Box Car Racer was an American rock band formed in San Diego, California in 2001. The group consisted of vocalist and guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker of Blink-182, alongside guitarist David Kennedy of Hazen Street. Anthony Celestino later joined the ensemble as a touring bassist. DeLonge created the project to pursue darker ideas he felt unsuited to his work with Blink-182. He invited Barker in order to refrain from paying a studio drummer, and fellow guitarist David Kennedy, whom DeLonge had met in the San Diego music circuit years prior. Box Car Racer was partly inspired and viewed as a tribute to Jawbox, Quicksand, Fugazi and Refused.

The group recorded the band's eponymous debut, Box Car Racer, in quick fashion with a more DIY spirit. MCA Records issued the band's lone release in May 2002, which peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 12. Singles "I Feel So" and "There Is" also charted on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, with the former shooting to number eight. The band embarked on their sole headlining tour across North America in the fall of 2002 with supporting act The Used. Box Car Racer created unresolved tension within Blink-182 and inevitably influenced the band's following studio album, the more experimental Blink-182 (2003). DeLonge shelved the project in mid-2003, feeling it as a whole had run its course; however, elements of Box Car Racer have resurfaced in DeLonge's later band, Angels & Airwaves, which also features Kennedy.