Pros, Stars to Race in Long Beach

At 1 this afternoon, one of the bigger exchanges since the Edmonton Oilers traded a player named Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings for Jimmy Carson will be happening in Long Beach. The city has swapped Ocean Avenue for a speedway. A group of celebrities and members of the media have swapped their chauffeured limousines and microphones for race cars, and for 10 laps the drivers may be swapping paint, bent body work and evil thoughts as they dash their way through the 13th annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race.

If you think the fans go crazy when the Lakers win, wait until you see what happens at the celebrity race when one big star gets the lead over another. It’s part of the weekend celebration that culminates Sunday with the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Leno, Glover in Race

But the celebrity race has plenty of entrants, including: comedian Jay Leno; debutante-turned-actress Cornelia Guest; “Lethal Weapon” star Danny Glover; Brian Wimmer of “China Beach”; Kelsey Grammar, who plays Frasier Crane on “Cheers”; Rick Schroder of “Silver Spoons” and “Lonesome Dove,” and Walter Payton, a former Chicago Bears halfback.

Media people participating in the pro/celebrity race include: Ken Minyard of KABC Radio’s “Ken and Bob Company”; KCBS sportscaster Tony Hernandez; KNBC sportscaster Fred Roggin and KABC anchorman Paul Moyer (a former winner of the race). Also competing will be Tony Schwartz, owner and president of Century Toyota.

Rounding out the field, just to keep everybody honest, will be a pair of auto racing legends, Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones, along with Parnelli’s son, P. J. Jr., and Mario Andretti’s youngest son, Jeff.

Celebrities, reporters and racers will drive identically prepared Toyota Celica GT-S Liftbacks that have been modified to enhance safety and performance but are otherwise identical to the cars sitting in dealers’ showrooms.

Competitors will do 10 laps around the 1.67-mile street course (the same track that the Indy-type cars competing in Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will use) and will compete for a share of the $50,000 prize, which makes the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race one of the richest auto-racing events, in terms of dollars per mile, in the world.