I'm not the fan who confuses an actor and her work. I know that Sharon Stone is not an ice pick–wielding seductress (fortunately), and that Mary McDonnell is not President of anything (which is kind of unfortunate). But I'm still getting used to the idea that Michelle Trachtenberg is no longer running around in sneakers and short pants.

Yeah, there's no denying she is all grown up. And she cast off her aura of innocence years ago with her turn as Celeste, the sex-starved diva on Six Feet Under, and in Eurotrip. But I'm like the aunt who just wants to pinch her cheeks and tell embarrassing stories:

Trachtenberg will be revisiting the family-friendly genre with her latest project, an ABC Family original called Circuit. She'll play a young stock-car driver whose career is taking off, threatening to surpass her father (Billy Campbell), whose own driving career is flagging. That's right — a movie about a girl handling 750-horsepower engines. Maybe it's the Hoosier in me, but this sounds like a good and timely idea. And isn't there a tiny bit of resemblance between this

and a certain Indy Racing League driver?

OK. Maybe not. But I wanted an excuse to see Danica Patrick.

Anyway, I do wish this movie were a big-screen production rather than a feel-good family flick for TV. It would be interesting to see what Trachtenberg could do outside the role of a daughter, or a little sis, or anything at all to do with an ice skate. Circuit is being described as an "adrenaline-charged family drama" (and haven't we all been there), but we're pretty much guaranteed a group hug and lesson learned by the end (if only life were so easy). I'm at least hopeful we'll get to see Trachtenberg kitted out in racer drag: