Celebs prepare for final Toyota Pro/Celebrity race in Long Beach

LONG BEACH >> If the 40th aual Toyota Pro/Celebrity race on April 15 is indeed the final time the race is to be run in Long Beach, at least the well-loved tradition will be going out with a bang. Nineteen of the 21 drivers are former champions, making it both the largest and the most talented field in the race’s history.

“It’s easily the greatest field ever assembled for the Pro/Celebrity race,” said Steve Hartman, the emcee at Tuesday afteoon’s luncheon, which was sandwiched between two practice sessions for the drivers.

• Photos: See photos from today’s celebrity practice

Usually about half the field for the race consists of racers who are just looking to finish with their cars in one piece. With so many champions on the track this year, that’s not the case.

“Usually there’s a big spread of times, but when we practiced this year, there was only 11/2 seconds between first place and last place,” said Brett Dave, who won the race in 2014. “It’ll be a fast race, I know that.”

The favorite on the celebrity side will be Alfonso Ribeiro, best known for his longtime role as Carlton on “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” This will be his fifth time in the race, with wins in 1994, 1995 and last year when he won the Pro category as well as the overall race.

Like most of the drivers, Ribeiro expressed regret that the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race won’t be continuing.

“I’m really bummed; it’s a staple,” he said. “We love being here, I look forward to it every year, even when I wasn’t racing in it. I always looked out for what happened.”

Dave, Ribeiro and several other drivers also expressed regret that the event would no longer be able to support Racing For Kids, a charity for children’s hospitals nationwide. The Pro/Celebrity race has given more than $2.3 million to the charity over the past 24 years.

The field is packed full of big names, none bigger than Al Unser Jr., the “King of the Beach,” who has won the IndyCar race six times and the Pro/Celebrity race three times, making him the man who’s taken the most checkered flags in Long Beach.

When he was introduced at the luncheon, Unser Jr. received a standing ovation from the other drivers and assembled media members.

Stephen Baldwin, Sean Patrick Flanery, Dara Torres, Frankie Muniz, Adam Carolla, Rutledge Wood and others will also be retuing.

Advertisement

Most of the drivers agreed that this year’s race will be a lot more competitive but also said that with that competitiveness comes experience that should keep the packed field from bouncing off the walls.

“Every driver out there knows what they’re doing; I think we’re going to see some real racing and some clean racing,” Ribeiro said.

Not all drivers expect to see a cordial field, however.

“Well, this is the last race so they don’t need these cars next year, right?” Dave asked.

While the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is set to sunset as Toyota moves its North American headquarters from Torrance to Plano, Texas, the company will continue to be the name sponsor of the Grand Prix of Long Beach under a multiyear deal through 2017.