The trick that Sylvester Stallone's character (Joe Tanto) performs with the three coins is reminiscent of a trick real-life Formula One driver, Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina used to perform. The four-wheel drift enthusiast did it to test himself.
Sylvester Stallone was asked in an interview about films he would wish had not done, and he listed this as one of them.
According to director Renny Harlin's commentary, his first cut of the movie was four hours long. Only 51 minutes of deleted footage was included as a special feature on the DVD.
Sylvester Stallone originally conceived the film as a biopic of Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, a very popular three time Formula One champion who tragically died during a race in 1994.
Some of the sounds are not of CART Champ Cars, but rather of Formula One cars. The movie was originally supposed to be about Formula One racing, but due to restrictions imposed on the production crew, the producers had to look elsewhere.
Renny Harlin: [Finland] There are numerous Finnish flags in the bleachers and also painted on some spectators' bodies.