MOTOR RACING LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX NOTES : Practice and Qualifying Runs Start Today

As crews began to unload racing cars from colorful transporters Thursday, preparations for the 19th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach appeared to be on schedule. Fifteen grandstands and five Diamond Vision boards were up, awaiting the weekend crowds.

Cars will take to the 1.59-mile street course today in a series of practice and qualifying sessions. Indy cars, focal point of the three-day racing program, will practice at 10:45 a.m. and qualify at 2:15 p.m. A second qualifying session at 11:45 a.m. Saturday will determine the starting grid for Sunday’s 105-lap main event.

Also on the track today will be Trans-Am, Toyota pro-celebrity, Indy Lights and Toyota Atlantic cars.

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The busiest person on the premises might be Dick Simon, former racer turned car owner. He has four entries in the Indy car race and another in Indy Lights.

Simon’s drivers include Scott Brayton, Raul Boesel, Jimmy Vasser and Lyn St. James, the first woman to compete in a Long Beach Grand Prix. Nick Firestone will drive Simon’s Indy Lights car.

Simon, who drove in 177 races without a victory and has yet to take the checkered flag in six years as a car owner, is getting closer. He had two drivers on the podium two weeks ago in Phoenix when Boesel finished second and Vasser third, behind Mario Andretti.

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Robbie Buhl, one of this year’s Indy car rookies, is national spokesman for “Racing for Kids,” a Detroit-based charity that uses motor sports to bring public attention and funding to the health-care needs of children. On Thursday, Buhl and drivers from the pro-celebrity race visited Memorial Miller Children’s Hospital.

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Firestone is the great-grandson of Harvey S. Firestone, the late automobile tire pioneer. His father, the late Peter Firestone, was a widely known off-road racer in the 1970s.

“One thing I like is the name of the race,” Firestone said.

The race is officially the Firestone Indy Lights.