Box Car Racer was a side project of the band Blink-182, featuring Blink guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker, along with bassist David Kennedy, who was not a Blink member. (Blink bassist Mark Hoppus was for the most part not involved, though he contributed vocals to the song "Elevator.") They released one self-titled album in 2002, in between Blink-182's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket from 2001 and their self-titled album in 2003. Box Car Racer was darker and more mature thematically and musically than Blink-182 had been up to that point, hinting at the direction that band would take on their next album (which would also be their final one before a lengthy hiatus). Box Car Racer is regarded by band members as defunct, though when Tom DeLonge and David Kennedy formed the band Angels & Airwaves in 2005, they considered it an extension of Box Car Racer (even releasing a sequel to the Box Car Racer song "Letters to God" in 2010).
