This weekend there was a race in the small French city of Le Mans, featuring some of the greatest racing drivers from all over the world. But for France itself there was one man alone who stood on the shoulders of racing giants before him: Patrick Dempsey. Also known as "McDreamy."
Yes, that Patrick Dempsey, the actor from the hospital show Grey's Anatomy. No, not ER, that's George Clooney. And definitely not Scrubs, that's Zach Braff. No, not that Zach Braff. You're thinking of Donald Faison.
Dempsey, along with teammates Joe Foster and Patrick Long actually put in a solid race, not only finishing (a spectacular achievement in itself) but even leading their class for a good portion before finishing in fourth at the end in the GTE-Am class, more famously known as GT-Dempsey.
At one point the European paparrazzi swarmed him on the pit lane, annoying him and everyone else to no end with Co-Driver Long pulling them away:
Not that you'd know that from a lot of people on Twitter (warning, my criteria for this was either the French language or a French-sounding name. Not very scientific, I know):
je veux aller au 24H du Mans pourquoi? pour voir PATRICK DEMPSEY ! Quand je pense qu'il est juste à deux petites heures de chez moi ...
— Clara (@Clara_trml) June 23, 2013
Je suis a 2km de Patrick Dempsey #jeveuxlevoir!!!!!! #monreve
— AnnaBensahkoun (@Bensahkoun) June 23, 2013
I've run all of these through my High School French Translation Machine (tm), and in general it's Ladies Love Cool Dempsey. Even traditional French media was getting into it, calling Dempsey "un docteur aux 24 heures du Mans," or roughly "Dr. Le Mans."
Not everyone was happy about Dempsey, though:
I am sorry but FUCK patrick dempsey right now. #LM24
— Yilmaz Guler (@YMGuler7) June 23, 2013
I, for one, say congratulations, Patrick Dempsey. Maybe if this whole acting hobby of yours doesn't work out you can try racing full-time. Beats community theater.
Photo credit: AP