‘Toy Story’ Actor Tim Allen Once Competed in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona

It isn’t uncommon for some celebrities to indulge in their passion for racing. After all, there are the likes of Steve McQueen and Paul Newmans, who often competed on the track. More recently, there have been people like Frankie Muniz competing in the ARCA Series, as well as Patrick Dempsey and Michael Fassbender in endurance racing. The update is that another Hollywood celebrity is joining the ranks, and that is none other than Tim Allen at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

The 70-year-old actor is best known for roles in Home Improvement, The Santa Clause, and more. However, many also know him as the voice of Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story franchise. He competed in the 1997 edition of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, driving for Saleen Allen Speedlab. The car that he was driving was a Saleen S281, which was a variant of the Ford Mustang and was produced by Saleen, Inc.

Tim Allen played an unusual role at Daytona

What’s actually interesting is that Tim Allen got his hands on not one, but two cars. He was splitting driving duties between the #67 and #65 Saleen Mustangs. Sadly, he and his teammates could only muster 58th and 60th for both cars, but on the bright side, they did finish the race. His co-drivers were Price Cobb, Phil Andrews, Rob Rizzo, David Warnock, Robert Schirle, and Steve Saleen.

To put it in perspective, the result was not too terrible, because the field was 80 cars strong. So to finish P58 and P60 was actually a heck of an achievement for the Galaxy Quest star and his teammates. Candidly, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see Tim Allen indulge himself in this fast-paced hobby. He is a massive petrolhead and even paid a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch the Indy 500 in 2000 and 2006.

The 1997 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona witnessed a stacked field

As mentioned before, there were 80 cars on the 1997 grid, not counting cars that failed to qualify. From the ones that made it to the start, some big names were joining Tim Allen. One such person was fellow Disney voice actor Craig T. Nelson, who is best known for The Poltergeist, Action Jackson, and The Devil’s Advocate. However, many will remember the 79-year-old as the voice of Bob Parr from The Incredibles franchise. For this race, Nelson was piloting the Riley & Scott Mk III.

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Other well-known names include NASCAR driver Boris Said, Belgian singers Koen and Kris Wauters, and more. Formula One fans might also recognize a certain Zak Brown, who also competed in this race for Roock Racing, driving a Porsche. There were also other former F1 drivers like Thierry Boutsen and Hans-Joachim Stuck. Stuck and Boutsen were teammates, sharing driving duties for a Porsche 911 GT2.

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