Keanu Reeves is a passionate man. In John Wick, you see it in the way his character is protective of his dog, and now in real life you see Reeves’ passionate side come through the form of his motorcycle racing team, ARCH Racing. 

As the team continues to compete against the likes of Harley-Davidson, Reeves has now revealed his ambition of becoming part of a "new heritage" in American motorcycle racing.

For Reeves, it all started five years back when they were building an engine to run in races. He and Gard Hollinger tried the engine on a bike frame, and it immediately became a passion project for him. 

Five years on, now competing against the likes of Harley-Davidson in the MotoAmerica Super Hooligan National Championship, Reeves and Hollinger, both co-founders who serve as the Team Principal, recently documented the team’s journey in a six-part docu-series for STN. 

Reeves and Hollinger spoke to Motorsport, and in the interview uploaded to YouTube, Reeves spoke about his goals with the team. Asked if they were underdogs, and whether that had lit a fire for them, Reeves responded:

“To be hopefully part of a legacy of American motorcycle racing, motorcycle brands, Indian, Harley Davidson, Crocker, to be and to go racing. There’s just something about being part of a new heritage, perhaps.”

Reeves and Hollinger are clear on their goals, and they also know that they are underdogs with a long way to go, but for them, it’s about racing against the best to get better. Reeves revealed what excites him about MotoAmerica.

He said, “Just being a part of a legacy of something of the tradition, the culture. Roland Sands, who developed the Super Hooligan class, MotoAmerica that we race in, what he's done for motorcycles, motorcycle racing, and designing, it’s cool to in a way kinda join his carnival, his legacy heritage.”

Reeves said that getting passed by the Harleys on track makes him see the targets they have and that they need to get better, which he feels is a good thing. 

Reeves opens up about playing multiple roles to put the docu-series together

Reeves dons multiple hats for the team already as its co-founder and team principal, but when the time came for the journey to be documented, Reeves took a driving seat there too.

Titled Hooligans: The ARCH Racing Project, the six-part documentary explores everything from intense engineering to financial risks and team dynamics behind the program. Launched on the Samsung TV Plus app, there are new episodes dropping weekly. 

Asked about his role with the docu-series and if he felt a similar sense of pride with the team’s journey being documented as he does with his career as an actor, Reeves replied to Motorsport:

“I guess in the sense of not in the end, but maybe being part of it, I’m part of writing this, developing the story. I don’t know, they’re both such collaborative art forms, making movies, racing motorcycles.”

Reeves did recall a moment that filled him with pride. He spoke about when the ARCH Racing team took the motorcycle to the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway track for testing. Former MotoAmerica Stock 1000 champion Corey Alexander took the motorcycle around the track. 

Reeves said, “Corey took the bike onto the track, and he said, ‘It’s got good bones.’ He said.” Reeves revealed that in that moment, he high-fived Hollinger as pride filled both co-founders. 

Today, Corey Alexander is their rider in MotoAmerica, and Reeves and Hollinger know there is still a long way before they are competing with legacy teams. 

What do you think about Reeves’ love for motorcycle racing? Let us know. 

Read more at Motor Culture!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason