Super Speedway is a 1997 documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 racing film chronicling one man's quest to get his new Champ Car

Champ Car

Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...

 Lola chassis up to speed, and another's goal of rebuilding an old 1964 roadster once driven by the legendary Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti

Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...

. The film was directed by renowned IMAX

IMAX

IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...

 director Stephen Low

Stephen Low

Stephen Low is a Canadian film director and screenwriter who works extensively in the IMAX film format. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Low has directed numerous film documentaries including Titanica , Beavers , The Last Buffalo ,Across the Sea of Time, Super Speedway, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea and...

 and produced by Pietro Serapiglia. It was narrated by Paul Newman

Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...

 (who was himself an avid racer and co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing). It first premiered at IMAX theaters nationwide.

Production

The entire process was a complicated one, taking well over four years to film. Overall, the car was equipped with an IMAX camera and driven by Mario Andretti. Michael Andretti

Michael Andretti

Michael Mario Andretti is a retired American CART and Formula One driver and owner of the Andretti Autosport team in the IndyCar Series. Andretti is the son of Mario Andretti. His son is Marco Andretti.-Early career:...

 drove his teammate, Christian Fittipaldi

Christian Fittipaldi

Christian Fittipaldi is a Brazilian racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car and NASCAR...

's car, in the film. Mario was able to get his car as fast as 240 mph at the Michigan International Speedway

Michigan International Speedway

Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile moderate-banked D-shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than in Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is sometimes known as a "sister track" to Texas...

 at director Low's request. Newman/Haas Racing was the only team interested in the project in the technical world of Champ Car racing. The effort was spearheaded by Neil Richter, the team's director of finances.

The movie features Mario and Michael Andretti during the 1996 season driving for Newman/Haas Racing. During the season, Michael Andretti won a season-high five races and finished 2nd in the championship to Jimmy Vasser

Jimmy Vasser

Jimmy Vasser is a retired American racing driver and current co-owner of KV Racing Technology. Vasser won the 1996 IndyCar season championship with Chip Ganassi Racing, and scored ten victories in the series...

. At the end of the film, Mario is reunited with his old roadster for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.