Frankie Muniz rushed to hospital after crashing his car during practice ahead of Florida race

Frankie Muniz has been rushed to a hospital after crashing his car during a practice for the Ford and NASCAR's Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic in Daytona, Florida. A representative for Ford told us that the 40-year-old actor-slash-race car driver is awake and alert. Page Six just interviewed Frankie shortly before the big race, which he said he was excited about and thrilled. And I want to talk all about your race coming up, but since we're on this topic, your life, your schedule is so crazy. You travel so much. Do you foresee yourself continuing to do this. Are you an energizer bunny? Are you good? Are you getting tired? I mean, deny the fact that yes, I'm tired, but like, I feel like I've operated for the past. You know, I want to say A whole life, you know, like in that state of just always having somewhere to be and something to do. So when I think about it, I go, oh, it'd be so nice to just do nothing for a while. I don't know how to do that. Even when I'm home for those three or four days and say I do accomplish everything early and I have a day where I can kind of do whatever. I kind of find myself going like, all right, well. What do you do? Like, what do I do? So I like being busy. I like, you know, I also understand like the older I've gotten that when you have opportunity in front of you, especially when it's something that you love and that you really want to do, you've got to take advantage of that. And you've got to, you know, give 100% of yourself to it because I don't want to look back and go, darn, like. I had it right in front of me, and I didn't do all that I could to take it in and to do the best job I could. Good. And, uh... I'm turning 41 next month, so in the racing world, I'm not old, but I'm one of the older guys out there, so it's not that I've got unlimited years to do it, so I'm enjoying it, I love it, and I'm trying to accomplish all that I can in this racing world, and yeah, the schedule's crazy, mix that with being a father, mix that with the Malcolm reboot came out this year, we had all the press, and I'm doing all that stuff, And then... I also have maybe a little bit of, I don't want to call it a problem, but when I have availability, like if say there's a weekend open, if I get asked to do something else, I'm like, yeah, I'm available. And I just, so even when the racing season ends, you know, this weekend, um, really until New Year's I'm nonstop. And then we're basically talking about starting next race season starts in February, you know? So, so, but I think I, I think I'm just born to, to work that way, like to be busy and, Amen. Amen. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what I would do if I if I had time. I really don't. I don't know. I don't know what people do. Like, what do you do? Like, I don't know. I don't know. I think I'm living the most fulfilled life. And I think that that's, that's what I want to look back at and, and feel that like, I didn't waste any time, I got to accomplish all the things I wanted to. And that's meant me jumping around from a lot of different kind of careers and different things. And, um, but I just, I want to, like I said, feel like I'm giving it my all. And you, you are, you are truly living life to its fullest. You say yes to all the opportunities. I like, that's such a cool, positive way to go through life. It's hard and it's exhausting, but it's so fulfilling too. A huge reason why I went back racing, because I raced from 2004 to 2009, and I didn't race anything again until 2022. My son was born in 2021, and the reason I went back racing, I was holding him in the hospital bed, literally. First day he was alive and I was looking at him, I had this really weird feeling of like, who is he going to grow up thinking that I am right? Because like, sure, I could say I used to be an actor. I used to do this or I used to do that. And and I wanted him to grow up watching me work really, really hard for something, trying really, really hard for something. Thank you. Almost inspire him, but also the ups and downs of it, right? Like it is a rollercoaster of emotions. The highs are super high, the lows are low, but I wanted him to see me just working for it and, and finding success, which I've been able to do over the last couple of years a little bit. And that's been really rewarding for me. So he was an inspiration for me going back into the racing world. And so I hope to bring him joy and be doing it at the same time. It's tough because it pulls me away from him, right? Over 200 days a year, and it's not ideal, but he was just last week at Talladega, or two weeks ago at Talladega, and we had a blast, and he watches all the races, and, you know, when I'm home, I try to be the best dad I can be and be there, but as he's getting older, it's getting easier and easier to bring him, you know what I mean? You know, so hopefully we'll continue that more and more. You have mentioned that racing specifically is a very, it's a roller coaster. It's very up and down. The highs are highs and the lows are lows. How do you personally like navigate those like tougher moments? I mean, it's, it's, it is tough because unlike, you know, as an actor, I could work really, really hard on a role and really dive into a character. do what I think is an amazing performance and I can be happy with my performance, but in the end, it's subjective, right? Whether the viewer likes it or the, you know, or how the editing works, you know, you don't really have full control of it. Yeah. And in racing, it is a team sport, but it's me out there controlling, making the decisions in that moment. And it's not subjective, right? You're either the winner or you're not, or you're last place. And you can kind of see where you stand all the time. There are a lot of things that are out of your control, like you'd get taken out of a race by someone else's mistake that has nothing to do with you, or a mechanical failure, or something like that. And in the beginning, it was really tough, because I couldn't get over thinking of what went wrong, or what I could have done differently. And... I would say I've gotten a lot better at that the last maybe two seasons, you know, because fortunately I race every weekend, you know what I mean? So like, I know that, sure, that sucked, but I get another shot next week and let's focus on that where, so I don't let it weigh on me nearly as much, but even the good, like even when I won my first pro races this year at Road America and then won the championship, like obviously that's an incredible feeling and that's like what I've been striving for for. 20 plus years as a race car driver, but then you get it and you go like, awesome. All right, now I got to focus on next week. Now I'm back in the NASCAR, but let's, you know, what, what can I do to be better and improve for my team and help my team? And, you know, so, you know, thanks to Ford and all my sponsors. And, and, uh, so you're always kind of just driving for the, the, The next, that moment, right? You can't, you can't live in the past. And I think some people who do, you get in your head and it's such a mental game. Racing is so mental. You don't understand that. Like it's like any sport, right? If you're a basketball player, if you think that you're going to miss, you're going to miss, right? If you don't have confidence shooting the ball, you're going to miss. If you show up thinking like, I'm going to be slow or I'm not, we're going to lose. You're going to lose. You know what I mean? You've got to go out there and feel like you belong and that you. You can win. I really commend you. I don't know how this is possible, but you are a child star who has continued on a trajectory that sadly so many others like we're not able to, and I'm not, it's truly amazing what you've been able to accomplish and how you have not gone down this heartbreaking path that so many of even your peers. And I just, what do you attribute that to? I mean, I don't know exactly. Right. I don't know if it's one specific thing. I think for me, unlike I think a lot of people who get into the business or find popularity or fame or whatever it may be, or success at a young age, you expect it to continue. You expect it to always be there. And as that starts to go away, right, as the phone rings less and less. Yes. I feel like that's shocking, like that rejection or the feeling of rejection is shocking for a lot of people to take. And maybe they go, they look for something else to fill that void or to fill that feeling of being wanted or needed or admired. I never necessarily cared about it, if that makes sense. I never cared about fame. I don't care if people like me. I'm just me and I'm doing what I want to do. I just so happen to go from being an actor on a TV show to racing cars or I was in a band. And I also own an olive oil company, which, you know, I have so many lives. I don't I don't use those things because like they're in the spotlight. Right. They just happen to be. And, you know, but in that. In that same sense, like it's almost puts more pressure because it's not me just going off. You know, when my debut race in the NASCAR world at ARCA was at Daytona International Speedway with, you know, millions of people watching on TV and all the press. And, you know, we're normally most people's first race isn't really thought of, you know what I mean? But I had a lot of eyes on me, but it puts pressure that I actually use as motivation to. I want to prove it to myself. I want to prove it to others, you know, because a lot of people, I think, a lot of people think that someone can only do one thing, right? Or they can, you're an actor, you can't, you can't be in a bit, you can't be a race car driver, you can't do these things. So like, I'm trying to prove that you can, right? I've got, I've got to do it, right? I've got to. I've got to have success there, and I've had some success in the racing world. This year, we won the GT4 America Championship, which was amazing, and I won a bunch of races. And in the NASCAR world, it's kind of been a little bit of a roller coaster of some success, some bad weekends, but I love it, you know, and I want to keep going and prove even more. I've got more to prove. I'm unfinished business, for sure. What would be something people would be surprised to know about Bryan Cranston, specifically? Oh man, uh-uh. I think most people know that that have worked with him, but I always admired him and looked up to him as a role model because of the way he dedicated himself to 100 percent of whatever he was doing on set. Right. Even just being a human, just talking to the crew and just being a nice guy and getting to know everybody and know about their families. And and but I just like when you're on a TV show, if I'm being honest, and I see a lot of actors do it now. And I want to talk to them. I want to be like, you don't understand how good you have it. But like, you see these actors like, oh, I don't want to do my show anymore. I want to do movies and I want to do different. I'm like, yo, shut up. You don't, you won the lottery. And like, you know, you're the show is going to end eventually. We're Where, what I was getting at is like, going there's times I remember even me, like just being like, oh man. We got to do another take or I, you know, to have I really want to make the Clippers game. You know what I mean? I mean, but. Yeah. But Brian was always like as dedicated as you could be, to wait Bye. Bye. whether you were on, he was a little on camera or not. And no matter what the scene was, he gave it a hundred percent. So I've always looked at that and I said, that's how I want to be. bit longer. I want people to think the same thing of me when they work with me and just be the nice He's a nice, personal guy that is very... Just excited for the opportunity and gives it my all and is a nice guy. I don't know. So I've always looked up to him. But yeah, he's an awesome, amazing, amazing guy, for sure. Yeah. And I hear Brian might be making an appearance at this race. Is that for sure? Yeah, which is pretty cool. I mean, he hasn't been out to a race yet. I mean, this is a story that I don't think anyone knows. He's actually the reason why I started racing, as crazy as that sounds. Wait, do tell. I would love to hear this. No, so there's a pro celebrity race that they used to do at the Long Beach Grand Prix for years. They did it for 40 years. And in 2003, he did it. And, um... I remember he and Chris Masterson, who played Francis on Malcolm, they did it. And he came back and he goes, if you ever get the opportunity, because he knew how into cars I was and all that, you have to do this race. So the next year, they asked me. And, and I did it and I ended up winning. And then that's how my racing career started. Cause like I got signed by a pro team after that. And then here I am 22 years later, still going, but, um, but he's always been so supportive. Like even all this season, he texts me after the races. So he watches and he's like, oh, I saw, oh, you were doing so good in the crash or this or, and so it's, it's pretty cool that with his busy schedule that he still reaches out But he's been that way with everything I've done. When I was in a band, he supported the band. When I sold olive oil and owned an olive oil company, he bought the olive oil. He's just been like a father figure in real life to me, and that's pretty cool. But yeah, so the fact that he's going to be here, pretty cool. I'm excited to see him and have him at the race, and it's going to be fun to that for sure. Do you know he's the voice of Ford in the commercials? Did you know that? Wait, no, I didn't know that. He's the voice of Ford. Yeah, that makes sense. F1, F2, F3, F4, F1. That's right. You know, so a lot of people don't know that, but yeah. So it's kind of weird that like he's the voice and I'm the driver, but yeah. Worlds colliding. That's so special. It sounds like you have such, and you know, I was asking you earlier about your trajectory, you know, not going down the stereotypical child star path. It's still time. You know, stop. I just think that's so cool that you had such an incredible father figure in your life from when you were a young age. And I would like to think that that helped. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, seeing that, like seeing how he was, right? And then especially post Malcolm to like watch the success that he had, right? Because he'd become... Hollywood God, right? Like he's as high up as you can get as an actor now and and and then working with him again last year on the reboot like he hasn't changed at all right so but i think a lot of that success comes from the fact that the reputation he has as being a you know a great guy and and i think that that's i think that's the most important thing like i've worked with a lot of people who suck i'm being honest you know what i mean and you see them kind of disappear because Because people realize they don't have to work with people who Suck. You know what I mean? So, I don't know. I think it's... I don't know. We have an amazing opportunity. I think a lot of actors get to a level where they just accept or not accept it, have expectations of how it should be. You just say words. We're actually just the jesters. We're like the lowest of the low. Stop! That's not true at all. We're just there to entertain, to make people laugh. No, it's like... We're not the kings and queens, you know, we're the, I wanted to say, like, I genuinely feel your zest for life. And this was a very inspiring interview for me because I like, I'm just always tired and I have one job. So you are a parent, you have multiple careers that you are genuinely passionate about. You're excited about all of them. Like I, I will take that away with me from this interview. I think everyone should be. You said you have a, you have a two and a half year old and I'm pregnant. Oh, wow. Okay, so I'll say this. So for me, I used to think I was tired before having a child, right? But then you get used to operating in that world of just being exhausted all the time. Where like, I don't. There's no such thing as jet lag for me. There's no such thing as like, I can operate on one hour of sleep or five hours of sleep or 10 hours of sleep. Thank Give it the same energy. But I think a lot of that comes from what you, that first year of having a child, right? Of just being truly exhausted. You don't, you thought you were tired before, right? Yes. No, it's so true. Like I think about my stress before. Yeah. What was that about? you. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know. I, yeah, I'm just, I just go. I'm ready. I want to keep going.