What’s an auto race, really, but a long, elliptical car chase? No wonder the sport is so well suited to movies. At least, the racing sequences themselves are. Once the drivers get out of the cars and have to interact with each other and with the women whose nervous warnings they routinely ignore, the movies tend to run out of gas.
Ron Howard’s Rush, recounting the real-life rivalry between two top Formula One racers in the 1970s, is the latest test case to see if the drama off the track can match the drama of screeching tires and roaring engines. If Rush whets your appetite for racing movies, here are ten well-oiled competitors to feed your need for speed.