NASCAR movie

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esorlxaw

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So, I'm sure everyone remembers Days of Thunder right? While it did allow me to attend a Sears Point (Infineon Raceway...whatever) race (my dad owned an EXXON) back in the day, it didn't really live up to the hype. I've recently heard that there is some kind of NASCAR movie (not the petty movie) in the works and one of the names they're throwing around is Britney Spears. C'mon, you've got to be kidding me, anybody but Britney Spears, I'd rather see Lil' Bow Wow or one of the freakin' Barenaked Ladies in a movie about our sport than Britney freakin' Spears.
Speaking of which, what kind of NASCAR movie would you all like to see made, what would the plot be, who would be in it?
I'll have to think about it for awhile myself, but I'll get back to it.
 
Originally posted by esorlxaw@Nov 22 2003, 05:17 PM
Speaking of which, what kind of NASCAR movie would you all like to see made, what would the plot be, who would be in it?
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I'll skip going over the Brittney Spears movie for the 398th time and jusy answer the quoted question...

I think the Petty movie is the kind of movie I want to see made. But if you mean fictional, then I'll probably pass...
If you want to make some good NASCAR movies, go back and make a Curtis Turner movie or even Junior Johnson.
The historical side has enough drama that I don't think we need to have it made up...
 
"The Last American Hero" was supposedly the life story Jr. Johnson.
Not very accurate, but then again, what movie has ever followed the story it is supposed to tell?

"Days of Thunder"?? What was that supposed to be? From what I saw it sure wasn't anything like racing reality. Not even a poor attempt at it and it sure wasn't much of a movie.
 
Something on the generations of the Petty family would be pretty cool. But, I'm not sure a factual movie such as this would sell very well.

I can't really see anything being "loosely based on" the sport that would be very entertaining to me.
 
I would have to totally agree, DOT wasn't really realistic, even to an 11 year old...however, as a 24 year old, I would expect that hollywood has come a long way in discerning what america would deem appropriate to interest its fan based crowd. Fot the most part, I would suggest not having a "big star" (aka Tom Cruise) int he starring role..take for instance Sam Rockwell in "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", totally a breakout role for a young star, yet still innovative enough to pull it off. For a great NASCAR movie, you'd have to have a dude who hasn't had much hollywood name recognition and then throw him into the role where he played it real..instead of trying to be someone else. A good story line would involve (though the petty story would be awesome) a kid who no one thought was good...getting one shot in a cup car and totally dominating...then getting the full time ride and continuing to be competitive...not just flaming out or some something. Maybe even involving the fact of being a rook in the full time cup circuit...doesn't sound like a bed of roses...or even winning the championship in the rook season. Who knows?
Who is going to play Petty? Preferably someone who understands RP...someone not concerned with being a flagrant showoff...so...who sould play him? My vote? Johnny Depp...thing about how well he played captain jack...or even the dude in gilbert grape...i think (especially due t his KY roots) he could pull off the seriousness really well.
 
Days of thunder was loosely based on the life of Tim Richmond. Its not that bad of a movie not realistic at all but it was kind of cool. Isnt there suppose to be an IMAX nascar movie coming out in January? ALso its not Lil Bow Wow anymore he's just Bow Wow.
 
One of the best racing movies was done on the life of Wendall Scott. Actually told his story pretty well. Needless to say, the movie wasn't all that popular with the fans because to them it was boring. Seems as if real life is quite often that way.

As for Days of Thunder, the only part of that movie remotely related to Tim Richmond was the old time crew chief and the young upstart driver.
Even Rick Hendrick, who supplied the cars and advice for the movie was dissappointed with the final result. He made some statements to that effect when the movie first came out.
It sure was a long way from the realities of what racing and those involved in the business are all about.
 
I lost it when watch DOT the first time I heard a gear shift in the middle of an oval track race....
 
There is going to be a movie about Richard Petty. I read yesterday that North Carolina is trying to get the movie made in that state because that's where he lives and is said to be the birthplace of NASCAR. Georgia is said to have won the rights to where the movie will be made. More later.
 
Johhny Depp? :wacko: Hey I liked that wendell scott movie ;) I think the britney movie is supposed to be a movie about a daughter of a nascar driver, I don't think that fictional driver is supposed to portray anybody, they did say that they were going to use footage from actual races and interviews and cameos from actual drivers. Does anybody remember that primetime saga that fox had on a few years ago that had some cup drivers on it?
 
You know, a movie has to have a story that has a climax and an ending. It also has to be able to hold an audience, and that is where the good movies are from. If you think about it, a movie about NASCAR would have to involve so many different charactors that it would have to be such a long saga that no one would sit through. If you make the movie about a driver, then that driver must have a personality that will keep the interest in the viewer, but there must also be some compelling reason for the movie, i.e. a championship, a death, or something in that line. There are several drivers who could have movies made about their lives and careers, but once again, to make the movie good, they would have to add fiction otherwise it would be just a documentary. A movie about Richard Petty, my idea, would have to be about his early days and lead up to his first championship. But what about his 7th? The story would be the same. A story about Dale Earnhardt might be much better because of the many different emotional things that have come his way with the other drivers to the fans. Tony Stewart would be a good movie because of his many outbreaks and would climax with his championship. Jeff Gordon would be a good story, but as with so many of the others, it would be so much of the same thing. I guess what I'm saying is that a movie about a driver would have to be one about a man who has plenty of charactor that the story would be interesting. A good boy image or a bad boy image? The bad boy image would probably do better in this instance.
 
Since when is North Carolina the "birthplace of NASCAR"?

NASCAR was formed in Daytona Beach in 1947 and the first races were run in Daytona in 1948. First Strictly Stock race was run in Charlotte in 1949.

First stock car race in the US was run the day after Thanksgiving on the roads north of Chicago in 1895 or '96.
Vanderbuilt Cup races were run with stock cars on the roads on Long Island for several years in the earliest years of the last century.
Stockcars have been racing up the carriage road to the top of Mount Washington here in New Hampshire since 1903.
Stockcars have been racing on the mile at Milwaukee since the same year. Believe there was also a track in Atlanta around the same time.
Ford ran a series of stockcar races during the mid 1930's using brand new Ford roadsters all across the country.
For the most part, many of the early entrants at Indianapolis were simply stripped down stock cars. That dates back to 1909 and the 500 has been run since 1911.

Now with all this history behind the sport, stretching back to the closing years of the 19th century in our country alone, wouldn't you think someone could find the makings of a really good movie instead of all the hype, glitz, glitter and general B.S. which most of the offerings in the past have tried to pass off as the real and true story of racing?

Ahh well....
What would a movie be without all the glitz, glitter, and B.S. anyhow?
 
damn man, you know you're stuff...maybe they should make a hilarious movie about a driver trying to make it in Alaska...it would be really heartwarming, how about Cuba Gooding Jr and a bunch of sled dogs...and a talking kangaroo. I hear disney.
 
I love the idea! A talking kangeroo, we could toss in maybe a demented doo doo bird, a friendly alligator, maybe even a defrosted minuture wooley mamoth....

Think of the possibilities you've opened up here!!

Box office smash for sure!

and penquins, we gotta have some penquins
 
"That Wendell Scott movie" was called Greased Lightning. Should be mandatory viewing for anyone interested in becoming a race fan.

I too would like to see more historical retrospectives and less Days Of Thunderesque propoganda. But as we all know, NASCAR could care less about its past and only wants to whore itself out for the 20somethings. I personally would find a storyline that featured Tiny Lund, Curtis Turner, Fred Lorenzen, Richard and Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts and Ned Jarrett far preferable than some goober like Mike Myers or Will Farrell acting out every tired cliche Hollywood can dredge up.
 
EMP.

The problem with all those drivers which you mention:
Tiny Lund was a catfish farmer
Curtis Turner was a millioniare lumber dealer
Freddy Lorenzen was in real estate (?)
Lee Petty made his living as a truck farmer
Fireball Roberts was, I believe, a minor league baseball player and?
Ned Jarret worked in a sawmill
and Richard Petty never drove a racecar until he was 21 years old.
There just ain't no glamour or glitz for the fans here. We gotta give the folks the show they figure they want to see, doncha know?
 
Well, my opinion, just make a movie that doesnt involve a damned love story or Jerry Bruckheimer.
 
Originally posted by boB@Nov 24 2003, 04:29 PM
EMP.

The problem with all those drivers which you mention:
Tiny Lund was a catfish farmer
Curtis Turner was a millioniare lumber dealer
Freddy Lorenzen was in real estate (?)
Lee Petty made his living as a truck farmer
Fireball Roberts was, I believe, a minor league baseball player and?
Ned Jarret worked in a sawmill
and Richard Petty never drove a racecar until he was 21 years old.
There just ain't no glamour or glitz for the fans here. We gotta give the folks the show they figure they want to see, doncha know?
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Actually, great storylines could be made about all the drivers listed. The greatest driver in Nascar according to Bill France,sr was Lloyd Seay and a story about his life and career would be great as he had an interesting short life.
 
muggle not,

Here's another example of myth instead of fact.

Loyd Seay is still know as the "Grandfather of racing" in his native Georgia.
He was a very successful racer in his day; one of those "moonshiners" that every NASCAR fan loves to relate to.
Unfortunately, Loyd got into an argument with a cousin over the sugar content of the family's illegal product and was shot dead shortly after winning a race in Atlanta on August 24, 1941.

Please note the date here.
Loyd was killed a full six years before NASCAR was formed. How then is it possible for him to have been the greatest driver in NASCAR when he had been dead for over six years before NASCAR's formation?
 
Perhaps a wrong choice of words by me but the comment by France that Seay was the best driver that he had seen is fact. Seay raced in, I believe, the NSCRA (National Stock Car Racing Association). The precursor to Nascar which was formed in 1947 or 1948 by France. Rumor has it that Seay had over $200 in his pocket when he was shot over an argument regarding $8.75 in sugar costs.

Lloyd used to run moonshine south of Dawsonville, GA on a stretch of road where the best made cars today cannot go faster than 75 mi/hr. Lloyd used to go down that stretch at 130 or 140 mi/hr in a souped-up but primitive '39 Ford, with 180 gallons aboard and the law in hot pursuit, a feat impossible to comprehend.

Myth or fact makes no difference. The story is what would make such a great movie. Robert Mitchum would have been perfect in such a movie.
 
muggle not,

First, I know that Bill France Sr. made a statement to the effect that Loyd Seay was probably the best race driver he had ever seen.
Your remark put Loyd as the best driver in NASCAR, when in fact he had been dead for several years before that organization was founded.

This type of remark is one of the points I've been trying to get across; someone reads it, someone else reads the same thing, and before you know it a simple mistake becomes accepted as historical reality. If you feel that it is of no consequence, you're telling us that you feel history itself is of no importance.

If you honestly believe that a 1939 or '40 Ford coupe could go 130-140mph on a two-lane country road, where a modern car with all the improvements in engines, suspension systems, tires and brakes is hard pressed to maintain 75mph, I've got some prime ocean front property up here in the White Mountains that I'd be happy to sell you.
All out, purpose built race cars of that period were hard pressed to run that fast.
But once again, it sure sounds great and adds to the story, doesn't it?

As far as Robert Mitchum in a movie of that sort; he already was, back in the middle 50's.
 
Originally posted by boB@Nov 26 2003, 11:20 AM
muggle not,

First, I know that Bill France Sr. made a statement to the effect that Loyd Seay was probably the best race driver he had ever seen.
Your remark put Loyd as the best driver in NASCAR, when in fact he had been dead for several years before that organization was founded.

This type of remark is one of the points I've been trying to get across; someone reads it, someone else reads the same thing, and before you know it a simple mistake becomes accepted as historical reality. If you feel that it is of no consequence, you're telling us that you feel history itself is of no importance.

If you honestly believe that a 1939 or '40 Ford coupe could go 130-140mph on a two-lane country road, where a modern car with all the improvements in engines, suspension systems, tires and brakes is hard pressed to maintain 75mph, I've got some prime ocean front property up here in the White Mountains that I'd be happy to sell you.
All out, purpose built race cars of that period were hard pressed to run that fast.
But once again, it sure sounds great and adds to the story, doesn't it?

As far as Robert Mitchum in a movie of that sort; he already was, back in the middle 50's.
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For some reason you seem to completely miss my point.

1. France stating that Seay was the best driver that he had ever seen is much more meaningful than saying that he is the best that he had seen in Nascar.

2. Perhaps you don't take the time to read my whole post. If you do you would see that I said that "Myth or Fact" it has the makings of a good story for a movie. As far as Robert Mitchum goes, the movie he made was Thunder Road and was a great cult type of movie. He did something in that movie that was and still is unprecedented in movie making. He would have been an outstanding candidate for a movie on Lloyd Seay's life.

3. The topic was my disagreement with your post that none of the drivers mentioned would be good candidates for a racing type movie which I still find as not true.
 
A Petty Family movie would be most outstanding!!

A Nascar Movie with Brittany Spears could work out too >>> as long as She gets Buck Naked!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Originally posted by esorlxaw@Dec 16 2003, 05:17 PM
always glad when my topics spurn good conversation....
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especially when somebody trying to boost up their post count
 
Originally posted by steveluvs3+Dec 17 2003, 12:05 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (steveluvs3 @ Dec 17 2003, 12:05 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--esorlxaw@Dec 16 2003, 05:17 PM
always glad when my topics spurn good conversation....
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especially when somebody trying to boost up their post count [/b][/quote]
Yep bumping up another old tread that died three weeks ago. :lol:
 
As long as the movie doesnt involve Jerry Bruckheimer or as I prefer to call him 'The Devil', then I'm ok with it.
 
actually I wouldnt want it based on nascar. I'd rather have it based on some kind of dirt racing or a female in the sport. Someone with adversary that made it!
 
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