|
NASCAR Legends on DVD and The Ride of Their Lives
by Reg Seeton
 I'll say it now, like I've said many times in the past, NASCAR knows how to make great DVDs. Each time a new NASCAR release arrives, I'm consistently impressed by how tuned in to their fan base the racing organization is. NASCAR isn't so much about racing as it is a way of life. Just like the drivers, whose families go back generations in racing, NASCAR also runs in the families of its fans. It’s a unique and special bond between racers, its fans, their families and the organization. When the recently aired CMT documentary The Ride of Their Lives hit my desk, it took me back to my own first-hand experience with NASCAR in 2006 when I flew to Charlotte, North Carolina to cover the red-carpet premiere of Pixar's CARS at Lowe's Motor Speedway. As a double bonus, though, it was also the week of the Coca Cola 500, which was the ride of my life.
After interviewing the great Richard Petty twice, spending time with the late Paul Newman, listening to legendary speedway president and racing great Humpy Wheeler, milling around the red-carpet with Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr, and spending four days in the press box watching time trials, a NASCAR experience doesn't get any better than that. And for a guy that was a casual racing fan before the trip, being around a variety of legendary racing figures, hanging out with so many passionate fans and experiencing the buzz of race week in Charlotte was a first-hand indoctrination into the NASCAR phenomenon. In other words, I'm now a NASCAR fan forever. If you've only watched the races on TV, you can't imagine what it feels like to get swept up in the electricity of a race week. It's got a rock star vibe that makes you feel as though you've always been a hardcore fan. It's very much what you'll experience on any NASCAR DVD to varying degrees, including The Ride of Their Lives, which delves deeper into the history and the personal human aspects behind the lives of the racers that you don't often see.
 Hardcore fans of NASCAR will already be familiar with some stories of The Ride of Their Lives, which have also been highlighted on other DVD releases like Full Throttle Adrenaline: Volumes One and Two
. However, the 2008 CMT documentary mixes up the history of NASCAR and its legendary stars with narration by actor Kevin Costner who walks fans through a variety of first person accounts from those who have lived and raced, dating back to the early days of moonshiners in the 1950s to the evolution of racing in the media and the many advances in technology. Although you'll find a lot of the content of The Ride of Their Lives on other releases, the documentary features new interviews with such stars as Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, NASCAR president Bill France Jr, and more.
But where The Ride of Their Lives departs from the previous historical NASCAR releases is its emotional focus on other stars such as Wendell Scott, the first African American driver with thoughts from his family, the Allison family with footage of a weeping father crying for his son, and the gut-wrenching story of Tim Richmond who died of AIDS in 1987. If you're a fan of any of three, some of the footage is raw and is hard to take from a human standpoint since you can't help but feel the pain of each racer and the families. NASCAR DVDs are always emotional on some level, but The Ride of Their Lives is more personal than most. Not only do you share in the history, the evolution, the excitement of technology and 21st Century racers, but you also feel the pain and human experiences of people who are just like us but living in an over-the-top world.
I've watched and reviewed hundreds of DVDs over the years and I can honestly say that I haven't experienced a bad NASCAR related DVD yet. Like I said, NASCAR knows its fan base but they deliver quality products that will undoubtedly draw more fans into the family. Even if you're not a fan, The Ride of Their Lives offers more than what you see on the track. It many ways it's more about the ride of life.
|
