When Billy "BJ" Stewart called Dalcorp with an invitation to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro- Celebrity Race, we knew we'd have a good time. But our day in the celebrity pits at Long Beach exceeded our expectations by a bunch! The race raises money for the "Racing for Kids" charity which benefits children's hospitals all over the country. Since 1991, Toyota has donated more than $1.9 million dollars to the program which was originally created to connect children with their favorite celebrities and race car drivers.
The format of the race is simple: celebrities and pro drivers compete in a 10 lap race in equally prepared Toyota Scions. There IS just one catch...the celebrities get a 30 second head start. This year's race saw a lot of good racing and fender banging action (and some wall banging) with celebrity racer/actor William Fichtner coming to the finish line to take the checkers just ahead of pro drifting champion Kenshiro Gushi. One more lap and Mr. Fichtner would have fallen victim Gushi's charge.
Everyone had a great time and raised a lot of money for "Racing for Kids" as well as putting smiles on a bunch of kid's faces! And BJ, thanks for a day we won't soon forget. You're the man!!!
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| Early Friday morning. Billy and his crew have to prep all the Toyotas before the first practice session at 11:00am. |
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| Jillian Barberie-Reynolds with Fox 11 News was there to cover the race, but was also one of the celebrity drivers! |
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| Even with all the work to do, BJ always has a smile on his face. Like he says..."I just like racin'" |
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| Every half hour Jillian would do a live shot from the pits. She was a lot of fun and really has quite a fan following. |
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| We wondered how all that hair was going to fit under her helmet. |
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| The hospitality area was really nice and had a beautiful view. |
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| Food, glorious food!!! |
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| Hangin' with Jill... |
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| Jillian had brought a few helmets to the race and needed some help deciding which one to wear. That's the one, Jill! |
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| BJ and the Toyota gang. They did an awesome job during both the test and qualifying sessions to keep all the cars running well and on the track. |
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| Actor Frankie Munoz of "Malcolm in the Middle" fame won the race in 2005. After that win he focused on a racing career for several years and now competes in the pro category. |
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| UFC Champion Tito Ortiz high fivin' Jillian after an interview. |
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| Some of the boys..left to right, Daniel Goddard, Michael Trucco (Fairly Legal), Djimon Hounsou, Tito Ortiz, and the 2010 celebrity winner, Brian Austin Green. |
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| Actor and eventual winner William Fichtner lookin' focused. |
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| Megyn Price was a lot of fun and enjoyed herself almost as much as Jillian. Megyn is one of the stars of "Rules of Engagement." |
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| Djimon...enough said. |
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| Jillian interviewing the whole gang. Did I mention that Toyota was the sponsor of the race? |
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| One of the pro drivers, USAC sprint car and midget driver Kody Swanson. He was voted the 2010 "Most Improved Driver." |
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| Our good friend Gordon "Lugnutzz" Stewart interviewing driver Kevin Jonas of The Jonas Brothers. We'll have more on Kevin a little later. |
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| Each one of the Toyota crew is assigned a driver to take care during the event. They make any necessary changes to the car, make sure they are correctly belted in and that their safety equipment is in place. |
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| 6 time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz... I thought he'd be bigger. Right. |
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| Here's Brian...and BJ bolting him in. |
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| Oh, we forgot...there were Indy cars there also. |
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| Heading out for practice... |
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| We told you we'd see more of Kevin Jonas. He had a little "brush" with the wall. BJ and his crew had to work fast to get the car back on the track to qualify. |
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| Fastest man all weekend and the eventual pro winner was drifting champion Kenshiro Gushi. |
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| Out of the car, shake out the hair and do a quick interview for Fox 11 News. |
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| Megyn Price and a little more hair shakin'... |
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| BJ and the boys planning their attack on the Jonas car. |
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| The thing that was amazing about the repairs was that they didn't use any new parts. They straightened and used all the original parts. |
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| A bit of a break after a job well done. |
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| Yep, that's the same car, ready to race. Amazing. |
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| ...getting ready to qualify. |
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| After qualifying it was a media frenzy and in the center of it all was Stephen Moyer of "True Blood" fame. He qualified number one and then rolled the car! Number one on the grid and number one on the highlight real!! |
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| Stephen accepting the $15,000.00 pole position money put up by People Magazine and will be donated to the Charity of his choice. |
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| A long day for the Toyota Boys.... |
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| BJ was still smilin' at the end of a very long day. Thanks for everything, Mr. Stewart. You're our #1 celebrity!!! |
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