Long Beach Grand Prix

So this morning I woke up
early to the sound of cars
wizzing by my apartment
 - well 2 blocks away. 

We'll skip the part about me going 
to get my oil change, and the nail
 in my tire, and get right to when
I bought last minute tickets to the
race off a  guy from Craigslist.

Little did I know, I got a celebrity compound pass
with it, for a mere $20. I had no idea what this
allowed me to do.

What I did know is that there was a celebrity race
starting about 20 min after I bought the tickets. So I
hurried around getting my camera, snacks and sunscreen together.

It was pretty much what I expected, all the
fans, mullets, race gear, car talk, and lots of beer.

Beer flowing like wine!

So I joined in the merriment that 
can only be had when drinking at 11am on a Saturday. I 
bought myself a beer, it was sponsored by Tecate luckily so I
didnt have to drink budweiser or Coors anyway.



Hugh Heffner


Plus the $9 I spend on my cup o beer went to charity.
Drink for the kids I say!

I ran into some friends and they 
told me I was in for a treat with my celebrity
pass, it was to an area they just came from - they
were on the outside of the fence looking in though.

So towards the end of the celebrity race I headed over
so I could be in the "compound" when they returned.
I was just in time, it was CRAZY!

Did I mention that the MC of the day was Hugh
Heffner??
He doesnt travel without at least 3 of his girlfriends
either!

So I felt like paparazzi, I was totally like the press
in there, brushing past the celebs! Oh it was sooooo
funny! I probably looked a little mental just walking
around laughing to myself at the whole situation.

There werent many people in there besides
photographers, family, and people who paid alot of
money , so as you can imagine I felt a little out of
place being there with my scalped ticket.

Celeb encounters included:

The man himself, the one who made naked women popular
- Hugh Heffner

One of Hugh's girlfriends who was in 
the race, miss Kendra Wilkenson.



Kendra Wilkinson - Hugh Heffner's 'girl next door'

 
( i asked her if i could take her
photo - cause i just felt weird being
2 feet away with a camera in her face
-guess i am not meant to be paparazzi)

The legendary George Lucas - who 
brought us the masterpieces Star
 Wars and Indiana Jones (He crashed -
probably thought he was Hans Solo)

Tennis star Martina Navratilova 
(who drove extremely
well and placed 2nd) 

Howard Stern's sidekick Miss Robin Quivers

A season 4 24 CTU agent Aisha Tyler (also was in
Friends as the science girl that both Ross and Joey
dated)

John Salley ( NBA 4 time champ, with Pistons, Bulls
and Lakers) also an actor in Bad Boys and others
movies.

I only watched some of the real race, they drove much
faster than the celebs! I never even made it to my seat! I was busy
eating the free food and getting lost in the absurd world of paparazzi.



George Lucas



Oh yeah and I got George Lucas' signature! I pulled
out my ticket when I realized that a few people right
next to me had Indiana Jones vinyl soundtracks with
them and he was coming towards us. So i stuck my
ticket out next to the dudes record, and Lucas signed
it! It looks like I could have done it.