Tom Cruise hits the oval as Cole Trickle, a cocky Nascar rookie who can’t explain a carburetor but absolutely believes he should win Daytona. In Days of Thunder, he trades paint with a psycho rival, survives a pileup of concussions and clichés, and still crosses the finish line a champion. Ready yourself for Top Gun on wheels.

In this episode of Movie Cruise, we talk about Tony Scott shooting an action reel while Robert Towne keeps shoving in drama, leaving a movie that’s somehow both loud and boring. We hit on Tom’s total ignorance of how cars work, the prank “arrest” that turns into a strip show, and the unsettling floral invasion where he fills Nicole Kidman’s apartment with roses. Mostly, though, we realize that everything unbelievable, deranged, and unlikely in this movie has actually happened in Nascar.

Next port of call: Far and Away.