Top Gear’s Wild & Hilarious History With the State of Texas

If you've watched the BBC program, Top Gear, you might be surprised to see that Texas has a surprisingly history with some of its main presenters. While James May, to my knowledge, hasn't really shared any stories with the Lone Star state, both Jeremy Clarkson & Richard Hammond each have some unique stories in the state.

Here's some of Jeremy's crazy stories involving Texas

Texas was a main stop on Jeremy's show, Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld, that aired on the BBC from 1995-1996. On the show he would explore the wild car cultures in various places around the world like Japan, India, Italy and the United States. In season 2, he dedicated an entire episode to Texas; it was here that he discovered the love Texans had for pickup trucks (and racing), muscle cars & even got to drive the legendary Bigfoot monster truck. He may have called them ugly but yet, he seemed to have fun driving our homegrown vehicles.

If you watch the episode, you'll see a shot of the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, the Broke Spoke dance hall in Austin, Texas, they even got to interview Willie Nelson & the guys from ZZ Top talked about their love for Texas and their cars while eating at the Laredo Taqueria in Houston. They even interviewed the famous Texas artist, Jay Battenfield, the creator of the "Jewel Box" car.

You can find the whole episode online here.

However Jeremy has made his share of jokes on Texans & their speech too. But if you've been around the state for long enough...yeah you're bound to hear someone EXACTLY like this. Apparently he also had a run-in with one car dealership in Lubbock, Texas too...

Richard Hammond even featured a famous Texas raceway on an episode of Top Gear

Of course Hammond, Clarkson & James May love to poke fun at the cars we have here in America, but if there's one thing that Hammond had that the other 2 didn't, it was an appreciation for NASCAR. He went to Fort Worth's Texas Motor Speedway for the 2011 AAA Texas 500 & even drove the pace car at the start of the race.

The next day, Hammond would even get to DRIVE a full blown NASCAR race car. He's used to driving fast cars but...I don't think he's even driven something quite like that. And yes, it made it onto the show and everyone could see him scream at high speeds.

To be completely fair, while I'd LOVE to drive a race car...I'd probably be just a tad bit scared too.

Sadly the trio would not return to Texas for Top Gear or The Grand Tour, and with the announcement that Jeremy, Richard & James will be calling it quits in 2024, it's extremely unlikely that they will again.

Regardless, a huge thank you to those 3 for bringing us years of entertainment & memories (and for making our state a part of your show's history too).

This wouldn't be the last time a Top Gear presenter came to Texas either; in fact Richard Hammond would come to Fort Bliss & destroy a car. You can read that story here.

Get our free mobile app