FAST LANE Driving School 888-948-4888, Willow Springs-California


Marty Nothstein charged hard in turn 10, passing Serena Traver and Raymond Cruz heading into the haipin.	Wilmer Valderrama got an excellent start in the Celebrity division, passing several cars off the start.

RACE WEEKEND 2008

Danny McKeever, Sr. One of the greatest reminders of why we participate in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race each year happens far away from the track, before the nail-biting and excitement begins. On Thursday of race weekend, out of the glare of the media spotlight, we visit a local children’s hospital, and the smiles on those kids’ faces – as well as the drivers – are priceless.

In previous years, on the same day we visit the kids, all participants and instructors would ‘walk’ the track, corner by corner, to visualize and re-learn the circuit. This year, and for the first time ever, there was on-track activity on Thursday, so it was more chaotic than usual and we were unable to do so. That night, however, we held our first drivers’ meeting to launch the race weekend and did our best without the benefit of the ‘walk.’

The next day, the first thing I noticed was that this race has become quite the mental challenge both on and off the track, and the ‘trash talk’ started almost from the get-go! I heard the drivers trying to get into each other’s heads, which turns the heat up on the competition. During the first (and only) practice session, an instructor rode in each car with John Salley, Nancy Lieberman and Raymond Cruz to give them as much help as possible because they hadn’t been able to attend Press/Practice Day due to various professional obligations.

During her practice run, Nancy kissed the tire wall coming out of Turn 8 just before the back straight, which meant the instructor really earned his keep since he was riding! I saw Mike Skinner towing some drivers out there during practice, leading them around and trying to set the pace, which is great for the other competitors as it allows them to run good, fast laps. I saw Daniel Goddard enter Turn 1 way too fast, but he had the presence of mind to use the run-off to turn around and re-enter the race track undamaged instead of hitting the wall – that was great! Unfortunately, Brad Lewis smacked the tire wall pretty good going into Turn 9, but luckily he was not hurt. He simply lost focus for one split second and lost reference of his braking point.

Since Brad was the one who hit the tire wall, it was quite a surprise to see him pull it all together in the qualifying session to grab pole. (In all fairness, he was one of many who could have done it, because the field was soooo tight.) He overcame the incident in practice and showed great confidence and smoothness out on the racetrack. Qualifying always comes down to running 'your best lap' and many were running up front, but Brad was the one who nailed it. Jamie Little showed discipline behind the wheel and landed a starting spot in the front row (outside). Right behind them was William Fichtner, to round out a deserving top three.

Come race day, I can honestly say I hadn’t seen a race this good in a very long time. Brad Lewis took the lead off the start and led the pack through the first turn safely. Wilmer Valderrama got an excellent start as well, passing several cars before Turn 1. Jamie Little didn’t get the best start, but instead of getting frustrated, she rose to the challenge and strategically worked her way back to the front. After moving behind Lewis, she saw he had such a big lead that she wasn’t sure she could catch him. But as luck would have it – good luck for Jamie, not so good for Nancy Leiberman – a tow truck was sent onto the track to fetch the Basketball Hall of Famer’s car out of Turn 3 with only two laps to go – and out came the yellow caution flags, which bunched up the pack.

By this point, Mike Skinner had overcome the Pros’ :30-second handicap and had worked his way through the field of celebrity drivers. He was following Little and Lewis, and seeing that they were battling it out hard for the win, instead of passing them, he stayed back to let them race.

Meanwhile, with Little on his tail and one lap to go, Lewis once again lost sight of his braking point in Turn 9 – the exact spot he had his incident in practice – and slammed into the tire barrier. This opened it up for Little and Skinner to go by. Coming out of the hairpin, Skinner made a move, but Little gave it her all and was able to hold off the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Champion to emerge the overall victor in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. The fans loved it, and for the second time in the 30-plus years of this race, a female participant won it!

Yes, it really was an exciting, clean race. Don’t miss it when it airs on Speed Channel in May…

See you next year in Downtown Long Beach!

Unlike training this year, we had amazing weather in downtown Long Beach for this year’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Press/Practice Day. Now, this is by far a nerve-racking day for me and the FAST LANE instructors. After four days of training in the relative seclusion and the wide open spaces of the desert, at a track with nothing whatsoever to run into, we introduce them to the streets – or, more to the point, the walls of the Long Beach street circuit. It’s been a month since the participants have been in a racecar, and it can be somewhat overwhelming to have such a dramatic change in racetracks.

So, where do they all stand? How did they do with their technique? How well did they adapt to their new surroundings? They did a stellar job! Not one scratch on any of their race-modified Scion tCs. I think they are ready to go racing!

How about that Beccy Gordon? She came with almost no pavement experience and is doing quite well. The thing that surprises us most is her aggressive competitive nature. She’s tall, blond and unassuming and will get behind the wheel of her Scion tC and tear up the track. A natural talent, Beccy is having a good time and is very relaxed behind the wheel.

One of our valued charity auction winners, Serena Traver, is someone who has a great competitive spirit and has been a pleasure to work with. Her vision is great and she’s aggressive out on the racetrack. With a little work on her downshifts, she will be a threat on race day.

It’s no secret that Marty Nothstein is an Olympic Medalist, and he is applying that athleticism and competiveness to the race track. Marty is a quick learner with an aggressive attitude. He knows how to watch his competitors and find a hole to pass and he was up to speed on Press/Practice Day with no issues. He’s still tempted to turn in too early, but if he can be patient on race day, he’ll do great.

Tony Pedregon may drive in a straight line for a living, but he adapted to turning right and left on the road course rather quickly. He is very teachable and wants any and all information he can get – it’s very obvious why he is so successful. By Press/Practice Day, he started to get a good handle on visual references on the race track to get his timing and braking points down.

And, our final “Pro” competitor is Whit Bazemore, who was also on the NHRA circuit as a successful drag racer. Again, a true competitor and fierce out on the race track. If he can improve his heel/toe downshifts to get a smooth and efficient entry into the corners, Whit will give the other pros a run for their money.

Now, on to the Celebrity Racers… Prison Break’s William Fichtner is a strong contender. He is intense and focused behind the wheel and the fact that he has competed in this event before surely contributes to his confidence. He is not intimidated by the walls, and he uses up every inch of the race track. He can still improve his heel/toe technique, but nonetheless, he’ll be up there.

Toyota dealer Bud Gordon, who has also participated in this event before, will be a strong contender. He just gets behind the wheel and “gets it”. His super smooth style will bode well for him in the race, but he still has room to push it. He has a tendency to be careful and the walls seem to intimidate him a little. It’s there - he has it - but he’ll have to put his best foot forward to run up front.

Jamie Little understands racing because that’s what she does for a living as a race commentator. Usually, that doesn’t automatically mean that she would be a great driver, but in her case, it did. Jamie is a very solid driver. She is excellent in traffic, which is a big advantage in a group of drivers who have no racing experience. Her only downfall will be if she pushes too hard and starts to make mistakes. If she keeps it under control, she will be a strong contender.

Brad Lewis is another solid driver, one who can find the fast line around the race track with minimal effort. His motorcycle experience has proved worthy out there and his technique is very good. Every session he improves, and if he can focus on coming out of the hairpin better, he’ll have great lap times.

Daniel Goddard sure has made a lot of progress since the day he started training, and he can turn very fast lap times on the race track. He does a brilliant job when he is following an instructor or another competitor. His downfall is when he has no frame of reference on the track and isn’t running behind anyone. He needs to focus and trust himself out there, and he’ll do just fine.

Craig Barto is still smiling all the time and doing well on the racetrack too. He continues to be a proficient driver and comes off the hairpin - probably the most crucial corner at Long Beach - very well. He needs to carry a little more speed through the corners to help his lap times, which we’ll hopefully see during race weekend.

NFL star, Eric Dickerson, is one smooth driver who has a natural feel for the proper race line. However, he struggles with braking, and often chooses a very conservative braking point. If he is able to fix this, he will do a much better job with his corner entry speed. He also needs to race his own laps and not worry about what the other drivers are doing. Eric has made incredible strides since his first day and is a competitive athlete, so I’m not worried… he’ll put it all together.

Drew Lachey came out of training on top and he certainly has the ability to run up at the front on race weekend. Just like Jamie, his only issue is trying to run too hard and too fast and then he starts making mistakes. Overdriving the cars will only slow you down – it requires discipline behind the wheel. Drew knows this and if he can run good solid laps, stay focused, and not push too hard, he will maintain his front-running status.

That 70’s Show star, Wilmer Valderrama, continues to be our most improved driver. From the beginning, he struggled with shifting, but he has really nailed that down. He needs to look “further ahead” out on the race track, but has really gained a lot of speed out there and speed is definitely not an issue! He will just need to make sure his technique is buttoned up to do well in the race.

I am very proud of all of our students in this year’s running of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race. Collectively, they are a very very strong group (and, no, I don’t say that EVERY year). Some started with steeper learning curves than others did, but they all stepped up to the challenge today and there are no weak links. It will be a great race to watch!

Despite the 50 mph high winds, we made it through Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race training with flying colors this week. It was a breeze, since we had only two students. That means next week, we better have our game on because we are going to have a full house. With all the rain we've had, the normally brown dusty hills of the Willow Springs desert are green this year and make for a perfect backdrop to go racing!

Our first student was Craig Barto, one of the two charity winners. What a great guy… a successful family man, who just seems to enjoy life. He has had minimal vintage racing experience which flattened his learning curve a bit. Out on the racetrack, he didn’t make any huge mistakes, but he will need to work on his braking and downshifting techniques to get his lap times down.

Tony Pedregon, NHRA drag racing champion, was our second student of the day. I’m glad we really got some good one-on-one time with him. Tony is a competitor who understands the mental aspects of motorsports. Okay, so the fact that he does a ¼ mile drag strip in four or five seconds is very different from road racing, he still was able to pick up the concept quickly. Any input we gave him on technique, he would immediately apply… he just “got it.” After the weekend, he still needs a little fine tuning, but he’s ready to go.

The winds did not give us a break at all in the desert for the second week of driver’s training; in fact, it was windy and freezing-cold on top of that. Despite the weather, the participants were troopers and got down to business.

As a collective group, they did very well, and should be quite fierce come Race Day. Here’s a run down of how the students did. Let’s start with one of our returning participants, Bill Fichtner, who is no stranger to this event. After seeing him run, it’s pretty obvious he had no problem picking up where he left off. He was up to speed and running with the best of them. We’ll continue to fine tune his braking and shifting and he’s good to go.

If I didn’t know who this person was before training, I certainly knew of his movies because of my grandkids! He is responsible for “Ratatouille,” just to name one, and Brad Lewis made a lot of progress throughout the weekend. Apparently, he has raced motorcycles, which may have helped him put everything together out on the racetrack. Regardless of how he did on the track, he ALWAYS had a big smile on his face.

Daniel Goddard, our resident soap star, came to training with huge enthusiasm and excitement to do well. He almost wanted to do too well, so we worked with him on understanding the concept of slowing down to “go faster.” His competitive nature makes for a fast driver, but he will have to show some serious discipline behind the wheel. He made a lot of progress throughout the weekend.

Our most-improved driver for the weekend definitely goes to Wilmer Valderrama, one of the coolest guys out there! In the beginning, he struggled with the concepts, as he wanted to overanalyze everything. With patience, a good attitude and plenty of seat time, he made great strides throughout the weekend. There is a lot to think about when you are driving at top-speeds and sometimes it takes a bit to put it all together. With Wilmer, it finally all clicked.

Jamie Little could be our sleeper. Technically, she has no ‘experience’, but the fact that she spends her life around the racetrack day in and day out cannot be ignored. She adapted extremely well behind the wheel and has a great competitive spirit. Her discipline in the car is solid and she already understands the art of racing and managed to pull off some impressive passes at the end of training.

On his first day of training, Drew Lachey introduced himself as the “first midget” who will ever win the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, but, joking aside, let me tell you, this is a serious contender. He has this natural ability to adapt to what you teach him, and adapt quickly. We all saw him win “Dancing with the Stars,” and now I understand why -- because he listens to what you’re telling him, he processes it, he’s competitive and he just gets it. By the end of the weekend, he was running strong. He just needs to “drive clean” once we get to Long Beach.

Eric Dickerson… an amazing athlete and a great guy. He did struggle a bit in the beginning, but as the true competitive athlete that he is, he started to improve greatly as time went on. He was receptive to the input we gave him and with each day his technique improved. Rumor has it that he was mad at his cohort, Steve Hartman (who made a brief visit on Saturday), for talking him into doing the race, but I don’t think that’s still the case.

The repeat offender – I mean contender – John Salley, is making his second consecutive appearance in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. We all love John as he truly provides the comic relief for the event. As far as his driving goes, he’s not all talk; he does back it up. We’ve seen improvement this year, although he can sometimes overdrive the car. When he gets behind the wheel and focuses on the task at hand, he can and will run smooth and fast.

Although Nancy Lieberman can pick up a basketball and spin it, roll it and toss it around like a Harlem Globetrotter, driving a race car did not come easy. That said, she is an amazing and unassuming athlete and applied her competitive spirit to this task. Dissecting every piece of information we gave her, Nancy fought hard to put it all together. By Sunday, it clicked and she was running strong.

Raymond Cruz came out and really took us by surprise. He was a little rough around the edges in the beginning, almost like he was fast but didn’t know why. That can sometimes be dangerous, but he pulled it together, smoothed it out and did very well. If he can keep it off the walls at Long Beach – look out!

Marty Nothstein, an Olympic Champion, is a true natural talent. His technique was impressive in the car, and he was fast and smooth and extremely competitive. His downfall will be when the other drivers take to the racetrack. He needs to keep his focus and not allow other drivers to upset his rhythm on the track. If he doesn’t stay focused, he’ll start to make mistakes. If he does, he’ll definitely be the one to watch.

Beccy Gordon has been around racing all of her life and it shows. She can walk the walk and talk the talk, and you better believe she can back it up on the racetrack. Her background is off-road, so we worked with her to change her driving style from off-road to ‘on-road’. Once she stopped trying to pitch the car into the corners, she did just fine. I wouldn’t bet against Beccy.

Sarena Traver, our second charity winner, has previous racing experience; therefore she will run in the Pro Division. A fashion jewelry designer by trade, Serena is certainly no slouch on the racetrack. Her experience is with different types of race cars, so in the beginning, she tended to overdrive the car. Throughout the weekend, she adapted to the Scion very nicely and ran good solid laps. It will be fun to watch the female pros beat on the men!

Whit Bazemore can put the pedal to the metal in a quarter mile drag strip, but can he find his way around a road course? The answer? YES! He had very little trouble adapting to the right and left turns of a road course and impressed all of us with the way he handled himself in this different racing discipline. He mixed it up with the best of the best.

Despite freezing our butts off, we all had a great weekend. My favorite part of the weekend is always watching the friendships and bonding that occurs off the racetrack, and this group did not disappoint.