In Michael Waltrip's book "In The Blink of an Eye" he says that he was about to pass Jr, but just decided to roll in behind him and push him to the victory instead.
Jeff Purvis is a former Xfinity driver, he actually had a life threatening crash in 2002 (same year that this game covers) which left him with severe brain damage. He was also the replacement driver for Bobby Allison in the 12 car in 1990.
Greg Biffle saved his life. If a less experienced driver had been involved Jeff would’ve been in worse trouble. Greg swerved last second to not t bone him.
@@charlespetersonjr1994 I find it a little weird that they blurred the PS2 controller, even though it's on PS2. Also, they had to do that video for each console release 'cause you can hear the difference in them.
@@JamieJooESC Dale Earnhardt Jr won the second race at Daytona, the Pepsi 400, after his father, Seven Time champion Dale Earnhardt Sr, lost his life in a last lap crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001. It is widely considered to be a very meaningful moment.
Mike McLaughlin was another Busch regular. From 1994 to 1999, he drove the #34 for Frank Cicci and picked up a few wins. He drove for Joe Gibbs in 2001 and 2002. Another guy was cool paint schemes.
More on Jeff Purvis: he won a few Xfinity races and even drove a couple seasons for Joe Gibbs. His Lance Snacks and Porter Cable paint schemes were great!
In the Jeff Burton and Mark Martin video, it shows Mark Martin’s sponsor as “Mark Martin” and then in the challenge and the rest of the game his sponsor changed to Pfizer, so I wonder if the video that plays behind them talking was from the beta version. And the Citgo thing cracked me up, I’ve seen tons of Citgo gas stations so I’m assuming you must not live anywhere close to me. Also, when Dale Jarrett makes the comment about driving the UPS truck in a race, I think it was in NASCAR2006 that you could enter a cheat code to actually change the paint scheme of the UPS car and one of them changed the car into a UPS truck that was absolutely invincible you could drive it backwards and make everyone blow their engines and then turn it around and win the race with everyone else a million laps down, I think it was 06 but it might have been a different year. Also, go to create-a-driver and make the name “Dale Earnhardt” and press continue and you unlock Dale SR to use in season mode and in race now, and if you check his driver stats it shows he only has one start in the 2001 season and no finishes
This was for sale at my local vintage game store a while back for like $3. Why I didn’t pick it up, I have no idea. But this is making me kick myself over and over again.
13:25 Jeff Purvis used to be a successful short track racer and ran many Busch and ARCA races with Phoenix Racing and Brewco Motorsports. Unfortunately he suffered a severe wreck in the early 2000s which caused him to have severe head trauma and never he drove a racecar again.
I always played as him in these games, and I remember seeing that he passed away, I was crying. My mom made me some hot chocolate to help cheer me up, but I still remember that to this day.
Arguably the best game that showed the abilities of the PS2 at the time.....this and Gran Turismo 4 were like the most realistic and the graphics were amazing for the time.....
We're just going to say that the Auto Club track you were on was the 'old' Auto Club track, since it was scheduled for demolition this year. When they go back there next year, the surface will be 25 years old!!
Man, I loved playing the hell out of 03, 04, and 05. Really hard to get back into though... The driving physics was always super tight and impossible to turn or driving on ice loose and since I havent been playing many driving games in the past few years, Ive lost a lot of my old driving skill. Games are still fun as hell, I just suck lol
I think 04 has this beat since they both did pretty much the same stuff but 04 did it better, but yeah both are freaking awesome. Here's to hoping they can replicate that kind of success at some point...
Notes about Shane Hall and his car because I'm a nerd 😂 He was a Busch regular in the late 90s and early 2000s. The #63 he's driving was owned by Hubert Hensley, father of driver Jimmy Hensley and current crew chief Jeff Hensley. Ken Alexander had an infamously bad race in the car at Bristol the year this game came out.
Fun fact: Kasey Kaine in this game isn’t even Kasey Kaine like they’d lead you to believe it’s actually Elton Sawyer; however, Kasey Kaine was signed to the car after they added Sawyer to the game so they just replaced the name, but didn’t change the personal information such as hometown. Also the Busch series and Arca schemes this game has are called Wincraft Series Cars while the Winston Cup cars are just called NASCAR Cup Series cars.
You should try the Nascar 04 lightning challenge where its Ricky Rudd at Texas and they have the big one. That is a better version of the Mike Skinner Talladega from 03.
23:00 who would have though that 20 years later, the same rookie driver would be driving a nascar at La Mans. Johnsons not my favorite driver, but damn does he earn my respect
I do hope NASCAR 21 does well and comes to Game Pass...now that I'm a PC gamer, I'd like to play more sports games and I haven't played a NASCAR game in ages. The Thunder games were legendary though I never did the challenges as I just jumped straight to career mode.
I think they do have rubber banding in the challenges. If you play on Rookie and take the lead it goes to veteran difficulty while you are leading. Thats an annoying flaw to old Nascar games.
I’m telling ya it’s something wrong with the USB port. The old freezing is what used to happen to my webcam when I used a USB port extender that was broken
When Radman said bill not chase bill. Me: bill Nye the science guy bill bill bill bill bill bill (That's what I thought of when Radman said bill not chase around 24:00 )
Also DO NOT by this game for ps2 unless you have a wheel. It’s unplayable on the ps2 controller. With xbox version the controller makes it playable plus you can use your downloaded music in game.
In Michael Waltrip's book "In The Blink of an Eye" he says that he was about to pass Jr, but just decided to roll in behind him and push him to the victory instead.
Perspective changes when you get older
I recall him also saying that the Pepsi 400 was his favorite victory celebration, even though it wasn't his win.
Waltrip is so underrated
Jeff Purvis is a former Xfinity driver, he actually had a life threatening crash in 2002 (same year that this game covers) which left him with severe brain damage. He was also the replacement driver for Bobby Allison in the 12 car in 1990.
thats sad
Greg Biffle saved his life. If a less experienced driver had been involved Jeff would’ve been in worse trouble. Greg swerved last second to not t bone him.
Citgo is a gas station and they still exist
There's a bunch of them just scattered in the most random places.
Kind of like 7Eleven
If you've ever been to a Country Fair that's the gas they have there.
It's also a Chief Keef song
And nothing good happens at any Citgo after dark 😂😂😂
Jeff Burton and Mark Martin holding GameCube controller. Love to see it
in the PS2 version they are holding the PS2 Controller, I'm assuming they did the same thing with the XBOX and their controller.
@@charlespetersonjr1994 Lol instead of the hat rotation after a win, the controller rotation
@@charlespetersonjr1994 I find it a little weird that they blurred the PS2 controller, even though it's on PS2.
Also, they had to do that video for each console release 'cause you can hear the difference in them.
God this game is so nostalgic
I feel old af watching this, remembering the struggles of these challenges lol
Daytona would’ve burned if waltrip passed Dale Jr in that race😂
Context please. I'm European lol
@@JamieJooESC Dale Earnhardt Jr won the second race at Daytona, the Pepsi 400, after his father, Seven Time champion Dale Earnhardt Sr, lost his life in a last lap crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001. It is widely considered to be a very meaningful moment.
The 00-02 chevy monte carlo makes me emotional. It looks so good and I cant figure out why
SO TRUE literally THE car i always thought of when I heard “NASCAR” as a kid, because of this game
These are great lightning challenges in Nascar Thunder 2003 and this is a fantastic video and it's an awesome video game
Loved this game. Used to play it all the time on PS2 back in the early 2000s
I played the hell out of this game on my PS2 when it came out!! These lightning challenges are really taking me back 😁
Hey I still enjoy playing thunder 04 and NASCAR 06 on the PlayStation 2.😊
Funny Homestead story, that was the first track I won at as a kid, I remember passing everyone on the outside.
Hearing Jimmie say "76 fuel" instead of "Sunoco fuel" sounded weird
Anytime you get to hear Ward Burton is a classic
Ward's one of my favorite driver's. Hardees AG Dillard Racing , MBNA and Caterpillar Bill Davis Racing
Mike McLaughlin was another Busch regular. From 1994 to 1999, he drove the #34 for Frank Cicci and picked up a few wins. He drove for Joe Gibbs in 2001 and 2002. Another guy was cool paint schemes.
More on Jeff Purvis: he won a few Xfinity races and even drove a couple seasons for Joe Gibbs. His Lance Snacks and Porter Cable paint schemes were great!
In the Jeff Burton and Mark Martin video, it shows Mark Martin’s sponsor as “Mark Martin” and then in the challenge and the rest of the game his sponsor changed to Pfizer, so I wonder if the video that plays behind them talking was from the beta version. And the Citgo thing cracked me up, I’ve seen tons of Citgo gas stations so I’m assuming you must not live anywhere close to me. Also, when Dale Jarrett makes the comment about driving the UPS truck in a race, I think it was in NASCAR2006 that you could enter a cheat code to actually change the paint scheme of the UPS car and one of them changed the car into a UPS truck that was absolutely invincible you could drive it backwards and make everyone blow their engines and then turn it around and win the race with everyone else a million laps down, I think it was 06 but it might have been a different year. Also, go to create-a-driver and make the name “Dale Earnhardt” and press continue and you unlock Dale SR to use in season mode and in race now, and if you check his driver stats it shows he only has one start in the 2001 season and no finishes
This was for sale at my local vintage game store a while back for like $3. Why I didn’t pick it up, I have no idea. But this is making me kick myself over and over again.
13:25 Jeff Purvis used to be a successful short track racer and ran many Busch and ARCA races with Phoenix Racing and Brewco Motorsports. Unfortunately he suffered a severe wreck in the early 2000s which caused him to have severe head trauma and never he drove a racecar again.
Also, that Oreo paint scheme comes with the Nilla wafer scheme as an alternate too
lots of memories right here. my dad and i would stay up playing this game all the time. childhood in a game
I spent hours on the big one just because of how random it was. This game was my childhood as well
Yes I certainly got my money's worth from this game. It's still a part of my life everyday.
Its surreal looking at most of these rookie young drivers in 2001-2003 are now either retired or dead unfortunately......
CITGO is a gas station. It was in my small town my whole life until it changed to BP like 4 years ago. Also RIP Bobby Hamilton.
I always played as him in these games, and I remember seeing that he passed away, I was crying. My mom made me some hot chocolate to help cheer me up, but I still remember that to this day.
Arguably the best game that showed the abilities of the PS2 at the time.....this and Gran Turismo 4 were like the most realistic and the graphics were amazing for the time.....
They should have gotten Owen Wilson to say wow everytime you unlock a thunder plate.
26:47 since when is the moon that close to planet Earth. jesus.
We're just going to say that the Auto Club track you were on was the 'old' Auto Club track, since it was scheduled for demolition this year. When they go back there next year, the surface will be 25 years old!!
Bro I remember playing this game when I was like 5, it was so fun
Notice all the "Winston" logos on the drivers' fire suits are blurred out.
Edit: 28:39 I see one slipped in verbally, 33:14 lmao
Man, I loved playing the hell out of 03, 04, and 05. Really hard to get back into though... The driving physics was always super tight and impossible to turn or driving on ice loose and since I havent been playing many driving games in the past few years, Ive lost a lot of my old driving skill. Games are still fun as hell, I just suck lol
8:39 Radman thought he was Denny Hamlin and choked away an easy win😂😂
arguably the best NASCAR video game ever. i’m hoping NASCAR ‘21 will be in the running to maybe beat it?🧐
I think 04 has this beat since they both did pretty much the same stuff but 04 did it better, but yeah both are freaking awesome. Here's to hoping they can replicate that kind of success at some point...
I still play this and 04. It is exactly like Madden, the best ones are 2004 and 2008
We have been hoping for 15 years. Nothing comes close
Prepare to be let down there buddy
Dude the Talladega one with Mike skinner gave me fits for so long 😂
It's the best one
Labonte's 18 in the results after you complete each challenge looks weird
I noticed that too, weird.
26:57 if I’m not mistaken, that building is the hotel right next to the track. Me and a couple friends will be staying there for the race in august
Grew up on this era so all the paint schemes on this game I have most all the die cast cars
Love how they have the winston cup logo blurred out on their firesuits but script the drivers to say the words 'winston cup' in the videos
There's a secret 31st Lightning Challenge but it'll require you to win 8 championships in career mode.
This game is about the 2002 season btw, not 2003. This was back when sports games were numbered after the next year and not after the current year.
Please play more of this! Also make a part 2 of these challenges.
Greatest nascar game ever. We finally got to do burnouts
Apparently the Jeff Burton Mark Martin challenge had a different version of the video on the PS2 from the Xbox.
Notes about Shane Hall and his car because I'm a nerd 😂 He was a Busch regular in the late 90s and early 2000s. The #63 he's driving was owned by Hubert Hensley, father of driver Jimmy Hensley and current crew chief Jeff Hensley. Ken Alexander had an infamously bad race in the car at Bristol the year this game came out.
Realradman is the best at revisiting games 😎
So is it possible to unlock more thunder plated by doing the same challenge over and over again, or do you have to try the new ones for variety?
I remember that game I completed all the challenges except pay at the pump can’t wait to see you beat it
My favorite console nascar game and in my opinion the best console nascar game ever made
Fun fact: Kasey Kaine in this game isn’t even Kasey Kaine like they’d lead you to believe it’s actually Elton Sawyer; however, Kasey Kaine was signed to the car after they added Sawyer to the game so they just replaced the name, but didn’t change the personal information such as hometown. Also the Busch series and Arca schemes this game has are called Wincraft Series Cars while the Winston Cup cars are just called NASCAR Cup Series cars.
That makes sense
you talked yourself into pronouncing McLaughlin correctly, good job
"Magic Shoes" McLaughlin. I remember hearing Dr Jerry Punch saying that during a Busch Series race.
You should try the Nascar 04 lightning challenge where its Ricky Rudd at Texas and they have the big one. That is a better version of the Mike Skinner Talladega from 03.
23:00 who would have though that 20 years later, the same rookie driver would be driving a nascar at La Mans. Johnsons not my favorite driver, but damn does he earn my respect
I do hope NASCAR 21 does well and comes to Game Pass...now that I'm a PC gamer, I'd like to play more sports games and I haven't played a NASCAR game in ages. The Thunder games were legendary though I never did the challenges as I just jumped straight to career mode.
Anyone else notice the Winston Cup patch on all the drivers' firesuits is blurred out?
Yes cause Winston is a tobacco company and they game needed to cater to kids......
The building on 3-4 is the hospital on bill France blvd.
I think they do have rubber banding in the challenges. If you play on Rookie and take the lead it goes to veteran difficulty while you are leading. Thats an annoying flaw to old Nascar games.
I’m telling ya it’s something wrong with the USB port. The old freezing is what used to happen to my webcam when I used a USB port extender that was broken
Ik I’m 18 but this was my favorite childhood game hands down
therapist: *when was the last time you were happy?*
me:
Stealing wrecked Gordon after a caution that’s how he got the damage
I grew up on this game!
When Radman said bill not chase bill.
Me: bill Nye the science guy bill bill bill bill bill bill
(That's what I thought of when Radman said bill not chase around 24:00 )
I own this game, one of my favorites
200 years of DUPONT! Sterling put jeff in the grass in the accident that caused the red flag. One race ill never get over.
If you showed this game to a nascar fan in 2021 they would be like “why do cars besides Hendrick and Gibbs win?”
I won the jimmie johnson challenge being in second place somehow on the og xbox just now lmao i was trying that for 5 hours which was 2 nights.
Citgo was a big gas station chain, kinda like 7 eleven is now or Shell......they're much smaller than they used to be....
I know this old, but Citgo's a gas station, and it's still around
This was my most favorite game ever o. The ps2
Good video!!!
I request 2004 and 2009 if your looking for an old nascar game
Ah back too when the right rear tires got destroyed vs the front right that happens now.......
04 had those features as i own it on ps2 rn XD
Mike skinner’s challenge was my favorite
They got Citgo’s everywhere here in Chicago. It’s a gas station
Homestead used to be worse the corners used to be more square like Indy when the trucks first raced there
Bodine was holding a gamecube controller.
man oh man
Citgo is a gas station
I still play nascar thunder 2004
How is the resolution so clean wowoowle.
Citgo was a gas/convenience store/station.
There is an early prototype version of this game on Archive.com that you can download. Works, but the game crashes when you win a race.
“The guy” is Richard Petty
I like how NASCAR Thunder 2003 has the Daytona Road Corse but not Heat 5 😂
It’s not the actual road course. It is a fantasy road course but it’s a Daytona roadcourse in general.......
Why is the Winston cup logo blurred? I honestly don’t even know what Winston is 😂
It's a cigarette company. For the game to be rated E they have to blur all age restricted content. Hence why they can't have the beer sponsors also
in another game u had to avoid the wreck and keep the same position, i think it was like 05' or 06'
bro you should do a nascar season in a custom Kyle Larson car on Nascar Thunder 2003
Or literally any other driver, but good idea.
are you playing this on console or pc?
My got this game was so good
Jeff Gordon was the leader of the 02 daytona 500 till marlin spun I'm still pissed till this day
Citgo is a gas station and its still around
2004 had the draft but 2005 had the draft and intimidator
Citgo is a gas station and they still around today
That wow tho 😂😂😂
Who made the paint schemes for him in heat 4&5
Citgo is a gas station in the south
Citgo is a fuel station company
Also DO NOT by this game for ps2 unless you have a wheel. It’s unplayable on the ps2 controller. With xbox version the controller makes it playable plus you can use your downloaded music in game.
Best game ever!
He passed away from head and neck cancer