Frankie Muniz on why he shifted gears to racecar driving

You’re not the boss of me now and you’re not so big…Actually, it seems like it was an 8-pound baby that ended up steering some of the decisions made by Frankie Muniz.

Appearing on the Drive podcast with Ford CEO Jim Farley (via EW), Frankie Muniz recalled that it was having a son that made him rethink his career as an actor so he could shift gears into the racing world, insisting that he wouldn’t have the reputation as a has-been. “I literally was holding him, my son, in the hospital bed, and I remember thinking, ‘Who is he going to grow up thinking that I am?’ Sure, I could say, ‘Here’s what Daddy used to do, Daddy used to be an actor, Daddy used to do that.’ But I wanted him to see me working really hard for something, striving for something, and all the ups and downs that come with it. And I really felt like I had unfinished business in the racing world.”

Muniz also admitted that by the time his son was born in 2021, he was well past his peak in the entertainment business, with that particular stretch finding him without a definitive direction. Of course, he ended up getting behind the wheel and officially becoming a NASCAR driver, which is a hell of a lot safer than where other child actors ended up.

But Frankie Muniz will be going back to his roots in a way with the upcoming Malcolm in the Middle revival, which will also allow himself – and his son – to see that he can spread his passions both past and present around. That revival will see him reuniting with Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek, Justin Berfield, and Christopher Materson. Unlike Muniz, Erik Per Sullivan – who played Dewey on the long-running sitcom – has entirely left showbiz behind, having decided to spend his post-Malcolm years studying Victorian literature.

As for his racing accomplishments, Frankie Muniz has competed at the NASCAR level under the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series, alongside a number of other series. On the movie front, he recently starred in sci-fi flick Renner, which co-stars Marcia Gay Harden, Violett Beane and Taylor Gray.

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