Sam and Dean use the aliases "Detective Dante" and "Detective Landis". Joe Dante directed The Howling (1981) and John Landis directed An American Werewolf in London (1981).
First episode to feature the boys doing rock, paper, scissors to determine something.
Dean tells Sam, "I'd say Kurt's looking more and more like our Cujo." "Cujo" is a 1981 horror novel by Stephen King about a dog gone mad.
Emmanuelle Vaugier was cast because showrunner Eric Kripke had enjoyed her performance in Smallville (2001).
Just like the second chance theme of the episode, actor David Quinlan plays Nate Mulligan; a Mulligan is a common term in golf used when a player gets a second chance.