Article

ROCK STARS REV YOUR ENGINES!

Rock stars, start your engines and rev up for a cross-country trek with the goal of raising money for charity.

Lenny Kravitz, rap singer Pras and members of No Doubt and Papa Rouch are among the performers who have offered to skip traveling in deluxe tour buses and cushy chauffeured limos and get behind the wheel as temporary race car drivers.

The five day Rock 'N Road Rally will take drivers from New York to New Orleans next May with challenges along the way to help determine a winner.

The celebrities pick a car, a racing team and attract sponsors to root for their team with donations going to non-profits including the American Cancer Society, Doctors Without Borders and Amnesty International.

Coordinator Jack Healy says it's all an effort to shake up the fundraising world, "to think bigger, and to go around the world and lift [charities] up. Charity is sometimes too conservative."

He's hoping the celebrity drivers will get a little crazy out there on the road, as long as they drive within legal boundaries, of course.

"We want them all to let loose, so that's fine, we like the artists to go crazy," said Healy.

The event is 8 months away, but organizers gave racers the chance to jump the gun and warm up with some toy cars at a private party Thursday night at Manhattan's Chelsea Piers.

Lenny Kravitz said he wants to drive a Ferrari in the real race, and is more than ready to give the other participants a challenge out there on the road, admitting " I like to drive fast," said Kravitz.

Fugees member and now solo act Pras told ABCNEWs.com he'll race to the beat of tunes by fellow competitor Lenny Kravitz. But don't mistake his choice in road music as too friendly a gesture - Pras is also looking to clock in as the winner and help those in need. "I want to give back to the people, do something meaningful," said Pras.

Pras also wants to remind individuals that even small charitable donations can make a difference, "if you feel like even if you have just a dollar [to give] a dollar can mean a lot to someone who doesn't even have a dollar."

Ex-Beverly Hills 90210 star Luke Perry, who drove his share of flashy sports cars on the series, stopped by the party showing his support for the race. He's now sporting a full beard and says he has no upcoming projects with the intention of "taking a long rest" from his TV career.

The Rock 'N Road Rally will be cybercast over the Web and filmed for a possible movie. Healy will then take the show farther down the road, traveling to Africa in 2002 in a global effort to change young peoples' habits and attitudes towards human rights.

Healy hopes the race will revive support for efforts like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We live in a tough world, and we want to make it less tough," said Healy.

For Third Eye Blind's lead singer Stephen Jenkins, the cause is a more local one. He'll be in the race to New Orleans to generate funds for the Teak Fellowship which gives scholarships to underprivileged kids in New York.

Jenkins says he'll ask Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst to join his team, along with MTV host Carson Daly. His car will be cranking tunes by Motorhead and Led Zeppelin. Unlike Kravitz and Pras he'll be happy driving a more basic American car, "I have a '61 Buick, I like large, old cars," said Jenkins.