History Series / TopGearUs

The show was originally to be developed by Creator/{{NBC}} (with help from BBC America) but spent [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell years in Development Hell]] before changing hands from NBC to TheHistoryChannel and finally premiered in September 2010. It recently completed its second season and has been renewed for a third. The show is hosted by rally-car driver Tanner Foust, racing analyst Rutledge Wood and comedian Adam Ferrara.

* MidLifeCrisisCar: Subverted. When Rutledge asked PatrickWarburton why he bought a early 90's Dodge Viper, Patrick said he got it for a very good deal and thought it might be nice for the weekends. It wasn't until he realized that his head was higher than the windshield did he realize what he bought.

** On the other hand, for a good portion of season 2 and the beginning of season 3, American actress [[Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay Arlene Tur]] had the fastest time on the board. However, while she placed first, in the course of doing so she drove over the checkered flag, a camera, and almost a cameraman. However, come season 3, she was bumped down by PatrickWarburton...

** In the College Cars episode, the guys had to hit a pinata hanging on the back of their cars using a stick tapped to the front of their cars. Adam just went ahead and smashed his car against the pinatas killing Rut's bus that just happened to have the engine on the back.

** Rick and Chumlee from ''PawnStars'' talked about the bad cars they had, including their first cars. Rick had a VW Rabbit. Chumlee had a '93 Geo Metro, which he says "three months later, I left it on the side of the road."[[note]]It wasn't broken down; he just hated it that much.[[/note]]

** In the cop car episode, Adam compares Rutledge to the title character of PaulBlartMallCop -- a movie that he (Adam) played a cop in.

** Arguably, one of the big reasons the US version's been as popular as it has is that it really does try to be as generally equivalent as it can. Including the attitude of "We are number one, every other show/car/country out there [[MysteryMen are number two or lower]]" that the original ''Top Gear'' had.
---> "I know, the rest of the world thinks Americans are arrogant. And, to be fair, [[PrecisionFStrike fuck you]]."

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: There is some debate about how the three hosts match up to their British counterparts, but the most generally-agreed upon is:
** Adam = Jeremy
** Rutledge = James
** Tanner = Hammond
*** That said, some would argue that not only is that list incorrect in every particular, but that one of the things that makes ''TopGearUS'' work is the fact that there's no attempt made to specifically mirror the UK presenting team.

* {{Adorkable}}: Rutledge.

** In Season 3 episode 4, "Backwoods" Stig(with torn sleeves) was introduced to race a modified off-road vehicle against a kayak in the Colorado mountains.

* PutOnABus: The Stig hasn't appeared on the show since Season 2. Although several promos for the show show him and the store has shirts of his likeness.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first season tried to adapt the British format to US TV. After the second season, several aspects were gradually dumped in favor of a sweeping car challenge that would nearly encompass the episode. Most notably, car reviews, ''Power Laps,'' ''Big Star, Little Car,'' and The Stig have gone missing.

** In the Hollywood Car challenge, neither Adam nor Tanner could get their real cars ([[TheDukesOfHazzard a Dodge Charger]] and [[BackToTheFuture a DeLorean]] respectively) on their afforded budget, so they bought a Plymouth Duster and a Nissan 200SX (respectively) made up to look like their more famous counterparts. Rutledge, on the other hand, was able to get an actual [[Series/KnightRider Pontiac Trans Am]], though it wasn't the right model generation.

** The Hollywood Car challenge is one big shoutout to ''TheDukesOfHazzard'', ''BackToTheFuture'' and ''Series/KnightRider''.

** Rutledge = Hammond
** Tanner = James

* TheJimmyHartVersion: Due to US licensing laws, most of the music that plays in each segment are cover versions.
** The segment on the Subaru Impreza WRX STI includes a snippet that sounds a lot like the intro to {{Metallica}}'s "One."

&& Adam provides one for himself in "Dangerous Cars" after Rutledge rear-ends his [[EveryCarIsAPinto Pinto]]:

* ActorAllusion: Adam provides one for himself in "Dangerous Cars" after Rutledge rear-ends his [[EveryCarIsAPinto Pinto]]:

** In the cop car episode, he compares Rutledge to the title character of PaulBlartMallCop -- a movie that he (Adam) played a cop in.

The show was originally to be developed by {{NBC}} (with help from BBC America) but spent [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell years in Development Hell]] before changing hands from NBC to TheHistoryChannel and finally premiered in September 2010. It recently completed its second season and has been renewed for a third. The show is hosted by rally-car driver Tanner Foust, racing analyst Rutledge Wood and comedian Adam Ferrara.

** In the Death Valley challenge Tanner's vehicle is a Jeep with an abbreviated version of the classic soft-top known as a ''Bikini Top'', when the first challenge turns out to be a drag race Adam asks Tanner if he's glad he brought his bikini-top which Tanner admits was actually funny.

*** The "obscenely cheap" version saw the hosts buying cars for just $500. Adam's puke-and-blood stained taxi cab (Tanner and Rutledge's cars had their fair shares of bodily fluids as well) had what he described as "a several minute delay between steering input and actual turning."
** Rick and Chumlee from ''PawnStars'' talked about the bad cars they had, including their first cars. Rick had a VW Rabbit. Chumlee had a '93 Geo Metro, which he says "three months later, I left it on the side of the road."[[hottip:*:It wasn't broken down; he just hated it that much.]]

* AmbiguouslyGay: One of Adam's favorite pastimes seems to be trying to paint Tanner as this.
* AwesomeButImpractical: In the Hollywood cars episode, Rutledge cuts the steering wheel on his Trans-Am to emulate [[KnightRider KITT]]. He later discovers this makes it harder to steer through a race course. [[spoiler:Subverted in that he wins the challenge anyway.]]

** In the Hollywood Car challenge, neither Adam nor Tanner could get their real cars ([[TheDukesOfHazzard a Dodge Charger]] and [[BackToTheFuture a DeLorean]] respectively) on their afforded budget, so they bought a Plymouth Duster and a Nissan 200SX (respectively) made up to look like their more famous counterparts. Rutledge, on the other hand, was able to get an actual [[KnightRider Pontiac Trans Am]], though it wasn't the right model generation.

** The perception of the Corvair as unsafe has more to do with Americans at the time being unfamiliar with it's rear-engine layout and it's characteristics than any design flaws, both the ever-ubiquitous first-gen VW Beetle and the ever-desirable Porsche 911 use exactly this configuration.
*** On top of that, it was the first-generation Corvair that received those complaints, whereas Rutledge's Corvair was of the second generation that addressed most of the issues. And while it ''did'' have the handling issues highlighted in the episode, it was mainly because "poor handling" was mainstay of '60's American car engineering.

* ThePeteBest: Bruno Massel hosted the first pilot, and Adam Carolla and Eric Stromer hosted the second pilot with Tanner.

** The Hollywood Car challenge is one big shoutout to ''TheDukesOfHazzard'', ''BackToTheFuture'' and ''KnightRider''.

* WhyWontYouDie: Tanner says this word-for-word, stomping angrily on the roof of Rutledge's Corvair, when the Corvair somehow manages to survive the demolition derby in the Dangerous Cars episode.
* WithFriendsLikeThese:

The United States version of ''TopGear''.

* TheAce: Rutledge and Adam see Tanner as this, since he's actually a professional driver and they're not. The penultimate episode of season 2 (appropriately titled "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Beating Tanner]]") has them put Tanner through a series of crazy challenges in an attempt to prove that he's not as good as he thinks he is. Tanner succeeds at most of the challenges and in the process, sets the new world indoor speed record and gets to put his car (a [[CoolCar rally version of the Ford Fiesta]]) atop the lap time board.