American Nitro on AllMovie

Drag racing comes in for a close examination in this documentary. Filmed at the Fremont Dragstrip, this exhaustive study of the 1979 "funny car" scene adopts a humorous tone as it explores its subject. Among those featured are star drivers Don Prudhomme and Tom McEwen. Drenched in Americana, the social mileu of the sport is on parade as much the cars, their drivers, mechanics, and support personnel. As 1979 was an era of gas lines and "the energy crisis," there was much discussion of the sport not being able to continue.