The record is a concept album detailing the end of the world, and features dark, moody tracks mulling over confusion.

The album received positive reviews from music critics, who complimented the darker direction in comparison to DeLonge's previous work with Blink.

The trio's European tour in the winter of 2001 was delayed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and rescheduled dates in early 2002 were also canceled due to DeLonge's back problems, the result of a herniated disc.

"[2] DeLonge had felt "bummed out" and creatively stifled while recording the group's previous album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.

DeLonge had previously been derisive of any other styles of music, but soon embraced acts like Fugazi, Quicksand, Rocket from the Crypt, and Pitchfork.

[4] "His reasons for starting the band were in part spawned from the dark thoughts he was immersed in post–September 11, the side-effects of the painkillers protecting him from the searing pain of his back problems and a dissatisfaction with the lyrical and musical territory he felt he could with Blink-182."

"[3][5] According to DeLonge, Box Car Racer was not "meant to be a real band," but rather "something to do in some spare time that was really only expected to be on the low list of the totem pole of priorities in my life, and just to have an experimental creative outlet.

When reading about the war, DeLonge was "freaked out" to learn that Fat Man, the atomic bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki, was dropped from the B-29 bomber Bockscar (commonly misspelled Boxcar).

[1] Box Car Racer was recorded over six weeks beginning in December 2001, primarily at Signature Sound in San Diego, California.

[5][10] Sessions commenced quickly, with producer Jerry Finn having sent one whole load of equipment to Signature ahead of his arrival.

[13] DeLonge invited musician David Kennedy, whom he had met in the San Diego music circuit some years prior, to perform lead guitar parts on the album.

[1][15] "When your back is killing you and you have to have surgery and all this stuff, it's just kind of hard to keep a focus on the happier times in your life," he told MTV News.

"[5] DeLonge intended to pay for the project himself, but when an A&R representative heard four unfinished songs, MCA—the record label Blink-182 was on—wanted to finance the album.

"[22] Box Car Racer was inspired by and is partly a tribute to bands DeLonge credited as an influence, such as Quicksand,[3] Fugazi, and Refused.

[27] The subject matter found on Box Car Racer explores the apocalypse, conspiracy theories, and Freemasonry.

[28] The album's artwork, described by Shooman, consists of "bleak burgundy brown and black silhouettes plus a graffiti-esque band logo."

[29] Aaron Scott of Slant was favorable in his review of Box Car Racer, writing, "Neither genre-obsessed nor intent on defying convention, Box Car Racer is the perfect union between pop-punk riffs and instrumentation that spans all rock genres from indie to folk.

"[25] Adam Dlugacz of PopMatters summarized Box Car Racer as "pretty fantastic hardcore/emo/punk rock album.

"[26] Robert Morast from Argus Leader felt the same, commenting, "The music is good with brooding melodies that fester inside the soul.

"[31] Edna Gunderson of USA Today was positive, commenting, "The music, while upbeat and even giddy, steers away from adolescent pranks and pratfalls, a welcome upgrade.

"[27][17] AllMusic's Brian O'Neill gave the album three stars, calling it a "far cry from the party-boy ethos DeLonge is best known for, and he wears the emotional depth well, with songs that are just as hooky as from his bread-winning main squeeze.

[40] The song was the band's highest-charting single, peaking at number eight on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart in June 2002.

He had initially wanted Alex Barreto, who was in the original Box Car Racer, to be a part of the "second version" of the band, but he could not get in touch with him.

"[33] In a 2003 interview with Kerrang!, DeLonge claimed the album was only an attempt to "challenge myself to do different shit": "I did it for myself, whether it sold a million copies or just one, it was for myself."

He clarified the band's future succinctly: "There are a lot of emotions between Mark and I and that's why there's never going to be another Box Car Racer album.

"[2] All tracks are written by Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker, and arranged by Box Car RacerInformation adapted from CD liner notes.