Tim Minear

’Drive’: Think ’Amazing Race’ meets ’24’

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world for a group of drivers racing for a $32 million prize.

No, it’s not a wacky 1960s comedy but a serialized Fox thriller called Drive, due in March, partly inspired by reality series such as The Amazing Race.

"There’s a giant purse of money at the end, but they don’t know where the end is," says executive producer Tim Minear (Angel, Firefly).

At the center is a man with a shady past with a different motivation: He is told his missing wife can be found at the finish line. Far from a location-scout’s nightmare, the 13-episode season is being shot entirely in Los Angeles, with backgrounds added by computer.

"I shot Hell in Los Angeles for several years, and we put horses in space," Minear says of those two previous projects. "This one should be a cinch."