They're Wheely Hot! 10 Actors Who Became Passionate Race Car Drivers

From Patrick Dempsey to Frankie Muniz, these famous faces took a break from their time on set to follow their need for speed

Life in the fast lane doesn't just apply to Hollywood for these 10 stars. They've hopped behind the wheel of some of the speediest cars on the track to pursue a passion for racing as well.

Dating back to the 1950s and '60s, these actors have taken their car craze to the next level, getting engines revving in a very different way than when they're in front of a camera. From Paul Newman and Steve McQueen to Patrick Dempsey and Frankie Muniz, see how these stars have incorporated driving into their lives as Hollywood stars.

Frankie Muniz

After beginning his professional racing career in 2006, the Malcolm in the Middle alum is joining Reaume Brothers Racing as a full-time driver of the No. 33 F-150 for the 2025 season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

"I don't want to say it's a long time coming, but this has been a dream of mine for forever," he told PEOPLE.

"I want people to know that I've literally dedicated my life to this," he added. "You know what I mean? I love it. When I'm not in the race car, I'm thinking about being in the race car. I'm training, I'm in the simulator at Ford, the Ford Performance Technical Center. I'm working with my engineers and my crew chiefs and the team and doing everything I can. Watching tape, watching past races at the racetracks I'm going to just to be as prepared as humanly possible."

While he is now focused on racing, he does say that "closing the door" on his acting career has not been a "topic of discussion."

Patrick Dempsey

Patrick Dempsey first started racing in the early 2000s after growing up a fan of the sport, The New York Times reported in 2014. After competing in races around the world, in part as a member of the Porsche team, the Grey's Anatomy alum ultimately took a break from the sport in 2016 to focus on his family and acting career, he said in a statement at the time (per FoxSports).

Despite his hiatus, Dempsey was still an owner of the Dempsey-Proton Racing team, the Highland News-Sun noted in May 2024. After working on the 2023 film Ferrari, he was inspired to get back behind the wheel for competition.

“Racing is like an addiction,” he said in a Wright Motorsports press release ahead of his return to the track with the team. “Once you start, it’s hard to stop. During pre-production on the recent Ferrari film, I got a lot of seat time and fell off the wagon, of sorts."

"Racing, for me, has been a really important part of my life."Dempsey told PEOPLE last year,

Steve McQueen

Oscar nominated actor Steve McQueen, who raced under the pseudonym Harvey Mushman, entered nine races of the Sports Car Club of America in California in 1959 and following his first race in May of that year he was "hooked," Porsche wrote.

“He loved racing. It was his drug," McQueen's son, Chad, said of his dad, per the car company.

In addition to racing cars, which he did for years to come, McQueen also took a liking to motorcycle racing.

Paul Newman

Paul Newman's interest in racing came after landing his role in 1969's Winning.

"I'd like to assume the role of elder statesman, taking walks in the woods and going fishing," he told PEOPLE, "but here I am, forever strapping myself into these machines."

He began entering SCCA club races three years later and between the years of 1979-86, he won four national championships, per The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

In addition to his time behind the wheel, Newman also co-owned the Newman/Haas IndyCar team with Carl Haas with his cars winning 105 races and eight championships, the paper highlighted.

Newman was highly regarded in the world of racing, as evidenced by his induction into the Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.

Jason Priestley

Jason Priestley had been racing for 10 years when he endured serious injuries in a crash at the Kentucky Speedway in 2002. The accident was the worst ever seen at the raceway, ABC News said.

During the decade leading up to the crash, the Beverly Hills 90210 alum had been making part of his living from racing, according to ABC News.

Just after his crash, The New York Times noted that Priestley was "probably the highest-profile actor-turned-driver since Paul Newman."

According to the Midland Daily News, Priestley began his racing career in 1991 and won his first race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1998.

Paul Walker

The Fast and Furious star not only played a racer onscreen, he was also one in real life.

“Paul Walker has been compared to a modern-day Steve McQueen, who lived his passion for racing in every aspect of his life,” chairman and CEO of the auction company, Barrett-Jackson, Craig Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of an auction of Walker's collection of cars in 2020.

This photo shows Walker after he competed in the third annual Cadillac Super Bowl Grand Prix in 2005. Tragically, Walker died in a single-car crash at age 40 in 2013.

Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender was in his third season racing with the European Le Mans Series when he made his debut at the Le Mans 24-Hour race in 2022. The actor chronicled his years-long practice for the race on Youtube. His team ultimately finished 51st out of 62 teams competing.

The following year he returned to the race, though crashed out during the last fifteen minutes of his six-hour turn.

"Acting is something that is my job," he told Eurosport in 2022. "I'm more used to it and at home with it – it's like my natural office, but racing was always my first dream as a young boy."

James Dean

Though James Dean is arguably one of the most recognizable faces in the history of Hollywood, he was also passionate about racing cars.

"Racing — that was really his primary focus toward the end of his life," Dean historian Dorothy Schultz told the IndyStar. "Not really acting, like most people thought. Racing was his passion."

Dean purchased his first Porsche, a 356 Super Speedster, in 1955. After competing in three California races, he bought a second Porsche, a 550 Spyder, later that year. Sadly, he would die behind the wheel of the Spyder later that year, at age 24.

Rowan Atkinson

In addition to his endeavors as an "historic" race car driver, the Mr. Bean actor is a car enthusiast with an impressive collection of wheels that includes a Jaguar MkVII saloon that has been an award-winning car for him, British GQ notes.

Cameron Diaz

Though she hasn't gone pro like the other actors on the list, Cameron Diaz did get behind the wheel of a race car in 1995 at the Toyota Grand Prix Pro/Celebrity Race. The Charlie's Angels actress was joined by fellow celebs including Matt LeBlanc, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Alfonso Ribeiro, who ultimately won the race.

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