Keith Carradine plays Dr Richard Beckett, a former champion driver turned top surgeon who thinks he has left the lethal politics of speedway behind. When old nemesis Christian Chandler Jr dangles a trackside medic contract, Beckett returns to find drivers dying in suspicious crashes and a cartel of owners gambling on the fatalities. The 23-episode run never escapes its daytime-soap chassis: every medical crisis collides with a racing stunt, every boardroom betrayal is timed to a qualifying lap. Showtime shot in North Carolina’s speedways, using real pit crews and local drivers, which gives the crash sequences a documentary thud the scripts never earn.
The cast list reads like a nineties time capsule. Duncan Regehr glowers as Chandler, heir to a toxic family empire; Brandy Ledford and Guylaine St-Onge trade venom as the rival Chandler wives; Fred Williamson brings gravel-voiced authority as Lowell Carter, the only team owner who still calls motor sport a blood sport. Ratings stalled at 0.7 million and Showtime parked the series after one season, leaving Beckett’s investigation into the fixed-fatality ring unresolved on the tarmac.
Production Details
Showtime / 1 Season / 23 Episodes / 1997
Main Cast
Keith Carradine as Dr. Richard Beckett
Duncan Regehr as Christian Chandler Jr.
Brandy Ledford as Mimi Chandler
Guylaine St-Onge as Nicole Chandler
Tristan Rogers as Harry
Randy J. Goodwin as Kennedy Winslow
Jenny Cooper as Wendy Servine
Fred Williamson as Lowell Carter
Sebastian Spence as Stevie Servine
Michael Copeman as Darrel Butts
Marc Brandon Daniel as Nando
Anais Granofsky as Vanessa Carter
