Watch: Grand Prix's Saturday Qualifying Rounds

One weekend a year, the city of Long Beach waves the black and white checkered flags, and along the coast is a soundtrack of race engines. We'll bring you more coverage from our Patch team as the day progresses, but here is a 5-second video of the first rounds Saturday morning from the Grand Prix track.

For more details about this morning's celebrity race and drivers, read on:

Fox Sports racing commentator Rutledge Wood will start from the pole for today's 10-lap Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pro/celebrity race.

Wood posted the fastest time in the 14-driver celebrity field during qualifying Friday, completing a lap around the 1.97-mile street course in one minute, 46.505 seconds. Mark Steines, a co-host of the Hallmark Channel talk and home information series, ``Home & Family,'' will start second and actor Michael Trucco third.

The celebrity field also includes actress Jenna Elfman, actors Jeremy Sisto, Jesse Metcalfe and Jackson Rathbone, comedian Wanda Sykes, telenovela star Kate del Castillo and Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Jessica Hardy. In the professional category, Tyler Clary had the fastest qualifying time, 1:45.569.

Clary and the three other professionals will start 30 seconds behind the celebrity field. All the drivers will drive identically prepared Scion FR-S sports cars The pole winner chooses a charity to receive a $15,000 donation from People magazine. Wood selected Victory Junction Gang Camp, which serves children with cancer and 23 other chronic medical conditions and serious illnesses.

``This is going to send a lot of kids to camp in North Carolina at Victory Junction,'' said Wood, who also co-hosts the History series ``Top Gear USA.'' ``It's the happiest place I've ever been on earth. It's an amazing place where every kid can do everything from the ropes course to the pool.''

The two-hour American Le Mans Series race, featuring what are billed as the most technically advanced sports cars in competition, will also be held today, along with the competition rounds of the Super Drift Challenge, the first night event in the grand prix's 39-year history. Qualifying will be held for Sunday's IndyCar Series and Indy Lights races, along with a concert by Bret Michaels, the lead vocalist of the glam metal band Poison. Indy Lights is the IndyCar developmental series. - City News Service