20 Best Professional Car Racing Movies Ranked From Slow to Fast
From 'Days of Thunder' to 'Rush', Moviefone counts down the best professional car racing movies of all time in honor of 'F1 The Movie's release.
A scene from Apple Original Films’ 'F1', a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films. Copyright: © 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Professional auto racing has become one of the most popular sports in the world, which explains why Hollywood has made so many movies featuring the beloved sport.
We've had classic racing movies like Steve McQueen's 'Le Mans', video game adaptions like 'Gran Turismo', animated adaptions like 'Speed Racer', comedies like 'Talladega Nights', movies based on true stories like 'Ford v Ferrari', and even Tom Cruise's 'Days of Thunder'.
Now, Brad Pitt enters the genre with his new film 'F1 The Movie', which focuses on the world of Formula One racing and opens in theaters on June 27th.
In honor of 'F1 The Movie', Moviefone is counting down the 20 best professional car racing movies of all time, including the latest.
NOTE: For this list we are only including movies that feature professional auto racing, which excludes 'Bullitt', 'Drive' and 'The Fast and the Furious' and 'The Cannonball Run' franchises. We are also not including documentaries on this list.
Let's begin!
20. 'Stroker Ace' (1983)
Burt Reynolds in 'Stroker Ace'. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Stroker Ace (Burt Reynolds), a champion NASCAR driver, is standing at the top of his career, but is getting fed up with having to do as he's told. In between rebelling against his sponsor (a fried chicken chain)'s promotion gimmicks (like making him dress up in giant chicken suit) he spends the rest of the movie trying to bed the buxom Pembrook (Loni Anderson).
Stroker Ace
19. 'Trading Paint' (2019)
A stock car racing legend (John Travolta) is drawn back to the dirt track when his son (Toby Sebastian), an aspiring driver, joins a rival racing team.
Trading Paint
18. 'Race the Sun' (1996)
A bunch of high school misfits in Hawaii, introduced by their new teacher (Halle Berry), attend a science fair in which they draw up inspiration to build their own solar car and win a trip to compete in the 1990 World Solar Challenge in Australia.
Race the Sun
17. 'Grand Prix' (1966)
The most daring drivers in the world have gathered to compete for the 1966 Formula One championship. After a spectacular wreck in the first of a series of races, American wheelman Pete Aron (James Garner) is dropped by his sponsor. Refusing to quit, he joins a Japanese racing team. While juggling his career with a torrid love affair involving an ex-teammate's wife (Eva Marie Saint), Pete must also contend with Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand), a French contestant who has previously won two world titles.
Grand Prix
16. 'The Last American Hero' (1973)
A young hell raiser (Jeff Bridges) quits his moonshine business and tries to become the best NASCAR racer the south has ever seen. Loosely based on the true story of NASCAR driver Junior Johnson.
The Last American Hero
15. 'Ferrari' (2023)
A scene from director Michael Mann's 'Ferrari.' Photo: Neon.
Set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver), is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz), built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another woman (Shailene Woodley).
14. 'Herbie Fully Loaded' (2005)
Maggie Peyton (Lindsay Lohan), the new owner of Number 53 - the free-wheelin' Volkswagen bug with a mind of its own - puts the car through its paces on the road to becoming a NASCAR competitor.
Herbie Fully Loaded
13. 'Driven' (2001)
Talented rookie race-car driver Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue) has started losing his focus and begins to slip in the race rankings. It's no wonder, with the immense pressure being shoveled on him by his overly ambitious promoter brother as well as Bly's romance with his arch rival's girlfriend Sophia (Estella Warren). With much riding on Bly, car owner Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds) brings former racing star Joe Tanto (Sylvester Stallone) on board to help Bly. To drive Bly back to the top of the rankings, Tanto must first deal with the emotional scars left over from a tragic racing accident which nearly took his life.
Driven
12. 'Cars' (2006)
Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. On route across the country to the big Piston Cup Championship in California to compete against two seasoned pros, McQueen gets to know the town's offbeat characters.
Cars
11. 'The Art of Racing in the Rain' (2019)
A family dog (Voice of Kevin Costner) – with a near-human soul and a philosopher's mind – evaluates his life through the lessons learned by his human owner (Milo Ventimiglia), a race-car driver.
The Art of Racing in the Rain
10. 'Gran Turismo' (2023)
A race from Columbia Pictures 'Gran Turismo.' Photo: Gordon Timpen.
Gran Turismo is based on the unbelievable true story of a team of unlikely underdogs – a struggling working-class gamer (Archie Madekwe), a failed former racecar driver (David Harbour), and an idealistic motorsport executive (Orlando Bloom). Together, they risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world. Gran Turismo is an inspiring, thrilling, and action-packed story that proves that nothing is impossible when you’re fueled from within.
Gran Turismo
9. '3: The Dale Earnhardt Story' (2004)
A biopic of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (Barry Pepper), documenting the driver's career from his earliest days onward and also looking at the family he built along the way. Earnhardt's death in 2001 rocked the sport, but his seven championships and 76 wins made an impact on NASCAR forever.
8. 'Winning' (1969)
Frank Capua (Paul Newman) is a rising star on the race circuit who dreams of winning the big one - the Indianapolis 500. But to get there he runs the risk of losing his wife Elora (Joanne Woodward) to his rival, Luther Erding (Robert Wagner), and strains the relationship with his stepson (Richard Thomas).
Winning
7. 'Speed Racer' (2008)
Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a young and brilliant racing driver. When corruption in the racing leagues costs his brother his life, Speed must team up with the police and the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) to bring an end to the corruption and criminal activities.
Speed Racer
6. 'Le Mans' (1971)
Filmed during the annual 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans, Michael Delaney (Steve McQueen) is a Porsche driver haunted by the memory of an accident at the previous year's race in which a competing driver was killed. Delaney also finds himself increasingly infatuated with the man's widow.
Le Mans
5. 'F1 The Movie' (2025)
Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes in Apple Original Films’ 'F1', a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo by Scott Garfield. Courtesy Warner Bros Pictures / Apple Original Films. Copyright: © 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Racing legend Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team—and mentor a young hotshot driver (Damson Idris)—while chasing one more chance at glory.
F1
4. 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' (2006)
The fastest man on four wheels, Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. A big, hairy American winning machine, Ricky has everything a dimwitted daredevil could want, a luxurious mansion, a smokin' hot wife (Leslie Bibb) and all the fast food he can eat. But Ricky's turbo-charged lifestyle hits an unexpected speed bump when he's bested by flamboyant Euro-idiot Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) and reduced to a fear-ridden wreck.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
3. 'Ford v Ferrari' (2019)
American car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and the British-born driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) work together to battle corporate interference, the laws of physics, and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company and take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.
Ford v Ferrari
2. 'Rush' (2013)
In the 1970s, a rivalry propels race car drivers Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) to fame and glory — until a horrible accident threatens to end it all.
Rush
1. 'Days of Thunder' (1990)
Tom Cruise in 'Days of Thunder'. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Talented but unproven stock car driver Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) gets a break and with the guidance of veteran Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) turns heads on the track. The young hotshot develops a rivalry with a fellow racer (Michael Rooker) that threatens his career when the two smash their cars. But with the help of his doctor (Nicole Kidman), Cole just might overcome his injuries-- and his fear.
Days of Thunder
