Keanu Reeves, Adrien Brody to return to Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
Reeves, the star of the "Matrix" trilogy who won last year's celebrity race, and other celebs will compete with the pros on April 17.
Also returning is Academy Award winner Brody, who will compete in the celebrity race with comedian Adam Carolla, singer Jesse McCartney and actors Anthony Anderson, Brian Austin Green, Patrick Warburton, Tika Sumpter and Zachary Levi. They will head to Willow Springs Raceway this month for four days of professional driver's training at Fast Lane Racing School.
Competing with Reeves in the Pro category are 1996 CART Champion for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing Jimmy Vasser, a current IRL team owner; STILLEN founder Steve Millen, a Toyota MTEG Champion (1986 and 1988) and IMSA GT Champion (1992 and 1994); Formula Drift champion and X Games Rally Gold Medalist Tanner Foust, and Olympic gold medalist and professional road bicycle racer and track cyclist Marty Nothstein.
The charity race, which takes place during the 36th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend April 16-18, has drawn stars such as Cameron Diaz, Clint Eastwood, John Elway, Gene Hackman, Ashley Judd and George Lucas and pro drivers Parnelli Jones and Danica Patrick, who is expected to return to the Grand Prix this year.
Toyota – which has donated more than $1.8 million to various children's hospitals since 1991 – will give $5,000 in each celebrity racer's name to Racing for Kids, a national nonprofit benefiting children's hospitals in Long Beach and Orange County. Toyota will give another $5,000 to the winning racer's charity of choice.
"As the crown jewel of celebrity race events for more than three decades, the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race continues to attract the most adventurous celebrities and professional racers," said Les Unger, Toyota's national motorsports manager. "Throughout the history of this event we've managed to transform our favorite celebrities into high-speed racers, while also changing the lives of children in need."
Also in the charity race are Chris Ashworth, vice president and partner of Toyota of North Hollywood, and charity auction winners Jerry Westlund and Dave Pasant.