Before there was Cole Trickle or Ricky Bobby, there was Junior Johnson. In 1973, The Last American Hero introduced moviegoers to stock car racing through the story of a real North Carolina moonshiner-turned-racer, starring Jeff Bridges and based on Tom Wolfe’s legendary profile of Johnson. The film planted its feet in dirt roads, family loyalty, and the kind of speed that meant something when survival was the point.

Three years later, Greased Lightning gave the sport a story it actively chose not to tell about itself. Richard Pryor starred as Wendell Scott, the first Black driver to win a race in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series, and the film did not shy away from what Scott faced. Racial exclusion, economic hardship, and a system built to keep him out were presented with raw detail, without apology or sugarcoating.

For the mainstream audience in 1990, Days of Thunder served as the first real introduction to NASCAR, and Tom Cruise made it impossible to look away. Riding high off Top Gun and Born on the Fourth of July, Cruise strapped into Cole Trickle’s car and, combined with Tony Scott’s aggressive racing shots, made the sport look bigger and more serious than it ever had on screen.

Read Tam’s deep dive into NASCAR on the big screen in the Summer26 issue of Speedwell Magazine