Keanu Reeves Speeds Around the Indy 500 Racetrack

Keanu Reeves, the Matthew Perry-maligned actor known for (among other things) his respect for his stunt team, isn’t immune to a bit of daredevilry himself. The John Wick star has felt the need for speed for decades, and we’re not just talking about that 50+ mph bus trip. The custom motorcycle shop owner is also a regular spectator at Formula 1 and MotoGP events, and this weekend he’s taking it to the next level, driving in a set of races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), one of the most famous racetracks in the world.

The event is the final stop in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup series, which runs from Thursday through Sunday at the home of the Indianapolis 500 (among other races). The set of professional runs along the 2.439-mile, 14-turn course will see scores of drivers, many of whom are well-known within the professional motorsports community. There’s 27-year-old Gresham Wagner, who has already locked in the series’ top slot, or 20-year-old Westin Workman and Spike Kohlbecker (age 21), battling for second place this weekend.

Then there’s Keanu Reeves, who made his GR Cup debut on Saturday at the age of 60—but this isn’t his first time on a competitive race track. The man in the Matrix, also a longtime Vanity Fair photoshoot standby, came in first in his class at the 2009 Long Beach Grand Prix Pro/Celebrity Race. While he’s put pedal to the metal onscreen many times since, Saturday was his first time back behind the wheel in a real-life, pro-level sense since he competed in Long Beach that next year, in 2010

Reeves looked relaxed and happy as he hopped into his spec GR86, a Saturday tweet from the IMS shows. But in the day’s first race, which opened at 9:50, Reeves spun out into the grass, the Associated Press reports.

His vehicle, known as the No. 92 BRZRKR car in a nod to his 2020 comic book, BRZRKR, was unscathed in the non-collision crash. The same was true of its driver, who lost control at the exit of Turn 9, which is near the midpoint of the 45-minute race. After returning to the track, Reeves finished 25th after a race where he ran as high as 21st and avoided at least one crash near Turn 14.

The actor will hit the bricks again on Sunday, but that’s not the only time the actor will be under intense circumstances that week. Reeves is expected to reteam with director Jan de Bont and actor Sandra Bullock on Tuesday for a special 30th-anniversary screening of Speed in Los Angeles, a film in which the young “hot shot” Reeves played was still years older than his competitors on the race track this weekend. Efforts by this correspondent to determine how Reeves manages not to age were unsuccessful as of publication time, but I started to develop a theory based on this conversation Reeves had with Vanity Fair last year.

“Keanu, are you online?” the actor was asked. “I’m not, no.” “Not on Twitter?” the interviewer pushed. “No,” he said. Correlation isn’t causation, but Reeves certainly provides some food for thought.