2009 Long Beach Grand Prix Pro-Celebrity Race Winner Keanu Reeves Will Again Race A Toyota This Weekend At Indianapolis

Image: Jeff Gritchen (Getty Images)

It’s been over a decade since Keanu Reeves got behind the wheel of a race car in a professional series, but the 60-year-old Lebanese-Canadian driver is coming out of retirement to run a one-off event to close the Toyota GR Cup season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend. You may recall he won his class at the 2009 Long Beach Grand Prix Pro/Celebrity Race in one of the many identically prepared Scions tC. Like that event, the GR Cup is a spec series built around the light and agile Toyota GR86 sports car.

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Reeves is no stranger to motorsports, as he is often seen in Formula 1 and MotoGP paddocks around the world. He is a well-known and avid motorcycle collector, with a huge collection. He also started his own California-based motorcycle company, Arch, in 2011 with business partner Gard Hollinger.

A little personal anecdote about Keanu, I stayed in the same hotel as him during the 2013 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and recognized him as the Pro/Celeb race victor just a few years prior (a race I also attended.) We chatted a bit about his run at Long Beach and how he’d lucked into that victory. We also chatted about motorbikes. Anyway, he was a really nice guy and I wish him well on track this weekend.

This weekend’s GR Cup event promises over 30 competitors in this weekend’s double-header event at Indy. Mr. Reeves will be running the number 92 car, in case you want to follow along with the sexagenarian’s on-track exploits. It’s nice to see some older fellas getting back into racing after many years away. I hope he sticks with it and finds some success in motor racing. Maybe he’s beyond his prime, but perhaps he could parlay this into a late-in-life career or even spin it into his own racing team.