{"id":604,"date":"2016-03-10T20:42:48","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T02:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=604"},"modified":"2016-03-10T20:42:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T02:42:48","slug":"toyota-procelebrity-race-hits-the-streets-of-long-beach-for-40th-and-final-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/03\/10\/toyota-procelebrity-race-hits-the-streets-of-long-beach-for-40th-and-final-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota Pro\/Celebrity race hits the streets of Long Beach for 40th and final time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Courtesy of Toyota Racing<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Grand Prix Association of Long Beach and Toyota announced actors Stephen Baldwin, Frankie Muniz, Brian Austin Green and last year\u2019s overall winner, Alfonso Ribeiro, are among the 21 participants from film, television and sports, who will return to compete in the 40th Anniversary of the Toyota Pro\/Celebrity Race.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"605\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/03\/10\/toyota-procelebrity-race-hits-the-streets-of-long-beach-for-40th-and-final-time\/image002\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/image002.jpg?fit=294%2C208\" data-orig-size=\"294,208\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image002\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/image002.jpg?fit=294%2C208\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-605\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/image002.jpg?resize=294%2C208\" alt=\"image002\" width=\"294\" height=\"208\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This announcement heralds the 40<sup>th <\/sup>and final edition of the longest-running corporate-sponsored charity race in the U.S.A., which will take place April 16 on the 1.97-mile street course in downtown Long Beach, Calif., as part of the 42<sup>nd<\/sup> Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt Toyota, we wanted to do something unique for this final race,\u201d said Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing, performance and guest experience for Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A. \u201cBy hosting a field comprised mostly of past Toyota Pro\/Celebrity winners, we anticipate this to be the most competitive race in the event\u2019s history with a diverse field of celebrity and professional drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This unique field of past Toyota Pro, Celebrity and Overall winners will once again take to the streets in 210-horsepower Scion FR-S race-prepped cars, navigating high speeds and demanding turns to benefit \u201cRacing For Kids,\u201d a charitable organization supporting children\u2019s hospitals throughout the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The announced field of intensely competitive personalities who will duke it out for the final trophy and bragging rights, includes, in order of their first win in the Toyota Pro\/Celebrity Race and the years they participated in the race:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Al Unser, Jr<\/strong>.\u00a0(@AlUnserJr) 1985, 2009 and 2014<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pro\/ Overall winner in 1985, 2009, Pro winner in 2014. Dubbed \u201cKing of the Beach,\u201d as the winningest driver in Long Beach, with six Indy Car wins and three Pro\/Celebrity wins. Also a 2-time Indy 500 winner, and 2-time IndyCar Champion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ricky Schroder <\/strong>1989 and 1996<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity\/ Overall winner in 1989. Most recently starred in \u201cDolly Parton\u2019s Coat of Many Colors.\u201d Golden Globe winning actor best-known for roles in \u201cSilver Spoons,\u201d \u201cNYPD Blue\u201d and \u201cGet Him to the Greek.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Stephen Baldwin\u00a0<\/strong>(@StephenBaldwin7)1990<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity winner in 1990. He has starred in film, television and radio. Best-known for his roles in \u201cThe Usual Suspects\u201d and \u201cThe Flinstones in Viva Rock Vegas.\u201d He also appeared on \u201cCelebrity Apprentice\u201d and \u201cCelebrity Fear Factor.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Eddie Lawson\u00a0<\/strong>1993<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pro\/ Overall winner in 1993. Motorcycle Hall of Famer and four-time 500cc World Champion. He also\u00a0earned back-to-back AMA 250 Grand Prix Series, AMA Superbike Series Championships,\u00a0won the prestigious Suzuka\u00a08 Hour race, and was a two-time winner of the Daytona 200.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Alfonso Ribeiro <\/strong>(@Alfonso_Ribeiro) 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2015<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity\/ Overall winner in 1994 &amp; 1995, Pro\/ Overall winner in 2015. Currently the host of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Funniest Home Videos\u201d on ABC and \u201cUnwrapped 2.0\u201d on the Cooking Channel. Known for his iconic role of Carlton on \u201cFresh Prince of Bel-Air\u201d and in 2014, he took home the coveted Mirror Ball trophy on \u201cDancing With the Stars.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rod Millen <\/strong>(@LeadFootNZ) 1992 and 1995<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pro winner in 1995. Winner of three-consecutive Grand National Sport Truck titles, 5-time Toyota Pikes Peak Unlimited class winner, and 3-time Toyota off-road stadium truck champion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Dara Torres <\/strong>(@DaraTorres) 2002, 2004 and 2015<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity\/ Overall winner in 2002. 12-time Olympic medalist swimmer, who was named as one of the \u201cTop Female Athletes of the Decade\u201d by Sports Illustrated. In 2002, she was the first woman to win the Toyota Pro\/Celebrity race.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Max Papis <\/strong>(@MaxPapis) 2004<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pro\/ Overall winner in 2004. \u201cMad Max,\u201d a stock car race driver has competed in many top-level motorsports events including the Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Chris McDonald <\/strong>(@YesItsChrisMcD) 2001, 2004 and 2005<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity winner in 2004. Currently co-starring in HBO\u2019s \u201cBallers,\u201d after a stint on CBS\u2019s \u201cThe Good Wife.\u201d He has starred in over 100 movies, but is best-known for playing \u2018Shooter McGavin\u2019 in \u201cHappy Gilmore.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Frankie Muniz <\/strong>(@FrankieMuniz)2004, 2005, 2006 and 2011<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity winner in 2005. Starred in \u201cSharknado: Heart of Sharkness,\u201d and best-known for his role in \u201cMalcolm in the Middle.\u201d His diverse resume also includes race car driver, drummer of pop-rock group\u2019s Kingsfoil, and Ambassador for the Armed Forces Foundation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mike Skinner <\/strong>(@SkinnerRoundUp)2007 and 2008<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pro winner in 2007 &amp; 2008. 1995 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion, and the 1997 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year. He has competed in over 550 races in NASCAR\u2019s top three divisions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Doug Fregin <\/strong>2009, 2012 and 2014<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Charity auction winner in 2009, 2012 &amp; 2014. He has donated over $320,000 to \u201cRacing For Kids.\u201d Co-Founder of Research in Motion (now Blackberry) and Quantum Valley Investments Fund.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Brian Austin Green\u00a0<\/strong>1997, 2010 and 2011<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity winner in 2010. An actor, director, and producer, who came to fame on \u201cBeverly Hills, 90210,\u201d recently starred on \u201cAnger Management\u201d on FX. He\u2019s also known for roles in \u201cDesperate Housewives,\u201d \u201cSmallville\u201d and \u201cLas Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jimmy Vasser <\/strong>(@JimmyVasser) 2010<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pro\/ Overall winner in 2010. Former Toyota Atlantic Series and IndyCar driver. 1996 IndyCar World Series Champion. He is an IndyCar team owner, and owns three Toyota dealerships.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ken Gushi <\/strong>(@KenGushi) 2011<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pro winner in 2011. He was once the youngest, most successful drift competitor in Japan, and in the U.S. With numerous Top 3 finishes in national and international drifting competitions, his racing career has just begun.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>William Fichtner <\/strong>2006, 2008, 2011 and 2012<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity\/ Overall winner in 2011. A television, theater and film star, he will be seen in the June releases of \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows\u201d and \u201cIndependence Day: Resurgence.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Adam Carolla <\/strong>(@AdamCarolla) 2003, 2010, 2012 and 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity\/ Overall winner in 2012, Pro winner in 2013.\u00a0 He is best known as a comedian, actor, radio personality, television host and New York Times bestselling author.\u00a0 He can be heard daily on his podcast \u201cThe Adam Carolla Show.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rutledge Wood <\/strong>(@RutledgeWood) 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity\/ Overall winner in 2013. A NASCAR analyst for NBC Sports, he can also be seen in History Channel\u2019s \u201cLost In Transmission,\u201d and as co-host of \u201cTop Gear USA\u201d which just finished filming its sixth season.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Brett Davern <\/strong>(@BDavv) 2013, 2014 and 2015<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity\/ Overall winner in 2014. Actor who stars as \u2018Jake Rosati\u2019 in MTV&#8217;s hit series \u201cAwkward.\u201d He recently appeared in the Beach Boys bio-pic \u201cLove &amp; Mercy\u201d and \u201cThe Stanford Prison Experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Dave Pasant <\/strong>2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2013 and 2015<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Celebrity winner in 2015, and 7-time charity auction winner. A retired insurance executive, he has participated in this race six times, donating a total of $417,000 to \u201cRacing For Kids.\u201d He is also an executive producer of \u201cRoad Hard,\u201d starring Adam Carolla.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bob Carter<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Carter is the Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis should be a thrilling race with so many of the participants past winners here at Long Beach,\u201d Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach said. \u201cIt will be interesting to see who best recalls the racing technique that will enable them to once again stand on top of the podium.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since 1991, Toyota has donated more than $2.3 million to the \u201cRacing for Kids\u201d organization on behalf of this race and its participants.<\/p>\n<p>Fans can follow the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Facebook at GrandPrixLB, Twitter @ToyotaGPLB (#TPCR40) and Instagram at ToyotaGPLB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy of Toyota Racing LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Grand Prix Association of Long Beach and Toyota announced actors Stephen Baldwin, Frankie Muniz, Brian Austin Green and last year\u2019s overall winner, Alfonso Ribeiro, are among the 21 participants from film, television and sports, who will return to compete in the 40th Anniversary of the Toyota Pro\/Celebrity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[91,7],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motorsports","tag-grand-prix-association-of-long-beach","tag-motorsports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/image002.jpg?fit=294%2C208","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-9K","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}