For four days, stars like Reeves and Adrien Brody made the early-morning trek out to the westernmost desert valley of the Mojave Desert to get a crash course in basic racing from Fast Lane Racing School pro instructor Danny McKeever. They will compete in the 33rd annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on April 18 in downtown Long Beach.
This year’s pro/celebrity race for charity boasts a field of 18 racers that include actors Eric Close, Tim Daly and Mary Lynn Rajskub, “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, comedian Carlos Mencia, pro skateboarder Danny Way and MTV’s “From G’s to Gents” host Fonzworth Bentley. They will race in the celebrity category.
Next month, they will be zipping 10 laps around Long Beach’s 11-turn, 1.97-mile street course in suped-up Scion tC Sports Coupes.
But before getting to
Raven-Symone did not expect it to be so technical.
“I expected it to be ‘OK, press the gas and go,’ but there’s geometry and thought behind it and you have to actually think,” she said.
Close, who plays FBI agent Martin Fitzgerald on CBS’s “Without a Trace,” said he’s raced before but nothing like this.
“This is a whole new ballgame, and every day I’m learning something new and realizing how bad I am at this and how much I’ve got to learn still,” he said.
Watch the flags
They reviewed course procedures and race flags alerting them of what’s happening on the track.For example, a yellow and red striped flag means there’s oil, water or debris on the track. A black flag with an orange circle means something is wrong with the car and tells the driver to come into the pits for inspection.
Trebek quickly discovered what kind of driver he is on the track.
“I mean, I get nervous if I’m going 70 on the I-5 ... and somebody pulls up on my rear bumper, I’m going to start wondering ‘What’s going on?”’ he said. “Here, it’s the same thing. Is he going to pass? What is he going to do? Is he just waiting for me to make a mistake?”
The way to a win
“I don’t want anyone to win but me,” joked Raven-Symone. “Actually, I’m coming for Adrien Brody. He looks race car-ish and I’m coming for him. Keanu Reeves, OK, yeah, you can unplug yourself and like, teleport yourself there. But this is not a game. This is serious.”
“Al Unser Jr. once said to me ... ‘First you have to finish before you finish first,” Daly said. “So, I would like to finish. I would like to get all laps in. That would be my main goal. And to have fun.”
| 
|