Best movies like Shifting Gears

We Bought A Zoo meets Days of Thunder on a dirt track!

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Shifting Gears Starring C. Thomas Howell, Brooke Langton, John Ratzenberger, M.C. Gainey, and more. If you liked Shifting Gears then you may also like: Win Win, At Any Price, Cassandra's Dream, The Company Men, The Wild Ride and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Tom, an over-worked husband and father, abandons his dead-end job to follow his dream of owning his own business. The only problem: he invested everything in a mechanic shop that has a lien in favor of his arch enemy and must now enter a dirt track race to win the prize money and save his family from ruin.

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Win Win

When down-on-his-luck part-time high school wrestling coach Mike agrees to become legal guardian to an elderly man, his ward's troubled grandson turns out to be a star grappler, sparking dreams of a big win -- until the boy's mother retrieves him.

At Any Price

Set in the competitive world of modern agriculture, ambitious Henry Whipple wants his rebellious son Dean to help expand his family’s farming empire. However, Dean has his sights set on becoming a professional race car driver. When a high-stakes investigation into their business is exposed, father and son are pushed into an unexpected situation that threatens the family's entire livelihood.

Cassandra's Dream

The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.

The Company Men

Bobby Walker lives the proverbial American dream: great job, beautiful family, shiny Porsche in the garage. When corporate downsizing leaves him and two co-workers jobless, the three men are forced to re-define their lives as men, husbands and fathers.

The Wild Ride

A rebellious punk of the beat generation spends his days as an amateur dirt track driver in between partying and troublemaking.

Speed

Terry is the chief car tester for Emery Motors and Frank is an Engineer. Jane has just been hired to work in publicity. Frank and Terry both want Jane to be their girl. Terry has designed a new carburetor that should bring him fame and money, but he cannot get it to work correctly. Terry and Gadget have tested it for over a year, but it still is not perfected. Emery Motors assigns Frank to help Terry with the carburetor, but Terry is not happy because Frank is an Engineer and is also vying for Jane. They finish the carburetor, and to test it, they enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 race. Terry is not yet satisfied with the carburetor before the big race even though it has passed all the tests.

Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman is an aging salesman who was recently fired from his job. Dealing with feelings of failure, Willy begins to relive events from the past that involve his older son, Biff, and his wife, Linda. Willy tries to learn from past mistakes and works to make amends with his family, but his biggest struggle is to make peace with himself over a failed dream of financial success.

Death of a Salesman

Salesman Willy Loman is in a crisis. He's about to lose his job, he can't pay his bills, and his sons Biff and Happy don't respect him and can't seem to live up to their potential. He wonders what went wrong and how he can make things up to his family.

Little Fauss and Big Halsy

The friendship between two Arizona dirt bike racers is tested when they both lust for an attractive runaway young woman who joins them on the racing circuit.

Katie Says Goodbye

A kindhearted seventeen-year-old in the American Southwest turns to prostitution to fulfill her dream of a new life in San Francisco.

Heart Like a Wheel

Shirley Muldowney is determined to be a top-fuel drag racer, although no woman has ever raced them before. Despite the high risks of this kind of racing and the burden it places on her family life, she perseveres in her dream.

Fascinating Youth

Playboy Teddy Ward wants to marry Jeannie King, an artist, but his father wants him to marry Loris Lane, but tells Teddy he can marry whom he pleases if he will make the Mountain Inn a profitable operation. Teddy agrees, and with the support of his friends arranges an ice-boat race with a $10,000 prize to the winner. A problem arises when his father refuses to pay such an amount. Teddy thinks one of his friends will win the race and refuse the prize, but champion racer "Duke" Slade shows up and Teddy knows he will take the money. Some movie stars show up and, while using their own names, are definitely not playing "Self" in this fictional film.

Greased Lightning

This film is based on the true life story of Wendell Scott, the first Black NASCAR race winner and, later, a 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee.

Independence Day

Mary Ann Taylor loves the comforts of her hometown in Mercury, Texas. She has a steady job as a waitress in her father's diner, yet she can't help but feel unfulfilled by a life of pouring coffee and grilling hamburgers. Mary Ann's real passion is photography, but pursuing her dream of becoming a photographer means leaving Mercury behind.

The Last American Hero

A young hell raiser quits his moonshine business and tries to become the best NASCAR racer the south has ever seen. Loosely based on the true story of NASCAR driver Junior Johnson.

The Little Rascals Save the Day

When the Little Rascals are unable to raise enough money to save their grandma's bakery from shutting down, their only hope is to win a local talent show and use the prize money to save the shop.

Dirt

DIRT is a quirky comedy about two simple-hearted brothers who, when abandoned by the death of their mother, search to find a replacement Mom. Junior and Scooter find themselves ill-prepared for life on their own. To ease their suffering, they search the desert dregs of West Texas for a woman to take Mom's place. Due to their social disability, they are forced to kidnap a woman from a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. They soon realize that they have gotten more than they bargained for when their "victim," Dede, turns out to be the maltreated wife of an abusive Texas Ranger. She quickly turns her misfortune into theirs, convincing the brothers to steal her baby away from her sadistic husband. Life gets even more complicated for these simple-hearted boys when the vengeful Ranger tracks them down bent on keeping them from living happily ever after.

Champion

In the supercharged world of dirt track racing, a single mistake causes the lives of two men to change forever. One must fight for his family, the other must fight to forgive.

Empire of Dirt

Like many Native families, Lena Mahikan grew up in the cycle of abuse. Her father, a residential school survivor, was an alcoholic until he killed himself when Lena was 10. Her mother, only 14 years her senior, turned to the slots. By the time Lena was 15, she was pregnant and, before giving birth, was kicked to the curb by her mom. The cycle continues and Lena is now watching helplessly as her own daughter, Peeka, spirals out of control, landing herself in the hospital following a drug overdose. As a final attempt at survival, Lena decides to return home and face her own mother and a past she’s desperate to escape.

The Roaring Road

"Toodles" Waldron, racing enthusiast and the best salesman for J. D. Ward's automobile company, quarrels with his boss; Ward will not let him enter the Santa Monica Grand Prize Road Race, or marry his daughter Dorothy.

Woman-Wise

A crusading sportswriter exposes racketeers involved in paying off fighters to throw their matches.

Winning

Frank Capua is a rising star on the race circuit who dreams of winning the big one - the Indianapolis 500. But to get there he runs the risk of losing his wife Elora to his rival, Luther Erding, and strains the relationship with his stepson.

A Dream of Kings

A Greek American father of a dying boy decides to take his son to Greece to breathe the clean air of his ancestors, in an attempt to save the boy's life. However, money is a problem.

The Luck of Ginger Coffey

An out-of-work Irish immigrant in Montreal remains hopeful that his luck is about to change but his disillusioned family grow tired of his pigheadedness and instability.

Jump

A Southern stock-car driver puts his rising career in the hands of a race promoter.

The Constant Woman

A mother abandons her family only to become a crispy critter with her lover, the husband finds out about it AND that his son isn't really his, becomes an alcoholic, is being held prisoner in a speak-easy, is rescued by 'Beef', is sobered up, gets a good job, negotiates a great contract for lots 'o money, realizes he's in love, asks the girl to marry him, son returns from boarding school and freaks out when told this, runs off and joins the circus that now happens to catch fire.....

Bling

Lowly theme park mechanic Sam dreams about his childhood sweetheart Sue. With the mistaken belief that only a bling ring can win the girl of his dreams, Sam plans the most perfect night to propose to his one true love. But when super villain Oscar shows up with his own evil ring that could destroy the city, Sam’s plans are thrown into utter disarray. Mistaking each other’s rings for their own, Sam teams up with his robot super heroes to track down his engagement ring and save the city… learning that it’s not about the size of the bling, but the size of your heart.

Trading Paint

A stock car racing legend is drawn back to the dirt track when his son, an aspiring driver, joins a rival racing team.

Downhill Willie

Willie is a young man who has everything that he wants. He lives on a mountain, goes skiing whenever he wants and has a simple job working for an old man. But when the old man’s business is threatened, Willie signs up for the first Kamikaze run, a downhill skiing race where only the very best and craziest person will win. And Willie is a little bit crazy, only he doesn’t know it or care. In the competition, he meets a young woman named Annie, whom he falls a little bit in love with, but Willie also needs to fend off the schemes of Spider Bolton, a man who will do whatever it takes to win.

Burn 'Em Up Barnes

Marjorie Temple, owner of a bus line and an apparently worthless plot of land, is set upon by rich oil speculators who know her land actually is worth millions. When they try to put her out of business for good, young race driver Burn 'em Up Barnes comes to her rescue - again and again and again.

Gearheads

A mysterious mentor helps a conflicted teen overcome his fear of driving, and win the race of his life at the local dirt track in Smalltown, USA.

Stand Strong

The Webster Family enjoyed the good life of weekend shopping sprees, nice cars and a beautiful home. Matt Webster was respected by his peers and envied as the man who had it all. But when hard times came, having it all on the outside did not mean there is anything on the inside. Broken relationships, isolation and pain are the result of their misplaced priorities, selfishness and pride. In their chaos the Webster family will soon discover the American dream and pride of ownership does not build character. It took a financial crisis to show Matt that all things work together for good… to those who Stand Strong in Faith.

Christmas in the Rockies

Katie Jolly is a driven young woman with aspirations to leave her small town of Homewood and the family business behind for a career in New York City. Katie’s dreams come to a halt when her father’s sudden injury leaves the future of the company on her shoulders. Saddled with Jolly Lumber’s looming financial troubles, she must also navigate the complexities of love and family as well as the pressure to win the annual Lumberjack Competition.

High Speed

A policeman, working on a case against a local mobster and his gang, slips on some race-car-driver overalls and goggles and, in addition to stopping the mobsters in their tracks, wins a few races and the love of the daughter of the racetrack owner.

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