136 replies to this topic

[harryglorydays]

Going back through my photo archives, I'm rather amazed by the number of celebrities that have been/are involved in motorsports, many as drivers. Of course we all know Paul Newman and the like (Mr. Bean, for those of you on the other side of the Pond), but did you know that Walter Cronkite drove a Lancia at the 1959 Sebring (40th place)? Dave Garroway (of the Today show fame) was also a regular SCCA competitor.

By the late 60s/early 70s, racing had become very "chic" here in the States and several movie stars were actively involved, including James Garner, Steve McQueen and Dick Smothers. Here are some photos of them from that era:






James Garner at Daytona 1969. After "Grand Prix", Garner became very interested in racing but never drove himself, to my knowledge. He entered a pair of Lola T-70 coupes under the American International Racing team banner. They had some of the prettiest pit "groupies" I had ever seen to that point and each had their nickname ("Bunny", etc) embroidered on the upper back of their racing jackets. Class act!





Steve McQueen braking for the Hairpin, Sebring 1970. Of course, this is the race he and Peter Revson almost won outright, losing by 23 seconds to the one and only Mario. Most people who drove against McQueen say that he could have been right up there with the best if he had devoted himself to racing. Interestingly, this wasn't his first Sebring - he drove a Sprite in 1962.




Dick Smothers in Victory Lane, Sebring 1971. He co-drove a Corvette with John Greenwood to 7th overall, 1st in GT class. Dick went on to be quite competitive in Formula A racing here in the states.


I hope this thread isn't too silly, but I do think it is an interesting footnote to racing. What other examples do any of you have out there?

[Eric McLoughlin]

Here in the UK we've had our share of "celebs" having a go, some more successful than others.

In recent times we've had Shane Lynch (ex-member of boy band Boyzone) douing rather well in GT racing. He's from Dublin actually so technically not from the UK, although his racing has mainly been here in Britain.

Back in the 80s Irish world champion boxer Barry McGuigan also had a rather frought and accident prone racing career.

Mike Smith ( a pop DJ and TV presenter) acquitted himswlf well in touring cars).

Canadian DJ Kid Jensen has run a number of racing teams, including a rather good Formula 3000 outfit.

Another DJ and TV personality, Noel Edmonds has entered a team (running a Panoz) in the Le mans 24 Hour race.

[WDH74]

An easy one is James Dean, who had taken an obvious interest in racing during his brief movie career. Clearly he was taking it fairly seriously-a Porsche 550 is a pretty focused machine, and a clear step up from the 356 Speedster he'd been running on road and track. Same can be said of the Lotus he'd ordered before he died. Course, not having been there, I can't say whether Dean was actually any good at racing, or was some sort of Skippy Welcher type with bags of money to throw at expensive cars and an innate ability to be the slowest one there.

Another American actor, Jason Priestley (I hope it was Priestley-it was one of those kids from "90210" who all seem interchangeable to me) was attempting to start a professional racing career, and was driving formula cars when he had a bad accident that almost killed him. Don't know if he's gotten back behind the wheel yet.

-William

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Eric McLoughlin

Mike Smith ( a pop DJ and TV presenter) acquitted himswlf well in touring cars).

Wasn't this more the other way around? Saloon car racer (and track announcer) became DJ? Story I heard was that Noel Edmonds was impressed by his announcing and driving on the Tour of Britain back in around 1976 and encouraged him to go professionally. Certainly the 2 worked together on telly in the early 80s.

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Eric McLoughlin
Here in the UK we've had our share of "celebs" having a go, some more successful than others.

In recent times we've had Shane Lynch (ex-member of boy band Boyzone) douing rather well in GT racing. He's from Dublin actually so technically not from the UK, although his racing has mainly been here in Britain.

Canadian DJ Kid Jensen has run a number of racing teams, including a rather good Formula 3000 outfit.

David Jensen's son Viktor is in Formula Palmer Audi these days - looks just like his dad.

Shane Lynch was looking quite a good prospect in GTs until he "got God" and packed racing in...

[D-Type]

I thought there were a couple of celebrity entries in the Mille Miglia, but I can't find anything in the two books I have that mention the race.

[VAR1016]

One of the the two members of "Wham" (not G. Michael - the other one) had a go and was, as I recall, not exactly successful.


PdeRL

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by VAR1016
One of the the two members of "Wham" (not G. Michael - the other one) had a go and was, as I recall, not exactly successful.


PdeRL

Andrew Ridgeley. Very poor - most famous for moving into F3 too soon (I think he'd done Metros before hadn't he?) and upending himself a couple of times.... at least he was occasionally going fast enough to roll the car...

[David McKinney]

Originally posted by D-Type
I thought there were a couple of celebrity entries in the Mille Miglia, but I can't find anything in the two books I have that mention the race.

Film director Roberto Rossellini (Mr Ingrid Bergman) was one - circa 1953
And before the war there were various sons of Il Duce

[dbw]

HNM III...a crosley hotshot among other things

[bill moffat]

Originally posted by Eric McLoughlin
Here in the UK we've had our share of "celebs" having a go, some more successful than others.


Another DJ and TV personality, Noel Edmonds has entered a team (running a Panoz) in the Le mans 24 Hour race.

..with a little help from Dave Price ??

[RTH]

I wonder really if any of the above named (at least the UK ones ) are really worthy of the description 'Celebrity'- perhaps what are now regarded as 'C' or 'D' list ? Rather like Knighthoods that have become so devalued by being handed out to many unsuitable people, these designations are now meaningless.

[marty8405]

Nick Mason, the drummer for Pink Floyd raced for awhile......not sure if you consider that enough of a celebrity!

[MCS]

Originally posted by RTH
I wonder really if any of the above named (at least the UK ones ) are really worthy of the description 'Celebrity'- perhaps what are now regarded as 'C' or 'D' list ?

My thought exactly, Richard...

(Not quite in the same league as Messrs McQueen, Garner, Newman and co.)

Mark

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by petefenelon


Andrew Ridgeley. Very poor - most famous for moving into F3 too soon (I think he'd done Metros before hadn't he?) and upending himself a couple of times....

A tad unfair, IMHO. I thought he started in Renault 5s... whatever, he did bend a couple - but his move to (French) F3 didn't prove to be that bad to my recollection. And he was a nice bloke, as it happens.

Not counting those dragged kicking & screaming to do Escort Mexico races, Ian Botham (in a SAAB?)would be the one I'd rank as utterly useless behind the wheel. Well, he and Barry McGuigan...

Oh, and I can testify - from first-hand experience - that Jeremy Clarkson is the archetypal 'Soapy'. Not a racing driver, granted, but he most definately couldn't drive a soapy stick up a dog's a**e. Careful scrutiny of any footage of him 'driving' cars on Top Gear will bear this out...

[René de Boer]

In The Netherlands, many members of the royal family have a keen interest in motor racing. Prince Bernhard attended various race meetings and his grandsons Bernhard jr. and Pieter-Christiaan are currently racing in the Dutch Seat Ibiza one-make endurance series. Crown prince Willem-Alexander also got his racing licence a couple of years ago (which caused quite a row at Circuit Park Zandvoort, because there was a photographer of a well-known Dutch newspaper who wasn't actually supposed to be there...), but reportedly, his mother didn't allow him to race, as planned, in the Citroen AX Cup. Suitably, he got his licence in an orange-coloured AX.

We have former world champion in ice skating, Rintje Ritsma, driving a Marcos in the Dutch Supercar Cup. And there are some soap stars who are racing, but as I don't watch these on TV, I don't know them either...and I rather keep it that way.

In Germany, pop singer Nino de Angelo (who is known for his one-hit-wonder "Jenseits von Eden" in the 1980s) made attempts in single-seater racing, but never got beyond Formula Opel. Haddaway ("What is love") is a motor sport fan as well, he does a lot of karting and took part in the Nurburgring 24 hour race a few years ago.

Michael Graf, brother of tennis star Steffi, made it into German Formula 3 in 1994.

Fürst Albert von Thurn und Taxis, a heir of the famous German Thurn und Taxis-dynasty, is racing (well, taking part) in the Maserati Trofeo.

And there are several former ski racers who have turned to motor racing, which I think has been discussed here before. Examples are multiple Olympic and world champion Jean-Claude Killy from France who raced sports cars, Austrian Franz Klammer who raced touring cars (he was one of the first to drive a Mercedes in the DTM in the late 1980s) and French ex-world cup winner Luc Alphand, who turned to both sports cars (Le Mans) and cross country rallying (a stage winner in Paris-Dakar). And, of course, Divina Galica, who was a member of the British ski team and then raced (well, took part) in Formula 1.

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by René de Boer

Michael Graf, brother of tennis star Steffi, made it into German Formula 3 in 1994.

...which followed her engagement to former Lotus F1 driver Michael Bartels, I believe...

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by René de Boer
In The Netherlands...

And there are some soap stars who are racing, but as I don't watch these on TV, I don't know them either...and I rather keep it that way.

Amen to that Rene.

Soap stars?

PdeRL

[Pedro 917]

I remember seeing a Dire Straits documentary some years ago showing Mark Knopfler behind the wheel of a vintage Maserati racing car. Maybe, just like Rowan Atkinson, he did some Historic Racing in the car.

[René de Boer]

Originally posted by Twin Window
...which followed her engagement to former Lotus F1 driver Michael Bartels, I believe...

Well, driver... four times DNQ, IIRC... (Maybe a good one for F1rejects, by the way)

[doc540]

Posing perhaps, but he was a celebrity and it's definitely a race car.


Eddie Rickenbacker: different hat/different "ring"


Eddie in a Mercedes

[BorderReiver]

Originally posted by Pedro 917
I remember seeing a Dire Straits documentary some years ago showing Mark Knopfler behind the wheel of a vintage Maserati racing car. Maybe, just like Rowan Atkinson, he did some Historic Racing in the car.

I think Knopfler and Atkinson are, or at least were, fairly active on the club racing scene. Last thing I heard about Knopfler was he'd busted himself up in a Motorbike Shunt, anyone know how he is?

[Ian McKean]

Originally posted by René de Boer
...And, of course, Divina Galica, who was a member of the British ski team and then raced (well, took part) in Formula 1.

I can't help feeling the tone of this remark does not do justice to a keen and long-time racer who, given a decent car, was actually quite quick!

[doc540]

American country superstar, Marty Robbins, competed in NASCAR for years, sponsoring his own car.
He truly loved the sport and though he wasn't a serious competitor for a win, he was well respected by the other drivers.

During one race he amazed everyone by driving to the front of the pack and finishing higher than he ever had.

At the post race banquet when Bill France, Sr. was handing out the checks, Marty handed it back to him and said he'd installed an illegal engine and just wanted to see what it felt like to pass a Petty and a Pearson!

Truly, a "sportsman" racer if there ever was one.

[mp4]

Originally posted by marty8405
Nick Mason, the drummer for Pink Floyd raced for awhile......not sure if you consider that enough of a celebrity!

You beat me to it!!!
I remember he did some seat time in the Rothmans 956/962. He may have even released some sort of video about all this...
Please correct me if I am wrong but, as far as I know, I believe he has one of the original GTOs, a Ferrari 312T3 from Gilles and a crap load more yummy vehicles in his, apparently, quite large garage.
Oh to be famous and rich...

Cheers

[Gary C]

I don't think we should forget the late Steve O'Rourke either, Pink Floyd manager who competed at Le Mans more than a few times and also did some historic stuff? Did Dave Gilmour also race for a while, or am I wrong?

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Gary C
I don't think we should forget the late Steve O'Rourke either, Pink Floyd manager who competed at Le Mans more than a few times and also did some historic stuff? Did Dave Gilmour also race for a while, or am I wrong?

I think that Gilmour certainly did the Historic Mille Miglia, Gary.

P.S. Isn't it time for another Laleham - the northerners and now the Dutch plus the Berkshire brigade are leaving us behind!

PdeRL

[Mac Lark]

I think I once read Roger Vadim raced a Ferrari in France.

[Andrew Fellowes]

Originally posted by René de Boer
And there are several former ski racers who have turned to motor racing, which I think has been discussed here before. Examples are multiple Olympic and world champion Jean-Claude Killy from France who raced sports cars, Austrian Franz Klammer who raced touring cars (he was one of the first to drive a Mercedes in the DTM in the late 1980s) and French ex-world cup winner Luc Alphand, who turned to both sports cars (Le Mans) and cross country rallying (a stage winner in Paris-Dakar). And, of course, Divina Galica, who was a member of the British ski team and then raced (well, took part) in Formula 1.

Bob Wollek, three times French ski champion, but I don't which discipline, can anyone help on that?

[Buford]

Originally posted by doc540
American country superstar, Marty Robbins, competed in NASCAR for years, sponsoring his own car.
He truly loved the sport and though he wasn't a serious competitor for a win, he was well respected by the other drivers.

During one race he amazed everyone by driving to the front of the pack and finishing higher than he ever had.

At the post race banquet when Bill France, Sr. was handing out the checks, Marty handed it back to him and said he'd installed an illegal engine and just wanted to see what it felt like to pass a Petty and a Pearson!

Truly, a "sportsman" racer if there ever was one.

[IMG]

Oh yeah - I ran into him. Or actually into his hole in the wall. The weekend of the "Sedalia Bloodbath" non-wing Sprint Car race on the Sedalia Mile in 1980 I have written about before, they had a stock car race on Saturday. Robbins had hit the wall in turn one and split the Armco and there was a big hole there where the Armco was peeled back leaving a gap between the metal rails. On Sunday when we raced the Sprint Cars, 13 ouf of 36 drivers went to the hospital. I was not one of them. I did not fly over the wall into the parking lot like many did. When my tie rod broke I spun backwards into the turn one wall and I wedged the tail into Marty Robbins's hole where it came to a very hard and sudden stop. I was shaken up but not hurt. But the sudden stop probably kept the car from flipping at a high rate of speed and maybe kept me from being driver 14 at the blood house.

[ian senior]

As a Luton Town supporter, it pains me to record this, but former Watford (and AC Milan) footballer Luther Blissett competed in some Vauxhall Vectra Challenge races in the late 90s.

[doc540]

Buford, that is a Robbins story if I ever heard one.

[doc540]

re: Wolleck

I believe he competed at LeMans at least 30 times and was active in endurance racing for many, many years including Sebring and Daytona.

[René de Boer]

Originally posted by Andrew Fellowes


Bob Wollek, three times French ski champion, but I don't which discipline, can anyone help on that?

Bob Wollek was a member of the French alpine ski team from 1966 till 1968, together with Jean-Claude Killy, until a knee injury put an end to his career in skiing. Before, he had won the world championship title for military skiers and for students.

[ggnagy]

ole "Cole Trickle" himself (Tom Cruise) competed for at least one season (86? 87? ) in one of the earlier iterations of the SCCAs Showroom Stock endurance series. It was post "The Color of Money" and yes, he drove a red/white/blue Nissian Z car with planters sponsorship, much like his co-star had at the time in Trans Am.

[Criceto]

Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd did indeed race and I believe he had custody of a BRM P25 for a little while in the early nineties.

I seem to recall he scared himself and found a more sedate hobby - flying P-51 Mustangs instead.

Mark Knopfler certainly competes currently, using a Maserati 300S. I didn't know he'd had a bike accident - it wasn't Marc Almond by any chance, was it? He HAS had a very bad accident in the last few weeks.

Thinking back to "celebrity" races, I recall olympic decathelete Daley Thompson ran a Peugeot 106 for a while in some sort of stock hatch class. Clive James made the mistake of getting signed up to do a celebrity support race at an Adelaide GP before admitting he'd never actually learned to drive. The resulting "Clive James learns to be a racing driver" documentary is vintage James, albeit a trifle frustrating for those of us who would dearly like to have a crack at a bit of motorsport.

[petefenelon]

Mark Knopfler certainly competes currently, using a Maserati 300S. I didn't know he'd had a bike accident - it wasn't Marc Almond by any chance, was it? He HAS had a very bad accident in the last few weeks.

No, definitely Mark Knopfler - the accident was in March '03, Mark broke several ribs and a collarbone and was out of action (including performing) for quite a while. I assume he's mended well, since he's had a new album out in the last few months...

[TheStranger]

One that just came to mind: 1970s Olympic hero Bruce Jenner got into IMSA a bit in the 1980s (doing GTO if I'm not mistaken for Roush) and was also a pit reporter on NBC's CART broadcasts of the era.

[Alan Lewis]

Is it fair to describe Nick Mason as a celebrity racer? Motor racing was part of his life long before rock music - he is, after all, Bill Mason's son.

APL

[doc540]

http://www.beepworld.../bild_02_ag.jpg

Nick Mason is a world famous rock star in a world famous rock band. He's played to literally millions of fans.

[Alan Cox]

Nick Mason is most certainly more than a celebrity racer. He has been racing since before a lot of TNFers were born and used to be taken to races , as a schoolboy, in the back of his father's vintage Bentley - a car which his father used to race in early post-war years. His collection contains virtually all of the racing cars that we have all coveted at one time or another - 250F, 250GTO, 35B, V16 BRM, Birdcage, 512S, D-Type etc, etc... He's been a bit quiet this year - don't know if it's got anything to do with his newly released book on Pink Floyd or whether he just felt like a rest. His wife and two daughters all race, as well.

Mike Smith was a DJ long before he took up racing, and did reasonably well at it. I remember he incurred the wrath of BMW team-mate Frank Sytner, who was racing for the championship one year, by taking a point for fastest lap, I think it was, at the final round at Snetterton!

Show-jumper Anne Moore struggled in FF2000, as one of the members of John "Brands Hatch" Webb's charm school, the same one that nurtured Divina Galica who is, I believe, still racing quite successfully in the States.

Other celebrity turns have included Chris Rea in Ferrari Dino, Caterham 7 and various of David Piper's collection, the late Cozy Powell in Mazda RX7 prodsaloon, and jockey Richard Dunwoody in some modern single-seater formula.

And what about those ShellSport Mexico celebrity races of years gone by, and the bizzare Alfa 164 series that Bernie thought made good support for Grands Prix in the 80s? I remember the likes of Geoff Capes, Bernard Manning (yes!), former chancellor Ken Clarke, Richard Branson and Eddie "The Eagle" embarassing themselves in those at various times.

[FrankB]

Originally posted by Alan Cox
Nick Mason is most certainly more than a celebrity racer. He has been racing since before a lot of TNFers were born and used to be taken to races , as a schoolboy, in the back of his father's vintage Bentley - a car which his father used to race in early post-war years. His collection contains virtually all of the racing cars that we have all coveted at one time or another - 250F, 250GTO, 35B, V16 BRM, Birdcage, 512S, D-Type etc, etc...

There was a freebie CD with Motor Sport about 10 years ago with the sound of some of these cars interspersed with a conversation between Nick Mason and Simon Taylor.

Originally posted by Alan Cox
Mike Smith was a DJ long before he took up racing, and did reasonably well at it. I remember he incurred the wrath of BMW team-mate Frank Sytner, who was racing for the championship one year, by taking a point for fastest lap, I think it was, at the final round at Snetterton!

IIRC - Frank Sytner needed every point going to get the championship but just missed out. In a TV interview after the race he said something along the lines of "Some clown went in for new tyres and took the fastest lap from me." It was then that the interviewer told him that "The Clown" was his own team mate... FS made a hasty exit, blood lust in his eyes!

[David Hyland]

Originally posted by petefenelon
No, definitely Mark Knopfler - the accident was in March '03, Mark broke several ribs and a collarbone and was out of action (including performing) for quite a while. I assume he's mended well, since he's had a new album out in the last few months...

IIRC, Mr Knopfler also broke a collarbone during a "Celebrity Race" at one of the Australian F1 GPs in Adelaide.

ISTR that former English cricket captain Tony Greig (who now lives in Oz) had a go in saloon cars.

And so, I think, did former Australian Ironman champion Grant Kenny.

[Gerr]

Speaking of Masons, I saw an interview on Speedvision a few years ago with actress Marsha Mason after her race at an SCCA national, or maybe the runoffs. Her car was an SSGT Mazda RX7, IIRC.

On another thread I had mentioned that Autoweek reported David Hemmings being an instructor at Brands Hatch. Another thread was about Victor Fleming. Also Howard Hawks.

David Cronenberg in historic cars, Guy Lombardo in Hydros and General Lewis McKenzie in FF, are all Canadian celebs who raced for years.

New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams.
"TV" Tommy Ivo.
Lorenzo Lamas.

Joe Scalzo wrote a column about film star Wallace Reid being entered as a driver for the Indy 500 just before Reid's death.

Champion? skiers Dean Hall, Buddy Lazier, Teo Fabi.

Champion skydiver Dick Simon.

[David Hyland]

Originally posted by David Hyland
IIRC, Mr Knopfler also broke a collarbone during a "Celebrity Race" at one of the Australian F1 GPs in Adelaide.

In 1986, according to this site (and many others).

(is it etiquette to quote oneself?)

[xflow7]

I seem to recall reading somwhere that J. Geils did a fair amount of Ferrari restoration work. No idea if he ever did any racing, though.

[Graham Clayton]

Originally posted by WDH74
Another American actor, Jason Priestley (I hope it was Priestley-it was one of those kids from "90210" who all seem interchangeable to me) was attempting to start a professional racing career, and was driving formula cars when he had a bad accident that almost killed him. Don't know if he's gotten back behind the wheel yet.

-William

WDH74,
Jason Priestley competed in the Australian round of the World Rally Championship (Rally Australia) at Perth in either 1993 or 1994 in a Ford Escort Cosworth. I think that he crashed out of the event one of the first stages. I was at scrutineering when his car was presented, but I couldn't actually see if he was there, as there was a large crowd milling around!

[WDH74]

I didn't know that Graham! Wouldn't have expected rallying from a tv actor. As I said, I'm not sure if it's Priestley or that other guy from "Beverly Hills, 90210". Luke something or other? I never watched the show when it was current, and both of those guys seem to have left the "Access Hollywood" orbit.

-Wm.

[Keir]

James Brolin and John Oates (of Hall & Oates) toyed around at Lime Rock Park.

James with Paul Newman's Nissan and John in his own Formula Ford.

In fact Oates and I shared a few frames during a TV shoot at LRP, where filming was going on for some NYC celeb show featuring John.

Not many times a Vee and a FF ever share any piece of track!!

[xflow7]

It was Priestley. He was hurt at Kentucky Speedway during practice for an Infiniti Pro Series race (the IRL feeder series).