I was fortunate enough to receive a digital screener copy of American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans ahead of its release on Thursday (June 12). This review was embargoed until June 10 and, as such, was published June 11.
Perhaps the most striking image from NASCAR’s effort in the 24 Hours of Le Mans two years ago was this:
Nothing better showed the dichotomy of the Garage 56 entry: an absolute behemoth of a car towering over the low-sitting prototypes around it.
Videos and audio did their part, too — the guttural growl of the motor fills the air, drowning out the GTs, LMPs and everyone else.
Now, two years later, there’s a documentary that is set to debut on Amazon Prime ahead of Le Mans race weekend (and just past halfway Amazon’s five-race stretch of airing NASCAR races, which has gone very well).
American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans chronicles the journey of the NASCAR-backed No. 24 Chevrolet as a Garage 56 entry to the 24-hour race in 2023, an effort that started a year and change prior to allow for preparation.
This primarily involved Hendrick Motorsports, chiefly Chad Knaus, as well as a three-driver cohort: seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button and 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller.
The enduranced-out NASCAR made its way to France with an American, a Brit and a German slated to get behind the wheel.
The documentary takes the viewer through the process — less so digging into all the mechanics of the project coming to pass and more so invested in all the tinkering and reworking that went into the car itself.
NASCAR was far from the first to be a part of Garage 56; the program had been in use since 2012, when the DeltaWing kicked things off.
Additionally, it wasn’t NASCAR’s first foray across the pond to attempt the day-long race. Bill France gave it a go in 1976, but neither Dodge nor the Ford that he put on track were able to finish the race.
In a lot of respects, that was the goal for NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports and company this time around: stand with the other echelons of the racing world by being competitive in — and finishing — what is arguably the most grueling race on any schedule every single year.
It’s grueling on the drivers, crews, engineers, track workers and, most of all, the cars themselves. These things have to be built to withstand a max of 24 straight hours of driving. Plenty of competitors fall along the way, be it via crash or mechanical issue, and Garage 56 had gearbox problems that derailed a potential top-20 or top-25 finish; but 39th isn’t too bad.
The documentary takes us through all the testing, from Sebring to Virginia International Raceway and from pure endurance trials to wet-weather tests. We also get to spend some time with Rockenfeller, Johnson and Button, all of whom came on at different intervals.
I also very much enjoyed Knaus and the engineers helping to walk the viewers through the process of getting the ball rolling and through the actual testing. The montages here are really, really good.
There’s one particular sequence near the middle of the film, when the viewer is taken through different camera angles and shots, ranging from on-board footage and at-track angles to behind-the-scenes content of the crews working on the car, that really ties everything together. There’s one overhead shot of the car apexing a corner that is just perfect.
And man, there’s some gorgeous cinematography in this, too.
We get a triumphant moment even before everything starts, when the HMS roster wins the Pit Stop Challenge in the lead-up to the race. That’s complemented down the road by a resounding sequence where the crew works tirelessly to replace the gearbox, which results int he car being able to finish the race — fittingly, with Johnson at the wheel.
Overall, it’s a very, very well-put-together documentary on a unique endeavor that NASCAR may or may not attempt again. I’d definitely pick up the diecast replica of the car … if it wasn’t $100.
You can watch it on Amazon Prime — for free if you have Prime. It clocks in at just under 100 minutes, so kick back on this Thursday night and relive that 24-hour accomplishment.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.