CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mobil 1, the Official Motor Oil of NASCAR®, has partnered with Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS, to bring back to life one of the great car-and-chase films, Smokey and The Bandit, in a new video series affectionately dubbed Smoke is the Bandit with Mobil 1. Starring Stewart in the title role of “The Bandit” as he humorously encourages friends and colleagues to participate in his vision, the series features NASCAR legends, drivers and TV personalities, including Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Craven, Hermie Sadler, Jeff Hammond and Nicole Briscoe.
The video series is available for fans to watch on the Mobil 1 YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/Mobil1 and on the Mobil 1 Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/Mobil1. After the debut of the teaser video “The Bandit” on March 4, two new episodes of the series will be released bi-weekly, beginning with the release of Episode 1, “The Challenge,” today.
The full release schedule includes:
- Today, March 6: Episode 1, “The Challenge”
- March 11: Episode 2, “The Pickup”
- March 13: Episode 3, “The Interview”
- March 18: Episode 4, “The Sheriff”
- March 20: Episode 5, “The Big Finish”
- March 25: The complete series (a single-play, long-form feature that includes all six videos in succession, with additional commentary from Tony Stewart and the other series’ stars)
“As fans enjoy the return of the NASCAR season, we thought it would be fitting to re-create one of the classic car chase movies in a fun way with our NASCAR spin, all while putting Smoke behind the wheel of his favorite car,” said Artis M. Brown, Mobil 1 Motorsports Manager, ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants.
Along with posting new episodes each week, the Mobil 1 Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/Mobil1) will serve as a destination for fans to get behind-the-scenes access to photos from the Smoke is the Bandit with Mobil 1 set and exclusive information about the video shoot with many NASCAR legends and personalities.
“Smokey and the Bandit is still my all-time favorite movie,” said Stewart. “Bringing this legendary movie back to the screen – with the Bandit’s black Trans Am and all – has been an absolute blast and I hope the fans have just as much fun watching the videos.”
The cast of Smoke is the Bandit with Mobil 1:
- Tony Stewart (The Bandit): Tony Stewart is the primary driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for his own team – Stewart-Haas Racing. The three-time Sprint Cup Series champion became the first driver/owner champion since 1992 when he won his third crown in 2011.
- Darrell Waltrip (The Snowman): Darrell Waltrip is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. During his racing career, Waltrip won 84 NASCAR Cup Series races, including 12 wins at Bristol Motor Speedway and the Daytona 500 in 1989. “DW” currently serves as the lead analyst for NASCAR on FOX.
- Ricky Craven (Big Enos): Ricky Craven is an ESPN broadcaster who appears on ESPN2’s NASCAR Now. Before his career in broadcasting, Craven was a NASCAR driver who won in five different series: the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the NASCAR Winston West Series and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series.
- Hermie Sadler (Lil’ Enos): Hermie Sadler is a racecar driver and announcer. He currently is a race analyst on FOX Sports 1’s NASCAR Race Day. Sadler earned Rookie of the Year honors for the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 1993.
- Jeff Hammond (Buford T. Justice): Jeff Hammond is a commentator for NASCAR’s coverage on FOX Sports, as well as a partial owner of Red Horse Racing, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team based in Mooresville, N.C.
- Nicole Briscoe (Frog): Nicole Briscoe is the host of NASCAR Countdown, the pre-race show that airs prior to all NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series race telecasts on ESPN networks. She is also a host and reporter for NASCAR Now on ESPN2, a daily NASCAR news and information show.
About Mobil 1 in Motorsports
The Mobil brand’s history in motorsports officially began in 1979 with a sponsorship of Williams Formula One Racing Team. From that time, the presence of Mobil 1 technology on race tracks and circuits has grown by global proportions. Today, Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil is relied on for its ability to deliver exceptional engine performance and protection even under some of the most extreme conditions by team owners and many of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers.
Along with its status as the Official Lubricant Technology Partner of NASCAR, Mobil 1 enjoys a long association with many of world's most popular and successful race teams, including Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ Formula One team, Corvette Racing’s Tudor United Sportscar Championship team, Tony Stewart Racing in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, as well as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup—the world’s fastest international one-make series.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) governs the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information, visit www.nascar.com and follow NASCAR at www.facebook.com/NASCAR and Twitter: @NASCAR
About Stewart-Haas Racing
Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team co-owned by three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in the western world. The team fields four entries in the elite Sprint Cup Series – the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Stewart, No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet for Danica Patrick, the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick and the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Kurt Busch. Based in Kannapolis, N.C., Stewart-Haas Racing operates out of a 140,000-square-foot facility with approximately 270 employees. For more information, please visit us on the Web at www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/StewartHaasRacing and on Twitter @StewartHaasRcng.
About Mobil 1
The world's leading synthetic motor oil brand, Mobil 1 features anti-wear technology that provides performance beyond our conventional motor oils. This technology allows Mobil 1 to meet or exceed the toughest standards of car builders and to provide exceptional protection against engine wear, under normal or even some of the most extreme conditions. Mobil 1 flows quickly in extreme temperatures to protect critical engine parts and is designed to maximize engine performance and help extend engine life.
For more information, visit mobil1.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mobil1 or on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/Mobil1.
“Smokey and the Bandit” courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC.
