CAR RACING movies are a mixed bunch but there’s no doubt they’ve provided their fair share of cinematic wonder over the years. The question is, what’s the best scene from a Motorsport movie?

WORDS: Richard Craill

IN MY opinion, the best car racing movie scene ever committed to film is in the early stages of the cinematic masterpiece Days of Thunder, when Harry Hogge and Buck Bretherton piece together Cole Trickle’s #46 City Chevrolet Lumina in a North Carolina barn.

Harry talking to the car (“I’m going to shape you like a bullet”) as he pieces it together, coupled with the epic Hans Zimmer score create perfection and when the car is unveiled sitting on pit road in all it’s yellow and green glory, it never ceases to get the hair on the back of my neck standing up.

I thought about this particular scene this morning when my colleague and noted TRT Power Rankings fan Chad Neylon posted one of his weekly ‘Random Friday Question Time’ posts on Twitter.

RANDOM FRIDAY QUESTION time!

Topic: Lights. Camera. Action! ?

I won’t bother asking what’s your favourite racing movie (Days of Thunder, obviously ?)

But what’s your favourite ever scene from a racing movie?

— Chad Neylon ?? (@chadneylon) September 18, 2020

It’s a great discussion starter and while my Days of Thunder pick was an easy one (it beat out the Rental Car scene from the same movie), it did leave the potential for me to think about some other potential inclusions.

Obviously there’s some genius in LeMans and from a comedic perspective all of Talladega Nights is brilliant.

And while Driven is more a horror film than it is a motor sport movie, there is one good scene: near the end as drivers are preparing for the final race they prepare in their own ways (many of them are the real life CART drivers of the period). It’s set to a cool song and nicely shot and it’s probably the only semi realistic plot point in the entire movie I can get behind.

Actually, speaking of CART one film I’ve just thought of whilst penning this story is Super Speedway, the 1997 Docu-film shot around Mario Andretti and Newman Haas Racing’s IndyCar season that year.

Narrated by Paul Newman, it was shot for IMAX and is bloody magnificent and while I’ve not watched it for a long time, there’s several scenes of the great Mario carving his way past people on big Ovals that are memorable.

Might watch it again tonight and report back if there’s one scene from that particular film that stands out above the others..

Regardless, I’m in the Days of Thunder car-building scene camp and am unlikely to be moved. But, what about you? What’s your favourite movie scene with a motor racing twist?

Let us know on our social media channels (@theracetorque on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) now!