Attending the Long Beach Grand Prix with BUBBA Burger

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of BUBBA Burger for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

My 11-year-old son is currently totally car obsessed. So when I got invited to attend the Long Beach Grand Prix, as a guest of BUBBA Burger, it just made sense that he would be my plus 1 (much to my husband’s dismay). We had the most amazing VIP experience. A total once in a lifetime event. And a delicious lunch too! One Saturday, last month, my son and I got up bright and early and headed to Long Beach to meet up with the BUBBA Burger marketing team. We didn’t know what to expect. Years ago, my husband and I were invited to a party, held on the rooftop of an office building, overlooking the course. So while we weren’t exactly at the Grand Prix, it was still a really cool experience! I knew the races were crazy loud and the energy is unmatched! I’ve always wanted to go back and I was excited to get the chance! We met up with the director of marketing who gave us our passes. We were given several lanyards with various passes…little did I know that they would give us access to just about anywhere we wanted to go! The crowds weren’t huge, yet, but you could feel excitement in the air building. And you could hear and feel the cars zoom by, during practice on the track.Our first stop was to the BUBBA Burger hospitality suite. It was right above pit row. There were cars on the track practicing and we both were getting excited! The first race of the day wasn’t scheduled to start for a few hours so we took that time to wander around and check out the expo area and visit some of the vendors that were set up. K-1 speed had a track set up on the top of a parking garage and my son got to sit in his dream car inside the expo, which I still hear about ALL the time. The crowds were starting to pick up so we headed back to hospitality village to see what was going on. My son totally geeked out over these cars. And I guess I kind of did too. When in Rome, right? BUBBA Burger provided lunch in one of the hospitality tents. Prior to the invitation to attend the Grand Prix, I hadn’t really used BUBBA Burger products. Turns out, it’s something that I will be incorporating in to my “busy mom” life. BUBBA Burger makes frozen hamburger patties (in several varieties). They are designed to be cooked from frozen (THIS IS EVERYTHING) and they are delicious! I couldn’t wait to give them a try! They had a build your own burger bar set up and we were able to create our own customized burgers. This could easily be recreated at home for an easy weeknight meal! BUBBA Burger products can be found at Target stores and most local grocers. I’ve never been a fan of homemade hamburgers and prefer to use a frozen patty, if we are going to make them at all. I was so excited to be able to spend time with the team to really find out about the product and its ingredients. BUBBA Burger is a quality product, made for our convenience (It cooks in just 10 minutes!). It’s like it was created just for me! And the flavor was delicious! We stuck with the original beef patties, but I can’t wait to try out some of their other flavors. These patties are made with 100% USDA Choice Chuck Beef with no added sodium. For someone who usually eats her burgers with onion dip on them, I’m really looking forward to checking out the sweet onion version too! Plus, I’m always looking for alternatives to chicken and red meat, so I have my eye on their turkey patties as well. How good does a turkey patty with Monterey Jack cheese incorporated in it sound?! Because they have that available, too! For our meat free friends, they have a delicious veggie patty. It’s all natural and a good source of dietary fiber. I’m SO excited to incorporate these in to our monthly meal plan! Even though these are a patty, they are super versatile! I can’t wait to explore more recipes. Are you a BUBBA Burger family? As soon as lunch was over, we rushed to get set for the start of the race. We stayed with the BUBBA Burger team and since this was the race they sponsored, we got a prime spot to see the start of the race! We crossed pit lane and climbed on to an elevated holding area between the pits and the track! YOU GUYS! It was insane. This is where the action happens and we were right there! It was SO exciting! From what I could tell, all the cars and their drivers line up and do some last-minute media stuff. Then it’s off to the races, as they say! We stayed on this platform until the cars had all gone by and carefully crossed pit lane to head back to the hospitality suite. It was such an amazing experience to get to share with my son. The poor kid is probably super jaded now. He’ll expect this kind of treatment if he ever goes to the Grand Prix again!We headed back to the suite for a little bit longer. It was such a great place to watch the race. We could see the track, plus there were TV’s in the booth so you could follow along with the commentary. After a while, the race finished, and it was time to head to the Winner’s Lane. What was unique about this race is that it is really a few different races in one, with several winners. They are all on the track at once, but there are different categories. I’m guessing these guys were the big winners since this is the only car they brought in to this area for the media. There were also confetti canons and a ton of photo opps. It was so cool to be right here during this time. Directly in front of the drives was a bleacher section full of press and photographers. And we totally felt like we were part of it! Being with the title sponsor has its perks. After a while, we were escorted around the back of the backdrop and moved to an even more incredible location to watch the rest of the winners receive their trophies. I mean!!!!!! Can you believe that!? Now, please take note of the magnums of champagne on the ground behind the winners. Let me tell you what happens with those. After the photos are taken and the celebration is just about done, each winner picks up their own magnum and shakes them up and sprays them all over each other. It’s basically a champagne shower. And because of our crazy awesome location, we were part of that. It was totally unexpected and absolutely the most fun ever (aside from getting sticky champagne all over my phone and camera lenses). In case you were wondering, champagne acts as a strong-hold hairspray, so if you ever find yourself in need of a little hairspray while traveling, as long as you can have someone spray a little champagne on you, you’ll be fine. For the next set of winners, we knew what to expect and promptly retreated before any champagne got sprayed. We took a second to have our own photo opp near the winners circle. O made plenty of friends at the race too. We headed back to the suite one last time. This time, the racers from the Sunday races were practicing and there was extra commotion in front of our seats. SO cool! We watched a little bit of practice and then decided to call it a day. We are so thankful to the entire BUBBA Burger team for such an amazing opportunity. Being able to share this experience with my son is something I will truly treasure. As a blogger, I get to do some cool things and meet some awesome people. My favorite part of this job of mine, though, is getting introduced to brands that truly are great. What makes a great brand for me is one that offers a quality product, the product can make my life better or easier and the employees and their representatives are good people. BUBBA Burger is all of those things. They can now count me as a loyal fan and I look forward to creating recipes, for my family, with their patties.

Big thank you to Victoria and Austin, our new friends who we met in the BUBBA Burger suite, who helped us navigate the race day and helped my son and I understand more about racing! You guys are the best!

Do you have favorite BUBBA Burger products? Share them in the comments below! I’m always looking for easy, delicious recipe ideas!

And don’t forget to follow BUBBA Burger on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.