By snoadmin
LONG BEACH – “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas must have felt a tremor in the Force after seeing a piece of his car fly off on the Auto Club Hairpin in his seventh lap of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Pro/Celebrity race Saturday morning.
But after crashing into Annamarie Dean, a mother from Long Beach who won a charity auction to participate in the race, soon after on the eighth lap, that tremor likely became deja vu.
Lucas, while growing up in Modesto, Calif., almost killed himself in a car crash just after his high school graduation – an accident that ended his racing ambitions, made him re-think his life and eventually stray him to enroll at USC to study film.
Lucas hit Dean after trying to pass a line of cars on the inside near the Toyota Turn. The two skidded, with Lucas hitting a tire wall and Dean hitting Lucas’s car head-on. Fortunately, however, neither driver was hurt. The race was called soon after with the red flag.
Dave Mirra, a professional BMX rider, won the event. Former tennis star Martina Navratilova came in second, with “The Young & The Restless” star Joshua Morrow coming in third. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Mike Skinner came in first in the pro category.
For results of the other races Saturday, visit the official Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Web site at longbeachgp.com.
