History Main / BurningRubber

* Okay, it’s not ''generally'' possible for ordinary cars, but with the right car and tires, [[https://youtube.com/BOtc3I2HF_E it is indeed glorious]]. It seems to be a thing in Australia, looking at Youtube for "flaming burnout" videos.

* Okay, it’s not ''generally'' possible for ordinary cars, but with the right car and tires, [[https://youtu.be/BOtc3I2HF_E it is indeed glorious]]. It seems to be a thing in Australia, looking at Youtube for "flaming burnout" videos.

* In the episode "Flight to the Finish" of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresInOdyssey'', the wheels on Dylan's race kart start leaving behind trails of flame because he had accidentally put a dangerous substance known only as "The Compound" on the tires, mistaking it for polish. This ends up giving him a huge advantage in the kart race because The Compound causes what it is applied to to start rapidly spinning, making his kart go super fast. When Whit and Eugene discover what happened they freak out and try to rescue Dylan, since The Compound also causes what it is applied to to explode after a while.

* In the episode "Flight to the Finish" of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresInOdyssey'', the wheels on Dylan's race kart start leaving behind trails of flame because he had accidentally put a dangerous substance known only as "The Compound" on the tires, mistaking it for polish. This ends up giving him a huge advantage in the kart race because The Compound causes what it is applied to to start rapidly spinning, making his kart go super fast. When Whit and Eugene discover what happened they freak out and try to save Dylan.

* And there is one place that tires are deliberately made to smoke; drag racing (sprint races over a quarter-mile from a standing start). Hot tires and a bit of melted rubber on the track maximise grip, which makes for faster take-offs, so [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(vehicle) racers deliberately spin their tires at the start line before the race, creating clouds of smoke.]] These days, water is used as a lubricant to facilitate this, but when the practice was first invented, racers used bleach and other chemicals, some of them flammable. These could be ignited by flames from the dragsters’ overpowered engines, sometimes deliberately, mostly for show, creating an actual flaming burnout (which may have helped create the trope). This was eventually mostly banned for rather obvious safety reasons, though flaming burnouts are still sometimes performed purely for show, sometimes even competitively.

* And there is one place that tires are deliberately made to smoke; drag racing (sprint races over a quarter-mile from a standing start). Hot tires and a bit of melted rubber on the track maximise grip, which makes for faster take-offs, so [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(vehicle) racers deliberately spin their tires at the start line before the race, creating clouds of smoke.]] These days, water is used as a lubricant to facilitate this, but when the practice was first invented, racers used bleach and other chemicals, some of them flammable. These could be ignited by flames from the dragsters’ overpowered engines, sometimes deliberately, mostly for show, creating an actual flaming burnout (which may have helped create the trope). This was eventually mostly banned for rather obvious safety reasons, though burnouts are still sometimes performed purely for show, sometimes even competitively.

* And there is one place that tires are deliberately made to smoke; drag racing (sprint races over a quarter-mile from a standing start). Hot tires and a bit of melted rubber on the track maximise grip, which makes for faster take-offs, so [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(vehicle) racers deliberately spin their tires at the start line before the race, creating clouds of smoke.]] These days, water is used as a lubricant to facilitate this, but when the practice was first invented, racers used bleach and other chemicals, some of them flammable. These could be ignited by flames from the dragsters’ overpowered engines, sometimes deliberately, mostly for show, creating an actual flaming burnout (which may have helped create the trope). This was eventually banned for rather obvious safety reasons.

* Not generally possible in RealLife for automobile tires, but ''aircraft'' tires can occasionally heat up enough to catch fire if they go flat during takeoff or (sometimes) landing. This caused the 1991 crash of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria_Airways_Flight_2120 Nigeria Airlines Flight 2120]], when the crew retracted their aircraft's landing gear after takeoff without realizing that the gear was on fire, allowing it to burn through various important parts of the aircraft and eventually cause the plane to break up in midair.
** Not ''generally'' possible but with the right car and tires, [[https://youtu.be/BOtc3I2HF_E it is indeed glorious]]. Seems to be a thing in Australia, looking at Youtube for "flaming burnout" videos.

In comics and cartoons, someone running or driving very quickly will leave a trail of fire in his or her wake.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/log-of-anomalous-items one anomalous item (a red ####### brand automobile)]] that is capable of doing this.

* In ''Spider-Man'' for the Gamecube, when using the Green Goblin as the player character, one of the available attacks was to run into enemies, leaving a trail of fire in your wake.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash''

** Not ''generally'' possible but with the right car and tires, [[https://youtu.be/VJmrh7mLKc0?t=91 it is indeed glorious]]. Seems to be a thing in Australia, looking at Youtube for "flaming burnout" videos.

* Road Runner from ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''. And Wile E. Coyote, in the cartoon where he takes leg muscle vitamins.

* In one ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode, Sandy was going so fast on a "sandboard" (the underwater equivalent of a snowboard) she catches fire and leaves a trail of glass behind. I think there were a few more that had the usual trail of fire.

** Remember that time-travel is signified with a tremendous explosion that bursts out and is immediately sucked back in. The fire-trails left behind are most likely a result of that explosion, which momentarily ignites the ground and immediate atmosphere, and the fire-trails prove the car's ''potential'' trajectory from its last known location.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'': The Delorean tends to leave a pair of these behind during a time travel departure. Including when ''airborne''.
** Remember that time-travel is signified with a tremendous explosion that bursts out and is immediately sucked back in. The fire-trails left behind are most likely a result of that explosion, which momentarily ignites the ground and immediate atmosphere, and the fire-trails prove the car's ''potential'' trajectory from its last known location.
* ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'' (the sledding scene).

* In ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'', during the soccer game on the island of talking animals, the cheetah player runs so fast he leaves these.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The robot Gadget does this after the Doctor soups it up in the episode "The Waters of Mars".

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar 3''; Kratos can do this in with the Boots of Hermes.