See the "Rules of the Road"!
As for Steve McQueen, his son Chad was a sportscar racer for many years until retiring last year because of injuries in a practice crash.
Chad is actively working on the McQueen "franchise".
Phil Hill (1961) actually had to sit out his home Grand Prix the year he won his World Championship; von Trips' death at Monza made the Scuderia sit out Watkins Glen, which was in the first of 10 runnings under the 2.3 mile configuration before being reconfigured into its present shape in 1971. The 90, which is currently an acute turn, had its name because it was a 90-degree turn off Fast Bend (which was plowed under order to build the current pit straight in 1971; the press tower was recently demolished in order to accomodate 43 pit boxes) before the start-finish line before the 1971 reconfiguration, where the turn is now the first turn after the start.
In the past, the stars of motorsport were known to die behind the wheel; today, stars are better off retiring and spending their years in business ventures and on the speaking circuit, including television. James Hunt and Benny Parsons enjoyed distinguished television careers before dying of health issues. Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, both Ned and Dale Jarrett embarked on business ventures and have become television personalities, with Waltrip (very lucrative speaker) in general programming as substitute host on a cable talk show in the 1980's in Nashville for Ralph Emery, a friend he made in Nashville.
Today's drivers want to retire and be on the speaking circuit where they can make thousands in speaking to civic groups, churches, or businesses. There is much honour in retiring with dignity and going on the speaking trail today.
Mitchell: Good grief! I can't BELIEVE (Not!) that you went so highbrow with this post! What about The Fast and the Furious, or Days of Thunder or Two Lane Blacktop!!!! Heck, even Rebel Without a Cause could be considered a racing movie!
*kidding*
I've never even heard of that Rooney film. Otherwise, you have some good choices here.
You are correct. Memorial weekened is The Big One for auto racing fans.
Cathy,
On a more serious note, Days of Thunder brought along the Sprint Cup debut of the late Bobby Hamilton, Sr, as a stunt driver. In one of the more memorable moments, Hamilton qualified the black #51 Exxon movie car 5th at Phoenix where he was competitive until they had to do movie shots. It led to a career that resulted in four Cup wins (Phoenix, Martinsville, Rockingham, Talladega -- the last in a caution-free major -- not even Tony Stewart has a major) and a Truck championship before his career was tragically cut short by neck cancer which claimed his life last year. Shortly after Hamilton announced he had neck cancer, Kyle Busch paid tribute by driving a truck painted to resemble the Rowdy Burns character Hamilton was stunt driver in that movie as a tribute to Hamilton. Many of his short-track efforts carry the tribute scheme.
It's class by the Wild Thing to remember those who have gone before him.
Cathy,
I will admit that I almost added Cars to the list, but I ran out of time and space.
Actually, NASCAR was the first type of racing I became interested in - my aunt bought me a charter subscription to "Stock Car Racing," which you'll note has been around longer than I'd care to admit. (Needless to say, the subscription lapesd a long time ago.) My favorite drivers back then were A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti, both of whom won the Daytona 500, and Fred Lorenzen - remember him?
Can-Am was big back then as well - Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme driving the big orange cars, and Jim Hall with his winged Chaparral. And then there was the Ford GT assault of LeMans. I suppose in the end Indy and F1 were destined to win out, though - I can remember the Brickyard and Monaco just as far back.
What's that? Oh, Drew says that I can't be a genuine NASCAR fan because I haven't married my cousin. I'm going to ignore that remark, however. 
Bobby,
You're right about Phil Hill in 1961. I just recently saw the footage of Tripps' accident on YouTube, and it's as stunning as anything you'll see in Grand Prix.
Of course, that was also at a time in F1 before all races were counted toward points, when they just took the "Best 7" or "Best 9" or whatever system they were using at the time.
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