Josh Brolin wins Pro Celebrity Event

Mike Harris

Sunday, April 16, 2000 | 2:59 a.m.

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Actor Josh Brolin led from start to finish Saturday in the Toyota Pro Celebrity Race 2000.

Brolin won the pole in qualifying Friday and Don Simons, who got into the event as the high bidder in a charity auction, took the other front starting spot. As the two leaders neared the first turn, a sharp right-hander, Simons slid sideways, losing momentum and Brolin pulled away.

The leader was never challenged through the rest of the 10-lap race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn downtown street circuit.

Joshua Morrow, a soap opera star, finished second, about 10 car-lengths behind and just ahead of Simons.

The top finishing professional, making up most of a 30-second starting handicap, was former Formula One and CART driver Derek Daly, who finished fourth and was on the same straightaway with the leaders when the race ended.

Close behind Daly were fellow pros Shaun Palmer, an Extreme sports star and last year's race winner, and baseball Hall of Famer Robin Yount.

Other entries in the race, with everyone driving identically prepared Toyota Celica Liftbacks, were former pro quarterback John Elway, movie producer George Lucas, actresses Ashley Judd, Melissa Joan Hart and Allison Hannigan, male model Rod Brewster, Los Angeles TV meteorologist Dallas Raines, professional driver Lyn St. James, "Autoweek" editor and associate publisher Dutch Mandel, Toyota dealer Cliff Cummings and Jon Shirley, another charity auction high-bidder.

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TEACHING PRO: Willy T. Ribbs was deeply affected when pro basketball player Bobby Phills was killed in an auto accident in January. Investigators said Phills was racing with a Charlotte Hornets teammate and driving over 100 mph when he lost control of his Porsche and slid into a car coming the other way.

Ribbs, a professional race driver for 17 years and currently racing in the Trans-Am series, is hoping to keep that kind of tragedy from happening.

The onetime Indy-car driver is teaming with the Derek Daly Driving Academy in Las Vegas to set up a driving program for professional athletes.

"A lot of professional athletes drive sports car, but they don't know how to control them," Ribbs said. "I just don't want to see anybody get hurt or die like the way Bobby Phills did."

Ribbs, 44, said former NFL players Ronnie Lott and Gene Upshaw, who are friends of his, suggested the program before Phills died.

"Unfortunately for us, it took somebody to die to come up with it," Ribbs said. "My job now is to teach these boys how to ride."

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BLOCKING OUT: Among the many celebrities on hand for the race weekend in Long Beach is movie star Sylvester Stallone. But, unlike most of the famous folk, Stallone is working.

The star of the Rocky and Rambo movies is directing a film crew that is collecting footage for "Champs," a movie about Champ Car racing that is tentatively due out mid-2001.

Not everybody was pleased to see "Sly" and his crew, though.

"They're getting in everybody's way, and they don't care at all," said one photographer, who asked not to be identified.

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SPARK PLUGS: With the new track length of 1.968 miles, Sunday's race is scheduled to go 82 laps, which translates to 161.376 miles. ... With the departure of six-time Long Beach champion Al Unser Jr. to the rival IRL series, the only former race winners entered are Michael Andretti (1986), Paul Tracy (1993), Jimmy Vasser (1996) and Juan Montoya (1999). ... The 25-car field for Sunday's race includes drivers from 12 countries.