Tom Cruise visited Dale Earnhardt’s farm before the release of Days of Thunder in 1990. He promised “The Intimidator” that the movie would show a true side of NASCAR and showcase real racing. However, after its release, Earnhardt said it was anything but that, adding to the plethora of negative comments coming in from every corner of the garage.
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Cruise has said that he wants to change that in the sequel, which is set to release in 2028, something that has fans and many in the racing community hyped. But former Cup Series driver Kenny Schrader predicts another downhill slump.
“Sequels aren’t usually as good. I thought Days of Thunder was terrible. So that’s what I think about this,” Schrader said to Kenny Wallace in the Herm & Schrader podcast.
Schrader was at the peak of his Cup Series career when Cruise was filming Days of Thunder. In fact, during the 1990 Daytona 500 featured in the film, two movie cars driven by Bobby Hamilton and Tommy Ellis lined up alongside Schrader to capture real, high-speed racing footage for the film’s climax.
He saw the film build from scratch in the world of NASCAR, but wasn’t a fan of the final product.
Schrader compared his feelings toward Days of Thunder to how an Air Force veteran would feel about watching Top Gun, one of Cruise’s most iconic movies, where he flies a fighter jet. The authenticity that the makers preached was hard for him to relate to.
“I would like to ask somebody if Top Gun was really all scr**ed up, because I don’t know anything about the Air Force or flying those planes and stuff. I mean, if it was all scr**ed up,” Schrader added. “I like movies that people know NASCAR. Days of Thunder was all scr**ed up. But maybe if you don’t know NASCAR, it was okay. I like Top Gun, but I don’t know that life. It’s just a movie.”
Schrader isn’t the first to point it out. Back in 1990, Alan Kulwicki admitted to hating the way the racing was shown in Days of Thunder. Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer had promised the drivers that they would alter the image of stock-car racing in America, much like Top Gun had done for Air Force aircraft and fighter pilots.
Kulwicki, however, said, “I don’t think they did us justice. They portrayed us like we’re driving bumper cars.”
In the movie, Cruise — who was portraying fictional NASCAR driver Cole Trickle — and the others were slamming into each other and into the walls of superspeedways without any consequences. Also, there were drivers making contact with each other while traveling at over 200 mph. Try that in real life, and there would be huge and potentially catastrophic wrecks.
One of the few drivers who actually praised the movie was Richard Petty, who made a brief cameo in the film. He acknowledged that racing was not shown in the way it’s done in real life, but that Days of Thunder brought out the excitement. At the box office, despite poor reviews from Critics — who felt that Bruckheimer and Simpson pasted the Top Gun formula on Days of Thunder — it did fairly well, earning almost $160 million, despite having a budget of just over $60 million. And Ken Schrader feels that’s what got Cruise to return as Cole.
“Let me say this. It made a lot of money, yeah, and I think they’re going back in the vault. It made a lot of money,” the 71-year-old concluded.
Cruise announced last month that Days of Thunder: 2 will be released in June 2028, and that Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway will co-star. She’ll play the role of a team owner and engineer, and this time the general reaction from the community has been overwhelmingly positive.
Despite the original film receiving a lot of flak, it became a cult classic among many fans. Casual viewers also tuned in, bringing some much-needed eyeballs to NASCAR. In 2028, Cruise wants to address the problems that made Earnhardt, Schrader, and Kulwicki unhappy while also building on the film’s success.
Tom Cruise promises an ‘immersive’ NASCAR experience
Earlier this month, Cruise got together with former NFL player Pat McAfee on his show and admitted that he’s confident about Days of Thunder: 2 being a success, just like Top Gun: Maverick was. For that, one of the priorities for him and the producers has been to showcase authenticity.
“With these cars, I love the culture, you know. It’s going to have… It’s a real, immersive cultural story that’s going to have racing, and it’s like, how do we do it? So we’re going to be creating knowledge as we go along,” Cruise said.
The screenwriters know what happened last time. This time, they’ve spent months traveling to races all across the country to ensure technical accuracy. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. admitted to being stoked about the Next-Gen cars in NASCAR being shown with proper “grit, speed, and heart.” And what’s gotten the racing community even more excited is Cruise’s revelation that he will be getting behind the wheel of a NASCAR car again.
In 1990, he drove modified cars designed by Hendrick Motorsports at tracks like Daytona and Charlotte to get footage for the film. What he does this time around remains to be seen.
NASCAR now has a great chance to get the world’s attention again, at a time when more exposure can help the sport grow. We saw that with F1’s Drive to Survive craze and the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt. The latter also received criticism for showing Pitt’s character driving an F1 car unrealistically. But overall, it was a success. Even people who didn’t know much about F1 could understand the story without being hardcore fans.
That’s what makes Schrader’s criticism valid. People deeply involved in the sport will always question every small detail. For a wider audience, however, that may not matter as much. This time, Cruise and his team want to bridge that gap.