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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Frankie Muniz latest actor-turned-driver out to prove he can compete in high-level racing
Frankie Muniz may be the only actor who has been nominated for an Emmy award and driven in a NASCAR event at Daytona. But if Muniz had been old enough to get a driver's license before he moved to Hollywood, there may never have been a "Malcolm in the Middle." 'When I'm in that race car and I put my visor down and I drive out of that pit lane, I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be,' he said. 'That's what I'm supposed to do and that's what I'm doing.' And acting? 'I don't feel like I'm a good actor,' he said. 'I know I can act. But when I look at good acting, I go 'dang, I could never do that'.' That's not true, of course. Muniz, who started acting when he was 12, has been credited in 26 films and 37 TV shows, including the title role in 'Malcolm in the Middle,' which earned him two Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nod during its seven-year run on Fox. But acting was a profession. Racing is a passion. 'Excitement and all the emotions. That's what I love about racing,' he said. 'The highs are so high and the lows are unbelievably low. It's awesome.' Muniz placed 28th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday. He is 23rd among the 64 drivers listed in the series points standings, with his one top-10 finish coming in the season opener at Daytona. Muniz, 39, isn't the first actor to try racing. Paul Newman was a four-time SCCA national champion who finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979 while Patrick Dempsey ('Grey's Anatomy,' 'Can't Buy Me Love') has driven sports cars at Le Mans and in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, in addition to other series. But driving isn't a side hustle for Muniz, who last October signed with North Carolina-based Reaume Brothers Racing to be the full-time driver of the team's No. 33 Ford in the truck series. Muniz also raced twice last year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. 'When I originally started racing, I was kind of at the height of my [acting] career. I had tons of offers to do movies and shows and all that,' said Muniz, who made his stock-car debut in the fall of 2021 in Bakersfield, then accepted an offer to drive full time in the ARCA Menards Series in 2023. 'Very easily could have stayed in that business. But I wanted to give racing a try. And to compete at the top level, you have to put in the time and effort that professional race car drivers are doing, right? You can't do it halfway.' Muniz was into racing before he even thought about acting. Growing up in North Carolina, he remembers waking early on the weekend to watch IndyCar and NASCAR races on TV. No one else in his family shared his interest in motorsports, so when his parents divorced shortly after Muniz was discovered acting in a talent show at age 8, his mother moved to Burbank, where he made his film debut alongside Louis Gossett Jr. in 1997's 'To Dance With Olivia.' Two years later he was cast as the gifted middle child of a dysfunctional working-class family in the successful sitcom 'Malcolm in the Middle.' Motorsports continued to tug at him so after running in a few celebrity events, Muniz twice put his acting career on hold to race, first in 2007 — shortly after 'Malcolm' ended after seven seasons and 151 episodes — when he started a three-season run in the open-wheel Atlantic Championship series. Read more: NASCAR announces race on U.S. Navy base in Coronado scheduled for 2026 Still, Muniz, who lives with his wife Paige and 4-year-old son Mauz in Scottsdale, Ariz., is dogged by criticism he is little more than a weekend warrior who is using his substantial Hollywood reputation and earnings to live out his racing fantasies. 'I don't spend any of my money going racing,' he said. 'I made a promise to my wife that I would not do that. So I can kill that rumor right there.' But those whispers persist partly because Muniz hasn't completely cut ties with acting. Because the truck series doesn't run every weekend, racing 25 times between Valentine's Day and Halloween, Muniz had time to tape a 'Malcolm in the Middle' reunion miniseries that is scheduled to air on Disney+ in December. He has also appeared in two other TV projects and two films since turning to racing full time. But his focus, he insists, is on driving. 'If I wanted to go racing for fun,' he said, 'I would not be racing in the truck series. I'd be racing at my local track or I'd be racing some SCCA club events. I want to be one of the top drivers there are. I want to make it as high up in NASCAR as I can. And I'm doing everything I can to do that.' Fame outside of racing can be a double-edged sword in the high-cost world of NASCAR. It can open doors to a ride and sponsorships others can't get, but it can also cause jealousy in the garage, with drivers crediting that fame and not talent for a rival's success. And Muniz isn't the only rookie driver who has had to deal with that. Toni Breidinger, who finished 27th in Friday's race and is one place and eight points ahead of Muniz in the season standings with nine races left, is a model who has posed for Victoria's Secret and been featured in the pages of Glamour, GQ and Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition. She's also a good driver who has been going fast on a racetrack far longer than she's been walking slowly down a catwalk. 'I was definitely a racer before anything. That was definitely my passion,' said Breidinger, who started driving go-karts in Northern California when she was 9. 'I've been lucky enough to be able to do modeling to help support that passion. But at the end of the day, I definitely consider myself a racer. That's what I grew up doing and that's the career I've always wanted do to.' Still, she sees the two pursuits as being complementary. When Breidinger appears on a red carpet, as she did before this month's ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, it helps her modeling career while at the same time giving the sponsors of her racing team — which includes 818 Tequila, Dave & Buster's and the fashion brand Coach — added value. 'It's all part of the business. It all goes back into my racing,' said Breidinger, 26, who is of German and Lebanese descent. 'The side hustles, I like to call them. I don't think that takes away from me being a race car driver.' Breidinger, who won the USAC western asphalt midget series title as a teenager, raced in the ARCA Menards Series for five years before stepping up to truck series in 2021, making NASCAR history in 2023 when she finished 15th in her first race, the best-ever debut by a female driver. That helped her land a full-time ride this season with Tricon Garage, Toyota's flagship team in the truck series. Like Muniz, Breidinger sees the truck series, the third tier of NASCAR's national racing series, as a steppingstone to a seat in a Cup car. 'I want to climb the national ladder. That's what I'm here to do,' she said. 'I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have long-term plans and long-term goals. I'm a very competitive person, especially with myself.' Kyle Larson, who climbed to the top of that ladder, running his first NASCAR national series race in a truck in 2012, then winning the 2021 Cup championship nine years later, said the path he took — and the one Muniz and Breidinger are following — is a well-worn one. Read more: NASCAR figuring out if building new track in Fontana is the 'right thing to do' 'Anybody racing in any of the three series has talent and ability enough to be there,' he said. Funding, Larson said, and not talent and ability, often determines how fast a driver can make that climb and that might be a problem for Muniz since Josh Reaume, the owner of the small three-truck team Muniz drives for, has complained about the price of racing. It can cost more than $3.5 million a year to field one competitive truck in the 25-race series — and that cost is rising, threatening to price many out of the sport. But having drivers like Muniz and Breidinger in NASCAR will help everyone in the series, Larson said, because it will bring in fans and sponsors that might not have been attracted to the sport otherwise. 'I just hope that he can get into a situation someday where you can really see his talent from being in a car or a truck that is better equipped to go run towards the front,' Larson said of Muniz. 'You want to see him succeed because if he does succeed, it's only going to do good things for our sport.' And if it works out the way Muniz hopes, perhaps he'll someday be the answer to another trivia question: Name the NASCAR champion who once worked in Hollywood. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Los Angeles Times
Frankie Muniz latest actor-turned-driver out to prove he can compete in high-level racing
Frankie Muniz may be the only actor who has been nominated for an Emmy award and driven in a NASCAR event at Daytona. But if Muniz had been old enough to get a driver's license before he moved to Hollywood, there may never have been a 'Malcolm in the Middle.' 'When I'm in that race car and I put my visor down and I drive out of that pit lane, I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be,' he said. 'That's what I'm supposed to do and that's what I'm doing.' And acting? 'I don't feel like I'm a good actor,' he said. 'I know I can act. But when I look at good acting, I go 'dang, I could never do that'.' That's not true, of course. Muniz, who started acting when he was 12, has been credited in 26 films and 37 TV shows, including the title role in 'Malcolm in the Middle,' which earned him two Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nod during its seven-year run on Fox. But acting was a profession. Racing is a passion. 'Excitement and all the emotions. That's what I love about racing,' he said. 'The highs are so high and the lows are unbelievably low. It's awesome.' Muniz placed 28th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday. He is 23rd among the 64 drivers listed in the series points standings, with his one top-10 finish coming in the season opener at Daytona. Muniz, 39, isn't the first actor to try racing. Paul Newman was a four-time SCCA national champion who finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979 while Patrick Dempsey ('Grey's Anatomy,' 'Can't Buy Me Love') has driven sports cars at Le Mans and in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, in addition to other series. But driving isn't a side hustle for Muniz, who last October signed with North Carolina-based Reaume Brothers Racing to be the full-time driver of the team's No. 33 Ford in the truck series. Muniz also raced twice last year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. 'When I originally started racing, I was kind of at the height of my [acting] career. I had tons of offers to do movies and shows and all that,' said Muniz, who made his stock-car debut in the fall of 2021 in Bakersfield, then accepted an offer to drive full time in the ARCA Menards Series in 2023. 'Very easily could have stayed in that business. But I wanted to give racing a try. And to compete at the top level, you have to put in the time and effort that professional race car drivers are doing, right? You can't do it halfway.' Muniz was into racing before he even thought about acting. Growing up in North Carolina, he remembers waking early on the weekend to watch IndyCar and NASCAR races on TV. No one else in his family shared his interest in motorsports, so when his parents divorced shortly after Muniz was discovered acting in a talent show at age 8, his mother moved to Burbank, where he made his film debut alongside Louis Gossett Jr. in 1997's 'To Dance With Olivia.' Two years later he was cast as the gifted middle child of a dysfunctional working-class family in the successful sitcom 'Malcolm in the Middle.' Motorsports continued to tug at him so after running in a few celebrity events, Muniz twice put his acting career on hold to race, first in 2007 — shortly after 'Malcolm' ended after seven seasons and 151 episodes — when he started a three-season run in the open-wheel Atlantic Championship series. Still, Muniz, who lives with his wife Paige and 4-year-old son Mauz in Scottsdale, Ariz., is dogged by criticism he is little more than a weekend warrior who is using his substantial Hollywood reputation and earnings to live out his racing fantasies. 'I don't spend any of my money going racing,' he said. 'I made a promise to my wife that I would not do that. So I can kill that rumor right there.' But those whispers persist partly because Muniz hasn't completely cut ties with acting. Because the truck series doesn't run every weekend, racing 25 times between Valentine's Day and Halloween, Muniz had time to tape a 'Malcolm in the Middle' reunion miniseries that is scheduled to air on Disney+ in December. He has also appeared in two other TV projects and two films since turning to racing full time. But his focus, he insists, is on driving. 'If I wanted to go racing for fun,' he said, 'I would not be racing in the truck series. I'd be racing at my local track or I'd be racing some SCCA club events. I want to be one of the top drivers there are. I want to make it as high up in NASCAR as I can. And I'm doing everything I can to do that.' Fame outside of racing can be a double-edged sword in the high-cost world of NASCAR. It can open doors to a ride and sponsorships others can't get, but it can also cause jealousy in the garage, with drivers crediting that fame and not talent for a rival's success. And Muniz isn't the only rookie driver who has had to deal with that. Toni Breidinger, who finished 27th in Friday's race and is one place and eight points ahead of Muniz in the season standings with nine races left, is a model who has posed for Victoria's Secret and been featured in the pages of Glamour, GQ and Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition. She's also a good driver who has been going fast on a racetrack far longer than she's been walking slowly down a catwalk. 'I was definitely a racer before anything. That was definitely my passion,' said Breidinger, who started driving go-karts in Northern California when she was 9. 'I've been lucky enough to be able to do modeling to help support that passion. But at the end of the day, I definitely consider myself a racer. That's what I grew up doing and that's the career I've always wanted do to.' Still, she sees the two pursuits as being complementary. When Breidinger appears on a red carpet, as she did before this month's ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, it helps her modeling career while at the same time giving the sponsors of her racing team — which includes 818 Tequila, Dave & Buster's and the fashion brand Coach — added value. 'It's all part of the business. It all goes back into my racing,' said Breidinger, 26, who is of German and Lebanese descent. 'The side hustles, I like to call them. I don't think that takes away from me being a race car driver.' Breidinger, who won the USAC western asphalt midget series title as a teenager, raced in the ARCA Menards Series for five years before stepping up to truck series in 2021, making NASCAR history in 2023 when she finished 15th in her first race, the best-ever debut by a female driver. That helped her land a full-time ride this season with Tricon Garage, Toyota's flagship team in the truck series. Like Muniz, Breidinger sees the truck series, the third tier of NASCAR's national racing series, as a steppingstone to a seat in a Cup car. 'I want to climb the national ladder. That's what I'm here to do,' she said. 'I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have long-term plans and long-term goals. I'm a very competitive person, especially with myself.' Kyle Larson, who climbed to the top of that ladder, running his first NASCAR national series race in a truck in 2012, then winning the 2021 Cup championship nine years later, said the path he took — and the one Muniz and Breidinger are following — is a well-worn one. 'Anybody racing in any of the three series has talent and ability enough to be there,' he said. Funding, Larson said, and not talent and ability, often determines how fast a driver can make that climb and that might be a problem for Muniz since Josh Reaume, the owner of the small three-truck team Muniz drives for, has complained about the price of racing. It can cost more than $3.5 million a year to field one competitive truck in the 25-race series — and that cost is rising, threatening to price many out of the sport. But having drivers like Muniz and Breidinger in NASCAR will help everyone in the series, Larson said, because it will bring in fans and sponsors that might not have been attracted to the sport otherwise. 'I just hope that he can get into a situation someday where you can really see his talent from being in a car or a truck that is better equipped to go run towards the front,' Larson said of Muniz. 'You want to see him succeed because if he does succeed, it's only going to do good things for our sport.' And if it works out the way Muniz hopes, perhaps he'll someday be the answer to another trivia question: Name the NASCAR champion who once worked in Hollywood.
Motor 1
21-05-2025
- Automotive
- Motor 1
Radford Racing School Is the Real Deal
Hardcore track and amateur racing people often scoff at racing school. " Why would I need racing school?" T hey wonder. " I do so many track days." Or, it could be that you've done dozens of LeMons, Lucky Dog, or Champ Car races—it's all the same. The general attitude in amateur paddocks across the country is that racing school is a waste of money. Just spend it on more track time. I was one of those people, then I got invited to do Radford Racing School's four-day GT Road Racing SCCA licensing course. Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1 I won't lie, my pride got the best of me. I saw an opportunity to get an SCCA Full Competition license without having to do all of the club's minimum race start and probationary requirements. All I had to do was simply complete four days of driving Radford's Dodge Challenger Scat Pack school cars, do some basic stuff, and head home with a shiny new certificate saying that I was somehow better than before. Experience, I thought, was better than instruction. I've already spent thousands going racing, how is a $7,000 course really going to improve me over spending that money on a couple of race weekends? I've done hundreds of days at the track, one of my best friends is a pro IMSA driver, yadda yadda, typical track day guy hubris. Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1 That tone changed once I landed at Radford's facility in Chandler, Arizona, and realized the caliber of my instructor. For our group of students, there was a small team of two head instructors and two assistant instructors handling us. The head instructors were proper racers: BJ Zacharias, a multiple SCCA championship winner and longtime ALMS, Grand Am, and IMSA Continental challenge driver, and Spencer Bucknum, the 2023 SRO TC America champ and current McLaren Trophy driver. True professionals were teaching these courses, not your local HPDE instructor or autocross guy. The first two days of the course were largely warmup and evaluation exercises to teach us the bare bones basics, things that most of us think we know but actually don't. Some of the exercises, like choosing a lane based on last-minute traffic light illumination, were focused on road safety. Others, like the specially designed skid car that could unweigh the front or rear tires using a specially designed frame, were designed to test gentle car control and the delicate loading that the front and rear tires see with throttle and brake. Then the real deal exercises, like stopping at a specific cone at a specific brake pressure, were thoroughly designed to teach a core tenet of driving: Braking. All of it was to prepare us for days three and four, which were all done on Radford's main track, east track, and autocross course. Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1 True professionals were teaching these courses, not your local HPDE instructor or autocross guy. While those early exercises were a surprising revelation, the real meat of the school was on those last two days. This is where the instructors could properly review data and technique, and offer advanced instruction. The biggest thing Zacharias and Bucknum drilled into everyone was the importance of braking, and everything that follows it. And not just braking hard, or braking points, but the actual granularity of good braking. Trail braking is a buzzword tossed around a lot, but I feel that the popular understanding of trail braking is limited. The way both instructors taught it was extremely high-level. I've always understood trail braking in concept, and I practice it plenty in simulators like iRacing to decent effect. But Radford truly drilled what I needed to know into my head, and this is where the unusual choice of Dodge Challenger for the school car really made sense. A Challenger doesn't really want to turn, and using brake pressure to make the front axle work is critical to cornering the heavy, lumbering thing. But on the crappy (and specifically chosen because of this, according to Zacharias) Cooper Zeon RS3 rubber, you can't use too much brake pressure, or it will overwhelm the tires. With these restrictions, I found a revelation: I was abusing the brakes and never actually trail braking. Photo by: Michael Teo Van Runkle It's extremely subtle, but true trail braking depends on the car. Some cars might take 40 percent brake pressure to the apex, others take zero, and some will take 5 percent. The Challenger accepted almost any brake pressure, but it would show you the physics at play. A 5-10 percent trail neatly tucked the Challenger's nose to apex, utilizing the tire's full grip and rotating the car plenty without removing too much load from the rear axle. Zero percent meant that the Challenger simply didn't turn, while 40 percent pressure turned the Challenger into a drift machine, or an understeer machine, depending on how I worked the wheel. A quicker initial steering input overwhelmed the front tires and sent the car into understeer, but a slow, gradual build into steering unloaded the rear tires as the front was building grip, transitioning into a graceful slide. Zacharias worked closely with us to nail this down, doing multiple drills and showing just how responsive the cars were to braking. He'd break the pressure down into numbers from 1-10, 10 being the most intense and 1 being the least. Without saying complicated racing driver words like "brake shape," he effectively taught that lesson. He even tossed an AiM Solo 2 in each of our cars to see how we were driving, and effectively decoded what each student was doing in the car. Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1 Photo by: Chris Rosales / Motor1 Over two days, two tracks, and more than ten total hours of track time, I honed these new skills. Not only were the instructors top-notch—I got more track time than I knew what to do with. I drove for lap time, tried a lot of drifting, and everything in between. It allowed me to have quality time with the car and helped me work on my method, all under the watchful eye of two skilled instructors. To say I was proven wrong about racing school is an understatement. I actively got quicker after my time at Radford, even with my fairly deep racing and driving experience. Visiting Radford was like getting a new pair of glasses and being able to see more clearly–I learned a method rather than an easy trick. It's something I can continually build on and practice. So yes, even for a hardcore track day and racing guy like me, racing school turned out to be an invaluable experience. And I have a shiny new SCCA Full Competition license to go do some more serious racing with. More Racing Schools How BMW's Racing School Makes You A Better Driver Skip Barber: The First Step On Your Racing Journey Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox, daily. back Sign up For more information, read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )
Car and Driver
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Pirelli Trofeo Track Tire Is Basically a DOT-Approved Racing Slick
Pirelli has a new competition tire exclusively for the United States called the P Zero Trofeo Track. The nearly-slick tire is designed for SCCA and NASA events, and here's the kicker: it's DOT approved. That said, Pirelli strongly recommends you don't use them on public roads, as they're basically a competition slick. With how expensive track time can be, it's easy to forget how lucky we are in the United States to have so many road courses scattered throughout the country. With all those tracks comes a wealth of grassroots motorsport and club racing, and several series that require DOT-approved tires to compete. Pirelli's newest tire, the P Zero Trofeo Track, is a nearly-slick competition tire designed specifically for those events. Pirelli The new tire is intended for the various SCCA and NASA championships that require drivers to use DOT-approved tires. That means they're technically street legal, but they're intended strictly for track use. Pirelli Pirelli Jack Fitzgerald Associate News Editor Jack Fitzgerald's love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn't afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. Read full bio
STV News
16-05-2025
- Health
- STV News
Mum airlifted to hospital after suffering heart attack during family bike ride
An Aberdeenshire schoolteacher was airlifted to hospital after she suffered a heart attack during a family bike ride. Steph was enjoying a day out at the Glenlivet Mountain Bike Trail Centre during the Easter holidays when she began to feel unwell. The Kemnay woman managed to manoeuvre herself off the trail before falling unconscious. 'I was trying to keep up with my eldest daughter on the trails when I suddenly felt really ill,' the 51-year-old says. 'My eyesight became blurry, and I knew I was going to pass out.' SCAA Steph was airlifted to hospital The mother-of-two began to hear voices around her as she regained consciousness. Steph added: 'A member of staff from the centre arrived on a quadbike and I believe he called 999. 'That's roughly when the pain in my chest started. It then radiated down to my elbows, and I couldn't feel my hands or open my eyes, it was unbearable. 'I couldn't move, my arms and legs felt so heavy, and I knew it wasn't going to be possible for me to get myself up.' A medical team arrived by land ambulance and conducted an ECG test. They concluded there was an issue with the teacher's heart. Steph was transported to a meeting point where paramedics were able to supply pain relief and confirmed that she needed urgent medical treatment. As the travel by road would clock in at over an hour and a half, a crew from Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance (SCCA) stepped in and managed to lift her into the helicopter. In just 15 minutes, she arrived at Aberdeen's Royal Infirmary. 'The SCAA paramedics had warned me that when we arrived at ARI, lots of people would swarm me,' the mum said. 'When we landed, I got wheeled quickly into surgery in a big hurry. 'I had a stent fitted to fix a block in my right coronary artery. The whole operation was complete in 45 minutes, and I was allowed to go home after three days. SCAA Steph has since shared her story at charity events. 'I heard from the cardiologist the following day that I had had a lucky escape, but I eventually found out just how close I had been to dying.' Since her heart attack, Steph has become a supporter of SCAA. She is now a SCAA volunteer, regular giver, lottery player, and recently shared her story at the charity's Operation Skyward launch event held at the Aberdeen base. Here she was able to reunite with the crew and aircraft that played a vital role in getting her the medical care needed to save her in time. Steph said: 'It's important for me that others get the same opportunity I did – for SCAA to reach more people in time. 'I didn't expect to nearly die on a hillside in Glenlivet at the age of 51, that wasn't part of my plan. My life was hanging in the balance. 'Thank you is not enough, but that's all I can say. It's a debt I can never repay.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
