First attempted in 1976, when NASCAR and the France family ventured to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the storied collaboration returned to center stage in 2023. Reviving the Garage 56 project, an entry slot reserved for innovation, NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports launched an ambitious bid to put an American stock car on one of motorsport’s most legendary stages.
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Now, on the heels of Prime Video’s announcement of the June 12 global premiere of American Thunder: NASCAR to Le Mans, a feature-length documentary chronicling the 2023 campaign, Jeff Gordon is leaving no stone unturned in rallying excitement.
Speaking about the experience, Gordon emphasized the monumental challenge the team faced. Stock cars in NASCAR are built for the high speeds of Daytona, not to weave through the French countryside at Le Mans or go toe-to-toe with sports cars.
“Then on top of that, there is a Garage 56 invitation. It’s only happened, I think, seven times, and the race has been over a hundred years in the making,” he said.
Gordon added, “It’s a very unique invitation. But the challenge, I think, is even more insurmountable, to actually have a car compete, not just on the track, but actually compete, and we were fast. We didn’t just go there to just show up. We were there representing America, Chevrolet, Goodyear, NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports.
“It sends chills up my spine. This documentary does an amazing job of really capturing the behind-the-scenes and the challenges that it really created.”
Gordon believes American Thunder will open eyes and shift perceptions about what NASCAR represents on the global stage. “100%,” he said. “You’re representing your country. I was so proud to be there, be American, their fans chanting, you know, America, USA, USA! And then you have this roar of this V8 engine that is unlike any sound that’s out there on that track,” he described the atmosphere at Le Mans.
Formerly titled Garage 56, the documentary will stream exclusively on Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories, covering how, to celebrate Le Mans’ centennial in June 2023, NASCAR received a rare invitation to field a Chevrolet Camaro stock car, pitting it against the likes of Ferrari and Porsche’s cutting-edge prototypes in the ultimate test of endurance at Circuit de la Sarthe.
For NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France, it was the realization of a boyhood dream. To make it happen, he enlisted the most decorated organization in NASCAR history, Hendrick Motorsports, and tasked them with transforming a car built for blistering speed on American ovals into one that could withstand 24 hours of punishing road course racing on foreign soil.
With former Formula One champion Jenson Button, seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, and Le Mans veteran Mike Rockenfeller behind the wheel, the team poured 18 months into the car’s development.
The result: a machine that ran with the leaders of the GT field for over 20 hours before a driveline issue cost the team more than an hour. Still, the Camaro saw the checkered flag, completing 285 laps on the 8.4-mile course and finishing 39th in a 62-car field.
The documentary is produced by NASCAR Studios and Griffin Van Malssen, directed by Brad Lockhart, and executive produced by Gordon, along with Tim Clark, John Dahl, Amy Anderson, Tally Hair, and Matt Summers of NASCAR.
