THE Champ Car-based movie ‘Driven’ has gone down in the history books as perhaps one of the worst motorsport movies ever made and perhaps one of the worst movies made full stop!
Now one of the cars reportedly used in the filming of the movie has emerged – and you could snap it up.
A 2000-model Reynard chassis has popped up for sale on American website, Bring A Trailer, from an Indy Sleuth contact in Los Angeles and it’s understood to be the very car that Sylvester Stallone drove in the movie.
Stallone played Joe Tanto in the film, a veteran Champ Car champion who came out of retirement to mentor the emerging driver Jimmy Bly, played by Kip Pardue.
Originally supplied to Target Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2000 FedEx Championship Series, this chassis moved to Della Penna Motorsports during that season in the wake of the Ganassi team’s decision to opt for Lola chassis for Juan Montoya and Jimmy Vasser at the beginning of the year.
Driven during 2000 by Norberto Fontana and Memo Gidley and suffering accident damage significant enough to sideline it from racing, the car was repainted into PacWest Nextel colours for the filming of the movie in 2001 after John Della Penna’s team pulled out of CART at the end of 2000.
Della Penna, who died in 2019, ran Jason Bright in his one and only CART start on the Gold Coast during the 2000 season.
After discontinuing his CART team, Della Penna was hired as a consultant by Stallone for the ‘Driven’ movie. The chassis for sale was reportedly fitted with a CBR900 Honda motorcycle engine so it could be used for filming sequences with Stallone in the car.
Della Penna gifted the car to Stallone when shooting wrapped up and the Rocky and Rambo star subsequently donated it to the famous Petersen Museum, where it rested in the vault until being acquired by the current owner.
Among the material included in the sale is Stallone’s donation paperwork to the museum.
The car comes without engine, gearbox, brakes or dampers.
V8 Sleuth’s off-shoot Indy Sleuth acquired a wide range of CART/Champ Car chassis history in December 2021 and, between its files and contacts in the United States, the complete history of the chassis can be compiled for the buyer.
View more photos and information on the car here on the Bring A Trailer website.
Check out the trailer for Driven here:
