The Racing Scene(Movie, 1969)

The Racing Scene is a 1969 documentary film about actor James Garner and his auto racing team, directed by Andy Sidaris. It was the first film directed by Sidaris, whose background at that time had been in sports broadcasting. The picture offers a glimpse of Garner's role and the teams and cars he sponsored during the middle of three years (1968-1970) his American International Racing team campaigned over a variety of racing series. Garner wasn't alone in pursuing auto racing as a diversion from movie and TV-making, being joined by such Hollywood figures as comedian Tommy Smothers and big screen action hero Steve McQueen. Garner and Smothers even took the same high-speed driving course together in 1968, run by NASCAR legend and 55-time champion Curtis Turner on the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. McQueen, who also raced motorcycles competitively in addition to cars, went on to fund his own Formula racing movie, 1971's Le Mans, about a fictional (1970) 24 Hours of Le Mans in which he raced wheel-to-wheel with some of the top professionals of the day on the actual endurance track in France. ()