Chad McQueen, Racer and Custom Car Builder, Dead at 63

He was much more than the son of a famous father.

After a life that included racing at Le Mans and Daytona, and starring in movies on his own, Chad McQueen, yes the son of Steve, has passed away at the age of 63.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our father Chad McQueen,” his family said in a statement. “His remarkable journey as a loving father to us, along with his unwavering commitment to our mother, truly exemplified a life filled with love and dedication. His passion for racing not only highlighted his exceptional talent, but also served as a way to honor his father’s legacy, a testament to the values instilled in him. He passed his passion, knowledge and dedication down to us and we will continue not only his legacy but our grandfather’s as well.”

Chad McQueen started out racing dirt bikes when he was nine years old and progressed to cars, qualifying for the SCCA Runoffs in 2004 and moving on to sports cars, much of it under the tutelage of his dad.

“I started riding motorcycles when I was six and racing at nine, and he came to every race, just as he made sure my sister and I were with him whenever he’d be on location,” he told Car and Driver in 2016. “He’d coach me, ‘You can go in deeper here’ or ‘You don’t need to brake so hard there.’”

When he was 10 he spent the summer in France while his dad filmed Le Mans.

“Terry (his sister) and I spent four months at Le Mans, often at the shoots themselves, and regularly on the go-kart track,” he told the Porsche magazine, Christophorus.

They had breakfast with the likes of racing stars Jo Siffert, Derek Bell, and Rolf Stommelen and befriended Siegfried Rauch, who portrayed their father’s on-screen rival Erich Stahler. Chad especially remembers doing a lap in the cockpit of the Porsche 917 while sitting on his father’s lap.

“My father’s love of racing was infectious,” he told Christophorus.

Chad McQueen also wanted to become as renowned an actor as his idolized father. His most famous role was in The Karate Kid, but major success as an actor would elude him.

“Sometimes acting talent seems to skip a generation,” he told Christophorus.

But even racing success was elusive. He suffered a near-life-threatening accident in practice for the Daytona 24 Hours, breaking several bones, lingering in a coma for three and a half weeks, and barely surviving.

“I had something like nine surgeries,” he told Car and Driver in 2016. “But I finally got a historic license, so I’ve recently been playing, driving a friend’s 904 GTS. Even now, though, my right eye is slightly toed-in as the result of the accident, so I have a little trouble with right apexes.”

In 2010 he founded a company called McQueen Racing to build custom cars. His most recent deal was a McQueen Mustang with the Mustang specialists at Steeda.

He owned several cars of his father’s over the years, including the first car he says his dad ever bought, a 1958 Porsche 1600 Speedster, as well as a 1969 2.0-liter 911 like the car his dad drove in the movie Le Mans. There was also a 1971 twin-plug 2.2 911, too.

He told the website masonandsons.com that he learned to drive in a Ford Econoline van that had been built for Steve McQueen by off-road legend Bill Stroppe.

“…that had a big, big motor in it, so that’s what I got taught to drive in, and it was lowered and it really handled good…”

His charitable endeavors included the role of co-chairman of the Friends of Steve McQueen car show that raised money for Boys Republic, a program for what used to be called juvenile delinquents back when his father was a guest of the program.

I was lucky enough to meet him several times at various car events. He was always friendly, even complimentary of stories I’d written. One in particular, about the death of my own father, seemed to strike a chord in him.

“It’s always complicated, dads and sons, always…”

Chad McQueen leaves three children, Steven, Chase and Madison. He was married to Jeanie Galbraith since 1993.