From Food Truck to Speedway: King Taco's Long Ride with the Long Beach Grand Prix

EXPLORE THE INTERACTIVE MAP TO FIND ALL LOCATIONS.

Written by: Ethan M. Cohen 

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Engines roar, the crowd surges and somewhere near Bistro Row, the smell of seasoned carne asada drifts through the warm spring air of downtown Long Beach.

For more than 30 years, that aroma has been as much of a fixture of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach as the echoes of burning rubber bouncing off buildings.

King Taco, the beloved Southern California Mexican food chain, has cemented itself not just as a sponsor of one of INDYCAR’s most iconic street races but as a cultural institution within it.

Now in its 51st year, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach draws nearly 200,000 fans to the city’s downtown waterfront each April, transforming the streets into a 1.97-mile, 11-turn racing circuit.

King Taco, recognized as one of the event’s longest-running continuous sponsors, operates its familiar food stand at multiple locations, topped with a ginormous, inflatable King Taco, near the NTT INDYCAR Series paddock that regulars know simply as “the King Taco stop.”

Founded by Raúl and María Martínez, who started the businesses from a converted ice cream truck, King Taco has grown to more than 20 locations across Southern California over the past five decades. The brand’s roots as a community-first, family-run operation mirror the Grand Prix’s own identity as a street race embedded in the fabric of its host city.

For fans traveling from outside the region, the partnership is part of what makes this Grand Prix feel distinctly Californian.

Marcus Webb, a self-described motorsports enthusiast, drove down from Sacramento for the weekend with his wife, Shery. He said he had never heard of King Taco before attending his first Long Beach Grand Prix three years ago.

“I came down for the racing, but we ended up waiting in that King Taco line twice in one day, and I was immediately hooked,” Webb, 34, said. “There’s something about eating a taco steps away from the paddocks that just feels right. It’s become part of our yearly tradition, driving down here for the racing and the food.”

For born and raised Long Beach residents, the Grand Prix weekend and King Taco’s presence carry a deeper sense of local, Mexican pride. Diana Reyes, a lifelong Long Beach resident who lives close to the circuit, said she grew up watching the race with her father and remembers King Taco’s presence as a constant for her.

“King Taco is already part of our everyday lives here in Long Beach,” Reyes, 47, said. “So when you see a local spot out here at the event, it feels like the whole neighborhood is showing up.”

Behind the counter of King Taco’s track-side food stand, the race weekend is one of the busiest stretches of the year. Carlos Mendez, who works as a crew member for King Taco and has staffed the Grand Prix before, said the energy is “unlike any other shift.”

“We start prepping early in the morning and we don’t stop until it’s over,” Mendez said. “People come from all over looking for us and our stand. You’ve also got people who’ve never heard of us before, either.”

King Taco’s signage is visible all over the race track, including on the large bridge over Shoreline Drive right before Turn 1, placing the brand in front of hundreds of thousands watching the race on television INDYCAR race broadcasts.

As the 2026 Grand Prix weekend concludes and the concrete barriers come down along Ocean Boulevard, King Taco will roll out the same way it has every spring for more than three decades, leaving behind another set of fans. Locals and first-timers now know that in Long Beach, the Grand Prix and King Taco are simply a package deal.