APRIL 3, 2007 - Long Beach, California
This is a big day for our participants as it is often the very first and only time our celebrity drivers will see and practice on the actual race track they will compete on, prior to race weekend. Unlike Willow Springs International Raceway, where the participants learned their performance driving skills, this is a street course surrounded by tall cement walls. During training, if you make a mistake, you drop a few wheels of the racing surface, and the worst thing that happens is you kick up some dust or spin out in the dirt. Long Beach is a whole different story!

The margin of error on a street circuit is very small. You don’t have the luxury of exiting a turn sloppy and “dropping two wheels” off the race track here in Long Beach. The environment is also a lot different. It’s more visually stimulating, with signage, grandstands, walls, fencing, brake markers, etc. As a driver you must work hard to focus and block all of the external distractions. (Track info in detail.)

The last thing the participants will be faced with is what we call a “green” track. No, this doesn’t have anything to do with the environment but does means no rubber has been laid down (which helps a car grip), and the track is still dirty. The surface, after all, is still the city streets of Long Beach and it hasn’t been fully turned into the race track yet. A “green” track is a slippery track, which certainly adds to the difficulty of the day.

From our standpoint, it’s important that the participants learn the track today. The instructors will lead them around to show them the race lines, and we continue to build speed throughout the day. Since it’s Press Day as well, competitors have to tend to media requests in between track sessions and then turn 100% of their focus back to their driving when they’re out on the race track. Since they haven’t been in a race car since training, it’s crucial to build their confidence and prepare them to go racing. Let’s go racing!