It was held on April 20, 2008, at the 1.968-mile (3.167 km) street circuit in Long Beach, California, United States.

The contingent of former Champ Car teams produced a 20-car field, all utilizing the turbocharged Panoz DP01-Cosworth for the final time.

The race was run under Champ Car rules, which included the standing start, option tires, two-day qualifying format, and was run based on time (1 hour, 45 minutes) rather than a set number of laps.

The option tire rule was adopted by the IRL for 2009, as well as standing starts for selected road and street course races in 2013 and 2014 only to be abandoned in 2015 due to safety concerns.

Several IRL staff and team personnel had flown back from Japan Sunday afternoon (local time) and saw at least part of the race, including Motegi winner Danica Patrick, who had scored her historic win the previous evening.