It’s not every day that you get a call asking if you can get a NASCAR showcar wrapped, delivered, and camera-ready, but in our line of work, that kind of ask usually means one thing… We’re about to have a good day.
This past spring, Jeff Schafer at Unrivaled Films reached out to us for support on a commercial shoot with IHOP and Dale Earnhardt Jr. When Jeff needed a reliable partner to bring a race-ready touch to this shoot, he knew just who to call. JKS Incorporated has been in the NASCAR orbit for decades—and it’s always exciting to work on a project that gets us back behind the wheel.
For this shoot, JKS provided a few key pieces of the production puzzle: a car, a custom IHOP-branded wrap, our seasoned SAG stunt driver (and Fabricator and Motorsports Coordinator) Ed Berrier, and logistical support for getting everything to and from the location. The shoot ran from 11am to 5pm, and we arrived on-site at noon, ready to roll.
A Concord, North Carolina neighborhood cul-de-sac was transformed into the backdrop for a quirky IHOP moment, where Dale Jr. pulled up in the car around 2pm for his big shot. After that, all the remaining driving scenes were handled by Ed, a former professional race car driver and one of our go-to talents for high-performance driving.
If we may say so, Ed does a pretty convincing impression of Dale Jr. behind the wheel. Of course, that’s no surprise—he’s known Dale Jr. for years. They raced against each other back in the day, both in the Busch Grand National Series and later in the Cup Series.
This wasn’t our first time working on a commercial. We’ve been involved in more than 50 shoots, and each one always has that one thing that makes it memorable. For this project? It had to be the fan extra who asked Dale Jr. to autograph his pancake. Dale’s reaction during the first take was priceless—equal parts confused and amused, like “Did he really just ask me that?” It was one of those moments that reminds you why being on set is always a wild (and often hilarious) ride.
We’re proud to have played a part in this fun, fast-paced shoot, and we’re looking forward to sharing more behind-the-scenes stories soon.
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