 Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" was also positive, calling it "a fine little action picture with big ideas" and finding Carradine "terrific" in his role.Roger Ebert gave the film zero stars in his review, deriding its violence and lamenting its appeal to small children.However, during a review of "The Fast and the Furious" on "Ebert & Roeper and the Movies", Ebert named "Death Race 2000" as part of a "great tradition of summer drive-in movies" that embrace a "summer exploitation mentality in a clever way".