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Scott Speed brings a resume (and personality) like no other to Global Rallycross, as he makes his rallycross debut at Global X Games in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. He’s the only driver in the Global Rallycross field to have raced in both Formula 1 and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, having competed for Red Bull-owned teams in both.

But while many know Speed’s exploits on the track, not as many might be familiar with the Speed off of the track. In anticipation of his first Global Rallycross event, he sat down and helped us to get to know him a little better:

If I wasn’t a race car driver, I would be:
I think I would try to be an actor.

If someone made a movie of my life, I would be played by:
I’ve been told that I act and look a lot like Seann (William Scott), the guy from American Pie. I think that’d be a pretty accurate portrayal!

Something that most people don’t know about you:
I would say not much, because I’m probably the most open person I know. I’m certainly not hiding anything, but I think my persona and the way I act, certainly with Twitter these days—if I think something I tweet it, which is good and bad for me. But I think it makes it to where there isn’t really any aspect of my personality or life that isn’t out there. I like that openness.

The last car I bought was a:
A Ford Explorer. Awesome.

What chore do you absolutely hate doing?
Clothes. Anything to do with clothes. I like to take my clothes and throw them in the middle of my closet, and when I want to use them I pick them up. I hate having to mess with them in any way, shape or form. So Amanda typically does the laundry side and I do the dishes side. And I have no problem with that, and she really hates the dishes, so it works out well!

If you were reincarnated as an animal, what would it be?
A cheetah!

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
Learning to skateboard.

Oh man, another? We’ve got Bucky Lasek too…
No, no, hold on. Time out. You can’t even put the names in the same sentence there! Totally different level!

When I’m not at the race track, you’ll most likely find me doing this:
Golfing.

My first job was:
My dad is an electrical engineer, and he built electric components for go-karting, so I always worked there. Unfortunately I never received a paycheck, but certainly it was my job. But I got to go-kart race, so it was perfect.

My favorite form of social media is:
Twitter, by a landslide. It’s the only one I have, actually.

Who was your biggest inspiration in racing?
My dad.

My best piece of advice for young drivers is:
I would say to constantly ask questions to anyone, because there’s always someone out there doing it better than you are. Always, no matter what. There’s always some aspect of driving that someone is doing better than you. And when you’re young, it’s necessary—you’re confident, you think you’re the best in the world, and you need that, for sure. But if you have that and the ability to understand and learn new information, I think that’s what sets the guys that make it apart, honestly, that openness to learn from others. I think that was a good trait of mine, a good trait I’ve seen in a lot of people that have made it professionally—especially people that don’t come from money. Because let’s be honest, the percentage of drivers out there who made it that didn’t come from money is very few. So to make that, and to be that good, better than the average, good enough to make it and pay the bills yourself—it’s extremely difficult, and you have to be on top of your game, 100% of the time. So the ability to have that confidence that you are good, but still the ability to learn and ask questions from others, that’s good, I think.

What story does your family always like to tell about you?
Like I said, we’re pretty open, so there’s never really anything we don’t talk about. At the moment, the story that’s being told, because I have an 18 month old and another on the way, is we’re talking about baby stories. And when I was three, I poured a bunch of sand from our backyard into my dresser and made a “terrarium,” I called it. Obviously, the parents got that cleaned up, but the next day I made an “aquarium”—I got all the water from the bathroom and poured it in the dresser. So I pretty much ruined it!

We’ve been talking about how bad I was as a kid, basically. And I wasn’t bad as far as getting into any trouble, I was just bad as in always being curious, ha!

What I like the most about my fanbase is:
I think it’s just (their) understanding for the situation that we’re in at times. Right now, what we have to do in NASCAR, having to start and park races before we can run some, it’s a difficult situation to understand. But I feel like there’s a large majority of my fans that get it, understand the situation that we’re in, and part of that process of growing the team that I’m in. And it’s something as well, that when I announce that I’m doing this rally stuff, I think every one of them for the most part are going to be excited for it. They’re not just in that box of being excited to watch Scott go around in a circle, they’re excited to watch Scott do whatever it is that comes our way.