Reel Racing

I changed my mind! At first, I intended to spend two articles this week combing through more than 75 movie-themed paint schemes that ran in the first decade of the new millennium. However, after realizing that next week is Thanksgiving and our readers’ attention will likely be elsewhere, along with …

As mentioned in yesterday’s part one of this ranking, the 2010s featured more than 50 movie-themed NASCAR paint schemes representing 37 films released during the decade, as well as a number of Days of Thunder-themed throwbacks. The films ranged from blockbusters like Justice League, Captain America: Civil War and The Dark Knight Rises to …

In June, I undertook a project to dig up every single movie-themed paint scheme that ever ran across NASCAR’s three touring series and, eventually, rank them. The weeks-long search yielded that exactly 100 films have been represented on stock cars throughout the years, ranging from The Wizard of Oz to …

In June, amid quarantine and with more time on my hands, I decided to undertake a project that just might be the magnum opus of this “Reel Racing” column series. Over the course of several weeks, I researched every single movie-themed NASCAR paint scheme that ever hit the track, regardless …

Aug. 4 marked the 14th anniversary of a particular 2006 film to feature racing. Two months ago, June 9, also marked the 14th anniversary of another particular 2006 film to feature racing. One is a PG-13 comedy, the other a G-rated animated film, but both quickly cemented their place in …

Thirty years ago this Saturday, a little movie called Days of Thunder premiered on Wednesday, June 27 at theaters across the country. Its only new competition at the box office was the forgettable Ghost Dad, as well as – notably – the action-packed Arnold Schwarzenegger feature Total Recall and the …

This weekend’s Saturday night race at Texas Motor Speedway marks the long-awaited opener of the NTT IndyCar Series’ 2020 season. The series has been on a three-month hiatus after the coronavirus pandemic hit in March and resulted in the cancellation or postponement of multiple races. The first race of the …

The camera rides alongside the yellow helmet of a Formula 1 driver, his hands furiously working the steering wheel around the bend of a straightaway. The camera shakes with the car as it bounces and suddenly goes in a straight line as the view hard-cuts to the same car violently …

Thanks to the Internet and, more specifically, the film website Letterboxd, I’ve seen almost 30 racing films in the past year. In this multi-article series, I’ll take a look at the under-appreciated world of racing films and the hidden gems that lie on streaming services and the Internet. Documentaries generally tend to be the best genre for these movies, but there are several narrative features that shine through as well.

Dale, a CMT Films/NASCAR Images joint, is a poignant, and surprisingly introspective, look at the life and career of Dale Earnhardt. And make no mistake, this is no 3. For all that ESPN does well (read: all-things-baseball, World Series of Poker, 25-straight hours of college football coverage) they can't produce a made-for-TV-movie any better than I can sit through Sense and Sensibility with the aforementioned female.