Lots of entertainment at Auto Club Speedway
In recent years the process of booking these major names during NASCAR weekends has become relatively easy. There's a very good reason for that. Any entertainment manager worth his commission already knows that sending their famous clients to one of these races is a public relations gold mine. It’s a huge opportunity to promote a new movie, television show or a music CD release in front of tens of thousands of fans as well as the mega millions watching on live television.
Over the years the Auto Club Speedway has made it a point to make sure they had plenty of well known names to entertain their fans. A strong example came last year when classic rockers ZZ Topp visited Fontana-California for a pre race concert. The fan frenzy hit a fever pitch. The day before the race the "Tres Hombres" rockers walked into the speedway's press box to say hello. It was one of those very rare moments when a room full of reporters all stopped talking at the same time.
As the first of their 2009 NASCAR weekends rapidly approaches, the Auto Club Speedway has once again lined up some special very guests guaranteed to excite the fans. It starts with Saturday , February 21st, when country music superstar, and actor, Billy Ray Cyrus visits the speedway. Cyrus will perform "The National Anthem" prior to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series San Bernardino County 200 and will also be the Grand Marshall for the Stater Brothers 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race on the same day.
The multi platinum singer/songwriter burst onto the country music scene in 1991 when his career making song "Achy Breaky Heart" and has remained a fixture on the country charts since. During the course of creating all of those hit songs, Cyrus also launched a successful acting career. He currently stars in the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana" with his internationally famous daughter Miley.
During the course of greeting the Auto Club Speedway fans it's certain that Cyrus will be eager to share the news about his new album, "Back To Tennessee" which has a March 31st drop date. It's also likely that he'll be happy to tell you that "Hannah Montana The Movie", which he's both a co star and a producer, will be in theatres on April 10th.
The Auto Club Speedway's Opportunity California Fan Zone is going to shake when Rev Theory hits the stage with their high energy brand of rock n roll. Although the group has been around since 2002, it was last year's release of the song "Light It Up" that catapulted the band to fame thanks to some rather extraordinary promotional opportunity. The song is featured on the NASCAR '09 video game and was recently named by World Wrestling Entertainment as the official theme song for it's upcoming worldwide "Wrestlemania" pay per view in April. The music video for their current single, "Hell Yeah", is currently being aired on the "Xbox Live Video Store." Add all of that to a live concert during a NASCAR weekend and it's a promoter's dream come true. Rev Theory will perform a post race concert on Saturday and a pre race show on Sunday.
Also in concert, this Sunday morning, on the Opportunity California Fan Zone stage will be a highly unique group of musicians who called themselves Band From TV. This group is comprised of celebrities from well known television shows who have combined their musical talent in the name of helping others. Each band member has their own designated charity and, through a series of some high profile appearances, Band From TV has already raised over $2 million for worthwhile causes. They recently released "Hoggin' All The Covers"a CD/DVD package, featuring 13 classic rock songs, that is currently being sold via "Amazon Dot Com."
Band From TV's line up, network television shows and designated charities include:
Greg Grunberg. Drums. NBC's "Heroes". Epilepsy Foundation Of America.
Adrian Pasdar. Guitar. NBC's "Heroes". The Rush Epilepsy Center.
James Denton. Guitar. ABC's "Desperate Housewives." Donate Life.
Bob Guiney. Vocals. TLC's "Date My House." The Art Of Elysiurm"
Jesse Spencer. Violin. Fox's "House." The Indiana University-Kenya Partnership.
Performing Sunday's Auto Club 500 pre race concert, on the front straightaway, will be Gavin Rossdale. The former front man for the rock band Bush, Rossdale is currently enjoying a huge wave of success as a solo artist based on the strength of his recently released top 40 single "Love Remains the Same."
Race fans can expect to hear some exquisite harmony singing from Little Big Town when the famed country group performs "The National Anthem" prior to Sunday's Auto Club 500. The award winning group burst on the country music scene in 2007 with the smash hit "Boondocks" and has created a string of impressive hits since that time. Their current album, "A Place To Land" has already turned out three hit singles.
Just prior to the start of Sunday's Auto Club 500 the drivers in the 43 car field will be given the command to start their engines from Dr House himself. Award winning actor Hugh Laurie, the star of Fox's medical drama series "House" is official Grand Marshall for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race. If we're lucky Laurie will slide into his belligerent Dr House role and treat us to a special rendition of the famous command. Perhaps something like "gentlemen start your engines and then please try to do something to thrill me."
When you add traditional features such as the Party Zone, special fan interactive displays, a wide variety of food, NASCAR shopping in the Opportunity California Fan Zone and special driver appearances then the NASCAR weekend at the Auto Club Speedway is going to be both fun and special.
But the real stars of this weekend will be the elite drivers and teams from NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series. The Auto Club Speedway has designated February 21st as NASCAR Doubleheader Day and will be treating their fans to the Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series races for the price of a single general admission ticket. Sunday's Auto Club 500 features a variety of ticket packages to suit every need and budget. This includes the fan friendly, and extremely affordable, Pepsi Rock N Rows package which allows fans to enjoy the Sprint Cup Series for the low price of $35.
For more information about everything that is the Auto Club Speedway experience call 800 944 RACE (7223) or visit www.autoclubspeedway.com.