Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race

The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is an annual 10-lap auto race held each April since 1977 as part of the United States Grand Prix West, and later the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend on the street course at Long Beach, California. Since 1991, the event has raised money for "Racing for Kids," a national fund-raising program benefiting children's hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County.

The TPCR pits celebrities against professional racers from various types of motor racing. From its inception until 2005, From 1977 until 2005, the drivers drove showroom stock Toyota Celicas. Since 2006, the Scion tC is the car used in the race. Celebrity contestants range from Hollywood's "A" List elite, to budding young stars and starlets, to professional sports figures, to local Southern California television and radio personalities and selected Toyota dealers. One seat is put up for auction where the high bidder at an auction will also participate the race. Often, a member of the broadcast team for the feature race will race in the event -- Ken Squier, Paul Page, Jack Arute, and Jamie Little (the 2008 winner) have all participated in the race while broadcasting the feature.

All celebrities are given thorough practice, safety, and training sessions before competing, and thus far, no serious injuries have occurred, despite a large number of crashes throughout the years. Several celebrities who have taken part in the TPCR have taken up auto racing as a part-time hobby or as team owners.

The celebrities receive a 30-second head start to begin the race against the professionals and past champions.

Year	Pro Winner	Celebrity Winner
1977	Sam Posey*	Shelley Novak
1978	Gordon Johncock*	James Brolin
1979	Al Unser	Bruce Jenner*
1980	Parnelli Jones*	Gene Hackman
1981	Elio de Angelis	Robert Hays*
1982	Dan Gurney	Bruce Jenner*
1983	Dan Gurney*	Ted Nugent
1984	David Hobbs*	Robert Hays
1985	Al Unser Jr.* [1]	Lorenzo Lamas
1986	Dan Gurney*	Perry King
1987	Juan Manuel Fangio II	Jason Bateman*
1988	Dan Gurney	Paul Moyer* [2]
1989	Parnelli Jones	Rick Schroder*
1990	Bobby Rahal*	Stephen Baldwin (came 2nd overall)
1991	Parnelli Jones	Donny Osmond*
1992	P. J. Jones* [3]	Joe Amato [4]
1993	Eddie Lawson*	Rick Kirkham
1994	Brian Redman	Alfonso Ribeiro*
1995	Rod Millen	Alfonso Ribeiro* [5]
1996	[6]	Grant Show*
1997	Tommy Kendall	Sean Patrick Flanery*
1998	Sean Patrick Flanery*	Andy Lauer
1999	Roger Mears	Shaun Palmer*
2000	Derek Daly	Josh Brolin*
2001	Scott Pruett*	Tom Rudnai [7]
2002	Danica Patrick	Dara Torres*
2003	Jeremy McGrath	Peter Reckell*
2004	Max Papis*	Chris McDonald
2005	Rhys Millen*	Frankie Muniz
2006	Todd Bodine	Bucky Lasek*
2007	Mike Skinner	Dave Mirra*
2008	Mike Skinner	Jamie Little*

* = overall champion

Notes

• ^  Paul Moyer is a news anchor at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles [8]
• ^  After Amato's win, Grand Prix officials required NHRA drag racers to race as professionals.
• ^  Tom Rudnai is general manager of a local Toyota dealership [9]
• ^  For the 20th Anniversary race in 1996, there were no professional drivers.
• ^  After Alfonso Ribeiro won two consecutive races, TGPLB rules required past celebrity winners must race as professionals.
• ^  James (1978) and Josh (2000) Brolin is the only father-son combination to win the celebrity portion of the event. However, Josh had the distinction of being an overall winner, unlike his father.
• ^  The Unsers and the Jones are the only father-son combination to win the Pro portion of the event, with Parnelli Jones winning multiple times.

• Three times, the play-by-play announcer for the main event was in the Pro-Celebrity race -- Paul Page twice (once raced against his own pit reporter, Jack Arute), and Ken Squier in the early years, when it was the United States Grand Prix West.

External links

• All-time statistics at Toyota.com Includes a complete listing of everyone who has ever competed in the event.
• Official TPCR website
• SportsHollywood.com article about the TPCR
• Photos from the 2002 race
• Photos of practice sessions for the 2005 race