How 7-Eleven Embraced the Car Community
Convenience store turns a joke into profit. Smart move.
HAPPY RACE DAY, especially to 7-Eleven. Yes, that 7-Eleven. The roadside purveyor awarded its first-ever Car of the Year honor to one lucky fan. Congrats, Tyler!
Car clubs and 7-Eleven have a deep connection. Clubs jokingly posted #Carsof7Eleven for years because the cars actually look great reflected in those harsh green + orange lights. Now the convenience store chain is leaning into it. They even sell shirts and other merch. Not gonna lie — I would wear this.
HEY Y’ALL. Just want to take a moment to recap here, for those that don’t know. Race Day is an off-shoot of Carrara Media, my automotive media and book publishing company. It’s a weekly roundup of the weird and wacky in car culture news, and I’m bringing renewed focus and energy to it for 2023.
Carrara is now my full-time gig. I’m doing everything I can to build the brand, so it would really help if you subscribe to the newsletter, share it with a friend or two, follow us on Instagram or check out our selection of awesome books for sale.
Recently we’ve had some great news, too. Our 2021 release, a digital eBook version of the motorsports classic The Stainless Steel Carrot, is now available for free checkout on the Overdrive app with a Los Angeles Public Library membership.
And even bigger — our most recent release, Postcards From the End of the World by author and photographer Victoria Scott, is now in stock and ready to ship. If you preordered, your copy is on the way! We’ll send out a tracking number asap.
You can watch a short 15-second trailer for the book (yes, a trailer for a book) on Twitter here or on Instagram here.
This is the kind of work you support by subscribing, sharing and purchasing our content. Myself and the company strive to deliver striking, unique automotive journalism and culture in a fun, affordable package.
As an additional avenue for those who want to support, I’ve opened paid subscriptions to Race Day for the first time. Now, if you like, you can buy a paid subscription for $5 per month, or $50 annually. To be clear — Race Day is and always will be free. But for those who want to support, it means a great deal. Your help keeps our continued effort going to honor enthusiasts and car culture. Thank you!
Video Reel
THIS WAS a big week for car videos. And no news was bigger than the release of a trailer for the new Fast And Furious movie, Fast X, slated for this summer.
The Fast franchise is ridiculous. (Grappling hooks? Again?) The truth is, though, you cannot overstate what these films have meant to a generation of enthusiasts. Millions have literally grown up with these movies. Plus they’re fun. Just let us have this.
ELSEWHERE, Amazon is turning to car enthusiasts with the summer release of its racing reality show Banging Gears. That’s a quality name. The show pits supercar owners against tuners of Japanese cars (like in the iconic “Smoke Him” street race).
That concept has been done before with Netflix’s Fastest Car — and to a sillier degree, with Hyperdrive. What makes Banging Gears different? From what I can tell, there’s a degree of seriousness, including classes and varying challenges. That’s sure different.
Amazon is also letting contestants talk about their experience along the way, too. Here’s a video of YouTuber Dustin Williams logging his Nissan GT-R out to Las Vegas for the competition, and an 1,100-hp Honda Civic owner doing the same.
FOLLOWING the Big Game over the weekend, the general consensus was that Ram Trucks won the commercial wars with this ad. Let us know in the comments — is this the best commercial you saw? (Confession: The fishing pole got me.)
FOR ALL MY video game nerds out there, Forza Motorsport released yet another teaser video for its upcoming release. While FM doesn’t have the legacy or reputation of Gran Turismo, their approach to granular detail seems really impressive.
ON A SPECIAL NOTE, I mentioned earlier that I’m focusing on Carrara Media now. As such, the Edmunds video above serves as my farewell. I really enjoyed my time there and am extremely proud of what I made with an awesome team. Hope you like it!
Race Results
TO ME, THE COOLEST THING that happened this past weekend was a race in New Zealand. That’s where Chloe Chambers became the first woman to start from P1 and win in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in its 18-year history.
The broadcast of her final lap is enough to make you well up. (Don’t ask how I know.) And Oceania is no joke. F1 drivers Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat and Lando Norris all got their starts there. Congratulations Chloe! Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Culture
Here’s a quick roundup of fun goings-on in the car world:
IndyCar driver Graham Rahal didn’t appreciate Rihanna and got served himself.
Rihanna owns an amazing Mercedes-McLaren (which she reportedly gifted to Chris Brown and took back — LOL) so back off, Graham!
Here’s the proper use of a Super Bowl / cars meme by our friend Bozi.
You can fit a Dodge Viper bumper to a Grand Caravan. Just wanted to share.
Donut Media launched a racing podcast that is now on Season 2. Go listen!
The LGBTQ+ inclusion advocates Racing Pride launched a members program.
And future events abound. Coming up, you can find me at:
The BBi Autosport social hour on February 23rd.
The Porsche “Pink Pig” film premiere at Deus Ex Machina on February 24th.
Diecast Cars And Coffee at the Zimmerman Museum on February 26th.
And Finally…
LOOK, YOU COULD sell your Ferrari Testarossa at auction for a cool $225,000-300,000. Orrrrrrrrr… you could drift your Testarossa through the snow and rip-rip-rip that V12 for all it’s worth. I bet I know which option is more fun.
Drive hard and be safe. Black Lives Matter.
Race Day has subscribers in 28 states and 15 countries! Want your event included? Shoot me a note with subject line “Race Day” at ryan@carrarabooks.com.
Check out Carrara Media on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and visit our store to order one of our many fine books and eBooks.
Great issue! Congratulations on making Carrara your full-time gig—it’s a big undertaking for sure. So uh…if I knew someone with a bunch of book ideas just sitting around, how would I connect them/me for a pitch or two (or ten)? 😉