Patrick Stewart Was a Racing Fan, Like All of Us

Sir Patrick Stewart, the legendary actor who graced stage and screen for more than 60 years, from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to the deck of the USS Enterprise, died Wednesday at the age of 86.

Stewart passed following a “brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia,” according to his spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak. “He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all. We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace,” Bush Novak said.

It’s hard to truly encompass a legacy like Stewart’s, and the weight of losing a talent as singular and extraordinary. There are certainly obituaries that can speak to those qualities better than you’ll find here on The Drive. For our purposes, however, we wanted to remember what Stewart shared with all of us: a passion for cars and racing. One he explored in a film he made about legendary driver Sir Stirling Moss, that was also, in part, about himself, too.

Racing Legends – Stirling Moss

Moss, who died in 2020, is remembered as perhaps the greatest driver somehow, inexplicably, never to win a Formula 1 world championship. To Stewart, he was a childhood hero. And in this documentary, the actor from Yorkshire—then 72 years old—enters the Silverstone Classic Celebrity event, with a newly acquired racing license, and gets behind the wheel of some of the cars Moss drove to glory, to understand a little more about the man.

The film is an hour long, full not only of archival footage of Moss’ career, but also conversations between the two men, as well as appearances from other beloved personalities, like the great Murray Walker. Stewart’s joy, in the moments he gets to share with Moss, is absolutely beaming. It feels good, as a viewer, to see him relish that privilege, and it’s what I plan to watch in full tonight. Rest in peace, captain.