The thunder of V8 engines and the wail of electric guitars aren’t so far apart, and no one embodied that crossover like Ozzy Osbourne. In 2017, deep in the heart of Texas, he stood trackside under the blinding speedway lights, wrapped not in fire and fog like his usual concerts, but in NASCAR pageantry. Ozzy wasn’t there to headline a show; he was there to lead a race. The man who once rode a “Crazy Train” was now waving the green flag on horsepower of another kind. But no one watching could have imagined this moment would someday become part of a final reel, one of the last riotous public appearances of a man who defied time and convention until the very end.
Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness and heavy metal’s most iconic frontman, passed away on July 22, 2025, at the age of 76. After a long battle with Parkinson’s disease and years of spinal complications, he delivered his last performance earlier this month in Birmingham, the city where Black Sabbath was born. The farewell show was more than a concert; it was a resurrection. For the first time in two decades, Black Sabbath reunited onstage, with Ozzy seated on a black throne, frail but still furious. ‘Iron Man’, ‘Crazy Train’, and ‘Paranoid’ crashed through the speakers like war cries of a man refusing to fade quietly.
For a man who roared through stages, whose howl defined generations of rebellion, his final bow was heavy with gravity. Ozzy didn’t need to scream. He just sat, ruled, and let his voice carry the weight of history. Somewhere between guitar solos and tour buses, Ozzy carved out a moment in NASCAR lore, an unlikely, hilarious, and perfectly chaotic collision of two high-octane worlds.
“Get in your f——- car and drive”: Ozzy’s unforgettable NASCAR moment
In April 2017, Ozzy Osbourne and his son Jack were invited as Honorary Race Directors for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, part of their cross-country antics for the Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour series on the History Channel. As part of their duties, the father-son duo rode in the pace car and gave the traditional command of the iconic “Drivers to your cars”. But before the cameras rolled, Ozzy had something… extra in mind. In true Osbourne fashion, he leaned into the moment and quipped, “Get in your f——car and drive.” Jack, laughing and already used to his dad’s uncensored ways, replied, “Yeah, don’t say that.”
After Ozzy’s passing, the clip resurfaced online and struck a chord with fans once again. The racing community embraced it like a lost piece of folklore. Nascarcasm, known for blending motorsports with sharp humor, reshared the video on X with a fitting caption: “To be fair, Ozzy’s version would have been better.” It wasn’t just a nod to the humor, it was an acknowledgement of how perfectly Osbourne’s spirit matched the unfiltered, emotional core of NASCAR.
To be fair, Ozzy’s version would have been better pic.twitter.com/MR0fsHOGmC
— nascarcasm (@nascarcasm) July 22, 2025
Ozzy’s NASCAR connection wasn’t limited to that wild day in Texas. While filming Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour, he was photographed getting up close with a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car, peering into the cockpit with genuine curiosity. The raw machinery seemed to fascinate him, the same way guitars and amps once did when he first stepped on stage decades ago. Cameras captured him studying the car’s guts like it was a stage prop built for mayhem. Ozzy’s fascination with the sport was real, and his appearances around race weekends left an impression. More recently, NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace mentioned Ozzy in a separate discussion, casually noting the rocker’s interest in dirt racing and even floating the idea of him hosting at NASCAR Chicago.
NASCAR’s heartfelt goodbye: Kenny Wallace leads the chorus
Two weeks before Ozzy Osbourne’s passing, NASCAR veteran Kenny Wallace had already shown the rock legend some serious love. In a heartfelt video, Wallace gushed about Black Sabbath’s final concert in Birmingham, where Ozzy took the stage one last time. “Did you all, uh, see Black Sabbath? Ozzy Osbourne? They played their very last gig together, and that crowd was incredible,” Wallace said with reverence. “He’s got Parkinson and came out in a wheelchair. The Prince of Darkness, man. Oh man, he’s something else,” he was in awe. Wallace even slipped into his own metalhead moment, singing bits of Led Zeppelin before declaring his personal favorite Sabbath track: “Mine’s Crazy Train… I’m crazy, so it plus it’s, ‘I’m going off the rails on a crazy train.’ I like that.”
And when the devastating news finally came, Wallace returned to social media with a gut-punch of a tribute, tweeting out the same track he’d praised weeks earlier: “I’m going off the rails on a crazy train. Long live Ozzy.” Followed by another that echoed through every rock-loving racer’s heart: “Momma, I’m coming home.” Wallace wasn’t alone in the garage. Meyer Shank Racing, known for its IndyCar grit, also posted their tribute with a tweet.
And maybe the most haunting tribute of all came from Ozzy himself. In that final Birmingham show, looking out over the roaring crowd, he uttered the words no fan ever wanted to hear: “Unfortunately… we’ve come to our last song for the… ever…”
The post Remembering Ozzy Osbourne’s NASCAR Legacy: When the Rock & Roll Legend F-Bombed Live on Texas Track appeared first on EssentiallySports.
