Celebrities Tear Up the Training Track
March 19, 1997
ROSAMOND, Calif. (March 19, 1997) -- Today's hottest stars from film, television, music and art left their mark on pavement this weekend in preparation for the 21st running of the world-famous Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race.
A field of 16 celebrity and professional drivers attended Fast Lane Racing School at Willow Spring International Raceway in Rosamond, Calif. The annual training serves as preparation for the April 12 race and an extensive introduction to high performance driving.
The Racing School instructors tutored the drivers on car control, line selection, passing and being passed, as well as a wide variety of situations testing the boundaries of control. That boundary was pushed to the limit when Carol Alt spun into the dirt around one turn and Brian Austin Green locked up his brakes and slid across the track s skidpad.
The four-day training concluded with success, leaving a competitive field of celebrity and professional drivers ready and certified to compete in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race.
This year s group is fast, said Grant Show, who plays Jake Hanson on Fox s hit series Melrose Place. And with the race just around the corner, every last minute of drive-time counts.
Show, who won last year s race, will compete against a full field of celebrity and professional drivers including Eric Braeden from CBS Young and the Restless; Green from Fox s Beverly Hills, 90210; Sean Patrick Flanery from the recent Hollywood Pictures film Powder; and notable environmental artist/muralist Wyland.
This year s race will raise more than $80,000 for Racing for Kids, a fundraising program benefiting Southern California children s hospitals. An additional $5,000 will be awarded to the race-winner s charity of choice. Throughout the years, this event has generated approximately $350,000 for charity.
The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, which is part of the 23rd annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy car weekend, will take place on Saturday, April 12, with a field of 17 drivers. Qualifying for the 10-lap race will be held on the 1.59-mile circuit on Friday, April 11. Race tickets can be obtained at all California Ticketmaster locations or by calling the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach box office at (562) 436-9953 or in California at (800) 752-9524.
Toyota Announces Professional Drivers Slated to Compete in the 21st Annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
March 19, 1997
TORRANCE, Calif. (March 19, 1997) -- Toyota Motorsports announced an impressive roster of professional race car drivers to compete against stars from film, television, music and art in the 21st annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, Saturday, April 12 in Long Beach, Calif.
This year s professional competitors make a well-rounded list. The wide-range of professional racing backgrounds creates a diverse challenge to the stars.
Jimmy Sills, the 1996 Silver Crown champion, has been behind the wheel of just about every kind of vehicle. From pavement to dirt, World of Outlaws sprints, midgets and even motorcycles, Sills races 80 to 90 times per year.
Off-road racing legend Ivan Ironman Stewart is the most decorated off-road driver in the world - winning 13 Baja 500s, eight Mint 400s, four Parker 100s and two Baja 1000s.
The Australian native and three-time Formula One world champion Sir Jack Brabham is the only person in Formula One history to win a world title in a car of his own construction, the BT19 that he drove to victory in 1968.
Three-time Trans-Am champion Tommy Kendall has won an amazing nine professional championships, 39 races and 63 pole positions, including the IMSA GTU Championship in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
We are excited about the pros and the celebrity fields chosen to participate in this year s race, said Les Unger, Toyota s national motorsports manager. We pride ourselves on a very competitive race. The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is the longest-running, most successful celebrity event of its kind.
Among the competing celebrities this year are: the winner of last year s Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race Grant Show ( Melrose Place ); supermodel/actress Carol Alt ( Private Parts ); the 1987 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race champion Jason Bateman ( Chicago Sons ); actor Sean Patrick Flanery ( Powder ); Brian Austin Green ( Beverly Hills 90210 ); Eric Braeden ( The Young and the Restless ); nationally recognized artist and muralist Wyland; Bob Goen ( Entertainment Tonight ); KABC-TV Los Angeles meteorologist Dallas Raines; Olympic gold medalist Justin Huish; and five-time world champion women s jet ski racer Christy Carlson.
Toyota dealer Lew Webb will take the driver s seat in this year s race, as well as Toyota Grand Prix Charity Ball auction winner, Ze ev Drori.
Toyota s Pro/Celebrity Race, which is part of the 23rd annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy car weekend, will take place on Saturday, April 12, with a field of 18 drivers. Qualifying for the 10-lap race will be held on the 1.59-mile Indy car track on Friday, April 11. Race tickets can be obtained at all California Ticketmaster locations or by calling the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach box office at (562) 436-9953 or inside California at (800) 752-9524.
Jason Bateman Takes the Pole Position for the 21st Annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
April 11, 1997
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 11, 1997) -- Actor Jason Bateman ( Chicago Sons ) turned in the fastest lap (1:22.552) in today s qualifying round of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. The top professional driver was Jimmy Sills with a time of 1:22:868.
Following a tight qualifying round, Bateman was only a fraction of a second faster than Sean Patrick Flanery (1:22.781) who will also start in the front row. In the pro class, Sills was also only a fraction of a second ahead of Tommy Kendall (1:23.248). The four pro racers will start 30 seconds after all 13 celebrities leave the starting line.
Toyota s Pro/Celebrity Race, which is part of the 23rd annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy car weekend, will begin at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, April 12, with a field of 17 drivers.
Sean Patrick Flanery Wins the 21st Annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
April 12, 1997
LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 12, 1997) -- Sean Patrick Flanery, star of the compelling film Powder, outshined a field of celebrity and professional drivers to go wire-to-wire and win this year s Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race.
Former winner Jason Bateman crossed the line a close second, repeating his performance last year. Meanwhile, five-time world champion women s jet ski racer Christy Carlson was close on Bateman's bumper to capture third. Three-time SCCA Trans-Am champion, Tommy Kendall rolled in first for the professional drivers.
While still on the starting straight-away approaching turn one, last year s winner Grant Show ( Melrose Place ) spun around and crashed into the wall after being clipped by Jason Bateman ( Chicago Sons ). Show checked out fine, but was unable to finish the race.
Things were pretty hairy on that first turn, said Flanery. I got a real good start and saw in my mirrors the accident and smoke. I just tried to put as much distance from them as I could.
Kendall battled fellow pro racer Sir Jack Brabham throughout the race, with the three-time Formula 1 champ unwilling to give up his lead to Kendall. Late in the race, Kendall passed Brabham, but Brabham ran into the Trans-Am champ, crashed into the wall and spun around into oncoming racers.
The final standings for the field are: Flanery, Bateman, Carlson, Kendall, Dallas Raines (KABC meteorologist), Jimmy Sills (pro driver), Ivan Ironman Stewart (pro driver), Brian Austin Green ( Beverly Hills 90120"), Eric Braeden ( Young and the Restless ), Bob Goen ( Entertainment Tonight ), Justin Huish (Olympic archer), Lew Webb (Toyota dealer), Ze ev Drori (charity auction winner), Carol Alt (supermodel), Wyland (muralist), and Brabham.
Toyota raised over $80,000 for Racing for Kids, a national fund-raising program to benefit children s hospitals through its involvement with the 23rd Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Long Beach - Arciero Wells Report
Today was the second day of on-track activity for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Driving the MCI Toyota CART Indy car, Max Papis qualified 26th with a lap time of 54.336 seconds. In the morning practice session his posted his quickest lap time of the weekend a 54.003 which put him 22nd fastest in the session.
"In practice we ran pretty good and picked up some time," said Papis. "Then for qualifying they tried some different things in hopes of improving the engine driveability, but unfortunately we did not do that. We have to try these things and learn from them. My crew worked really hard and I have to thank them for all their effort. We will sit down later today to discuss the race and come up with the best solution to make it to the finish in tomorrow's race."
Tomorrow's day starts with a warm-up session at 9:00 a.m. and the 105-lap Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach starts at 1:00 p.m. local time.
Television coverage includes: ESPN2 CART Qualifying show at 12:30 a.m. ET, ESPN2 On The Grid show at 3:30 p.m. ET, and live race coverage on ABC Sports at 4:00 p.m. ET, re-air of the Long Beach event on ESPN Monday, April 14 at 1:00 p.m. ET (Please check local listings).
Ivan Stewart Finishes Seventh In The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race: PPI's off-road driver Ivan "Ironman" Stewart had the opportunity to participate in this year's Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race as one of four professional entrants. He joined professionals Tommy Kendall, Jimmy Sills, and Sir Jack Brabham in racing against Hollywood celebrities including Sean Patrick Flanery, Carol Alt, Jason Bateman, and Brian Austin Green. In an action-packed race, Stewart started at the back of the field with the other professionals and finished seventh overall.
"Great fun," said Ivan. "We needed about 80 more laps. It was a tremendous amount of fun. It was really competitive group of people. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. Earlier in the week it was easier to intimidate the celebrities. Today it was harder to intimidate them."
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04/14/97
Sean Patrick Flanery, who is regarded as a celebrity driver because he appeared in a movie--Powder--with Cher several years ago, won the ten lap pro-celeb race with all drivers behind the wheel of identically prepared Toyota Celicas. Flanery looked pretty good as he pulled away from the field and went off and hid as behind him Jason Bateman drop kicked Grant Show out of the race and went on to finish second followed by Olympic Archery gold medal winner Kristy Carlson and Dallas Raines, L.A.'s TV weatherman.
The four pro drivers, Sir Jack Brabham, Trans Am Champ, Tommy Kendall, USAC dirt star, Jimmy Sills and Ivan Stewart started 20 seconds behind the celebs and by the mid point had caught the TV soap stars and put them away. When the yellow flag was displayed in order to take Grand Show's car off the track
Black Jack Brabham ignored the hankie and passes several cars. Back to green and Tommy Kendall made his move on the former F-1 champ but peroxide Tommy kept getting blocked so he tapped Brabham, spun him out of the race and went on his merry way to fourth overall.
Want to buy some nice slightly used and bent 1997 Toyotas with numbers on the side? Call Toyota Racing Development.
Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel
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