Driving instructor Danny McKeever teaches Hollywood stars how to race

Quick Stats:
Daily Driver: 1965 Mustang
Other Cars in collection: 1995 Toyota Turbocharged MR2, 2007 Toyota Sienna
Favorite Road trip: Highway 1
First car he learned to drive in: 1951 MG TD
First car bought: 1954 Austin Healy

Who do George Lucas, Karl Malone, Cameron Diaz, and Cuba Gooding Jr. all have in common? Danny McKeever. He is Hollywood's go-to driving instructor, teaching celebs to race for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach since 1986. He also taught Charlize Theron how to spin a car out for the "Italian Job," but says, "She was pretty good anyway."

Anyone in Southern California who wants to learn how to race on a track knows of McKeever's Fastlane Race School held at Willow Springs Raceway, where he provides race-prepped Celicas complete with roll-cages and racing harnesses, etc. It's there where people usually get bitten by the auto-racing bug.

He just finished practice sessions with the new crop of stars for this year's Long Beach race. When asked if a lot of the actors already know how to drive a stick in his two decades of training them, he has noticed one interesting trend.

"The people from New York either barely knew how to drive or didn't know how to drive a stickshift," Mc Keever says.

But it's not all glitz and glamour. Having taken his class at the Streets of Willow (it still goes down as one of the best days of my life), you can tell McKeever takes driving seriously. A true racetrack guy, he believes there are too many speed demons on the road, and few have little defensive driving training.

Danny McKeever training George Lucas

So in addition to his race school, he's involved in Toyota's Driving Expectations, a free driving program for teens, which goes on the road nationally this month. McKeever helped design, manage, and implement the four driving courses where teens bring their parents and learn how to improve their driving skills (accident avoidance, ABS braking, skid control, and a distraction course where kids call someone on their cell-phone to see how difficult it is to drive while conversing).

"It's all car control and it's an amazing thing to watch," McKeever says. "When the parents and teens come in the morning, the teens don't want to be there. At the end of the program, the parents and teens are talking and having fun, then they sign a contract between them. It's really emotional to see the change."

But the growth in McKeever's business is his Defensive Driving Academy in Southern California, "There's a million people that need help with that," he says.