Line #2 YMMV/DaysOfThunder


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: There is speculation Cole's UncertifiedExpert status is an ActorAllusion to Creator/TomCruise himself and his struggles with dyslexia.
2	* GeniusBonus:
3	** Since actual footage is mixed up with movie-made footage, this tends to happen sometimes.
4	** The "Ice Cream" scene is based off a real-life occurrence between racer Benny Parsons and his pit crew.
5	* GenreTurningPoint: Film journalist Stephen Metcalf [[https://slate.com/culture/2012/08/tony-scotts-days-of-thunder-did-it-rescue-hollywood-from-the-grips-of-producers-like-don-simpson.html has argued]] that the film's [[TroubledProduction wretched production excesses]], and their attendant impact on the film's profits, made auteur-driven filmmaking acceptable again a decade after the notion had been discredited by the box-office failure of ''Film/HeavensGate''. Creator/UnitedArtists' willingness to indulge Creator/{{Michael Cimino\|Director}} on that film had led to a backlash where studios favored producers like Don Simpson and Creator/JerryBruckheimer who were effectively the sole creative forces behind their films, with directors merely taking orders from them. After similar excesses on the part of the producers, studios would let directors assert themselves creatively again, and it's no coincidence that ''Days'' director Creator/TonyScott's critical reputation improved over the course of the '90s.
6	* HilariousInHindsight:
7	** Creator/JohnCReilly in an early UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} themed movie? [[Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby You don't say...]]
8	** Rowdy and Cole's rivalry is rather similar to the one Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon would develop in the mid-late '90s.
9	* RetroactiveRecognition: Although Creator/MichaelRooker had already been in several high-profile films by this point, he was still very early in his career,
10	* SpiritualSuccessor: Creator/TomCruise controls (pilots) an [[Film/TopGun extremely fast piece of machinery]], deals with a [[HeroicBSOD crisis]] about 2/3's of the way in following a traumatic accident involving a friend, only to come out of it at the end and win the heart of his [[UptownGirl higher-class love interest.]] All with a power ballad soundtrack. This movie was also directed by Tony Scott.
11	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: As seen in the scenes where the drivers entered pit road, a sign board man would stand holding the pit road sign while the cars would attempt to rush in and out of pit road with as little time lost as possible. In 1991, as a reaction to a tragedy during the season-ending 1990 Atlanta Journal 500 when Ricky Rudd lost control of his car, which struck and killed Mike Ritch, a member of Bill Elliott's pit crew, NASCAR made a series of changes, including replacing the pit board men in favor of having someone dangling a large sign that was known as a lollipop, requiring pit road to be closed when the caution flag is first displayed and (after a brief period of allowing only odd or even numbered cars to pit for tires on the second {if an odd number} or third {if even} lap after the restart) adopting pit road speed limits.
12	* ValuesDissonance: The prominent appearance of Confederate flags flying in the opening montage. For one thing [=NASCAR=] no longer permits their presence, and even if they were there it's highly unlikely movies from later decades would have featured them in the edit.

Context YMMV / DaysOfThunder