Society of Professional Motorsports Journalists Announces 2026 Russo-Marvel Founders Award Recipient

Paul Pfanner | Provided photo

Award to be presented at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Carb Day, May 22, 2026

LONG BEACH, CA — April 17, 2026 — The Society of Professional Motorsports Journalists is proud to announce Paul Pfanner as the 2026 recipient of the Russo-Marvel Founders Award — presented annually to individuals who embody the passion, dedication, and commitment to auto racing that defined founders Bob Russo and Bill Marvel.

The announcement is being made during the 2026 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend — the first running of the event without Jim Michaelian, who gave fifty-one years of his life to building what became America’s premier street race. Pfanner has chosen to dedicate the award to Michaelian and the extraordinary team he built at the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach.

“Jim Michaelian was the living embodiment of what this award recognizes. He committed his life to this event, to this sport, and to the journalists and media who covered it. He always understood that the media and the race are partners — that the journalists, photographers, broadcasters, and publishers who show up year after year are not just covering the sport, they are part of what makes it worthy of the audience’s devotion. Without them, the sport loses its legitimacy and its future. Jim understood that. He treated us that way. Every year. For fifty-one years. Long Beach is where RACER was born, where my journey inside this sport found its fullest expression, and where I feel Jim’s presence most deeply. Dedicating this award to him and his team is the only thing that feels right.”

— Paul Pfanner

The award will be formally presented by SPMJ Board President and 2012 Russo-Marvel recipient Paul Page on Friday, May 22, 2026 — Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Paul Pfanner’s connection to Long Beach began before most people knew the city had anything to do with motorsport. When Jim Clark won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 in the Lotus 38 Ford — the first rear-engined car to win at Indianapolis — Pfanner watched it live on closed circuit television inside the Long Beach Arena with his father, Ron Pfanner. He was already a devoted racing fan. That afternoon sealed it. From that moment, Long Beach and motorsport were inseparable parts of who he was and what he dreamed of.

Ten years later, he was present for the inaugural Long Beach Grand Prix weekend in 1975. He has not missed one since.

In 1971, Pfanner found his way inside the sport itself — forging credentials to enter the pits, paddock, and press tower at Ontario Motor Speedway for the Questor Grand Prix. He has found a way to stay inside ever since.

Over the five decades that followed, Pfanner built one of the most enduring bodies of work in American motorsport media — spanning more than a thousand issues across titles including FORMULA, SportsCar, and RACER magazine, which he co-founded in 1992. RACER became the most influential omni-channel motorsport media and marketing platform in North America, with Long Beach as its spiritual home from the very first issue. RACER.com followed in 1997. Under his leadership, Racer Media & Marketing launched multiple digital platforms and provided brand strategy and marketing counsel for the world’s leading automotive and motorsport organizations — including producing the global debut video series for the Tesla Model S in 2009. He sold a majority stake in Racer Communications to Haymarket Media in 2001 and reacquired the RACER brand in 2012 with partners Rob and Chris Dyson.

Following his departure from RACER at the end of 2025, Pfanner has returned his focus to Pfanner Communications and its advisory platform, Pfanner Advantage — strategic counsel for founders, boards, and leadership teams navigating consequential change at the intersection of mobility, motorsport, media, and technology. He is an SCCA Hall of Fame inductee and recipient of the Woolf Barnato Award.

Throughout his career, Pfanner has been a consistent advocate for the role of independent journalism in motorsport — arguing that the men and women who cover the sport with integrity and authority are essential to its legitimacy, its growth, and its relationship with the audience that sustains it. That conviction has shaped everything he built.

The Russo-Marvel Founders Award is voted on by past recipients — meaning the journalists, commentators, drivers, and industry figures who have given their lives to this sport have chosen to honor Paul Pfanner with the highest recognition their community bestows.

The award will be presented on Carb Day, Friday, May 22, 2026, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Time and location to be confirmed.

Past recipients include Paul Page, Mario Andretti, Marshall Pruett, Chris Economaki, Shav Glick, Donald Davidson, and Betty Rutherford.