LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX : NOTES : Ribiero Steals Scene in Pro-Celebrity Race

Brian Redman certainly made it interesting, but could an old-time pro beat a young charger?

Not Saturday in the pro-celebrity race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Luckily for Alfonso Ribiero, though, the race went only 10 laps. Two more and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” co-star would have learned what it’s like to run second in a car race.

As it was, he led wire to wire, beating out fellow actor-celebrity Sean Astin. Redman, one of four pro drivers who started 30 seconds after the 13 celebrities, finished third but had the leaders in sight at the finish. All competitors drove similarly prepared Toyota Celicas.

Juan Manuel Fangio II, a still-active pro driver who taught the celebs at an impromptu clinic after smoking them in Friday’s qualifying session, never was a factor after suffering an early flat tire.

Ribiero might have had a tougher race had actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar not been caught in an accident while running a strong second.

“It was unfortunate for Mark-Paul--someone came along and wiped him out,” Ribiero said. “That happened behind me and kind of stretched out the field. That was the thing that gave me an opportunity to run by myself.”

Even so, Ribiero managed to startle himself.

“One time, coming out of Turn 4, I almost caught the wall,” he said. “That was scary. I’m running all by myself and almost crash. That would have been pretty stupid.”

Finishing behind Redman were drag racer Cruz Pedregon and former Raider quarterback Ken Stabler.

Clay Regazzoni, who won the Long Beach Grand Prix when it was a Formula One race in 1976 and was left a paraplegic after a crash here in 1980, had car problems and finished far behind the leaders.

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David Donohue of Malvern, Pa., son of the late Indianapolis 500 champion Mark Donohue, scored his first professional victory in the other race, the Supercar event for sedans.

Donohue, driving a BMW M-5 and chasing a leading Shawn Hendricks in a Nissan 300, caught him late in the race at the hairpin leading into the main straight. Caught him and drove right into him, in fact.

“All I really intended to do was stay in his mirrors a little bit, keep him looking behind him,” Donohue said. “It must have been a dirty track or something because my car just didn’t stop. I punched him in the rear end and spun him, completely unintentionally.”

Donohue continued while Hendricks, of Piedmont, S.C., was busy pointing his car in the right direction.

“I was pretty hot at the time,” Hendricks said. “But David was back there and he was able to come off the corners a lot better than I was. I just wasn’t expecting him to close that fast.”

Peter Farrell of Manassas, Va., was third in a Mazda RX-7.

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Redman--who won the first Grand Prix of Long Beach, a Formula 5000 race in 1975--said he hardly recognized the place.

“The course is really completely different,” he said. “Parts of the main straight are the same, but that’s all. You’re busy racing and all, but it struck me how it’s all changed so. It’s not just the layout of the track but the skyline, the beautiful buildings. Before, it was all old-peoples’ homes.”

Once warmed up, Redman couldn’t help but deliver an old-timer’s history lesson.

“You look at the (team) transporters today,” he said. “Twenty years ago, people brought (the race cars) in the back of pickup trucks and we had a crew of three.

“I was born 30 years too soon. (In his day), there was no money in racing. You earned $1,000 a race. And the cars were dangerous. Either they caught fire all the time or were crashing all the time or were breaking all the time.

“Today, there’s a lot of money--and it’s not particularly dangerous.”

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Is Danny Sullivan one of your favorite drivers? Eddie Cheever? Scott Brayton?

Don’t look for them here this weekend. All three have lost their rides and are not running the Indy car circuit this season.

Other prominent drivers not competing here this weekend include cousins Jeff and John Andretti, Roberto Guerrero and Lyn St. James.