• Fun Fact as regards the movie "Grand Prix" and James Garner

    From a425couple@24:150/2 to rec.autos.sport.f1 on Wed Jul 13 19:39:25 2022
    I see from a Quora the claim,

    Fun Fact. In Grand Prix, he did most of his own driving.

    While the other actors struggled with the basic skills, one,
    Brian Bedford, who played Scott Stoddard, had to be towed behind
    the camera car, Garner showed a natural talent for racing. Several
    of the professional drivers, including the legendary Graham Hill,
    stated that Garner had missed his calling and could have easily been
    a successful Formula 1 driver. He later took up the sport and owned
    a racing team competing at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona.
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)
  • From Dan the Man@24:150/2 to rec.autos.sport.f1 on Thu Jul 14 06:09:09 2022
    On Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 10:39:18 PM UTC-4, a425couple wrote:
    I see from a Quora the claim,

    Fun Fact. In Grand Prix, he did most of his own driving.

    While the other actors struggled with the basic skills, one,
    Brian Bedford, who played Scott Stoddard, had to be towed behind
    the camera car, Garner showed a natural talent for racing. Several
    of the professional drivers, including the legendary Graham Hill,
    stated that Garner had missed his calling and could have easily been
    a successful Formula 1 driver. He later took up the sport and owned
    a racing team competing at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona.
    If he had gone into F1 full-time, he would've been the Robert Kubica of his day since he was quite tall.

    Dan
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)
  • From News@24:150/2 to rec.autos.sport.f1 on Thu Jul 14 09:26:05 2022
    On 7/13/2022 10:39 PM, a425couple wrote:
    I see from a Quora the claim,

    Fun Fact. In Grand Prix, he did most of his own driving.

    While the other actors struggled with the basic skills, one,
    Brian Bedford, who played Scott Stoddard, had to be towed behind
    the camera car, Garner showed a natural talent for racing. Several
    of the professional drivers, including the legendary Graham Hill,
    stated that Garner had missed his calling and could have easily been
    a successful Formula 1 driver. He later took up the sport and owned
    a racing team competing at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona.



    Garner's American International Racing Team competed in off-road events, Formula A/Continental/F5000 and managed a team of Lola T70s. His "Racing Scene" documentary told the story.

    https://silodrome.com/the-racing-scene-james-garner/
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)
  • From a425couple@24:150/2 to rec.autos.sport.f1 on Thu Jul 14 07:30:12 2022
    On 7/14/2022 6:26 AM, News wrote:
    On 7/13/2022 10:39 PM, a425couple wrote:
    I see from a Quora the claim,

    Fun Fact. In Grand Prix, he did most of his own driving.

    While the other actors struggled with the basic skills, one,
    Brian Bedford, who played Scott Stoddard, had to be towed behind
    the camera car, Garner showed a natural talent for racing. Several
    of the professional drivers, including the legendary Graham Hill,
    stated that Garner had missed his calling and could have easily been
    a successful Formula 1 driver. He later took up the sport and owned
    a racing team competing at Le Mans, Sebring, and Daytona.

    Garner's American International Racing Team competed in off-road events, Formula A/Continental/F5000 and managed a team of Lola T70s. His "Racing Scene" documentary told the story.

    https://silodrome.com/the-racing-scene-james-garner/

    Yes. I see https://www.inquisitr.com/1363504/james-garner-was-also-auto-racing-legend/

    Nov. 27, 2017
    James Garner Was Also An Auto Racing Legend

    Aaron Turpen
    The recent death of acclaimed actor James Garner has affected Americans everywhere. His starring in the 1950s television show Maverick and many mainline film roles, later reprising Maverick in the modern detective
    series The Rockford Files, and starring in yet more films, made him famous.

    During the late 1960s and 1970s, when he was at the height of his
    career, James Garner also owned an automotive race team, American International Racers (AIR) and made a film based on auto racing during
    that time.

    The film, The Racing Scene, was released in 1970 when the AIR team was fielding cars in top-shelf racing series such as Le Mans, Daytona, and
    other endurance races. James Garner himself often appeared with the
    cars, but is most-associated with the AIR team's offroad event racing,
    which eventually became a contract to race in the Baja 500 with American Motors Corporation (AMC).


    When Garner died at age 86, as first reported here at the Inquisitr
    early Sunday morning, he left behind a legendary history of iconic
    roles, films, and more. Yet for many of us, he's also fondly remembered
    as the man who took AMC through what may have been the company's best
    showing at the Baja races during the 1970s.

    James Garner AIM team cars had an impressive seven out of ten
    completions using shop-modified 1969 SC/Ramblers. A predecessor to those
    is this 1970 Oldsmobile 442, shown at right, courtesy of Bring A Trailer.

    Some of us clearly remember Garner driving the pace car at the
    Indianapolis 500, which he did in 1975, 1977, and 1985. As this CarNewsCafe.com article points out, those were some iconic rides, with
    his 1975 pacemaking car being a 1975 Buick Century Custom V-8 with
    ride-alongs by Tony Hulman and Jim Rathmann.

    Garner's return to drive the pace car two years later was in another GM product, this time a 1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88, again with a ride-along
    by Tony Hulman. His return again in 1985 was once more in an Olds, this
    time a 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais with passenger Don Bailey.

    During most of his career, Garner was an avid auto racing and
    motorsports fan. He enjoyed driving vehicles on the track during his
    free time, hired many well-known race instructors to better his
    performance on the track, and more. James was often seen in the stands, celebrity box or track-side during endurance and other races and was
    sometimes associated with another Hollywood race legend, Steve McQueen.

    James Garnder in Grand Prix

    Although James Garner is fondly remembered by most for his acting
    career, many of us also recall his participation in auto racing and his contributions to it through his race team and appearances. James Garner
    was truly a great man in many ways.
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)
  • From a425couple@24:150/2 to rec.autos.sport.f1 on Thu Jul 14 07:35:53 2022
    On 7/14/2022 6:09 AM, Dan the Man wrote:
    On Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 10:39:18 PM UTC-4, a425couple wrote:
    I see from a Quora the claim,

    Fun Fact. In Grand Prix, he did most of his own driving.


    If he had gone into F1 full-time, he would've been the Robert Kubica of his day since he was quite tall.
    Dan

    Agree. He was 6'2", or 6' 1/2"

    He was best off doing what he did very well.
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)
  • From a425couple@24:150/2 to rec.autos.sport.f1 on Thu Jul 14 07:51:26 2022
    On 7/13/2022 7:39 PM, a425couple wrote:
    I see from a Quora the claim,

    Fun Fact. In Grand Prix, he did most of his own driving.


    from Garner's wiki:

    Racing
    Garner had an interest in auto racing since his youth, but his interest
    was magnified during preparations for the filming of Grand Prix. John Frankenheimer, the director and impetus behind the project, was
    determined to make the film as realistic as possible. He was trying to determine which actor he could focus on for high speed takes. At his
    disposal were the services of Bob Bondurant, a Formula 1 racer who was
    serving as technical consultant for the film. The first step was to
    place the actors in a two-seater version of a Formula 1 car to see how
    they would handle the high speeds. Bondurant noted all the actors became
    quite frightened over 240 kph, all except Garner, who returned to the
    pit laughing like an excited child. Said Bondurant, "This is your
    man".[75] From there on out, all the actors were placed in a race driver training program except for Garner, whom Bonderant was assigned to
    personally to train up. Garner proved to be a good student, a hard
    worker and a talented driver. Compared to the other actors in the movie, Bondurant tagged Garner as being 'light years' ahead.[75] By the end of
    the film Bonderant asserted Garner could compete on a Formula 1 team,
    and would best some of the drivers currently in the field.[76]

    Following the completion of Grand Prix, Garner become involved in auto
    racing. From 1967 through 1969 Garner was an owner of the "American International Racers" (AIR) auto racing team.[77] Motorsports writer
    William Edgar and Hollywood director Andy Sidaris teamed with Garner for
    the racing documentary The Racing Scene, filmed in 1969 and released in 1970.[78] The team fielded cars at Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring
    endurance races, but is best known for Garner's celebrity status raising publicity in early off-road motor-sports events.[77] In 1978, he was one
    of the inaugural inductees in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.[77]

    Garner signed a three-year sponsorship contract with American Motors Corporation (AMC).[79] His shops prepared ten 1969 SC/Ramblers for the
    Baja 500 race.[80] Garner did not drive in this event because of a film commitment in Spain that year. Nevertheless, seven of his cars finished
    the grueling race, taking three of the top five places in the sedan
    class.[81] Garner also drove the pace car at the Indianapolis 500 race
    in 1975, 1977, and 1985 (see: list of Indianapolis 500 pace cars).[77]

    In 1987 Garner announced plans to partner with Larry Cahill to form a
    racing team to compete in the 1988 Indycar season. The intention was to
    base the team in Cedar Rapids, Ia., where Cahill operated his
    businesses. The estimated budget was $3.5 million. The plans never came
    to fruition.[82] Cahill would later form his own team to compete in the
    Indy Racing League.
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)