Trivia: Mildred Burke and Johnnie Mae Young didn't get along. Young hated how only Burke got to main event shows while Burke and her husband, Billy Wolfe, worried Young would beat her for the championship. It's been stated by Young in the documentary Lipstick and Dynamite.
Trivia: One of fictitious Texas State University's (TSU) opponents is Southwest Texas Bobcats (SWT), which was a real school. In 2003, SWT changed their name to Texas State University at San Marcos (they kept the Bobcat nickname). Eventually, when the other schools in the Texas State University System didn't change their names, "at San Marcos" was dropped and they are known just as Texas State University (TSU).
Trivia: Sylvester Stallone was about to hit some meat in an abattoir. This is part of how his character Rocky Balboa trained in the original Rocky. (00:47:00)
Trivia: The opening scene of the demolition derby cars is footage from the 1966 film "Fireball 500."
Trivia: Will Smith won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in the film. However, his award was overshadowed by an altercation with Chris Rock earlier in the evening, which saw Smith slap Rock in the face after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith (which Will initially laughed at). As a result, Smith was given a 10-year ban from the Oscars ceremony, and also lost consideration for upcoming film roles.
Trivia: Scott Stoddard's teammate at BRM, Bob Turner, is played by British Two time F1 Champion Graham Hill. Pete Aaron's teammate at Yamura, Tim Randolph, is played by American 1961 F1 Champion Phil Hill.
Trivia: Throughout the movie, Kurt Warner wore jersey #13, but he is also known as jersey #10 for the St. Louis Rams in the 1999 play-offs.
Trivia: After this movie was released, the character Engleberg had to be recast because the actor who played him lost a lot of weight and no longer could play the "fat" catcher so a new heavy actor replaced him in the next two sequels.
Trivia: Jane Lynch plays Lucy Bobby, the mother of Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell). In real life, Lynch is only seven years older than Ferrell.
Trivia: When we see Bugs Bunny for the first time, behind him on the ballpark fence there is a picture of a man with a gun and a detective hat with the words "Mike Maltese, Ace Dick" written nearby. Michael Maltese was the writer for this cartoon.
Trivia: By open admission of one of the original artwork designer Akira "Akiman" Yasuda, the movie (known in Japan as "The Street Fighter") inspired at least 2 of the most iconic backgrounds of the game Street Fighter 2: it is really obvious when you watch the fight between Jim Henry and "the kid", on the docks with a boat in the background much like in Ken 's stage. The cage fight against Henry inspired also Zangief's stage. (00:19:30 - 00:47:50)
Trivia: The Grand National sequence towards the end of the film combines filmed footage with real footage of the 1983 Grand National.
Trivia: Melissa Leo plays Mark Wahlberg's mother in the film, even though in real life she's only 11 years older than Wahlberg.
Trivia: Although Eileen Heckart plays Paul Newman's mother in the film, she was only six years older than Newman.
Trivia: Although they played mother and son in this film, Anne Revere was only ten years older than John Garfield.