Interesting read on Days of thunder behind the scenes

KodiakRusty89 said:
I still remember going to see "Days of Thunder" right when it came out at the theater with my parents; I was 7. My parents had been around racing since they were kids and even at my age I had enough knowledge of the sport to know what I was seeing. We all enjoyed the movie from an entertainment aspect but some of the stuff was clearly over the top. The racing scenes were at best interesting and far too often comical.

The biggest thing that still gets me to this day is allowing the movie cars in real races. That's just crazy even by 1990 standards when the sport was very much big time. Had one of those cars compromised a contenders race (oil, debris, etc) I can't fathom what would have happened.

Does anyone have the matchbox/hot wheels/etc cars from the movie? I'm pretty sure burger king or mcdonalds did a promotion with the cars too. I definitely want to find mine now.

I watched Ford vs Ferrari the day it was released online (night before the Daytona 500). I thought it was awesome!!
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"Days of Thunder" was a hodgepodge of stories out of many different racer's lives, some stereotyped racing versions of urban legends, and an off-tangent love interest (necessary for most Hollywood movies), all squeezed into less than two hours. It was more of an attempt to appeal to the general public than to racing fans.

Most of the filming that involved movie cars in races were done at empty tracks, or a few laps at the start of a race with the movie cars in the back and then pulled off the track after a few laps - well before they could interfere with the real race. Note that the movie cars were built to legal NASCAR specs of the time, and were driven by guys with NASCAR licenses and experience. To get some footage with the real racers, they actually seriously built and supported a couple of cars at three races. Bobby Hamilton qualified a movie car fifth at Phoenix (the #51 of "Rowdy Burns"), and even led for a short time before his engine blew. The plan was to allow him to really race and do the best that he could - if his engine hadn't died they were planning to let him contend for the win.

I might still have some of the diecast cars from the movie... but it would take me a while to find them - they're pretty well buried in storage.
 
StandOnIt said:
Me too. People are still using the sayings and enjoying the film is the tell tale. The film isn't a documentary, never tried, it was entertainment and fun to watch. I guess there were some that thought it was the real thing? I couldn't see how, but we did see a clip of a girl in the service station that couldn't figure out which side her fuel filler was on so anything's possible.
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Yep. This thread reminds me of 'Groundhog Day' because it hasn't been that long since our last thread about 'Days of Thunder' and that thread also had all the same tsk-tsk'ing about how the film wasn't like a documentary.

Personally, I get cranky when the actual races on actual Sunday afternoons are contrived for some arbitrary notion of entertainment value. Hollywood taking literary license doesn't bother me nearly as much.
 
I didn't know Rachel Dratch was a NASCAR fan?
 

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Stroker Ace would have been a LOT better if they had waited on Jerry Reed to be available to play Lugs Harvey. Jerry was doing Smokey And The bandit III (without Burt) at the same time, and as a result they ended up with two deficient movies. I Iiked Jim Neighbors, but he was out of his element in Ace. I also loved Loni Anderson in WKRP, but her version of Pembrooke was just so woody and phony. As usual, Ned Beatty put in a fine performance in his role as the slimy Clyde Torkel. Once again, a movie with potential, (I love the plot line of a driver trying to squirm his way out of a bad contract) but in typical Hal Needham fashion post Smokey I, he seemed to just be phoning it in and left an awful lot on the table. Hooper was another of his movies from this era that COULD have been so much better than it ended up being.
 
Turtle84 said:
Russ Wheeler villain in movie drives #18 car
Kyle Busch villain in real life drives #18 car

It's accurate.
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Russ Wheeler was a pretty boy. Kyle is, well Kyle........ Of course as we have discussed before, it's not exactly a coincidence that they share a car number.
 
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Rowdy Burns and Rowdy Busch in 2013

Rowdy Burns dove this car. Does that number look familiar?

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KodiakRusty89 said:
Does anyone have the matchbox/hot wheels/etc cars from the movie? I'm pretty sure burger king or mcdonalds did a promotion with the cars too. I definitely want to find mine now.
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I think it was Hardee’s that did the promotion, since they were the sponsor on the Russ Wheeler car in the movie. I had all of those cars at one point, but I’m not sure what happened to them.
 
ToyYoda said:
I think it was Hardee’s that did the promotion, since they were the sponsor on the Russ Wheeler car in the movie. I had all of those cars at one point, but I’m not sure what happened to them.
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"He didnt bump you, he rubbed you. And Son, Rubbins racing."

This statement is still iconic to NASCAR today
 
StandOnIt said:
I think he is Rowdy in the trucks. I don't know what he thinks he is in the other series.
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Well, Rowdy was clearly modeled after Dale Earnhardt. Whatever you want to say good or bad about Kyle, he's no more Dale Earnhardt than Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are.
 
Do I have to get around to seeing this movie eventually? If I'm already familiar with Junior Johnson and Darrell Waltrip, and I get the references to ice cream pit stops and special matched tires, do I have most of it?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Do I have to get around to seeing this movie eventually? If I'm already familiar with Junior Johnson and Darrell Waltrip, and I get the references to ice cream pit stops and special matched tires, do I have most of it?
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It's basically Harry Hyde and Tim Richmond, with an almost uncanny prediction of the coming of Jeff Gordon onto the scene, except for the love interest part that kind of comes out of left field. The movie is fun and has its moments. As a racing fan, you should see it, just don't get your expectations too high.
 
DanicaFreak said:
This image of her cheering Cole on is embedded in memory
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I found her cold and distant, and her performance rather wooden. She might be nice to look at, but I believe she was horribly miscast. An Australian neurosurgeon who actually was 23 and looked it, and works in a hospital in Daytona Beach? REALLY?
 
Formerjackman said:
I found her cold and distant, and her performance rather wooden. She might be nice to look at, but I believe she was horribly miscast. An Australian neurosurgeon who actually was 23 and looked it, and works in a hospital in Daytona Beach? REALLY?
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each to their own.
 
KTMLew01 said:
You must be fun at parties.
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MY friends seem to think so..... Those that think you know what I'm like or what I'm all about because of my comments on an online forum don't have the SLIGHTEST idea. Of course I'm not aware that any of MY friends think Nicole Kidman is a good actress...
 
I haven't seen Cars II, but Cars I was VERY good. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and its nods to history were fantastic.
 
haven't seen this on guide yet for fs1, but I guess it's supposed to premiere soon (might be on nascar hub).
 
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