Keanu Reeves spent part of his October 2024 weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the driver's seat. The John Wick actor entered the Toyota GR Cup, racing on the road course during the Indy 8 Hour weekend. He was 60 at the time.
It was a professional racing debut, although Reeves had competed in a celebrity race years earlier. The GR Cup was a support series on the weekend's program; he wasn't driving in the eight-hour endurance race itself.
For Saturday's race on October 5, Reeves qualified 31st in a field of 35. His car carried the number 92 and BRZRKR branding, linking his racing weekend to another of his projects.
A Spin, Then Back to the Race
Reeves reached 21st at one point in the 45-minute race, having avoided a collision at Turn 14 on the opening lap. Later, at the exit of Turn 9, he spun into the grass. He didn't hit anything and was able to continue, finishing 25th.
His team was Eagles Canyon Racing, where Dude Perfect's Cody Jones was his teammate. They competed in Toyota GR86 race cars.
The BRZRKR lettering on Reeves's car referred to the comic series he co-created. It also connects to The Book of Elsewhere, his collaboration with author China Miéville. That book is a prose novel set in the BRZRKR world, not a graphic novel.
A Familiar Interest in Speed
Indianapolis wasn't Reeves's first racing appearance. He won the celebrity category of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at Long Beach in 2009, well before his GR Cup entry.
October 2024 also brought a different sort of driving reunion. Beyond Fest programmed a 30th-anniversary screening of Speed with Reeves, Sandra Bullock and director Jan de Bont.
The 1994 thriller put Reeves's police officer Jack Traven and Bullock's Annie Porter aboard a bus rigged to explode if its speed fell below 50 mph. That premise made a very different demand on its driver from a race circuit. At Indianapolis, Reeves's weekend involved an actual qualifying session, a spin and a place in the results.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway: 2024 Indy 8 Hour weekend preview
Motorsport.com: Keanu Reeves in the Toyota GR Cup
