Rockfish, as my dad called him, was no slouch on the track either. Like Newman, he always wanted to be a race driver, not an actor.
Overlanding - before it was a rich man's sport. PUT JUNE 7th on your calendar - https://stevemcqueencarshow.com/
The closest I ever got to anything Steve McQueen related was when I visited my friend Jay in M*** and he took me over to his friend´s place who had bought a lot of motorcycles from the McQueen auction ( any manymany other crazy car related things. Maybe @Moriarity may know him) . He had numerous warehouses and garages full of cars and bikes. I wouldn´t call it starstruck, but something very meaningful happend to me that day. I only have photos of the V8-60 bike and the old BMW, but I can´t remember if the 30/31 Olds powered roadster had any connection to him. I had a lot of nice details on it. This wa in ´15, I may have forgotten a thing or three.
Movie star and racing driver Steve McQueen had an idea to make a film based on the Le Mans 24H racing. He had a personal Porsche 908 K Flunder Spyder (ch***is 908-022) in which he had scored second in 1970 Sebring 12H. For the Le Mans the car was converted into a camera carrier and was equipped with three cameras, one in front and two at the back above the gearbox. The car was driven by Herbert Linge and Jonathan Williams. They had to make extra pit stops for changing the film rolls (or actually the full cameras as it was quicker), but still managed to cover 282 laps which was not bad for a 3-litre car with additional weight and ruined aerodynamics. The winning 4.5-litre 917 did 343 laps. 1970 was the first year that Porsche managed to take overall victory at Le Mans (and full podium in addition), so the numerous cameras were at the very right race. Although half the scenes are filmed during the actual race, it is a fiction movie.
You could argue James Garner was more talented than even Newman. His Daytona drives in 69 and 70 were elite. Also, Grand Prix is the best racing movie ever made. I will fight anyone that says any different.
This is the second best racing movie ever made, and that ranking is not up for debate. A big part of that comes down to timing. The 917 had just arrived like a ballistic missile and the whole thing feels raw, dangerous, and barely under control. The racing is not polished. It is gritty, loud, and perfect. I love this movie in a way that borders on unhealthy and I watched it for what has to be the hundredth time a couple nights ago. The original plan was insane, in the best possible way. McQueen was supposed to actually race in the event for the film. His driving partner was going to be Jackie Stewart. That alone should make your brain short circuit. The insurance company took one look at that idea and shut it down immediately. But stop and think about it for a second. Jackie Stewart does not waste events. He does not humor nonsense. And yet he agreed to partner with McQueen in the fastest race car ever built. That tells you everything you need to know. When the insurance guys killed the plan, McQueen almost walked away from the movie entirely. He was furious. Out of that frustration, his alter ego was born. Harvey Mushman. A pressure valve for a man who wanted to race more than he wanted to act… but he just couldn’t walk away for whatever reason.
As a driver he was in the top 20% and had a lot of money to throw at winning armature races. When he went pro there were lots of complaints from other racers regarding Sharp blocking so Newman could win.
Taught by Bob Bondurant at the Carroll Shelby School of HiPerf Driving. Shelby started the school at Riverside in 1962 with Pete Brock as the head instructor. This is at Willow Springs where he moved it. Bondo later bought the school from Shelby.
Yeah… Dude was the real deal. He won a handful of SCCA National Championships(5?), placed 2nd at Le Mans (how many Americans can say that?), and I think he podiumed at Daytona two or three times. Plus, he did it for longer than he acted, so…. Race Car driver.
I don’t think a lot of Americans know who Derek Bell is… British driver that won Le Mans five times and is widely known as a top ten sports car driver of all time. And if your curious as to what he thought about Steve McQueen as a driver, here’s a great article: https://petrolicious.com/blogs/arti...dm9mxF5kLLCv2bh4wfUGYFPxRFX7Od_XIhemNK6H7GCSK
Fascinating article on Derek Bell! And completely agree on Grand Prix being the greatest racing movie ever. The opening ***le sequence alone is cinematic perfection.
From Chirs Economaki in his book Let 'Em All Go! pages 162 to 163 At the 12 Hours of Sebring event in 1970, movie actor Steve McQueen teamed with Peter Revson in a Posche 908 finished second behind Mario Andretti Ignazio Giunti and Nino Vaccarella in a Ferrari. That was quite an accomplishment. Revson drove the wheels off the car, but McQueen was much slower, and I said so later. That apparently riled McQueen. He told Sports illustrated "Chirs Economaki and other old-line racing people are dismissive of my talents" Talents my ***. He was no race driver. He was a magnificent actor, just magnificent. But although he fancied himself as a racer it just wasn't there.
Why are you trashing McQueen?, You can always find some one who doesn’t like somebody, that doesn’t make that feeling universal. Dan
Found the Dan Gurney quote finally: “He’s got slow hands, so he’s very smooth. But more than anything, he’s both fearless and compe***ive. He needs more seat time to run up front consistently, but I’ve enjoyed watching him grow as a driver. It makes beating him more fun.” And if you know anything at all about Dan Gurney, you know he would relish the opportunity to bag on some Hollywood celebrity. He never did. Instead, the two became friends and even went into business together on some motorcycle dealership. On the flip side, I just talked to Unser Jr. hoping to get him to login and refute this nonsense. Instead, here’s a quote from him: “I’ve always heard that Steve was pretty damned good for an amateur, but that he pretty much rode on Revson’s back in that Sebring race.” “The Eco thing comes from him wanting to be in Steve’s movie. He got kicked out of the pit in Le Mans and was pissed.” I looked it up. Steve drove 4 hours, Revson drove 8. But their lap times were far apart. Steve was a full second and a half slower per lap. He had a broken foot, but still… It’s pretty incredible that they took second overall and really says more about Revson than McQueen. At Le Mans in the 917, however, Steve was turning high 3:20s in testing… about middle of the road for that car and not at all bad given what a beast of a car that thing was. **** Here is my take. Steve McQueen was a genuinely good amateur race car driver. Better than most of the people who talk loud about it. He might have had the talent and the nerve to go further, but his own name kept tripping him up. Fame is a strange kind of ballast. It weighed him down just as much as his own gut level need to keep making movies. He wanted more out of racing, but the machine he built around himself would not let him disappear into it. Ego, maybe? Who could blame him… It makes the success of people like Paul Newman, James Garner, and even Patrick Dempsey all the more impressive. But I think cutting the guy down is sort of ********. Sure, he was rich and famous and had all of the opportunity anyone could ever hope for… But he was also one of us. And I think that’s enough.
Steve’s reaction to this thread I’m a big fan of his ride in the Blob. Still can’t figure out why his GF left him for the sherriff of Mayberry
I had the pleasure of talking to Mario after he was retired, in the pits at a NASCAR race. Down to earth and very friendly.
This book has been part of my library for years. I always enjoyed the career of Steve McQueen. If you are looking for a good book, that covers a lot of the interesting, turbulent, never boring life of McQueen, this is a good read! There is a lot of interesting history about the man, on a lot of different personal levels. Enjoy from Dennis.
For me, having spent many years offroad racing dirt bikes in motocross, enduro, and desert racing, Steve McQueen's love of offroad racing and dirt bikes took my admiration of the man to another level. I wasn't into European sports cars, but knowing his history with dirt bikes, and his close friendship with one of the greatest dirt bike racers Malcolm Smith made him even cooler. Especially when I heard he often raced events under made up names so nobody would know it was him racing. That speaks volumes about how little he cared about fame.
Some of the snark repeated here is hilarious. Greeting a celebrity 101: Rich from Gas Monkey was walking toward me at the Worldwide auction in Auburn, IN. Said to my pal, "Watch this, that's Gas Monkey." I walked up to him and stuck my hand out, "Hey Rich, remember me? I'm Jocko." Yeah, hey, how ya doin." "Hey man we never met, I'm just ****in with ya. Hope ya did well on the sales." "Uh...yeah, yeah ok." and I walked away. Detailed it to my pal and he asked why. "Why not, he's just another swingin **** around here. Just like us right?" Anyways...
On Gurney - Great engineers make great drivers. Known as Mr Riverside for all his wins there. Like Foyt you could stick him in any type car and he'd win. There was always tension between Foyt & Gurney from the 67 LeMans win. It was raining and when it was time for Gurney to get in the car he was AWOL. LeMans rookie Foyt was forced to do back to back stints in the rain. There is a 90s interview with both of them and you can see it still bothered Foyt. On Revson and Posey Shelby hated the rich buy a ride guys. While these 2 were good he felt they hadn't paid their dues. Of course Shelby benefited greatly when he took over the lease on Revson's race shop (when his mom cut off the money) to build the Cobra and Phil Remington was included in the deal. We need to remember racing for stars is a hobby and they all paid for the seat. They may be good but are not at the pro level of those who make a lucrative career out of the sport. On meeting "famous" people They meet 100s of people and can't remember them all. But they have to appear as you're their best buddy lest you not buy their Tshirt or watch their YouTube. Even if you've had dealings with them you'll probably need to remind them of who you are and how they know you. A couple years ago I was sitting next to Linda Vaughn at a show for lunch. She asked basically who was I. She said I see you at these events what do you do. My friends in high places get me on the A list was explanation enough.
Reminds me of the great John Steinbeck's Rocinante, from the also great "Travels with Charley". I understand initially Steinbeck was a little embarr***ed by how posh the maple interior turned out (compared to other slide-ins of the day) but was glad he had the comfort by the end of his trip.
I look at it this way. Anyone who travels to races in a beat up old pickup is not flaunting his wealth. McQueen could have easily hired a private jet or limo, and had someone load and deliver his cars or bikes to races. I'm sure some of the anonymity was spurred by him trying to enjoy racing and not have his insurance company or production company finding out what he was doing, but the fact is he loved competing and went to great lengths to do it without any fan fare. And he did it well in multiple types of racing. A few stars competed at specific types of racing to attempt to be very good at just one; but most didn't compete in such a variety of racing, and do so well at all of it.
The Jalopy Journal
