It sounds like the perfect Hollywood story.
Elvis Presley and Steve McQueen racing motorcycles through the Hollywood Hills in the middle of the night, engines roaring while two of the coolest men alive fought for bragging rights.
There is just one problem.
There is no solid evidence that the famous midnight race ever happened.
What is absolutely true is that both men loved motorcycles.
Steve McQueen’s passion went far beyond image. He competed in motorcycle events, collected bikes and became so skilled that he famously brought accomplished rider Bud Ekins into The Great Escape to help with its motorcycle stunt work.
Elvis was equally serious about riding.
In 1965, Elvis became fascinated with Jerry Schilling’s Triumph Bonneville while staying in Los Angeles. According to Triumph Motorcycles, he enjoyed it so much that he bought nine Triumph motorcycles so he and members of his inner circle could ride together around the Los Angeles hills.
That story was eventually confirmed through original checks discovered in the Graceland archives and recollections from Schilling himself.
So did Elvis and McQueen ever actually meet?
According to Steve McQueen biographer Marshall Terrill, Elvis bodyguard Sonny West remembered an encounter in the mid-1960s.
Elvis was traveling to a movie studio in a limousine when McQueen pulled up beside him on a motorcycle.
The two exchanged a few friendly words and went their separate ways.
That account already creates a fantastic image: the King of Rock ’n’ Roll inside a limousine while the King of Cool appears beside him on a motorcycle.
But their relationship became much more competitive years later.
Elvis Presley’s Real Motorcycle Collection at Graceland
Graceland’s official Gates of Graceland episode explores Elvis’s motorcycles and other unusual vehicles, giving a much better documented look at how deeply riding was part of his private life.
The real Elvis-McQueen rivalry seems to have developed in the early 1970s, when both men became involved with actress Barbara Leigh.
Leigh later said there was fierce competition between them. She remembered Elvis referring to McQueen as “that motorcycle hick,” while McQueen called Elvis “that guitar hick.”
That rivalry happened years after the supposed 1963 race.
So the viral version may combine several real pieces — two famous motorcycle lovers, a genuine encounter and a later personal rivalry — into one dramatic story that sounds almost too perfect.
Elvis Presley and Steve McQueen did share motorcycles, Hollywood and a competitive streak. But the evidence suggests their real story was not a midnight race through the hills. It was two enormous personalities occasionally crossing paths and eventually becoming rivals in a way no screenwriter needed to invent.