History Film / TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby

--->'''Mike Joy:''' ''That Wonderbread car is '''toast'''.''

* WhatAnIdiot: InUniverse, Bill Weber's reaction to John Hannafin's interviews of "celebrities" in the grandstands:
--->'''Bill Weber:''' Now let's go to John Hannafin, who's in the stands with a country music legend. \\
''[cuts to Hannafin in the stands]''\\
'''John Hannafin:''' Thank you, Sean. I'm here with one of the greatest country music stars of all-time, Music/KennyRogers. Kenny, what do you think of the race so far? \\
'''"Kenny Rogers":''' ''[not Kenny Rogers]'' It's great. They're going really fast.\\
'''Bill Weber:''' John, that's ''not'' Kenny Rogers.\\
'''John Hannafin:''' ''[not hearing Weber]'' In the song "The Gambler", you sang "You gotta know when to walk away and know when to run." Should Ricky Bobby have stayed away from racing? \\
'''"Kenny Rogers":''' Mr. Bobby's very competitive. If he wants to race, he should race. \\
'''John Hannafin:''' Well, this is John Hannafin with Kenny Rogers. And now back to you, Bill. \\
'''Bill Weber:''' Well, that, of course, was ''not'' Kenny Rogers. \\
'''Benny Parsons:''' Not even close!
** And later, Hannafin is shown interviewing a black man he mistakes for NBA legend Larry Bird - who was ''white'':
--->'''Bill Weber:''' Come on, John! Pay attention!\\
'''Benny Parsons:''' I'm honestly concerned he might have had a stroke.

* BrickJoke: Ricky casually drives down the street ... with a cougar in the passenger seat.

* PlayingGertrude: Reese and Lucy Bobby are played by Creator/GaryCole and Creator/JaneLynch, who are only 11 and seven years older, respectively, than Will Ferrell.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: [[Series/WalkerTexasRanger Walker and Texas Ranger Bobby]], Ricky's sons.

[[caption-width-right:300:''Best movie ever made'' - Ricky Bobby [[note]] He's talking about film/Highlander'' [[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[{{Tagline}} The story of a man who could only count to #1.]]'']]

* FamiliarSoundtrackForeignLyrics: Jean Girard is established as a badass driver, and a real threat to Ricky, in a scene scored with Marie Laforet's French-language cover of [[Music/TheRollingStones "Paint It Black"]].

* AsYouKnow: Reese and Ricky narmingly review the origins of stock car racing.
-->'''Ricky:''' ''[gets doused by a pail of water]'' Oh!\\
'''Reese:''' Where'd stock-car racing come from?\\
'''Ricky:''' What? ''[gets doused again]'' Hey, stop doing that!\\
'''Reese:''' How did stock-car racing get its start?!\\
'''Ricky:''' Uh, bootleggers in Prohibition, they had to have cars fast enough to outrun the Feds. Then they started racing each other!\\
'''Reese:''' That's right. ''[douses him again]''\\
'''Ricky:''' If I was right, why'd you throw another bucket on me?!\\
'''Reese:''' [[RuleOfThree Well, I filled up three.]]

--> '''Ricky:'' "How'd you get on a video game so fast?"

* ManChild: Ricky and Cal. Exemplified by a scene where Cal tries to rekindle their friendship by inviting Ricky to come over and play with G.I. Joes over the phone.

* GlassesGirl: Susan.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Fame got into Ricky Bobby's head. He disrespects his father-in-law, treats Cal as a subordinate and believs he is the best driver on the grid, bar none. He mellows out after he reconnects with his parents.

** Carley Bobby, who takes her shirt off to flash Ricky.

* JesusWasWayCool: Ricky and Cal discuss their visions of Jesus, with Cal imagining Jesus wearing a tuxedo T-shirt, which shows that He’s formal but also knows how to party.
** Another scene has Ricky's family calling him out on always referring to Jesus as a baby when he says grace. "He was a grown man! He had a beard!"

* ManChild: Ricky and Cal.

* OverusedRunningGag Ricky running around in just his underwear and helmet thinking that he is on fire gets old the second time.

** Taken to the extreme when the dramatic wrecking of Ricky Bobby and Jean Girard is interrupted by an Applebee's commercial. This is an in-joke reference to how many criticized the original NASCAR on NBC coverage for their excessive commercial breaks during green flag runs, which also often missed restarts.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Fame got into Ricky Bobby's head.

** In the climactic race, team owner Larry Dennitt gives Cal team orders, through Cal's crew chief, to take out Ricky so as to keep Ricky from getting past Jean. When Cal refuses to comply, Dennitt orders his third car, Ricky's old #26 , to crash Cal out to prevent him from helping Ricky. That would be really stupid for Dennitt to do, as NASCAR monitors radio communications, and the officials would see this as an attempt to manipulate the finish of the race, especially since the #26 shoving Cal into the wall took out most of the field. While Cal's team would probably survived unscathed[[note]]Although most likely, he'd be signed on by another race team immediately after this[[/note]], all of the other Dennitt teams would be subjected to severe monetary fines, point deductions, as well as the suspensions of several personnel, as evidenced by the penalties handed to Michael Waltrip Racing when they were caught trying to manipulate the finish of the 2013 Federated Auto Parts 400 to get Martin Truex, Jr. into the Chase[[note]]NASCAR caught MWR engaging in "team orders", which included having Clint Bowyer intentionally spin to bring out a caution, then having Brian Vickers make an unscheduled green flag pit stop, all to ensure Truex got into the Chase instead of Jeff Gordon or Joey Logano. They issued 50 point deductions to all three Waltrip cars, the largest fine NASCAR had issued to anyone to date ($300,000), as well as probations and suspensions among many Waltrip crew members. The resulting fallout also cost Truex his ride due to NAPA withdrawing their sponsorship from Waltrip and instead partnering with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to sponsor Chase Elliott's ascent from the Nationwide to the Cup SEries. This incident also indirectly led to the downfall and folding of MWR by the end of the 2015 season. Ironically, Truex would get the last laugh of everyone by going on to greater success with Furniture Row Racing, including a Cup Series championship in 2017, lasting with them until Barney Visser shut down the team at the end of 2018, at which point Truex and his entire pit crew were shifted to a new ride with Joe Gibbs Racing[[/note]].

** Ricky's car is shown to have a 5-speed transmission with a reverse gear. NASCAR only allows a 4-speed transmission with a reverse gear.

** Girard and Ricky are disqualified for getting out of their cars. Their mangled, obliterated, more-metal-and-fiberglass-shavings-than-cars cars. This happened on the final lap. In real life, once the final lap is started the next flag will end the race, whether it's checkered or yellow. If the caution occurs before the field reaches the finish line, the field is frozen at the moment of caution and the finishing order is determined by photographic evidence and video replays.

* LifeImitatesArt: Five years after the film, A 2011 invocation at the NASCAR race in Nashville by Pastor Joe Nelms was a social media hit after it referenced parts of Ricky's prayer in the film, including detailed thanks to many sponsors and his "smokin' hot wife" and two sons. https://youtu.be/DuewQlRbR1c

** Perhaps even more extreme when Ricky thanks baby Jesus for certain products during dinner blessing due to contractual obligations.

** Amy Adams' StarMakingRole in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' was still a year away when Talladega Nights was released. Her role in this film is more a case of RetroactiveRecognition.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Some UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} fans have embraced the movie and the phrase "Shake 'n bake" can sometimes be heard at races by fans and commentators.

* HighConcept: The film was literally pitched by [=McKay=] and company by simply writing on a chalkboard: "Creator/WillFerrell as a NASCAR driver."

* AluminumChristmasTrees: While the "invisible fire" Ricky Bobby suffers from is all in his head, there actually ''is'' such a thing as invisible fire. It's the result of burning ethyl alcohol -- hence the alternative name "Ethanol Fire" -- and has happened to race car drivers [[https://jalopnik.com/the-invisible-fire-that-talladega-nights-mocked-really-1778519810 in real life]].

* Main/IncrediblyLamePun: After Ricky flips his car trying to beat Girard, one of the announcers lets loose with a groaner of a pun as Ricky's car lays upside down in pieces.

* ShoutOut:
** The plot ''very'' loosely imitates the 1990 Creator/TomCruise racing movie ''Days of Thunder''. Ricky Bobby is similar to Cole Trickle; Jean Girard is a combination of Rowdy Burns and Russ Wheeler, etc. By coincidence, John C. Reilly appears in both movies (as Cole's head engineer in ''Days of Thunder'', here as Cal Naughton, Jr.).
** Ricky compares his making out with Susan to the Music/{{Whitesnake}} videos with [[MsFanService Tawny Kitaen]].

** Amy Adams StarMakingRole in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' was still a year away when Talladega Nights was released. Her role in this film is more a case of RetroactiveRecognition.

* MoodKiller: After Lucius gives a stirring speech about Ricky driving for his own sake, Glenn completely ruins the moment by making an extremely nerdy metaphor about Ricky's car being his Excalibur.

* AnachronismStew: An interesting one. At the final Talladega race, when the pace car pulls off on the last restart, Ricky Bobby's and Jean Girard's cars are side-by-side, a la a double-file restart. However, when the movie was filmed, this would not be how they would line up for a restart: while double-file restarts (or "Shootout-style restarts" as they were also called) did exist in 2005 in the Cup Series, they were only used in the exhibition races - the Clash at Daytona International Speedway, and the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In points races, the field lined up for restarts with two lines of cars - lead lap cars on the outside line, and lapped cars on the inside line; on restarts with less than ten laps remaining, all of the cars restarted single file whether or not on the lead lap. Double-file restarts were only implemented in point races starting at the 2009 Pocono 500.

* RealityEnsues: Ricky’s on-foot victory is disqualified, despite being [[RuleOfDrama an exciting and dramatic finish]].
-->'''Bill Weber''': “Ricky Bobby wins! You’ll never see anything like that in a hundred lifetimes! It was completely illegal and in no way will count, but man that was something!”

A 2006 comedy film parodying the world of UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}, directed by Creator/AdamMcKay and starring Creator/WillFerrell, Creator/JohnCReilly, Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan, and Creator/SachaBaronCohen, among others. It is a Creator/JuddApatow production, and considered by many to be the spiritual successor to ''Film/AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy'', which was also an Apatow production directed by [=McKay=].

Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) is a dim-witted yet charismatic NASCAR superstar who lives by the motto of his [[ParentalAbandonment missing father]] Reese Bobby (Creator/GaryCole): "If you're not first, you're last." Helping him always secure the number one spot on the track is friend and teammate Cal Naughton, Jr. (Reilly). A few years after his initial rise to stardom, Bobby has a wealth of endorsements, is married to a babe named Carley (Leslie Bibb), and together they raise their two boys, [[Series/WalkerTexasRanger Walker and Texas Ranger]] Bobby.