8 Celebrities Who Are Also Race Car Drivers

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the same type of personality and desire to succeed are often shared by celebrities and race car drivers. Having a single-minded focus on being the absolute best at something can be a surefire way to stardom – and the victory lane.

Small wonder, then, that numerous celebrities also find success on a racetrack. Some of the stars on this list simply dabbled in motorsport, using their fame and fortune to satiate a need for speed only to discover they were actually talented drivers. There are plenty of exceptions, of course, as history is littered with examples of celebrities who ran out of driving talent long before they ran out of money, leaving piles of twisted metal in their wake.

The celebrities on this list have enjoyed a measure of success in racing, with some turning their passion into a second (or third, or fourth) career. In fact, it is fair to say at least a couple of people on this list are race car drivers who happened to be celebrities instead of the other way around.

Paul Newman

It would be wrong to start this list with anyone other than Paul Newman, who personified the phenomenon of being a successful race car driver who just happened to also be a successful Hollywood actor – instead of the other way around as is so often the case. There are many stories throughout history of Newman showing up to otherwise unremarkable racing events, chasing a few points in the runoffs to round out a season. It is said he deeply enjoyed occasions in which he was simply “just another racer” hanging out in the pits and fiddling with a car trying to find a few extra tenths of speed. He earned major successes including multiple SCCA championships and a Le Mans appearance in which he wheeled a Porsche 935 to first in class and second overall.

Keanu Reeves

When he is not busy crushing bad guys as John Wick or exploring the digital underworld as Neo, the Toronto-raised superstar has been turning a wheel on the racetrack. Earlier this year, he competed in the Toyota GR Cup at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, bringing the car home unscathed by avoiding someone else’s lap-one wreck and successfully handling a mid-race sojourn through the grass. He also took first place in a celebrity race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach a few years ago. Toss in acting cred in the seminal movie Speed and it’s no wonder the actor with Canadian connections was the impetus for this list.

Frankie Muniz

Having made his name (and money) in television and film as a youngster in the early 2000s, Muniz has announced he will be a full-time driver of the number 33 Ford F-150 race truck in the upcoming 2025 season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. This isn’t on a whim, nor some sort of opportunity into which a Hollywood-type has purchased their way into a seat. Muniz has been behind the wheel of race cars for about 20 years, starting with Formula BMW USA in 2006 before moving to different series like Champ Car Atlantic and Pro Late Models. He ended up fourth in points last year in the ARCA Menards Series with nearly a dozen top-10 finishes. Just don’t call him Malcolm.

Patrick Dempsey

McDreamy has often said that motor racing is not just a hobby for him, explaining it has become as much a part of his identity as acting. “It really keeps me motivated,” he told Reuters in 2014. “It's all I think about on a daily basis.” Competition has been at the fore in a wide variety of races, from the outrageously quick 24 Hours of Le Mans to the brutal Baja 1000 off-road event. Porsche race cars have generally been the weapon of choice, though there was a concurrent dalliance with Mazda in the Rolex Sports Car Series. 

Caitlyn Jenner

In addition to being an accomplished Olympian with a gold medal to her credit, Jenner competed as a driver in the 24 Hours of Daytona, cracking 200 mph in a BMW M1 prepared by hotshoe Jim Busby. A month later, Jenner hit up the 12 Hours of Sebring before going on to compete professionally through much of the ‘80s in machines like a Roush-built Ford Mustang in the IMSA series. In fact, Jenner’s name was floated by the suits at DiGard Racing in NASCAR as a potential replacement for Darrell Waltrip in 1980 after that driver’s relationship soured with the team despite losing the Winston Cup championship by just 11 points the year prior.

Walter Cronkite

Yes, that Walter Cronkite – he of the golden television voice who guided a generation of Americans through major world events like the moon landing and assassination of JFK. According to lore, he used the entire paycheque from a speaking engagement in the ‘40s to buy an Austin-Healey, which he promptly took racing. For a spot of time in the 1950s, he wheeled race cars, including an entry in the 12 Hours of Sebring during the 1959 season at the helm of a Lancia Appia Zagato. Despite torrential rains and being in close proximity to a fiery wreck that killed another driver, Cronkite filed reports to CBS between stints at the wheel. It was allegedly CBS itself that forced the man to hang up his helmet professionally, lest the network lose the Most Trusted Man in America to a racing mishap. And that’s the way it is.

Nick Mason

The drummer for Pink Floyd was known to collect cars, as many rich gearheads do, but he also had a knack for besting competitors in professional racing environments. There were no fewer than five appearances at Le Mans between 1979 and 1984, where he achieved class podium and an Index of Performance win. The man also competed in a 1,000-km race at the Nurburgring in 1981, plus a smattering of support races at places like Silverstone before publishing two books on the subject.

Michael Fassbender

“Even before I started acting, I had a big dream to go racing,” Fassbender told motorsport.com in 2020. He forged a relationship with Ferrari in 2017 before running a full Ferrari Challenge North America schedule the next year, winning the season opener at Daytona on his way to finishing fifth in points. This gave way to opportunities at Porsche, including stints at Le Mans in 2022 and 2023; those races spawned a 90-minute documentary chronicling his journey from a young gearhead to sitting at the starting blocks of the world’s greatest 24-hour race.