The “famous car guy” club tends to create more cringe these days than it does admiration of adoration, right? We see some of the stuff that these guys do and facepalm pretty hard most of the time, but this video proves that there are two sides of that coin. Instead of profiling rich and famous people who “love cars” for the sheer vanity of saying that they do, it looks at seven celebrities who not only really love cars but who took that love to the next level by becoming racers and competing wheel to wheel in various forms of competition.
From Patrick Dempsey who has raced Le Mans and other very high profile road racing series to Steve McQueen who pretty much competed in or on anything with wheels, there’s plenty to like and even love about these people and what they did. We know Paul Newman’s story, which is awesome, but what about George Lucas and some of the others? Brian Johnson of AC/DC is a great competition driver, and the list goes on.
So as easy as it is to paint the “famous car guy” genre with a broad brush, this video proves that there are exceptions to every rule and these exceptions just so happen to be really great and fun.
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason bought his Ferrari 250 GTO in the late ’70s for 38K pounds. Now worth an estimated $40 million, the car has appeared regularly over the years with the now 78-year-old Mason driving it like he stole it and giving Italian horse lovers conniptions every time.
Paul Newman wouldn’t sign autographs at the track. He just wanted to be a race car driver.
Paul Newman and James Garner should have been on here before Frankie Munez and George Lucas…
child TV star Tommy Ivo