3 times IndyCar got featured in Hollywood movies, ft. The Big Wheel

IndyCar is the pinnacle of American open-wheel racing but is not as popular as F1, the pinnacle of motorsport. The split of the series, and a lawsuit followed by a merger in 2007 led to the split of fans who eventually lost interest in the series.

While many movies are made about F1, like Rush, which featured the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, an upcoming F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt and real F1 drivers, and multiple documentaries like Senna and Schumacher, very few movies are made about IndyCar.

Let’s have a look at three Hollywood movies that are about IndyCar or feature an IndyCar in it.

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#3 Driven

The action movie was released in 2001 and revolved around the world of IndyCar. The scene of the movie was set during the 2000 IndyCar (CART) championship and featured a cast that included Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, Til Schweiger, Estella Warren and Gina Gershon.

The movie was directed by Renny Hamlin who also played the role of a reserve driver in the movie.

As per reports, Stallone was spotted at multiple F1 races before the production of the movie, but due to the relative secrecy with which F1 teams operate, IndyCar was chosen as the championship to base the story on.

The movie is about a young driver trying to win the championship, who drops from mid-season as a result of his romantic affair and is then trained by a former champion.

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#2 Turbo

Turbo is an animated movie directed by David Soren released in 2013 and produced by DreamWorks Animation. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Samuel L. Jackson and Snoop Dogg as the voices of various characters.

The movie is about a Snail, named Turbo, who loves the world of motor racing and is met with an accident that gives him the power of super speed. The movie then revolves around how a snail, through various adventures, reaches the stage of IndyCar and win in the Indy 500 against open-wheel racing cars.

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#1 The Big Wheel

The Big Wheel is an action racing movie released in 1949, directed by Edward Ludwig which stars. Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Mary Hatcher and Michael O'Shea. The movie is rated 5.6/10 by IMDb and 31% by Rotten Tomatoes.

Billy Coy (Mickey Rooney) starts working for Arthur Red’s Garage and turns out to be the son of former driver Cannonball Coy who died in a racing incident. Arthur turned out to be the mechanic of Cannonball, and the story revolves around the young talent Billy becoming a successful racing driver in IndyCar.