By Paris Van Gorder
Jun 12, 2025
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Le Mans,
24 Hours of Le Mans,
Garage 56
With the 24 Hours of Le Mans days away, “American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans” premieres today on Prime.
Join NASCAR greats Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, among others, as they take you behind the scenes of what it took to take a NASCAR stock car to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023.
6/12/25 10:17 p.m.
This will dovetail nicely with the Earnhardt documentary that's currently on Prime.
6/13/25 7:51 a.m.
It's such a shame that the car broke (a transmission?) late in the race. Beating all of the GT machines would have made the story even cooler.
The car sure got a lot of attention on social media. A really cool project for sure.
6/13/25 9:01 a.m.
I've heard good things about the Earnhardt documentary.
6/13/25 9:16 a.m.
Not really. It didn't meet any of the rules the GT machines had to.
To me, it's like being impressed a GTD Mustang beat an EcoBoost Mustang around the track.
6/13/25 9:22 a.m.
I'm planning on watching this tonight. Fun fact, a friend of mine, an electrical engineer at Hendrick, got to work on that car when it was in the final development stages, he was so pumped.
6/13/25 9:51 a.m.
Obviously it didn't conform to any set of rules; that's why it was the garage 56 entry. But it's speed was still a surprise. From Road and Track article: "Even with all this in place, there were a lot of unknowns. “It was very difficult to know exactly if the car would be faster or slower than the GTEs before the race. Honestly, the week before the race, it was very difficult,” Mestelan said. “We knew that the car would be a rocket in a straight line, but there was a big question for cornering." After the first practice, the Garage 56 stock car surprised everyone by outrunning the GTE field, qualifying 4.2 seconds quicker than the leading Corvette C8.R. The initial plan was to have the NASCAR start at the back of the field, as is typical with Garage 56 experimental entries, but the car was moved to start at the head of the GTE field so it wouldn’t have to charge through in the early stages of the race."
6/13/25 10:13 a.m.
Re-sharing this meme because it's one of my favorites (and most successful) I've ever made:
6/13/25 12:01 p.m.
In reply to Colin Wood :
HAHAHA, new favorite meme. This reminds me of a video I saw where the caption was, "The McLaren isn't defending its position, its running for it's life" and there is just a Mustang GTD chasing the poor McLaren.
6/13/25 4:18 p.m.
The Earnhardt Documentary in our opinion, well done.
6/14/25 6:25 p.m.
Just finished this.
Not a nut and bolt show but it was very well done IMHO. Probably some of the best TV I've watched in a long time.
I'd love to know what the budget was for that race.
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