NASCAR On the Silver Screen

Twirling through the interwebs today and found a Top-10 List about Unrealistic Sports Movies. Coupled with the news that Kurt Busch will drive the No. 78 Wonder Bread Chevrolet at Talladega in a few weeks, it put me in a mood to rank NASCAR movies.

So here goes.

First, every racing movie ever, with the exception of Le Mans starring Steve McQueen and Winning with Paul Newman, is by nature unrealistic. You can’t introduce dialogue that plays with the straights (and by that I mean the casual fan) and have it be realistic.

That said, there are a few NASCAR movies to talk about, and we’ll go in the order by which I enjoy watching them.

1. Red Line 7000 (1965). This utterly inane movie has trappings of realism combined with full-on 1960s schmaltz, with a few racing snippets worth watching. It stars a young James Caan as Mike Marsh, loosely based on Fred Lorenzen, whose No. 28 Ford Caan drives throughout the movie. It also features a very young George Takei (Mr. Sulu from Star Trek fame) as Kato, one of the crewmen. Not a lot of racing to get a charge out of, but it’s mostly set around three drivers with girl troubles and heading back to the motel to sing and dance and drink. There’s a musical number in it called Wildcat Jones that is as campy a number as you’ll ever see on film. 

2. Days of Thunder (1990). Semi-plausible at the start, builds toward some drama in the middle and completely Grand Theft Auto in the end. Cole Trickle is the main focal point, and Tom Cruise does it justice. Of course, it’s Tim Richmond’s story, coming from Indy Cars to NASCAR, driving like a wild man, etc. Robert Duvall, one of my favorite actors of all time, is convincing as Harry Hogge (Harry Hyde, really), except for the time when he’s standing in a BARN talking to a bare chassis. Randy Quaid is Rick Hendrick without the coolness, and Nicole Kidman the inevitable love interest. Cary Elwes plays Russ Wheeler, the antagonist who took Cole’s ride. The Busch brothers couldn’t crash that many cars that obviously if they were playing a video game. Fun, but not realistic.

3. The Last American Hero (1973). Based on Junior Johnson’s career as a moonshiner-turned-stock-car-driver, this one is pretty good. Any cast with Jeff Bridges, Ned Beatty, Ed Lauter and Gary Busey in it has to be seen to be believed.  Much better, realism-wise, than the first two movies.

4. Greased Lightning (1977). True-life story (with a lot of Hollywood thrown in) of Wendell Scott, the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR race. Richard Pryor plays Scott, and the cast is quite good. It features Pam Grier, Beau Bridges, Vincent Gardenia as the typical Southern sheriff, and Noble Willingham. Pretty good as it goes, though I don’t buy Richard Pryor as a driver.

5. Six Pack (1982). Kenny Rogers might be believable as a driver, but the premise is thin. Rogers is Brewster Baker, hard-luck driver with no money who tows his car to the track behind a motorhome. Think Tin Cup without Rene Russo. His car is stripped of parts by a gang of six itinerant child prodigies who end up pitting his car and stealing his heart. One of them is Anthony Michael Hall, another is Diane Lane. It all ends up with the inevitable promise of a Cup Series ride at Atlanta, which Baker aborts to save the Six Pack. Barry Corbin, one of my favorite character actors, plays a rube sheriff perfectly, and my old boss, Chris Economaki, makes a cameo as an announcer alongside Chuck Woolery. He used to joke that his royalty check from this movie every six months worked out to a grand total of $6.49. Worth it, If you’re not real keen on realistic racing.

6. Stroker Ace (1983). Burt Reynolds being Burt Reynolds, alongside Jim Nabors as his crew chief. ‘Nuff said. Well, there are a lot of driver cameos in this one, with Dale Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, Terry Labonte, Kyle Petty, Ricky Rudd,  Benny Parsons, Cale Yarborough and Tim Richmond in it. Loni Anderson is too, and that’s a reason to watch. Ned Beatty is in this one as Clyde Torkel, chicken pit purveyor, and John Byner steals the show as Reynolds’ childhood buddy. Not realistic, but a good way to burn a couple hours when you have nothing else to do. By the way, Chris was in this one as well, and his royalty check was slightly larger…$8.51!