NASCAR: FULL SPEED
AVAILABLE ON NE TFL IX
moment in the second episode of NASCAR: Full Speed in which driver Bubba Wallace says, as he’s settling in for an interview, “Is this the Drive to Survive moment when they sit down and get all situated? Is that what we’re going for?” It’s a cheeky statement that addresses the elephant in the room: Would Wallace (above) even be in said setting without the success of Netf lix’s other auto racing documentary series?
It’s a good question, especially given the fact that Full Speed is one of three Netflix series released already this year that’s aiming to capitalize on the Survive model. Behind-the-scenes shows on men’s tennis and international rugby— both produced by the same team that puts out the Formula One docuseries—also hit the airwaves in January.
The answer in the case of Full Speed is yes. It suffers a bit from not having the novelty or the cache that comes with F1—a sport dominated by dashing international speed demons—and it’s missing a breakout, surprising, larger-than-life character such as Survive’s Guenther Steiner (page 71). But the show takes advantage of the access it gets from NASCAR to portray the drivers (and crew members, to a lesser extent) in a different light than viewers of the sport are used to seeing.
Gone are the sanitized guys who watch what they say when they’re on camera so as not to offend their legion of sponsors and who seem to let their guard down only when they’ve nearly wrecked at 200 mph. Now we see them casually dropping f-bombs and being exasperated as they deal with their car troubles, team commitments and, in the case of Denny Hamlin, a mom who tells him, “You gotta step on that gas!” in his RV after a slow qualifying run. (Thanks, Ma!)
Hamlin is the show’s most intriguing character. As he races for an elusive title, he has to deal with the conflicting loyalties that come with owning another team’s car (he and Michael Jordan own Wallace’s car). It’s a compelling story line in a tight series (five episodes) that, on its own merits, doesn’t just survive, but also thrives.