Racing Facts

The yellow barrels at every highway exit were invented by John Fitch, a Le Mans driver who once shot down a German jet in WWII. After his co-driver died at Le Mans in 1955, Fitch filled liquor barrels with sand and crashed into them at up to 70 mph in his own driveway. He climbed out grinning every time. Highways adopted them in the late 1960s. An estimated 17,000 lives saved. Every one started in his driveway.

Rowan Atkinson plays a bumbling idiot on screen, but off screen he's a skilled racing driver. In 1997 he bought a McLaren F1, one of only 64 ever built, and put 41,000 miles on it as a daily driver. He crashed it twice, once spinning off a wet road into a tree in 2011 and setting it on fire. Repairs reportedly became Britain's biggest car insurance payout, and he sold the rebuilt car for an estimated 8 million pounds.

Frankie Muniz became famous playing Malcolm on Malcolm in the Middle. When the show ended, he left Hollywood to chase a different dream. Today he races full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 33 truck for Team Reaume. He finished top 10 at Daytona in his rookie season. He just re-signed for a full-time 2026 season.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is nicknamed the Brickyard for a real reason. In 1909, workers paved the whole 2.5-mile track with 3.2 million bricks. Asphalt slowly buried nearly all of them, until only a 36-inch strip survived at the finish line. Drivers still kiss that strip after every win. In 2025, a repave dug into a turn and found the original bricks still down there.