Drag Illustrated Issue 175, March / April 2022 | Page 24

Dirt

Full-Circle Moment

‘ Bumblebee ’ stunt driver Griffin Steinfeld makes Radial vs . the World debut in ‘ Bumblebee ’ Camaro at Lights Out 13 By Nate Van Wagnen

When Griffin Steinfeld jumped into action as a stunt driver on the set of the 2018 film Bumblebee , he set into motion a chain of events that saw him make his Radial vs . the World debut at Lights Out 13 driving the Miller family ’ s twin-turbocharged “ Bumblebee ” Camaro . It ’ s Steinfeld ’ s latest move in a racing career that includes off-road trucks and circle track racing in the NASCAR Whelen Series and

NASCAR K & N Pro Series West .
Steinfeld was on the set with his younger sister , Hailee Steinfeld , who stars in the Transformers franchise movie , when the director called on him to jump in the “ Bumblebee ” Volkswagen Beetle for a time-sensitive , crucial scene . Steinfeld aced the impromptu opportunity and became an official stunt driver for the film .
When Bumblebee came out in theaters , Steinfeld started getting social media messages about
a Bumblebee-themed race car that was on display at a movie theater in South Carolina . It was Jeff Miller ’ s screw-blown Bumblebee Camaro , and they showed up simply to support the opening and spread the word about drag racing . It immediately caught Steinfeld ’ s attention .
“ I was like ‘ Damn , that ’ s a real-deal race car ,’” Steinfeld remembers . “ I linked up with Patrick Miller and started talking with them . I was like , it ’ s super cool that you did that to support the
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS SEARS
24 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 175