CONCORD, N.C. — Jay Leno is one of the United States’ most legendary talk-show hosts and an avid car collector. He’s also a race fan and a former honorary pace car driver for the Indianapolis 500.
Sunday night, he helped deliver the command to start engines for the 62nd Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, serving as the co-grand marshal for the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race.
One thing he’s not, however, is a race car driver — as Leno candidly told SPEED SPORT prior to race time.
Amid reminiscing about his Indy 500 pace car drive from years gone by, Leno dropped one of the more quotable moments of the weekend in describing what it takes to be a racer: and how he doesn’t have it.
“For starters, race car driving is like sex; all guys think they’re good at it,” Leno said, causing the room to erupt in chuckles as a result. “You just have to talk to the person in the other seat to really know how it is.
“I think people are natural-born athletes, though. Walter Payton, from the Chicago Bears … he was not a car guy, but he got asked to come out and do the Toyota Grand Prix (of Long Beach celebrity race),” Leno added. “He came to the driving school, and he was like ‘shift, clutch, what?’ but within an hour, he was close to the track record (for the celebrity event). He was faster than anyone else.
“I had Paul Newman on my show once and he was like 80 at the time, but Paul was a real racer. At that time, NBC only had one show going … so they had a quarter-mile of empty hallways, with all the sound stages shut down. So I got a couple of electric go-karts, practiced all day, said ‘I’m going to kick Newman’s [tail]’ … and Newman still beat me! It was unbelievable. He was so fast.”
Leno’s theory was, perhaps, best showcased in the late 1980s, during one of his entries into the annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, which was held from 1977 to 2016 on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., during the annual Indy car event at the historic circuit.
“When I did the Toyota Grand Prix [celebrity race], I ended up behind Dan Gurney at one point … and I said, ‘I’m going to do everything Dan Gurney does.’ When he hit his brake lights, I was going to hit my brake lights,” Leno recalled. “He got a little ahead of me, a little ahead of me … and then the next thing I knew, he was in my rearview mirror. I couldn’t believe how that happened!
“That’s the magic ingredient. You either have it, or you don’t, and I don’t. But I enjoy [watching] it and I respect it. The men and women who do it, I’m astounded by, but I don’t think I could do it myself.”
Leno was joined by his former musical director from The Tonight Show, Kevin Eubanks, to deliver the most famous words in motorsports on Sunday night.
But the words he delivered during the afternoon hours will be seared in the memory banks of many media members in attendance – just like many of his comedic skits were for his fans in decades past.