Sir Patrick Stewart will serve as Grand Marshal for the featured Verizon IndyCar Series race on Sun., April 19 at the 41st Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The acclaimed stage and screen actor is a racing enthusiast who competed in the 2002 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on the streets of Long Beach. Best known for his roles in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the X-Men franchise, Stewart returns to series television later this year starring as the title character in “Blunt Talk,” a half-hour comedy executive produced by Seth MacFarlane and Jonathan Ames for Starz.

DeSean Jackson, Honorary Grand Marshall
Saturday’s Grand Marshal, Washington Redskins’ wide receiver and punt return specialist, 3X pro footballer DeSean Jackson, is a three-time NFL Pro Bowl selection who prepped at Long Beach Poly High School before going on to stardom at the University of California, Berkeley, and with the Philadelphia Eagles and was acquired by the Washington Redskins in 2014. DeSean Jackson, and his mother, Gayle Jackson, are the co-founders of the DeSean Jackson Foundation, a public charity founded in 2009 in memory of William “Bill” Jackson who died from Pancreatic Cancer while DeSean Jackson was a rookie with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Vince Neil. of Mötley Crüe. will wave the green flag as Saturday’s Honorary Starter and will also star later that evening in the “Rock-N-Roar” Concert, free to race ticket holders. On Sunday, Honorary Starter honors fall to long-time open-wheel and sports car driving star Adrian Fernandez, who is enshrined on the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame.
Saturday’s national anthem singer will be Karla Mosley, who has appeared in “Hart of Dixie” and currently is a regular on TV’s popular “The Bold and the Beautiful” and, on Sunday, actor/musician James Maslow, a competitor in Saturday’s Pro/Celebrity Race and the star of the top-rated Nickelodeon program, “Big Time Rush,” will sing the anthem before the IndyCar race.
Team Fastrax, a famous sky diving team, will be bringing in the American flag both Saturday and Sunday, courtesy of team members Paul Stanford, Jay Stokes and Hollis Collins.
Sunday’s invocation will be given by Father Glenn O’Conner, Catholic Chaplain with the Verizon IndyCar Ministry. And, our nation’s colors will be presented on both days by Alpha Company, Recruiting and Retention Battalion, California Army National Guard.