Canadian actor Keanu Reeves spun out of control during his professional auto racing debut at the renowned Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday.
“The Matrix” star went off course a little more than halfway through the 45-minute race. His car spun into the grass without a collision on the exit of turn 9.
Reeves then reentered the course and continued driving, signaling that he was uninjured.
The actor, who qualified 31st out of the 35 cars, ran as high as 21st, successfully avoided a first-lap crash at turn 14, and ultimately finished in 25th place.
Reeves, 60, is competing at Indianapolis in the Toyota GR Cup, a brand-specific racing series and a support series for this weekend’s Indy 8-hour sports car event. He is also scheduled to race on Sunday.
For the event, Reeves is driving the No. 92 BRZRKR car, which is promoting his graphic novel “The Book of Elsewhere.” Cody Jones from the sports and comedy group “Dude Perfect” joins Reeves as his teammate.
It was not Reeves’s first time driving on a race track, as he competed in the 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, winning the celebrity race.
“It was pretty thrilling to go up that hill today,” he said. “It’s beautiful, it’s picturesque. It was a little muddy, but listen, I mean, John McGuinness, Alan Cathcart, there’s just so many legends here today, just surrounded by amazing machines and people, and so it’s really just a great honor to be here and to have the chance to participate.”
Reeves said he had an affinity for motorcycles since childhood.
Reeves’s Career
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, on Sept. 2, 1964, Keanu Reeves, along with his family, had lived in Sydney and New York City before settling in Toronto, Canada, for the majority of his childhood life. Dropping out of high school at 17, Reeves made his acting debut during an episode of the television series “Hangin’ In,” which aired on CBC.Reeves’s first feature film role was in 1986’s “Youngblood,” starring Rob Lowe, where he played a goalkeeper. Throughout the late ‘80s, Reeves starred in several teen films, including 1988’s “The Night Before,” “The Prince of Pennsylvania,” and “Permanent Record.” A year later, he appeared in the sci-fi comedy film “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” which grossed $40.5 million at the box office and was followed by a sequel in 1991.
After experiencing fluctuations in his career in the mid-1990s, Reeves got a breakthrough when he starred as Thomas “Neo” Anderson in the 1999 sci-fi film “The Matrix.” The movie was critically acclaimed, a success at the box office, and won Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound. Reeves later appeared in the sequels “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” and “The Matrix Resurrections.”
Reeves also received commercial success for his role in the 2014 action thriller “John Wick,” where he played a retired hitman seeking revenge. The film was followed by 2017’s “John Wick: Chapter 2,” 2019’s “John Wick: Chapter 3–Parabellum,” and 2023’s “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
Reeves also pursued a music career, forming an alternative rock band called “Dogstar,” where he played bass guitar. The group released two albums before disbanding in 2002. In recent years, the band has reconnected, releasing the 2023 album “Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees” and embarking on the Summer Vacation Tour across North America this year.
