Priestley hangs up helmet.

Actor-racer Jason Priestley has finally decided to abandon his on-track ambitions, but admits that it was not his own massive smash that finally convinced him that his future lay away from racing.

Speaking to the Vancouver Sun newspaper while filming a new movie in Canada, the former Beverley Hill 90210 heart-throb admitted that he had been badly affected by other incidents that resulted in the death of two friends.

Priestley suffered major injuries last season, when his Infiniti Pro Series car crashed at Kentucky Speedway, leaving him with broken bones in his back, feet and face as well as serious head injuries that had him hovering between life and death for some time. However, he had been talking about returning to racing up until the end of last month, when another incident caused him to change his mind.

"It wasn't my accident that really made me give it up," Priestley admitted, "Tony Renna was a really close friend of mine, and he passed away a couple of weeks ago. I've now buried two of my friends in four years [Renna and Greg Moore], and I don't want to join that club."

As well as resurrecting his acting career, Priestley and his family have recently taken a share of a Canadian holiday resort on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

"I love Ucluelet, it's beautiful up there," Vancouver native Priestley said, "I decided to get more involved, and invest more money and try and turn that property into the first-class resort that it should be, instead of the circus it's been up until now. They're just beautiful little cabins, right there on the ocean. The location is perfect. It's right on a park, and the little harbour it's on, the bay is beautiful."