Mac Engel: NASCAR could use a little Ricky Bobby, Tom Cruise and Hollywood love

FORT WORTH, Texas — Nearly two decades have passed since one of the most important films in American cinema hit theaters, and changed history.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences refusal to nominate, much less award “Best Picture,” to “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” in 2006 remains one of American cinema’s most unforgivable sins.

“Talladega Nights” ranks next to “Citizen Kane,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and “Dr. Strangelove” as the best films not to win Best Picture. Still can’t talk about what the Academy did to “Caddyshack.”

Will Farrell’s take on NASCAR is one of those rare quotable films that lives long after it left the theater.

The film gave us: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” “Shake and Bake!” “I’m Not Sure What To Do With My Hands.” “Everyone turn away. Things are gonna get crazy. We’re gonna make animal noises.”

NASCAR won’t say this, but it’s time for Hollywood to come back to the track. For one reason.

Why NASCAR needs another visit from Hollywood

To make “Talladega Nights,” NASCAR had to sign off on all it, including the material that made fun of not just the sport but its culture and stereotypes. NASCAR wisely didn’t flinch on this.

A project of this scale is not a gift from Heaven but Hollywood; a draft of marketing that sports properties covet. NASCAR is doing fine, but it would be great if Hollywood took another run on Daytona, Rockingham or Texas Motor Speedway.

“I loved ‘Days of Thunder.’ It’s one of my favorite movies,” veteran NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse said in a phone interview this week. “I loved ‘Six Pack.’ Things like that. 'Talladega Nights' is about to be 20 years old, and it’s great. I think things like that help grow the sport, and get the kids talking about it and interested in.”

That last thought has become a point of discussion, and concern, among NASCAR people who have followed the sport for decades.

Stenhouse is in town as NASCAR makes its annual stop to Fort Worth this weekend. The WÜRTH 400 presented by Liqui Moly is 2:30 p.m. on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Despite panic talk about the “inevitable death” of NASCAR, it’s fine. It’s not the NFL, but nothing, other than Apple, Google and Amazon, is. NASCAR will never be what it was in the late ‘90s, but it has a healthy national TV contract, and 50,000 fans in the stands. Those are good problems.

What NASCAR people want is what every business wants — kids. Moldable minds that are in their prime consumer-forming habit years.

Long time NASCAR TV announcer Mike Joy, who has been around the sport since the ‘70s, recently made an appearance on The “Happy Hour” podcast with NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick.

Joy didn’t suggest doom, but he did say, “The fan base is getting older. We’re not attracting the younger fan base that we need to move this sport forward into the next decade, (and) into the next couple of decades.

“We lost a lot of that young fan base that we really need to convert if we’re going to grow this sport again.”

Historically NASCAR has always been one of the best leagues about allowing, and encouraging, fan access. A lot of that was stopped during COVID.

Nearly all of the drivers and the mechanics were thrilled not to have the foot traffic from fans in and around the garage area during that time, but one of NASCAR’s strengths is that it encourages fans to “feel” the sport the way almost no other league allows.

“NASCAR is doing a great job of fans who can bring their kids to the track and the races for free,” Stenhouse said. “We are doing a lot of things outside of the track that get kids more involved. It’s face time with the drivers on the weekends, which we’re back to doing again.

“You need not just the kids to come but to bring their friends.”

Hollywood’s effect on NASCAR is positive

NASCAR has been historically agreeable with Hollywood when the creative types want to make a movie.

In 1982, when NASCAR was still mostly a Southeast sport, country music singer Kenny Rogers starred in “Six Pack,” a family movie that also featured Diane Lane.

In 1983, Burt Reynolds was the big star in “Stroker Ace,” a comedy about a NASCAR driver. The movie was mostly meh; the racing scenes were taken from CBS telecasts of old NACAR races. It made its mark by becoming the first film that used the closing credits to feature a blooper reel.

Where NASCAR really took off was the Tom Cruise/Robert Duvall film, “Days of Thunder.” The 1990 movie was a massive commercial success, and one of the biggest reasons why the sport went mainstream.

By the time Will Ferrell made “Ricky Bobby” a name, NASCAR had replaced Indy Car as the most popular brand of racing in America. That was the same year Pixar released, “Cars,” the successful cartoon movie that featured some NASCARs.

In 2025, NASCAR is still ahead of Indy Car, but finds itself in an unexpected 1-2 struggle with Formula One. The Euro-centric racing league has finally found an audience in America.

Rather than go back to NASCAR, Hollywood’s next big racing movie stars Brad Pitt in the new film, “F1,” which is scheduled for a June release. The early trailers of the film looks like it will include the same type of racing arresting racing footage that made “Days of Thunder“ so attractive.

F1’s parent company, Liberty Media, easily agreed to make this type of movie for the reasons NASCAR did with Stroker Ace, Days of Thunder and Talladega Nights.

It’s been almost 20 years since Ricky Bobby “won” at Talladega, and while we don’t need a sequel, NASCAR could really use another Hollywood flick.