years on the same streets. Paul Pfanner on what Indychella actually revealed — and why the sport that didn't build that audience now has one chance to deserve it.

Paul Pfanner is the 2026 Russo-Marvel Founders Award recipient. He dedicates it to the late Jim Michaelian — and to the reporters and editors who held the standard in the sport he dedicated his life to .

On the anniversary of RACER's launch at the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1992, Paul Pfanner reflection on what it costs to build something that lasts — and what it teaches you.

Paul Pfanner watched Jim Michaelian tend the Long Beach Grand Prix for fifty-one years — and never once make himself the story. When Michaelian died at 83, he had already done the hardest thing a leader can do.

For sixty years one organization has dominated sport and business with a consistency no one has fully explained. The results are visible to everyone. The source of the advantage is something most organizations walk right past.