Five things about ... the man known as Dr. House

Never has NASCAR heard a sexier, more distinguished "gentlemen start your engines" than when Hugh Laurie gave the start command Sunday for the Auto Club 500.

Better known as Dr. Gregory House on FOX's popular medical drama House, Laurie stepped away from his flat in North London to join his American television friends for a day of racing in Southern California.

Band From TV with Carl Edwards

A self-described "NASCAR virgin," Laurie served as Sunday's grand marshal, but not before making an appearance at the drivers' meeting and chatting with his biggest fan, Ryan Newman.

Dozens of stars stroll though NASCAR's garage nearly every weekend and Newman is typically un-phased, but this time Newman made certain to arrange a meet and greet with his favorite television doctor.

"Yeah he's supposed to come to my hauler, I love the show and I don't watch a lot of television," Newman said.

Before the Emmy-nominated Laurie was ushered away for more race day pageantry, NASCAR.COM served up a healthy line of questioning. Our diagnosis: Five things about Laurie told us he's much more pleasant than his on-television personality.

Laurie, who has claimed two Golden Globe awards and a Screen Actors Guild award for his portrayal of Dr. House, is the son of an actual doctor and Olympic rower.

"He was a gold medalist in 1948 and he rowed in the 1936 Olympics," Laurie said. "And I followed his footsteps in that and in other things I hope, I tried anyway. So yes rowing was my sport. You go an awful lot slower than race cars and it's a lot wetter and you're facing the wrong way. That's the big problem with rowing, you're facing backwards and I think that's kind of infected my whole life. I'm looking backwards, it's not right."

Still, Laurie was an oarsman at school and in college. In 1977, he was half of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J. S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets, rowing for Eton Vikings rowing club. Later, he also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge boat race. He is still a member of the Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world.

But he sure sounds like it right?

On House, Laurie assumes an American accent though he is a native Oxford, England.

While in Africa filming Flight of the Phoenix, he recorded a voice audition tape for House in the bathroom of his hotel.

"I put myself on tape, that's the way things go. Actors send out these tapes hoping that ... well like buying a lottery ticket, you know, hoping for something. This one came in. I won the lottery. I feel very blessed," Laurie said.

Although his American accent was so convincing that the executive producer didn't know he was English, Laurie said the dialect is difficult to perfect sometimes.

"I have to listen out and work at it every day," he said. "It never gets easy, but some days are better than others. Maybe I should eat more bananas I don't know what it is."

In real life, Laurie is not in love with Dr. Cuddy, played by co-star Lisa Edelstein, despite their flirtatious bickering on camera and their on-screen kiss last season. Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989.

In TV land, nevertheless, some viewers are convinced House and Cuddy belong together.

So when will he profess his undying love for Cuddy and stop negating everything in her life?

"I don't actually have a date in the calendar yet, but let me just say when the time is right, I think we'll both know when the time is right," Laurie said. "It will be unusual I can promise that. I haven't got a plan yet, but it will be unusual. He's not just going to ring her door bell, it will be something Houseian."

Laurie said he was a NASCAR virgin and his only connection to NASCAR came via a rock band.

Laurie is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV featuring James Denton from Desperate Housewives, Bob Guiney from The Bachelorette and Greg Grunberg from Alias. The group performed for Southern California fans at Auto Club Speedway.

But had Laurie at least chosen a favorite driver to support before the race?

"I can only say may the best man win," he said.

On March 27, Laurie's voice will hit the big screen in Jeffrey Katzenberg's 3-D animation movie Monsters vs. Aliens alongside Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rogan. Monsters vs. Aliens revolves around a girl-turned-monster sent to a government security base filled with various other monsters and aliens.

He previously starred in a number of groundbreaking British television comedy series, including four seasons of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, which he co-wrote for the BBC with Stephen Fry.