Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
NASCAR and music go together like, well, let’s just say that they go together and that is that.
Scrolling through the playlists on my iPhone the other day I discovered I have a couple of oddball playlists that don’t really fall into categories.
One is a playlist of songs about cars, one is a playlist about Chevrolet’s in particular, and one is a playlist inspired by drivers intro songs at Bristol. That got me to thinking I should create a NASCAR song playlist, which then led to the Top 10 NASCAR songs.
What is a NASCAR song? Well any song that directly refers to NASCAR qualifies as well as any song that has at least something to do with cars.
Honorable Mention
Kickstart My Heart from the Dr. Feelgood album by rockers Motley Crue is actually a song about drugs and not racing. The song does have a direct reference to racing, it’s top fuel funny car racing and not NASCAR.
However this song gets an honorable mention on the Top 10 NASCAR Songs list because of that opening guitar riff that sounds like a car going through the gears hard — it’s a sound that would make any race fan grin.
No. 10: Born To Be Wild by Hinder
Rock band Hinder, from Oklahoma, remade the Steppenwolf classic “Born To Be Wild” which was used in 2007 by TNT’s NASCAR summer series coverage as their intro and bumper music. While technically the song has nothing to do with NASCAR in particular, the song was used multiple times during broadcast specifically the lyrics “Get your motor runnin’ head out on the highway” and they soon became synonymous with NASCAR that year.
Play this song for your favorite long-time NASCAR fan and they will likely light up remembering their favorite 2007 racing moments, or possibly get mad at TNT’s race coverage. Hinder’s album When The Smoke Clears was released in May of 2015.
No. 9: NASCAR Love by Toby Lightman
Singer/songwriter Toby Lightman, classically trained on violin and self-taught on guitar was charged with performing the theme song for NASCAR on Fox in 2008. Lightman was previously most known for her song “My Sweet Song” which appeared on an episode of Boston Legal , an episode of Bones and the soundtrack to PS. I Love You. The song NASCAR LOVE (Let’s Go Racing) features iconic and catchy lyrics that speak to many NASCAR fans:
Love it when it’s four wide, love it when it’s fast,
Love it when the leader’s caught, the pack is moving past,
Love it when they’re making lots and lots of noise,
Can’t wait to hear DW. say ” boogity, boogity, boogity, lets go racing boys.”
Lightman’s most recent album was released in October of 2014: Every Kind of People.
No. 8: Shut Up And Drive by Rhianna
Song number 8 is “Shut Up And Drive” as performed by Barbadian singer Rhianna on her 2007 album Good Girl Gone Bad. While technically not referring to NASCAR nor to racing the song features catchy lyrics that make it easy to include on a list of NASCAR songs:
Cause it’s zero to sixty in three point five
Baby you got the keys
Now shut up and drive, drive, drive
Shut up and drive, drive, drive
Besides what NASCAR fan, or heck what NASCAR crew chief hasn’t wanted to chastise their driver with “shut and drive” every now and again? I know I certainly have.
No. 7: I Can’t Drive 55 by Sammy Hagar
While most songs about NASCAR in specific are country songs, likely because the sport was born in the south and is very prevalent in southern markets where country music is also popular, one can not leave out the iconic eighties hit “I Can’t Drive 55” by Sammy Hagar from the list. The music video takes place partially at a race track after all and it seems a perfect theme song to all those pit road speeding penalties drivers get:
When I drive that slow, you know it’s hard to steer
And I can’t get my car out of second gear
Especially since the song is outdated because the speed limit on most highway now exceeds the 55 MPH that many were set to back when the song was released back in 1984. Despite that the song still holds true today especially to NASCAR fans need for speed.
No. 6: I Love NASCAR by Cledus T. Judd
Cledus T Judd, a country singer and parodist often called the “Weird Al of Country Music” is at number 6 with his unofficial NASCAR country anthem “I Love NASCAR” from 2004. Despite poking some fun at NASCAR, the song ended up being Judd’s highest charting song among his nine studio albums, two EPs and countless singles.
The song, a parody of Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar, calls driver Tony Stewart a whiner, pokes fun at the relationship between drivers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr, as well as draws attention to less successful drivers by stating that Jeff Burton and Mike Skinner “done forgot what it’s like to be a winner.” The song also mentions numerous and familiar sponsors that will have any NASCAR fan smiling. My personal favorite part of the song is the pit stop portion where the driver calls for two right front tires and a new pair of drawers.
Judd, whose real name is Barry Poole retired from the music business and is now a motivational speaker and working on a book detailing his life according to his website.
No. 5: The Intimidator by The Charlie Daniels Band
Written by Charlie Daniels, “The Intimidator” comes in at number 5. A long time NASCAR fan, Daniels champions the late Dale Earnhardt in song by describing the driver in song with lyrics like “The man meant business when he got behind the wheel, eyes like an eagle, nerves like steel.”
The song appears on the Charlie Daniels Band album, Essential Super Hits, released in October of 2012. The song is an anthem to fans of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. and also mentions his son Dale Earnhardt, JR and the number eight and is sure to be high on the list of many members of Junior Nation as well.
No. 4: Superman Jimmie (NASCAR Square Dance) by Marty Falle
How many people can say they have their very own square dance song? NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson can. Marty Falle and his band Dingletown from Northern Ohio wrote Superman Jimmie (NASCAR Square dance). There is something to be said about a square dance that goes into great detail about six-time champion Jimmie Johnson’s career from the crash that nearly killed him at Watkin’s Glen to racing against Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
The song is on Falle’s album Redneck Roadrunner and was released in September of 2011, coincidentally the same year that fellow driver Tony Stewart, whom is described in the song with “slouched and smirkin’ behind the wheel, self proclaimed king of the automobile, won it all in 02 and 05, say what you will but “Old Smoke” could drive” felled what was called Jimmie Johnson legacy by winning his third NASCAR championship. The song is catchy and despite your feelings about Johnson you might just find yourself randomly singing about “Superman Jimmie, from El Cajon.”
No. 3: Racing The Way It Oughta Be by Colt Ford
Georgia native Colt Ford, described in the biography on his website as “just an unassuming good old country boy from Georgia” is well known for his blend of country music and progressive hip hop is often referred to as a “country rapper.” He has worked with the likes of Montgomery Gentry, Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, and others. Ford’s “Racin’ The Way It Ought Be” is about one of my favorite stops on the NASCAR series circuit, Bristol Motor Speedway.
Ford captures the essence of Bristol, known as the last great colosseum, with lyrics like “Round and round we go, a half mile full of speed” and the actual racing action at the track with “they’re bumper-to-bumper rubbing.” The song is featured on the album Bristol Nights: The Official Music of Bristol Motor Speedway and is both named after and incorporates the speedway’s unofficial slogan “Racing The Way It Ought To Be.” A random fun fact about Colt Ford: he use to be a professional golfer!
No. 2: Country Nation by Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley’s song “Country Nation” come in at number 2. The song was released in 2014 on the album Moonshine In The Trunk, an album that’s named for the very roots of NASCAR- moonshine running. “Country Nation” emphasizes and celebrates the ties that hold the country nation together including their love of NASCAR. Paisley has made no effort to hide his fandom of NASCAR and specifically Hendrick Motorsports drivers- many of whose numbers are mentioned in the song: 24, 48 and 88.In fact, Paisley only leaves out one Hendrick driver- Kasey Kahne. Yet does mention driver Tony Stewart’s No. 14:
We pray before we race
Cheer 14 and 48
And we drink ice-cold beer on Friday nights
Yeah, we’re one big country nation, that’s right
Sorry Kasey Kahne- guess Brad Paisley is just not a fan. Brad has even poked fun of the fact that he and driver Jeff Gordon look a lot alike on the CMAs.
No. 1: Talladega by Eric Church
“Talladega” by Eric Church is our number one NASCAR song. Why? The song is about the iconic track on the NASCAR circuit- Talladega Super Speedway where the infield atmosphere is just as important if not more so to the race experience on the track, however the Church song “Talladega” is about more than just the track, the drivers, or NASCAR as a whole.
In fact the song mentions very little about any of those things- casually alluding to the race here and there with the lyrics like “Slowing down and cars that go real fast, We were laughing and living, drinking and wishing, And thinking as that checkered flag was waving,” the song instead personifies and gives emotion to important lifelong relationships forged between friends and the experiences that happen as a result to going to a NASCAR race and the freedom of just being at the track and not in the “real world.” The song is one of the twelve songs Eric Church’s album The Outsiders.
Do you agree with our choices? What did we miss? Be sure to let us know on social media.
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