A historic race for charity will be taking place in Long Beach, California this upcoming weekend, and Drew Lachey has been named one of the top three drivers expected to win. Drew, winner from the second season of Dancing with the Stars, also shares his 4-1 odds of winning with NASCAR reporter Jamie Little and NASCAR driver Mike Skinner.

The 2008 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, which will be running this weekend in conjunction with the 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, runs through almost 2 miles of downtown Long Beach streets. Among the racers are a combination of stars from movies, television and sports. The celebrities will get a 30-second head start over the racing professionals, and apparently Drew did so well in practice last week that he is now one of the three favored to win.

For their part in this, Toyota will be donating $5,000 on behalf of each celebrity driver to “Racing for Kids,” a non-profit that benefits children’s hospitals in Orange County, California. Toyota will additionally donate $5,000 to the winning racer’s charity of choice. Since 1991, Toyota claims to have donated more than $1.5 million to children’s organizations.

Some drivers are taking this prestigious race quite seriously. Sarena Traver - a fine jewelry designer with Grand Am driving experience - reportedly paid $80,000 at a Boys and Girls Club charity auction earlier this year, just for a seat to compete in Saturday’s race. Now that’s giving.