Chris Pedersen

Chris Pedersen is an American actor, musician, and NASCAR racer. Born in San Francisco, he grew up in Southern California. He played lead guitar and wrote material for the punk band The Dumps, briefly played guitar for SIN 34, and fronted The Patriots before moving into acting. Untrained, he was spotted by director Penelope Spheeris at a Burbank park where T.S.O.L. was playing, which began his acting career and led to a role as a punk rocker in Suburbia (1984). He appeared in Platoon (1986), Night of the Comet, and Point Break (1991). In the early 1990s he pulled back from film to focus on cars and technology. He raced weekly NASCAR events at Saugus speedway from 1992 to 1995 and at Irwindale Speedway in 2000, and he founded the DARPA Grand Challenge team AI Motorvators, whose vehicle IT Came From The Garage reached the semifinals in 2004 and 2005 and appeared on the Discovery Channel program Monster Garage.