The Undertaker Set to Step Behind NASCAR Wheel at Sunday Texas Race

By Brian Jones

"The Dead Man" is about the take over NASCAR. This week, NASCAR announced WWE legend The Undertaker will drive the pace car at the Circuit of The Americas for the 2022 EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. This comes right before Undertaker is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend in Dallas. 

"I am honored to be the Honorary Pace Car Driver at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in Austin," Undertaker said. "It's a big week for Texas with WrestleMania in Dallas on April 2 and April 3, and I am excited to kick it off at Circuit of The Americas."  

Undertaker, whose real name is Mark Calaway, is from Houston and is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame nearly two years after announcing his retirement from the company. He made his WWE debut in 1990 and became one of the most popular figures in pro wrestling history. In his WWE career, Undertaker won the WWE Championship four times and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has competed in 27 WrestleMania matches and won 25 of them. He went on a 21-0 streak at WrestleMania before losing to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX in 2014. Undertaker will headline a Hall of Fame class that includes the late Vader and Queen Sharmell. 

"I think it's always in my head and in my heart, especially getting ready for WrestleMania here at AT&T Stadium it's just like ... man. But it's just at a point where physically, I can't perform at a level," Undertaker said in an interview with Dallas Morning News. "I mean, I could go out and walk through something and I could get through a match. But I can't give people what they expect at this point. When you see Undertaker, you pay money to see that guy wrestle. I can't deliver physically on what people's expectations are. ... The passion is obviously still there. I think that will always be there. It's just the physical side of it."

The 2022 Texas Grand Prix will start at 3:30 p.m. ET and will air on Fox. It's the sixth Cup Series race of the 2022 regular season and the first road course of the year. In last year's Texas Grand Prix, Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series Champion, won the race. 

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